2014 was a pretty tough year and at times it felt a bit like Groundhog Day where I was just doing the same thing each day with little to show for it.
The only real highlight of the year was that I managed to lose around 10kg by following the Slow-Carb diet from “The 4 Hour Body” by Tim Ferris.
This year I’ve committed to turning things around with a pretty ambitious set of goals. I’m not sure that I’ll be able to meet all of them or whether some of them are unrealistic given how many I’ve set for myself but I’m treating it as an experiment which I’ll alter as the year progresses. The important thing for me is that I’ve explicitly set out some goals and actively track them so that I can see what progress I’m making and can celebrate achieving.
One of the most radical changes I’m making is turning myself from a Night Owl to an Early Bird. In order to make more time available, I’m getting up at 5:30am to get around 90 minutes to either work on one of my projects or do a work-out (improving my fitness is another goal). This means that I’m also going to bed much earlier. I’ve instituted a policy of no screens in the bedroom and I finish working on any screens by around 9:30pm with the aim of being in bed by 10pm and winding down by reading fiction, hopefully being asleep by 10:30am.
I’ve actually been doing this for about 3 weeks now and I must admit that it’s not been as hard as I expected; I get my clothes ready the night before and have a glass of water by my bedside so that when I wake up I don’t have any decisions to make. I have found that I do need a clear idea or plan for what I am going to achieve in the morning session otherwise it’s too easy to start checking twitter or browsing articles — and then the time is blown.
I’ve created a separate page on my site detailing my goals and I’ll be keeping it updated as I revise and achieve them. Feel free to check it out and follow along.
I’ll meet you back here at the end of the year and we’ll see how I’ve got on.
annual-review