Let’s Go Twenty Twenty Three
It happened once again! As a species we have all agreed to once again increase the last digit in the date up by one to signify that we have made it one more rotation around the sun since the last time we arbitrarily celebrated this random particular point in said planetary rotation.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I don’t make resolutions. If you need to wait until a completely arbitrary human made point in time that comes every 356.24 days to change something about your life, then I’m really sorry to say that I think you’re doing it wrong. Want to improve your life? You don’t need a fresh digit at the end of the date, just make the change now.
But with that being said, the turning of the year in my life and most of the people reading this blog also happens to coincide with 1 or 2 weeks off from work which does genuinely make it a good time to reflect on one’s life, where it’s headed and any redirections that might be required.
But to be clear: It’s no better than taking 2 weeks off in July. The turning of the year in itself is arbitrary, it's the rest and separation from day to day life which makes it a good time to do goal setting.
And yet millions of people still take this all or nothing approach to setting resolutions on the calendar year. They set vague goals like “go to the gym more”, and they keep it up in January and maybe February, but then it doesn’t stick and form a habit and then another 10 months happen until they try it all over again.
And this is where the project manager in me comes out because I literally make a yearly to do list, with clear definitions of what success looks like for each one.
And I have no shame in telling you that in 2021 I did 78% of the things I wanted to, and in 2022 I only did 50%. In hindsight I think I was a bit ambitious with my goals in 2022. I had goals to run 1000km, read 12 books and write 52 blog posts. In reality I did a bit of all three, but didn’t really get that close to any of them, but there’s only 24 hours in the day and it’s been a busy year.
So what do I do? Do I hate myself for not being perfect, and try and do it all again in 2023? Well no, I go back to first principles and think about the person I want to be. How many km should someone who is about to be turning 30 be running realistically? 500km is enough to keep me in decent shape. I listen to tons of podcasts, and always de-prioritize audiobooks. Do I need a goal around podcast listening instead?
I am keeping the 52 blog goal though, because I’ve written 365 blogs in a year before so I know I can do it, and the value I get from reading old blogs back is worth the effort.
So that’s just a flavor of the goals I’m setting myself for 2023. Will I hit them all this year? I don’t know, but that’s not the point. It’s about being a better person next year than I am right now.
5th February 2023
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