2019 Goals
2019 is about going over the top. It’s about proving a point. It’s about No More Zero Days. It’s about saying good bye to my 20’s and hell yes to my 30’s. I’m putting a lot of demand on my free time, and setting way too many goals. This is intentional and if I hit even half of these goals, I’ll be happy with my year.
Physical
Stretching and Flexibility: It’s all about hips and shoulders this year. At the end of 2019, I should be able to perform any of Chris’s warm ups without struggle, and should be significantly deeper on all the stretches. This all could be supplemented with a regular yoga class, Youtube yoga, or yoga for BJJ. By the end of 2019, I will be able to do the following:
Hips:
Standing pike: I will be able to put my palms flat on the floor.
Pigeon: I will be able to have an open pigeon that puts my shoulder to the floor.
Dragon: I will be able have a deep, long Dragon Pose.
Frog: I will have a deep and open frog stretch, with great hip rotation.
Shoulders:
Sit Through Bridge: Able to hold for 1 minute each side.
Raised arm: Able get shoulders to ears overhead
Twisted lay: Able to get arm to 45 degrees or more on each side.
Skin Care: I don’t have a skin routine but need to develop one. By the end of 2019, I will have a regular skin care routine and habit.
Dental Hygiene: I always brush daily and floss during week days consisnently. I’d like to just make flossing a part of my routine. By the end of 2019, I will always floss my teeth in the evening.
Sleep Hygiene: I have experimented with keeping my cell phone out of my room in the past, but it’s time to commit. I’m no longer going to use my phone in bed and will move my phone out of my bedroom. This requires making sure my alarm is set and ready to go before I get in bed.
Wrists Healed and Healthy: I’ve had “bad” wrists for many, many years. I didn’t rehab several bad sprains and now have pretty inflexible wrists. By the end of 2019, I will have wrists that no longer hurt during jiu jitsu warm ups and that can get to 90 degrees without pain.
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
I have many sub-goals and objectives in this space, and they will likely change as I go forward into the year. But this year, I’d like to develop some specific training habits:
Attacking Jiu Jitsu: This is a term taken from chess. I want to change my jiu jitsu strategy to be focused on attacking, always pushing the offense, always forcing the “your money or your life” problem on my opponents. I play too defensively and often allow my opponent to settle into their position. My jiu jitsu game by the end of 2019 should be more direct and aggressive than it is today.
Training partners: I will always roll with an upper belt during open mat if they are available. It’s easy to avoid hard rolls, but that defeats the point of why I’m there.
Stand-up and takedowns: I feel like a novice at my standup game still and don’t have a sense of timing for shots and throws. By the end of 2019, I’d like to feel like I’m intermediate at this/better than most blue belts at takedowns. This requires practicing this area more than I have.
Contribution: I really like my friends at my gym and really appreciate the culture that Andrew has created. Today, I’m volunteering with the Tuesday night kids class. I’d like to offer resume and interview coaching for anyone who wants it, and actively look for opportunities to help my gym mates out. This will be a challenge to fulfill in the early part of 2019 because of the house chaos, but I need to make space for this into the summer.
Competition: I’m going to compete at least 2 times in 2019.
Learning: 2019 year is the year of instructionals. I think I have enough of an understanding of the game that I can actually start to benefit from the plethora of resources outside the gym. I’d really like to improve my understanding of the back and of the front headlock position and will try to get my hands on Danaher’s videos on these areas.
No Major Injuries: I had no major injuries this year that took me off the mat for a significant period of time, though I did have a number of minor and lingering issues. I’d like to repeat avoiding my major injuries in 2019.
Nutrition and Diet
I haven’t taken my diet seriously in the past few years. I’ve been focused on putting on muscle and weight, and while that’s been a lot of fun, I’d like to better understand what the best way for me to eat is. I like my weight class, but I want my nutrition to provide me with more fuel. Also, who needs junk food? I’m going to be 30 this year. It’s fine to put that behind me.
Cook a Steak: By the end of 2019, I want to be good at cooking a steak. There are lots of tricks and tips that exist in the world, so I’m going to try it out.
Nutrition Learning: I don’t have a good understanding of how metabolism works or how to eat healthily. I have the resources (will likely start with a re-read of Strong Medicine) to understand this, so I’m going to. I will succeed if I am able to explain my food decisions to people who haven’t done the reading.
Food Ethics: I’ve been increasingly concerned about my food decisions from an ethical and environmental perspective. I don’t (yet?) object to the killing of animals for food, but I do object to many of the ways that we keep animals in misery and suffering before we kill them. By the end of 2019, I’d like to have switched to only eating meat that meets my ethical standards. This likely translates to eating no meat while I’m out of the house, and being very particular about how I source meat at home.
Fun
Salsa Dancing: I’ve wanted to learn salsa dancing for a long time and there are a suprising number of opportunities to learn and dance in the area. I’d like to go from beginner to novice. I have no idea what that means exactly, but I think it means some dance lessons, and at least 4 nights of dancing.
The Washington Tour: I want to see some cool stuff in Washington this year. Here is my short list:
Leavenworth
Olympic National Park
Ape Caves
Vashon Island Bike Tree
The Seattle Tour: I want do and see some cool stuff in Seattle this year. Here is my short list:
Seattle Underground Tour
Mike’s Chili Parlor
Kuboto Gardens
Pinball Museum
Gasworks
Carousel (and Cinnamon Rolls with cousin Andrea!)
Start the Bravo Bravo Club: The Bravo Club at the Seattle Opera was kinda a let down. No icebreaker and no silly activities for the show. I’m going to hijack that empty and much needed space to set up an icebreaker/silly activity for intermission. This seems fun and kinda scary, so I should definitely do it.
Learning
Reading List: I have growing list of books I’d like to read this year. This deserves its own little post, but I will be pairing like books together to read at the same time. For example, I am reading a book by Seneca ( a Stoic Philosopher) and a book on Stoicism-inspired Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I plan to read 24 books this year, but will set the bar at getting to 10.
Learn Piano: I am already slowly learning piano. I am about half-way through a solid intro book and hoping to get to playing songs by the end of the year. I don’t expect to be any good anytime soon, but I do hope to improve my music reading ability and to learn an instrument while I’m at it.
Vocabulary Words: One of my major claims while suffering from my headache was how foggy my language felt, how I was pulling it through a filter. Now that my headache is gone, words feel slippery and too quick out of my mouth. In any case, I’d like to put my money where my mouth is and add a bunch of new words to my vocabulary. My plan is to get some high-level vocabulary cards and play some vocabulary games. I’m not exactly sure how I will measure the success of this goal, but if I pick up something that is completionist oriented (set of vocab cards), memorizing and using the complete set will count.
Audio
This last year a started dabbling in podcasting and audio recording. I’d like to take it one level deeper this year.
Gaming Podcast: I’m currently planning a gaming podcast focused on how to be a good game master. There are several examples of this out there, but I’m pushing toward something more like a game show rather than just talking heads. If I record and publish 4 episodes of this next year, I will consider it a success.
AI Podcast: I’d like to talk with more experts in the field of AI this next year, and I think I can potentially get a leg in via a podcast. It’s a decent way to get interview time with experts, and has the potential to move my career in a different direction. I’m particularly interested in AI ethics and policy. Success would be doing 5 interviews with AI experts.
Stoic’s Recording: One thing that I’d like to exist in the world is a free audio recording of ancient Stoic texts. I don’t know exactly how translation copyright works, but if I’m able to do this, I’d like to start with Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations and post as a podcast and YouTube “listening” video.
Home
Intentional Living Community: We’re gearing up for real decisions in this space. The little cooperative we have has a few more interested parties, and we’re planning to start looking for urban multi-family properties in winter of next year. I’d like to have a few more interested parties and several meetings between here and next winter. Additionally, it might be good for the community to do some non-violent or cooperative communication training as a foundation.
House Repairs: We just bought a house that needs significant repairs and remodeling. It’s not quite a flip but on the more extreme end of fixer-upper. It’s location is awesome and close to work, but the first 3 or so months of this year will be consumed with doing this.
House Sale: We are planning to sell our old house (has it really been 5 years?!) in the early spring. The interior needs some paint and the exterior needs some yard work, but I think we’re looking good for getting the place ready to sell.
Career
AI Conference: This is a stretch, but I’d like to drive toward getting to an AI conference this year. I don’t know how reasonable it is, or if I can get this paid for, but I’d like to look out over the year and make my case. It’s a chance to meet more experts, talk about the industry and risks in AI, and get a lay of the land.
AI and Healthcare Reading Group: I’m starting a reading group at work on healthcare and AI. The structure is pretty basic: Pick an article, build a summary deck of it, share the deck discuss the paper. I’m hoping to meet once a month.
Visual Communications, Year 2: I set a similar goal last year and had really solid success. Last years results were better color theory and better structure to my visuals. This year I’m focused on information hierarchy, chunking, and cueing. I’m going to read Slideology, and really dive into storytelling structures. I want people to look at my work and think “Christo is really good at this.”
Healthcare and Technology Strategy: In 2018, I was a total beginner at healthcare. By the end of 2019, I want to feel like an amateur expert at healthcare business strategy, specifically around technology. My day job has me well poised for this, but I want to spend some time outside of my normal work leveling up at this. This looks like loads of reading, likely many conversations, and potentially a work conference.
Self
Meditation Learning: I think part of the sticking point with meditation is that I’ve felt like I’m going in blind without a good coach. I’ve also felt like Headspace, Insight Timer, and Calm are pretty bad coaches. I’m going to try out Sam Harris’s app, and what I’ve encountered from Tara Branch on Vipassana has been insightful and concise, so I’ll track down more of that. I want to see if knowing more can help make meditation more compelling and natural for me.
Meditation Habit: I’m going to meditate at least 3 times a week, and point that primarily toward morning time meditation. I’m going to push this more intensely this year and do this with accountability and also risk money toward an anti-charity. I want to make this real this year and since I’ve had such a hard time making it stick, I am going to use more mechanisms to make it happen.
Meditation Retreat: I’d like to experiment with a weekend silent meditation retreat, either on my own or in a group. A weekend is likely not enough time to really get into the meat of it, but would be a good toe dipped in the water.
Breathing: I tested the cold element of Wim Hof in the Arctic waters of Norway in 2018 and had really great success. I’d like to push this into doing regular cold showers and more consistent practice. I’m risking overloading my morning, but Wim Hof breathing should happen at least 2 days a week in addition to other meditation practices.
Gratefulness: I’m coming out of a year that I have a lot to be grateful for. I think practicing some mindfulness about this needs to be a priority. I think it’s possible to appreciate where I live, who I share my life with, and what my life is a lot more than I currently do. There is probably a practice that I can develop here around loving-kindness, and this is definitely one of more difficult to measure goals on my list.
Get Hotter, Year 2: Last year was a success. I have a better haircut, better clothes, and I look physically better. I want to double down in this area in 2019. I want to develop a better non-work clothing style or styles, put on more muscle in my upper body and trim body fat. I’d also like to explore cologne options and different hair products.
Journaling: I’d like to establish a journalling habit this year. I want to use it as a place to reflect and to refine my thoughts and feelings.
Finance
Debt Reduction: I’d like to kill off 25k worth of student debt this year. This will require spending less in the latter half of the year when we have completed the house remodel.
Side Hustle: After spending 2018 focused entirely on my day job, I have a few small side-business ideas that I’d like to try executing on.
GM vocab cards: Something I’ve wanted for awhile now is vocabulary cards that are specifically oriented toward running a tabletop RPG. I’d love to have more descriptive language, more geography, weather, flora and fauna words in my mind ready to hand. I’ve looked around and have not been able to find any pre-existing products like this. The thing that makes it a good business idea is that for a for a little extra effort, these cards can be designed to be used at the game table in the same way that random tables are used. Draw a card from the stack and use those details anytime you get stuck. This idea relies heavily on content creation and design, but even a failed attempt at this will teach me a lot.
Idle Game: I love idle games, have played too many, and think that they are likely fundamentally a simple game type to design. I’d like to see if I can develop an idle game and do simple advertisement monetization in the app.
Philosophy Rash Guards: Something I’d love is some rash guards that also have cool philosophy quotes on them. There are already drop-ship companies that allow for self-designed rashguards, all I need to do is use a good template and design the rashguard. I can be my own first customer, but if they are cool enough, I imagine that they could be a successful little business.
