2019 Goals Review

2019 was an objectively good year. I bought and remodeled a house, I got a new job that I absolutely love, I broke positive net worth after a decade of deep student debt, I made a multi-million dollar pitch, I turned 30, I got to see my Oxford friends for the first time in a decade, and I genuinely relaxed into my own skin for the first time in a long time. My relationships improved, my self-awareness improved, and my sense of direction is far clearer than it has ever been.

2019 was also a really challenging year. I didn’t know how to do most of the handyman skills I do now (so much Youtube!), I had a serious jiu jitsu injury that took me off the mats for close to 4 months, struggled with family relationship conflicts, and had several periods at work that made me want to quit my job.

It was also a record year for goals. As a proof of my powers and my ego leaving my 20’s, I set 50 distinct goals over this year, and very likely should have broken down some better career goals and house repair goals even further. Of those 50 goals, I completed 34 of my goals, partially completed 7, failed outright at 6, and abandoned 3 on purpose. That puts my success rate at about 70%, which is kind of outrageous given the volume of goals and how much of my free time was consumed on remodeling the house and learning a new job.

I’m most proud of the improvements I’ve made on meditation and self-awareness and most wish that I had made space for the Washington and Seattle tour goals.

Goals completed:
Hips: Dragon and Frog Pose
Shoulders: Sit-through Bridge, Raised Arm, Twisted Lay (nailed the sit through on 8/5)
Skin Care (Huge upgrade to quality of life)
Attacking jiu jitsu (This has opened up so much. Now to really engage with attack chaining.)
Stand-up and Takedowns (I’ve improved a lot)
Contribution (Tuesday night kids class and helped a BJJ friend get a job)
BJJ Learning (Danaher back series, and working on Ryan Hall Open Elbow)
Cook a Steak (Cooked a perfect medium rare)
Salsa Dancing (Beginner class completed August 1st)
Reading List (Finished 10 books, more to follow)
House Sale (Sold!)
Meditation Habit (250+ days of meditating this year)
Get Hotter (have you seen this curly hair?)
AI Conference (DotBlue )
Sleep Hygiene (added earplugs occassionally and a fan with a filter)
Consistent higher level BJJ parters (Every time I’ve trained I’ve done this)
Nutritional Learning (Want to add food weighing to the mix next year)
Vocab Words (Completed GRE vocab words and a ton of Free Rice)
Intentional Living Community (Briefly considered buying a large compound in MLT, am now living with two of my closest friends and looking actively at MFH options for the urban commune.)
House Remodel: (Took it from horrible to beautiful this year. Still have small projects to complete, but close to done)
Vis Coms (Completed and on my hard drive at work)
Healthcare and Tech Strat (Now work on the Strategy Team and am engaged in some work on changing the course of the company and how we look after our members)
Meditation Retreat (Did an all day meditation retreat in October)
Meditation Learning (Took a Vipassana class through SIMS and completed Sam Harris’s 50 days)
Gratefulness (Every Friday is a Metta meditation day)
Become a leader at work: New role on the strategy team and 30 million dollar pitch
Improve Whiteboard Handwriting: Massive Improvement
Practice Drawing: Did some drawing and have been using doodles for drawing at work.
Learn about China: I’ve been following the Hong Kong protests closely and have been talking with friends about this pretty regularly.
Mentor/Coach Philosophy Students: Have several Philosophy students I’m in contact with and talked with philosophy students at the cadre with Luke
Learn Spanish: Completed 100 day streak on Duolingo

Goals Failed:
Standing Pike (Did not reach it, but continuing to work towards)
Pigeon (Did not hit the deepness I wanted will continue)
Dental Hygiene (Not flossing consistently. Will get a water pick in the new year)
Wrists Healed (Improved but not healthy yet)
Food Ethics (Did not change my diet)
Washington Tour (Did not see these things)
Seattle Tour (sames as above)
Podcasts (Didn’t make time for this. Also it’s a lot of work)
AI and Healthcare Reading Group (Floated to several groups and some interest)
Breathing (ongoing and not consistent)
Journaling (Did not consistently complete)
Debt Reduction (We won’t hit this number, but will hit a large number in the beginning of next year)
Side Hustle (No time or interest in completing this)

Goals Abandoned
No Major injuries (Had an training injury take me out for several months this year)
Bravo Bravo club (We aren’t doing the Bravo club this year because we have comp tickets)
Learn Piano (Dropped this during the move.)

Conclusions
I’m really glad I pushed myself this year. I learned a lot about how much I can and cannot take on and what motivates me. I was really consistent at looking back at my goals and several times stepped back to ask what I could do that day to achieve the goal. Having so much variety in the goals also made it easy to wax and wane in attention, as long as I was moving on to something productive. As detrimental as it was to my free time, having the house remodel sucking up free time made me protective of these goals and focused me, too.

Cheers to you, 2019. Thank you for all the lessons you’ve shared.