2022: A Review
Since 2014, I have published a set of annual goals for the year, and every year I write a review of how well I did at completing them. These goals have ranged from roughly 10 goals of easy to moderate difficulty, to nearly 70 goals with a wide range of difficulty.
In 2021, I created two lists of goals, one for the public and a secret list of goals that included goals that could have been public as well as private goals.
In 2022, I carried over this practice and had both a public and a private goal list.
Here are my results:
2022 was a wild year.
I was injured at the beginning of the year with a wrist injury that couldn’t bear weight, then a lifting injury that has consumed a ton of attention and created a fair bit of pain since February.
I had a bad bout of COVID that produced some of the worst pain of my life.
I hosted over 20 digital workshops.
I joined a community here in Jackson and now have new friends and relationships.
I’m in a band!
I have a group of guys who consistently talk and share our struggles and development, and we started a practice of traveling to see each other.
I destroyed my savings dealing with a BAD plumbing problem on the house, then almost owed 50 grand in taxes to the IRS on top of that.
I learned how to make legit Kung Pao chicken, and mastered how to grill a pork chop.
I was spared by a layoff in the Spring and then laid off just before the holidays.
I began the hard work of really listening to my desires and pursuing them.
I experienced a rekindling of my spirituality
My marriage grew tremendously
My confidence in myself expanded
I had my first winter in 14 years without depression.
Not a single thing in the list above was on my goals. Not one of them was predicted. On top of all these happenings, I slowly ground away at a list of goals.
2022 was not my best performance by any stretch, in part because of the changes described above. But I’m proud of what I accomplished and I know that 2022 was a transition year and 2023 will be, too! I’m going through so much change and so much transformation that it’s going to be hard to predict who I will become.
The Goals
In 2022, I had 68 goals that I publicly published and 10 private goals. Of my 68 goals, I succeeded outright at 35 of my goals, failed at 20, and had partial success at 13 goals.
My private goals had a higher success rate.
Failures
Within the Failures, I had a major 1-2 punch of injuries. At the beginning of the year, I had a wrist injury that prevented me from bearing any weight on my right wrist. Then, just as this injury was healing, I had a groin injury that spiraled out of control into a whole pattern of pain that has taken me off the jiu-jitsu mats for most of the year and made lower-body workouts a no go. These effectively blocked 9 goals, plus 2 others that were impacted.
Other failures primarily stem from time and money crunches. I could have found a way to do them, but they would have pinched other goals. This is interesting because it suggests that I have goal collision around time. I know this from previous years, so it makes sense that something like “write an e-book” would get pinched by other writing activities. I did a poor job planning for this. I also suspect that much of this free time was gobbled up by making new relationships and helping my body heal.
Partial Successes
Partial Successes were more interesting this year than last year. I started this year with an interest in filmmaking and telling stories with film. I was initially really inspired by this but found that some of the technical logistics (having good software and enough storage space to house film, editing the film) was less exciting and interesting than thinking about and filming itself. This is a classic error of not thinking through or knowing the process needed to complete the goal, and loving the idea of the end result much more than the process.
Other partial successes are more obvious. I didn’t write as many posts in the meaning sequence as I intended, experienced less great works of art than I intended (though still a lot!), and was less engaged with learning Spanish than I originally planned.
What I’m proud of:
Cold Plunge: This is magic, pure and simple. Take the coldest, unfrozen water you can imagine, and immerse yourself in it. For most people, the pain and intensity of just getting in is too much. It repels you and everything in your body says to run. Next, don’t die. Hypothermia sets in very fast in cold water immersion. You can go unconscious in as little as 15 minutes. But with the magic of Wim Hof breathing, you never actually get cold. Breathe and breathe and breathe and magically you never shiver, and your core stays warm. I did 26 minutes at 40 degrees earlier this year.
Coaching and Facilitation: Prior to this year, I had been dreaming of doing coaching and facilitating workshops as a gig for several years. It had always seemed out of reach, but this year, at the pushing and prodding of Ben Olsen, I finally took the leap. I got my first paid coaching client, and then following that took 3 different workshop facilitation contracts. I doubled down on coaching and facilitating as a side hustle, and made more money in a year doing side-hustles than I did at my first real day job. There are so many little lessons here, but the main one is to just try it and see how it goes. Often my biggest barrier is just attempting what feels impossible.
Writing: While I did not succeed at writing an e-book or the meaning sequence, I did write very consistently this year. Nearly every day, I sat down and poked and prodded at an essay, blog, journal, poem, or meaningful email. I have so much more to learn about the craft of writing, but it’s always so rewarding and fruitful. It’s my closest friend and I’m grateful for the opportunity to scratch away at ideas and stories on the page.
Craft: I felt a bit of an awakening this year. I felt like the poet, musician, writer within me was given room to breathe for the first time in a decade. I wrote more, sang more, explored more than I had in a long time. I love that I am becoming someone who has poetry written in my mind, and music on my tongue.
Spirituality: I thought a lot about spirituality this year for the first time since college. I am now convinced that non-physicalism is a viable epistemic stance, and increasingly convinced that some sort of orthopraxy is not only healthy but necessary to live the good life.
What I’m disappointed in:
Seeing a Therapist: I really should have seen a therapist this year. There was a ton of turbulence in my life and I did a ton of emotional maturing this year, but I would have benefitted from some professional support. I was blocked by the cost and bad insurance, and ultimately felt like the process of finding a good therapist wasn’t worth the uncertain benefits. I’d like to commit to doing a quarterly attempt at this year and hope to land on a therapist that I could see twice a month. I also acknowledge that this is a “worried well” issue. I’m not depressed, highly anxious, or dealing with other intense emotional issues. I know that some good talk therapy would have been beneficial.
Mobility Routine: My hip/pelvic floor injury threw a massive wrench in my plans. The injury itself is mostly healed, but the pain and nervous system protective responses are still slowly improving. It’s changed what I’m able to do in terms of physical activity and I’m persistently frustrated with how slow the healing process is. I believe that had I been able to get on top of this earlier, I would not have been in as much consistent pain I’ve dealt with over the past year.
Conclusion:
Overall, this year was a lot more turbulent and wild than I expected. Huge portions of my life went through big change, I had major belief shifts, and where I ended the year was massively different than where I started. It’s exciting to see that my life can alter in such dramatic ways and I’m excited to see what more can follow.
