End of Year Report: 2021
What is this?
I believe reflection is an important part of personal growth. Rather than reflect on successes and failures alone. This is a exercise in reflection structured around by personal priorities.
Intro
This is my first attempt at reflecting more formally. I’ve learned that it’s hard to map your life onto something that’s structured. I’ve wanted to do this many times before, but I never did it in any detail because I couldn’t figure out how to structure it in a way that added any value to me. I’m sure the metrics that matter will come into focus as I’m preparing to do this next year.
Discovery
My theme for this year was “Discovery.” This was the first year I’ve had a theme. I decided in 2020 after I turned 30 that I wanted to make real progress with my life in my 30s. 30 was a year of a lot of desire for change and 31 was a year for executing towards change. This year was a lot of table-setting, in particular. Framing my year around 1 word made a difference. Whenever I was slated with a big choice, I framed it around breaking free from my status quo. I became familiar with the term “limiting-beliefs.” I did a bunch of things I’ve wanted to do before, that I was too afraid to try before. An emphasis on discovery helped me unintentionally create a bias towards action.
My top 3 outcomes from this theme that wouldn’t have happened otherwise are:
- Buying my Onewheel
- Starting my taxable investment account
- Starting this site
Below is the main course. Before you dig in, you’ll see “SUs” referenced repeatedly. These are “Subjective Units” on a scale 0-100. They measure my perception of how I’m doing on a certain personal priority. In an ideal world everything would be 100. They help measure the unmeasurable and are conceptually inspired by SUDs.
In Reflection
| Past | Present | Future | |
| Finances | – Opened taxable account – Purchased my first crypto – Started learning by doing – Paid off student loans – Paid off DVC – Established broader financial strategy – Had fun with the DOGE moment – Benefitted from bull market | – # income streams:4 – net worth change: indeterminate – % assets in retirement accounts: 92% – Finance SUs (20) | – Additional emphasis on taxable investment account – Develop my strategy |
| Health | – Changed my relationship with soda – Changed my relationship with my phone – Created a healthy outlet for my thoughts – Renewed sense of purpose – Continued emphasis on how to manage anxiety – Added Onewheel to regimen which isn’t exercise but does help develop stabilizing muscles in lower body – Established a sleep routine. Previously did not have one. – Established personal cookbook which will grow with time and encourage eating-in more – Established broader health strategy | – Weight: 179 lbs – Mile time: n/a – Health SUs (55) – Miles ran this year: <20 – # of times to the gym: 5-10 | – Add recipes to cook book – Go to the gym >10 times – Run > 20 miles – Stay off personal Instagram – Develop my strategy |
| Marriage | – I feel closer after this year. By “closer” I mean that we’ve made progress towards shared goals, Kenz’s goals, my goals. I feel there’s a higher degree of trust and understanding in our relationship. – I can be pretty selfish, but I tried to put extra emphasis this year on being the best partner for Kenz. Helping her move towards her dreams, and playing my role as her husband as well as possible. There’s room for improvement, but I feel good about the progress I made. – I finished the 7 Principles for Making Marriage Work to try to improve my role in our marriage. | – 5 years married – Marriage SUs (90) – There is room for improvement for me | – Another great year – Try to be a better husband every day |
| Impact | – Very little impact in the world – It’s on my radar now. I was pre-occupied before and just ignored it. – Established this as a place to elevate my life and the lives of others – Play my role in other people’s lives in a way to move their lives in a positive direction | – Impact SUs (5) | – Establish my impact strategy & execute it |
| Creativity & Pursued Interests | – Established this website and content creation. Before this year I hadn’t created any content except a few articles on Medium. – Overflowing with things I want to try. – Making some basic art. Would like to be making more – Found a way to journal that is meaningful to me – Took love of writing and expanded it into something more – Established Trello as a place to track “my list” and my opinions | – Creativity SUs (66) – Created the site which has re-energized me | – Continue to create – Start then plan – Experiment! |
| Career | – Rough Q1, Q2. – Strong Q3, Q4 – Learned how to be direct with people and people management tactics (hard conversations, developing resources, taking initiative) – Established strict boundaries | – Primary gig: Quorum (manager) – Career SUs (70) | – Continue to improve and grow – Try to get promoted to Senior Manager – Maintain strict boundaries |
| Teaching | – Honed people development skills at work – Launched this site to broaden my reach – Increased my learning so I have more to give back | – Teaching SUs (50) – I primarily teach at work – I post learning material hear, but as of yet <5 people consume it so it’s low-impact | – Increase surface area for impact by increasing value-add content on this place – Writing more in this space will increase my ability to teach IRL |
| Growth | – Re-ignited the flame of learning (read more books) – Started listening to long-form talks on Youtube – Changed content consumption to be more conscientious – Established Dream Map concept – First year with a one-word theme – 2020 was a year I decided to get better, 2021 was the year I started to take steps – “BELIEVE,” Blue footed booby, Creature from the black lagoon – Stoicism heavily influenced my personal belief system this year | – Books read: 5 – Books started: 8 – Growth SUs (90) | – “Create” – Read more books – Add more skills to my tool kit |
| Ambitions | – Established personal knowledge management (PKM) system – Established this site | – Ambition SUs (100) – I created something that didn’t exist before and lit a fire in my belly that’s been missing for a while. | – Keep creating. – Don’t let anyone (including myself) derail me. |
| Friendship | – Lots of friendships are still in hibernation due to pandemic – A few re-emerged from hibernation – Friendships are more valuable to me than ever | – Friendship SUs (70) – Close friends: 6 | – Be a better friend – Cultivate fewer close friendships – Increase my weak ties – Cultivate friendships that do not depend on proximity |
| Family | – Established an expectation with myself to try and see family 1x / year – Make the most of the family I have – Play my role in helping them better their lives – Don’t put too much pressure on my self when it comes to family. Currently I put a lot of pressure on myself. | – Family SUs (75) – SUs by family group | – Make the most of the family I have – Play my role in the family as best I can – Enjoy family more |
| Fun | – Onewheel!!!! – Survivor – Fortnite – Reading (Dune!) – Re-thinking my interests – Shift from consuming towards creating | – Fun SUs (80) – My sense of fun is starting to diversify | – Cultivate my hobbies in 2022 – Find ways to keep having fun – Increase my “serendipity surface area” |
Favorites of the Year
(based on what I consumed this year)
Movie – The Mitchells v the Machines (2021)
Book – Dune (1965)
Creator – Sparkles_qt
TV show – (old) Avatar: The Last Airbender; (new)Survivor 41
Purchases – (1) OneWheel; (2) white noise machine
Meta Lessons Learned re: Reflection
- Pretty much all can be public in one form or another. Very little info that I needed to keep private.
- Doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Took a lot of time this go around because I had to establish the process.
- Keep it simple. If it’s complex I won’t do it.
- There’s not a tremendous amount of extra value in making it super detailed
Outro
I feel good about the progress I made this year. I did a lot to set myself up to make real progress next year in 2022.
My 1 word theme for 2022 is “Create.” That should give you some idea of what to expect next year 😏.
Thanks for reading.
Written while adrift, waiting for the new chapter of Fortnite.
