Usually, I prefer to make a plan on the new year before the end of the previous one, but last time I was quite busy (and/or quite lazy), so… since “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago., the second best time is now”, I’ll write it now.
Actually it’s not really a “plan”: based on the direction I want to follow in my life (guided by my values and my desires), I focus on a “vision” of myself at the end of the year or, put it simply, at least I imagine what my future self would be satisfied/proud/happy to have accomplished or at least (really) tried. Then, I set a few goals, then I break them in small pieces since I truly believe (better: it’s proven) that habits are much more powerful than just spikes of ephemeral motivation, that can be as dangerous as spike of glucose in the blood: after the sparkling moment of motivation, a following period of dark demotivation can last much longer, worst than not having motivation at all at first. Sometimes are SMART goals, but (in a relly few cases) sometimes they are just incredible or undefined ideas of objectives, but most of all they’re habits that help to be consistent toward a direction. In that way, no matter how many steps I’ll take, I’ll sure be closer to the destination I want to reach.
Why I wrote the number of this year following the word “equilibrium”. Well, to understand it, it can be useful to see what is a “Yearly theme”:
Now, why I choosed “Equilibrium”? Because everything I’ll do this year will be within a framework in which my time and my actions will follow (or at least, I’ll try the best I can) a calm state of balance. In other words: I’ll try to fill my time and manage my activities with the concept of “balance” in mind. Since I took off my military officer uniform (don’t worry, I didn’t get naked, I wear civilian clothes) and at the same time I moved, I changed a lot in my life, for (much) better. So, everything’s good? Well, I come from a lifetime of limitations (I joined the military academy just a few days after finishing my high school): not only I had little spare time, but I felt the weight of my responsibilities even at night and I felt always in danger to be called and moved anywhere with a outrageously small notice, not to mention the fact they made it impossible for me to book a vacation …and obviously I had to ask them permission to go abroad even for just 3 days (and they could refuse me permission or cancel the holiday while I was travelling). Of course I was aware of some limitations when I signed up (I was 18 at the time), but it went way too far, it had become unsustainable and they continued to load me with work because I was good at what I did and I never refused a task. After the huge switch, I enjoyed too much the freedom, at the point my work/life balance (where “work” is also studying with a purpose and doing stuff for a “productive” reason) suddenly shifted from “All work and no play” (road of no return to chronic depression and other serious diseases) to random/pointless explorations (travelling, eating, reading and studying for the sake of it, enjoying the nature and so on). I really really enjoyed the beginning of my new life, but at the same time I somehow feel that I am “wasting time”, that it’s time to build and mantain a structure.
Having explained that, it’s now time to write down what I want to do this year, but, before that, it’s important to clarify also an important point: one of the reason why people can’t reach their goal is because a plan is almost useless if there’s no control and feedback, so I’ll constantly check, with monthly checkpoints, moments in which I’ll measure my progress (or, if it’s qualitative and not quantitive, evaluate) and then reflect on follow-up actions, correcting course and/or speed if needed – or just realizing that the objective was set too far from my initial point and then, without judgement, accept that I’ll finish this year without completing 100% of the path, so that I can continue the next year, starting much closer.
What I want to do, how and why
- Health
- Weight: I indulged in too much food and I finished close to a BMI of 26.7. Goal is to going back to 22.9 by end of summer and mantain it until the end of the year. This can be reached by eating less, intermittent fasting (mainly for other reasons), drinking more water and reducing (a lot) intake of sweets, fried, fats, cheese and:
- Alcohol: I set a yearly limit of 100$ of alcohol, excluding moderate drinking during meals when I go out, but on average I’ll keep the overall alcohol consumption within 7 alcohol units per week (a glass of wine is approx. 2.5 units);
- Physical exercise: set to walk on average 7Km per day, plus some moderate exercise (abs, arms, legs and so on) 3 times per week;
- Sleep: stabilize the time when I go to sleep (no excuses when the night routine alarm rings);
- Meditation: be consistent in my 20 minutes, plus walking meditation in the nature every morning;
- Digital minimalism: drastic cut in content consumption and max 20min per day of social and instant messaging (in 2 fixed slots 10min), decluttering of everything accumulated in years, fixed slots for Youtube videos.
- Learning and doing
- Languages: improve (a lot) fluency in English, reach a decent (a confident B1+) level in my 2nd language;
- Work-related: at least 2h of focused learning and practice per day;
- Neuroscience: complete full anatomy first, then specific courses and books;
- Other courses: when they’re practical, practice and share!
- Books: same number of last year (roughly 50/year) is OK, but post (with schemas and/or maps) on almost every book – for fictional books: evaluate audiobooks;
- Express myself: writing (here on the blog), drawing (also including for the blog posts to recap/illustrate some concepts), play music, post some videos, in general: keep a decent “Release ratio“;
- Go back to the “Deep work” focus and “Flow” periods I loved to be, massive use of time blocking / planning.
- People
- Help them effectively;
- Be open to coach others.
- Wealth
- Savings ratio more than 51%;
- Investing: “Just keep buying“, biweekly.
Sure I missed something here and there, but one of the guidelines for this year is also: “Better done than perfect”, so I’m finishing this post. Maybe I’ll add something in the near future, but, most important, I’ll review each point every month to be sure I’m really getting closer to the idea of person I want to be: for my beloved ones, for the society I belong with, for myself. It’s not only for the creepy “funeral exercise” (to begin with the end in mind), but because I want to feel good in what I am and what I’m doing, I want to reduce my cognitive dissonance by reducing the gap between who I am now (current state) and what I want to be (desired final state).
And now it’s time to relax, focus and, according to what I just wrote, do something!
