Reflecting on 2019
The turn from December 31st to January 1st is just another morning. We always have the option to wake up and be a little bit different every day. But on January 1st, it always feels like the best chance to start something new for yourself. For me, January brings blank pages in a new planner, a new wall calendar, a feeling of a clean slate and a reset button.
Some years I feel like I need a full reset, but most of the time I am traveling in the general direction I would like to be – even if my route could be a bit less winding. During 2019, I had four things I wanted to work on for myself and in that, I had a few goals in mind. [Side Note: I don’t like the needing to have goals thing. I think goals are helpful for giving you a focus, but I try to keep the timelines and results flexible.]
When I was thinking about my 2019 blank slate, my theme was to be more focused on becoming the type of person I want to be in 5 years. What does that person look like? They are healthy, happy and chasing down dreams. About a decade ago, when I was graduating college, I dreamed of writing a book one day. Over the past decade, for as much as I’ve ignored that dream, it’s still there. So, one of my “goals” for 2019 was to start writing more.
I didn’t start the past year with a good plan of how I was going to make that happen, so I didn’t do a great job for most of the year. Each month I would set a new mini-goal of how I was going to work towards writing more. By the end of the year, I had only taken baby steps towards my goal. But, those baby steps were bigger than anything I had done in the past 10 years, so I’m proud of myself for starting to make a little progress.
What does that mean for 2020? The goal doesn’t change but the roadmap does, and I’m confident I have a stronger plan this year.
There were three other things I focused on over the past year: reading more, running more consistently and building more strength to get faster.
Like writing, core strength and lifting weights is something I don’t have a lot of recent practice in. I didn’t make as much progress here either, but I was more consistent than I have been in the past several years. By December, I set a mini-goal of doing at minimum 10 push-ups every day. This, by far, was the best way for me to actually do something. [I only missed two days all month and did 20 push-ups each of the following days.] Most days I did more than the minimum, and I ended the year with confidence that I’m on the right path to keep making progress on my strength.
For focusing on running and reading, it was easier for me to have a clear plan. Both of these have been priorities for me for the past several years, so the maps were already on the table. I just needed to focus on staying on track with where I had already laid the groundwork.
Reading: I found time to read at least 10 minutes every day. Between print and audiobooks, I read 60+ books in 2019. A lot were wonderful, some were not, but I appreciate the time I spent with all of them. I believe you learn something from every book you read, and my reading list for 2019 held some of the best books I’ve ever turned pages in. I don’t know if I will read more or less in 2020, but I’m sticking with at least 10 minutes a day.
Running: I started running during 7th grade track and I’ve been running for about 20 years now. A little more than five years ago, I took my first break ever and I let myself get quite out of shape. I would run occasionally during that break, but it took about a year to want to run again. Ever since, I have focused on getting consistency back and building mileage smartly. In 2019 it was time to see if I could get faster again. The answer? I can, it just takes longer than I planned. I made progress I’m proud of, even if I didn’t run the goal time I was hoping for in that one half marathon.
For me, putting up a new wall calendar and cracking open a fresh planner for the year ahead always starts with a little time for reflection. With 2019 in the rearview, I am content with the progress I made – even if some of it was slower and less than I planned.
Moving forward to 2020, I am combining some advice I got from books and podcasts this past year. [I give credit to Rachel Hollis, James Clear and The Minimalists.] You aren’t going to achieve your goals if you focus on too many things at once. If you really want something, it might mean you can only be laser-focused on that one thing to achieve it. Nothing is a priority when everything is a priority, so get clear on what is important to you. And, it makes more sense to focus on habits than goals. Goals imply a timeline, an end date for achieving, and then what? Creating better habits helps you become the kind of person who achieves the things you are setting goals about in the first place.
In 2020, I have the same focus as I did this past year: being someone who is healthy, happy and chasing down dreams.
What I’ve learned: Having four things to focus on might have been too many to make a lot of progress in all of them. While these four things are still important to me, I can focus more on where I made slower progress this time around. And, when I get discouraged along the way, I can remind myself that even slow progress is movement towards being the person you want to become.
