2020: Six Down, Six To Go

Wow.

So, uh, this is not quite the year I expected when I yelled “Bring It On” back in January.

Yet here we are, having peeled six months off of the 2020 calendar. Preparing ourselves for the next six. And wondering what the world might look like in 2021.

In fact, the last thing anyone likely cares about right now is how well I did against my personal goals. But, the point of this exercise is accountability, and so I shall carry on anyway.

This Year’s Goals

This year I did something a little different and I categorized my annual goals against my “three words.” Here’s how I broke it down:

Consistency:

• Run 1000+ km
• Read 50+ books
• Meditate 365+ times

Communication:

• Publish 25+ works (blogs, talks, papers)
• Help make Myriad360 the best at what we do
• Read 10+ books on communication, coaching, or human nature

Lifestyle:

• Save X dollars
• Take a trip over 3 weeks long (nomad, not vacation)

Report Card

Here comes that accountability part. Let’s see how well I did against those goals in the first six months of 2020.

• Running: 398/1000 km ran – behind schedule
• Reading: 27/50 books read – ahead of schedule
• Meditating: ???/365 meditations – behind schedule
• Publishing: 25/25 works published – ahead of schedule
• Myriad360: On track
• Reading on communication: 7/10 – ahead of schedule
• Saving: X/X dollars saved – ahead of schedule
• Tripping: Derailed?

That puts me at 5 out of 8 goals ahead of schedule or right on track! Woo. And this year, the places where I am behind aren’t so far behind. This time last year I had ran just 69 km and published only 8 blogs.

Evaluation

Let’s dig just a touch deeper here.

Running

If I was dead on, I’d be at 500km right now. Halfway to that 1000km goal. Obviously I’m a bit short at just under 400km. But I have an excuse! =) I was out of commission for several weeks through February and March after I cut my foot open.

Yeah, I stepped off of a windowsill, barefoot, right onto a bicycle pedal. The metal teeth sliced right between my big toe and the one next to it. I probably should have gotten stitches.

Which means I have to play a bit of catch up the rest of the year. Push a bit harder to get that extra 100 km in over the next six months.

In brighter news, I am above my previous personal record of 369km in 2019. So it’s all gravy.

Reading

The astute observer noticed that I actually have two reading goals this year. One for overall books read (50+) and one specifically for books on communication, coaching, or human nature (10+).

I am ahead of schedule on both goals. Even without a commute (more on that later) I am managing to find time to read!

Today, I am only going to recommend one of those books to all of you.

How to Be an Antiracist is a masterful book that catapulted my understanding of racism forward in multiple ways. BTW, you should really listen to this one on Audible because @DrIbram reads it himself!

If you want to follow along and see all the books I’m reading; check out my #ReadingChallenge2020 tweets!

Meditating

OK, you noticed that I put a question mark up there in the report card, right? Well, that is because the app I use to track my meditating does not split out year to date stats. Bummer.

I really like the app otherwise, and it does give trailing 12 month stats, and trailing 12 week stats. So I can tell you that I have meditated 166 days out of the past 365. I can also tell you that I have meditated 62 days out of the past 84 days. I just can’t tell you how many days out of the past 183 I have meditated.

But, it doesn’t really matter. As you can see by the 12 week number, I am not getting my meditation in every day, so I won’t be able to hit my goal of every day this year. Womp.

I’m going to keep at it though, and go for the highest number of days I can this year!

Publishing

This year I decided that I should count public talks, podcasts, papers, and all forms of content. Not just blog posts. I did that because I am diversifying the ways in which I communicate with you and the world, and I wanted to recognize and encourage it in myself.

Now, I will say that counting myself at 25 right now may be a bit of a stretch, as it includes some articles where I only contributed a paragraph of content. I’d like to think those are punch and concise though!

Some publishing highlights for me from the first half of 2020 are:

• My first one on one livestreamed conversation
• My first report as a research analyst (paywall)
• A podcast about “broccoli technologies”
• A podcast about encryption and privacy

Myriad360

I always include a goal for my day job, because this is actually where I spend most of my waking hours. The only thing I do more than sleep, is work at Myriad. =)

This year I made my goal super vague: “Help make Myriad360 the best at what we do.” I did that because I actually have pages of goals and tasks behind the scenes most of which you wouldn’t care about and the rest I can’t tell you about. So what can I tell you?

Well, back in January/February I shifted my role. I set down the ‘Strategy’ mantle and donned a new for me and new for Myriad title. We created a Client Success organization that now includes all of our client-facing non-sales staff. Bringing all of these teams together and helping the company navigate these unprecedented times has been challenging, rewarding, and gutting at times over the past six months.

I look forward to all that the future holds for us!

Saving

For the first time in my life I have a true six month cash reserve. Now it is time to turn back towards investing. Although, who knows what that looks like anymore? The next six months promise to be interesting, at the least.

Tripping

So the plan was to kick travel into high gear this year and really start living the digital nomad life.

As I’m sure you’ve guessed, that has not happened. And does not look likely to happen this year. Next year is a bit uncertain as well at this point.

Instead, we’re staying home a lot and not traveling at all. Luckily there are other joys in life!

The Next Six Months

What’s in store for us next?

No, seriously, I’m asking because I have no idea.

I do know that there are some things I can control, and a lot of things I can’t. So here’s to focusing on the things we can change! Cheers.

Title Photo Credit