20 Goals for 2020
As I was writing last week’s post I found a year-old video of me performing a frog stand: a relatively easy yoga pose that forms the basis of a handstand.
Every few years I tell myself that this will be the year that I perfect the move. Last year I posted progress videos on Instagram, and I practiced it in cramped hotel rooms, and in the office when everyone had gone to lunch. I adopted related habits such as stretching, and running, taking cold showers, and intermittent fasting. I wanted to be the sort of person who can do a convincing frog stand.
For about six weeks, that is. Until I forgot.
Forming good habits requires a spark of inspiration, be it the new year, or a book you read, or an agonising hangover. The problem is that inspiration does not last forever and that your why is quickly forgotten.
For this reason I want to write down my goals for this year and periodically check-in and make sure I’m sticking to them.
So, inspired by Nathan, here are my twenty goals for the new year.
Stop Doing
- Stop judging others
- Use the car less often
- Spend less time on social media and news sites
- Stop drinking (again)
Start Doing
- Start getting up before 7AM
- Speak at an event
- Take more time off work and have more adventures
- Spend at least one night under canvas
- Develop my leadership skills
- Start cooking on a regular basis
- Improve my posture through exercise and stretching
- Eat better and less, get body fat around 12%
- Get my wonky teeth fixed
- Develop a routine for housework
Continue Doing
- Complete on our first house
- Reading: read a book a month
- Exercise: run a marathon
- Weeknotes: publish at least 46 weeks
- Finances: try to save at least half of everything I earn, check-in every two weeks
- Continue to practice guitar
Health
I’m still recovering from a bit of a chest infection so I haven’t really left the house this week. But I haven’t had a drink since boxing day so it somewhat balances itself out.
Recommendations
Author Benjamin Myers article 'I was half-insane with anxiety': how I wrote myself into a breakdown resonated with me:
Food lost its flavour and noises became amplified, so much so that I became fixated on a neighbour’s cockerel that crowed every morning from 3.55am, and which I wanted to strangle. Even the chimes of the local church bells sounded malevolent, as if mocking my shortcomings. Anxiety feels like you’ve had your skin removed.
I’m also enjoying Ken Burns’ ten-part Country Music documentary. On a related note, this video of Paul Davids explaining the Travis Picking technique is wonderful. He doesn’t miss a beat.