One of mine was to listen to more music, so I decided to start working through Rolling Stones Top 500 albums list from September 2020. I’ve finished ~50 albums (and aim to finish more in 2023, especially as I’ve reduced my podcast listening.)

Another was getting in better shape. Some months were better than others, but on the whole, I expect I’ll be down 20 pounds by the end of the year. I’ve been doing a 60-90 minute workout ~4 days a week since January.

A third was to start making YouTube videos. I started with shorts in the beginning, and started doing lyric videos in September - basically, taking lyrics from a song, feeding it into Midjourney, and then cutting it together (https://www.youtube.com/syntopikon).

One that I faltered on was meditation. I noticed the days I did meditate, I’d be more focused. I’d like to redouble my focus on it.

Professional - Investing 30 minutes to plan at the start of each work day. I follow this system:

https://www.workclean.com/

I use a remarkable e-ink tablet and have a template file I duplicate and complete at the start of each day. I didn’t complete it every day but I think on average I skipped doing it 1 day a month. Part of the success is that I’d feel like a moron if I had this $500 tablet gathering dust.

Personal - At the start of each month I set (what I think to be) an achievable goal for activity for the month. This year I focused on 60 minutes of some combination of running/walking/bicycling. I have a chart that I fill in with a blue square on the days I make my goal and a red square on the days I don’t. My biggest setbacks were ~10 days of inactivity due to COVID in April and then about a week I lost due to some hip pain in September. Other than that I missed about 1 day every other month usually due to depression or particularly bad weather. Resetting a new goal monthly helps and creates a fresh start in case I have a bad month.

I’ve also read 76 books so far this year. I had set a goal of 52 at the start of the year. Mostly that comes down to finding things I think sound interesting, spending a (relatively) large amount of money on books, and making reading a priority.

There’s no magic to any of this. I have pretty modest goals and putting 30 or so minutes towards each of them everyday leads to pretty big gains over time.

What stuck with me are my wellness habits:

1) Regular push ups and planks, except when I was injured or on trips. 2) Tracking my diet which helped me lose 10 kgs. 3) Reading tech-related books which only stopped during crunch time at work.

I think seeing results is the main reason I continued these habits. I have tried some other habits like those related to finance or social media but since I could not see any results, they fizzled out.

For the initial push, looking forward to achieving your goals for your habits is crucial. Making sure they align with your own value set is key, so you don't slack off (or pick it up immediately when you do, and that's okay)

And another thing was making the habit small at the start. I didn't go full intermittent fasting or lifting weights since cold start doesn't work for me. It's easier to just improve on the habit as you get the hang of it.

It wasn’t necessarily a New Year’s resolution but I started intentionally walking extra. Not a crazy amount, not “I have to get <x> steps in today or I’m a failure”, not a reinvention of my entire health ethos or whatever… just avoiding sitting around so much. It’s a nice break away from things sometimes and my feet aren’t tired/sore when special events/trips roll around.

Lifting weight

Running

Cold shower

Mantra meditation (both alone and as a group with the whole family)

Reading scripture with family

The first three are for mental benefit, so that I can keep my cool at work and home, the health benefit is secondary. The rest are for inner fulfillment and is an instruction from my spiritual mentor.

Have a happy new year !!

Is this common? I’ve never done this and the only indication I’ve seen are all the people at the gym in Jan/feb.

If ‘general malaise’ is common, I’d cut back n the annual goal setting, which sounds stressful.

Wake up and drink two glasses of water before coffee or breakfast. Always makes my mornings a little better.