You can view my other yearly summaries here: 24, 25, 26, 28.
Summary
This year represents one of change. I started a new career as a software engineer, which has been one of the most challenging changes I’ve made. I’ve also tried to focus on living a slower, calmer and more deliberate life.
Health
Toward the end of last year, I significantly changed my attitude towards sleep - placing more importance on it in my life. This year I have tried to make my bedtime (10.30pm) more consistent and have developed a bedtime routine to wind down beforehand (30mins). The routine is simple - no phone and paper book before bed. I also have a light that slowly dims as my bedtime approaches. I’ve found that these simple steps have helped to improve my sleep (although it’s still not perfect!).
Over the course of the year, I slept an average of 8 hours 10 minutes per night (up from 7 hours 20 minutes last year). This year I also had very few nights with fewer than 5 hours of sleep, which is an improvement from last year.
I started the year with a very poor gym habit. After returning from traveling, studying with GA and then starting a new job, I completely lost the habit. In the new year, I did return to a more regular 2-3 session per week habit.
I stopped actively tracking alcohol consumption, but I have definitely been drinking a lot less. The primary driver here has been a firm no on alcohol during the week. I’ve also managed to do more social events that are not alcohol dependent (e.g. I’ll often have dinner with friends but no alcohol).
I did not focus on meditation as a habit this year. I have found that the Apple Watch has been an interesting tool for mindfulness. The reminders on the Breathe application have given me nudges during the workday to take a breather that I have found more helpful than I would have imagined.
Professional/Personal Development
I continued with a decent reading habit. I read 14 books this year (down from 19 last year) which I’m quite happy with considering I’m back in full-time work following my career change. I’ve found it helpful to use Cedric’s 3-book tip - reading 3 books of varying difficulty. I generally read non-fiction, but having a lighter book to pick up is useful on more tired days.
In terms of professional work, I completed my training as a web developer with General Assembly and started work as a software developer with Digital Fineprint. The first four months were tough, but I now feel like I’m making valuable contributions to the team and really enjoying it.
I have launched one side project this year - dreamweeks.co! It’s a tool to help me track and visualize how I spend my time. It produces the graphs you see above. If you think it could be useful for you too, please do let me know (email or Twitter).
I continued some intermittent writing. I managed to publish 14 posts this year (down 23 from last year). I want to do more essay style writing (see my essay, Thoughts On Hard Work) in this coming year, which I will be sharing via my newsletter.
Relationships
I’ve stopped tracking individual social events, but I do track the balance against other spheres of my life. I’ve found this year my relationships focused on building depth rather than breadth.
Fun
This year I’ve tried to focus on fun activities that are calmer and involve less alcohol. I’ve become a member of a cinema, which I enjoy a lot.
New Things I Tried This Year
I tried some new things this year, which I thought might be worth sharing.
- Consistent sleep - Already mentioned above, but worth reiterating.
- Jazz music - I never listened to Jazz before. I started this year after a friend at General Assembly mentioned it. I find it great to listen to in the evening as I cook a meal or begin to wind down.
- Cycle to work - I love cycling to work. In connection with better sleep, I feel this helps me start my mornings in an active, fresh way that has me arriving at work feeling ready and switched on for the day.
- Me-work before work-work - I’ve started to get up earlier before work so that I can spend some time (typically an hour) working on my own projects. It feels nice to start the day by doing something meaningful and creative on your own terms.
- Commonplace book - I’ve always created notes in Evernote. But this year I’ve made a meaningful effort to more consistently record ideas and learnings in notes that I revisit regularly. I’ve found this to be a great window to evolve ideas over time.
Looking Forward
I’m happy with the year. I managed to follow through with a lot of the directional goals I had set out for myself. I am now a software engineer, I launched a side project and I kept up a reading habit. I also better managed my finances and cultivated a more deliberate social life that centers around alcohol less often. I achieved the above with a more deliberate and patient mindset that I set out to.
This coming year, I’d like to build on some of the foundations here. I want to continue with the solid base of good sleep and good exercise. With my new skills as a software developer, I’d like to continue building credibility as an engineer and product person. I want to be known as someone who develops ideas and launches products. I want to continue leaning into the IndieHackers community in London - people who I feel closely aligned to in terms of goals. I want this year to be a year of making.
Health
Parentheses show year on year up or down.
- Sleep - av. 8 hrs 10 mins/night
- Weight – 86kg (-7)
Personal/Professional Development
- Books read – 12 complete (-7), 2 partially (+1)
- Posts published –14 (-9)
- Projects launched – 1
- Public Speaking – 0
Fun
Music concerts/festivals/sporting events – 6 (-9)
- Toots & The Maytals
- Chisora vs Whyte (Boxing)
- David Gray
- Ben Howard
- Yxng Bane
- Notting Hill Carnival (Aug 18)
Travel – 4 Countries (-9), 5 Cities (-46)
- Mallorca, Spain (Jul 18)
- Portugal, Algarve (Sep 18, Apr 19)
- The Cotswolds, UK (Nov 19)
- Val D’Isere (Mar 19)
- New York, USA (April 19)
Bucket List
Nothing new completed from my Bucket List.