Planning Ahead for a Big New Year
Have we really come to the end of another year? It seems that way! What a crazy twelve months it’s been.
In this post I’ll share a bit about my upcoming Annual Review, as well as a few highlights of the year. In fact, let’s start with the highlights!
My 2021, In Brief
What I Didn’t Do
- I had my second year in a row of very limited travel, mostly because of the obvious limitations, but also because I’ve now adjusted to a different routine. I also didn’t publish a book, which feels strange.
- I didn’t do a lot of speaking, events, or meetups. After postponing the ten-year anniversary of WDS last year, in 2021 we had to postpone again. Frustrating! 🙁 The good news is, it’s finally going to happen next year—guaranteed. Join the waiting list to be the first to hear about tickets.
What I Did Instead
- I may not have published a book, but I sold one (!) that I’ll be working on a lot in 2022. Or at least, I sold a new book concept. With nonfiction, you usually sell a proposal, and then you write the book—so there’s still much to be done.
- I recorded a podcast episode every day for the fifth year in a row. I just renewed for season 6—subscribe and join in! You can follow from Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. (Every single episode from the archives is also freely available for streaming or downloading.)
- Towards the end of the year, I started working on a secret project that’s required a lot of quiet, intensive creative work. The project won’t remain secret for long—I’ll announce it the first week of January. I’m very, very excited about it, in a way I haven’t felt for a long time.
- I ran more in 2021 than I’ve ever done. I got up to an average of 40 miles/week, then did 50 miles/week several times, and even made it to 60 miles for one week. I’m not trying to go further than that (~40 is a good base for me) but it’s been fun to challenge myself. I also set a PR (1:33:51) for the half-marathon, my favorite distance.
- When I got an Apple Watch a few years ago, I started working on a streak of achieving my move points on consecutive days. I got close to 100 and then lost the streak by accident when I went to Thailand and crossed the international dateline. I got to 100 and kept going, then decided to try for a year. Long story short, I got to 365 and kept going—and last week I hit day 1,000!
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- Finally, we redesigned the blog! I’ll say more about this the first week of January, but it’s been a long, long time coming. After three previous efforts fell short, I finally found a concept that felt right. The whole site is new (and some of it still needs a bit of work), but the blog section is the main focus. I wanted to make something that was more topically oriented, as opposed to the typical chronological navigation of blogs.
There’s more to be done, but I think we’re 90% there. Big thanks to Anna, the designer, and Nicky, my longtime digital magician, for their hard work on this project.
- Along with the new blog, I got back on track with publishing a weekly newsletter (sign up here or at the bottom of any post). It goes out every Tuesday morning at 9am Eastern time, rain or shine. Now that I have the habit back, I don’t think I’ll slip again. It feels good.
Those are just a few highlights, of course. It wasn’t an amazing year for me but it was pretty good all around. And honestly, when I think back at how I’ve felt during this season in some other years, I have no complaints.
Annual Review, Latest Version
Over the next week I’ll be completing my Annual Review.
I’ve modified this process over the years, and a couple of times I didn’t share a lot of detailed posts about my own goals.
But guess what? I’m going to change that this year!
Expect a long post from me next week. Things are good, so I’m taking advantage of long-delayed momentum.
If you’d like to do your own review, these tools and links might be helpful:
As mentioned, I had a couple of challenging years and then a couple of “pretty good” years, including this one. I can now see that I was regrouping during those “pretty good” years, and planning for a big year to come.
Well, now I’m ready for an amazing year! Or at least, you know, a better-than-pretty-good one. Expectations are everything, but I’m going to give it everything I have.
More to come next week. Onwards!
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