I hadn't heard of this before, thank you. I never made resolutions because of the same reasons. I like the idea of the theme. Looking back, I did set a theme at the beginning of summer: Health I...
I hadn't heard of this before, thank you.
I never made resolutions because of the same reasons. I like the idea of the theme.
Looking back, I did set a theme at the beginning of summer: Health
I got a Garmin smartwatch and got back into running. I used to cycle a ton and ran some triathlons back before I had kids. While I had been lifting on and off for the past few years, my cardio was slowly wasting away. I wanted to get my body back in triathlon shape again.
And I did. And it feels great!
If I had to pick a theme for 2024 (because I have a feeling it will take more than just a season) it's going to be Relationships. I'm growing my consulting business that is focused on helping organizations clean up their accounting books, set up the processes to keep them clean and efficient, and understand the story behind their numbers.
To grow this business, I want to build more relationships with others who need my help or know somebody who does. My services don't make sense for everybody, but I have received referrals from my current clients, which is great! I just need to get myself out there more to grow in the right direction.
It's that time of the year again. Previous editions: 2022, 2023 The Theme System: https://www.themesystem.com/ The theme system, best explained in the video, is something I've been converted to a...
It's that time of the year again. Previous editions: 2022, 2023
The theme system, best explained in the video, is something I've been converted to a few years ago and which has radically changed my life since. My previous yearly themes have been "Body", "Finances", "Relationships", and "Focus".
This year went incredibly well for me. I started on self-control and shifted to focus after realizing a "more foundational problem" like CGP Grey says in the video. In this year of focus, I have gotten an ADHD diagnosis (obvious in retrospect), and recontextualized how I live my life under this. It's never been debilitating, in fact I have gotten very used to how my brain works and used it to my advantage all my life -- but this year, really understanding it lets me turn it into a superpower.
I have focused a lot on work, and found a way to tie my many projects together under a coherent plan. Narrowly avoided burnout. I've shifted focus on my existing company and grown it from 3 people to 20 people in the span of 5 months, all while creating a new startup and tied the two together.
As I'm going into 2024, I'm once again thinking about the state of my life - what I most desire to change about it. My focus on work has brought good things, but has greatly reduced my personal time and I have not been able to dedicate meaningful time to caring for my body. I don't rest enough, I don't play Beat Saber as I used to, I haven't put my skates on in over a year. I gained a lot of weight and I'm still addicted to food.
I'm not sure what my new theme will be. Should I do "Body" again and push my focus on getting back to where I was, forcing to make time for it? Or should I do "rest" and focus more on finding the time in the first place, making sure I don't burn out? I honestly don't know.
Thanks for sharing. I havent encountered this idea of themes before but I do know I hate setting specific goals and havent had a ny resolution in decades. Instead, I frame my interests in self...
Thanks for sharing. I havent encountered this idea of themes before but I do know I hate setting specific goals and havent had a ny resolution in decades. Instead, I frame my interests in self growth around ideas or nice-to-haves. Im not sure I'll specifically try this method, but it certainly gives me something to think about in terms of tweaking my approach.
I'm not sure what my new theme will be.
Maybe I'm totally offbase, but I feel like there's some commonality between your two themes of body and rest: wellbeing. Maybe a theme someth8ng along these lines would give you the flexibility of focusing on either physical or mental health as you feel you need?
You should research the 7 types of rest. Believe it or not, physical activity is a type of rest. The way I understand the 7 types of rest, is basically doing the opposite of what you've been...
You should research the 7 types of rest. Believe it or not, physical activity is a type of rest.
The way I understand the 7 types of rest, is basically doing the opposite of what you've been doing. If you've been sitting every day for a month, start doing yoga during your breaks. If you have seen the same 4 walls for a month, go for a nature walk, open the blinds when working, or move your office set up.
The 7 types are:
Physical - either exercise or stop moving depending on what you need.
Sensory - add new and uncommon smells, tastes, music, sights, etc to your day. Or, enjoy pure silence and a dark room.
Social - either spend more time with people who treat you well, or go for some "me" time by yourself. Maybe spend time with a pet.
Emotional - explore your recent emotional experiences. Watch a sad (or other kind of emotional) movie if you've had emotional constipation. Talking out your feelings works, too.
Mental - do a brain dump of all the things on your mind into a journal. Make to do lists so you don't have to keep remembering things. Offload trivial tasks to others you can depend on.
Creative - create more of the kind of things you want to create. Also, get away from the creative problem solving that comes with many stressful jobs.
Moral/spiritual - offer your time and effort to a cause you believe in. Charities, homeless or animal shelters, community contributions, etc.
I think I'm going to steal the year of "Focus" from you! I've been struggling with what I think is ADHD for the whole year, keeping myself on track and task for things has become rather...
I think I'm going to steal the year of "Focus" from you!
I've been struggling with what I think is ADHD for the whole year, keeping myself on track and task for things has become rather challenging (I'm procrastinating from many thing while I'm writing this) and the UK healthcare system for all its benefits has a several month waiting list for an ADHD diagnosis.
I have so many things I want to do or try, but they're stuck in limbo until I decide that I'm going to hyperfocus on them for a week or two and then drop them until they strike my interest again.
Going into 2024 I'm looking at (hopefully) a bit of a career change, and to get some long-term things rolling that I've been putting off for however long. Between the ADHD diagnosis, and getting myself to get these things started I hope that's going to fulfill what I've defined as the criteria in my head (but haven't written down). Also to catch up on my game backlog that's slowly getting longer and longer. That's a tertiary goal for the year though.
Well, I've had the best year of my life this year, so it'll be tough to pick a theme! I'll go with health. I find myself anxious to hit "post comment" because I'm afraid to make it real, to make...
Well, I've had the best year of my life this year, so it'll be tough to pick a theme!
I'll go with health. I find myself anxious to hit "post comment" because I'm afraid to make it real, to make it a commitment.
I've always been naturally skinny so there has been very little immediacy in my desire to live a healthier lifestyle. As a person with ADHD, I usually need immediacy to get going on big things like this.
I feel weird spruiking it, but along with the themes is the journal that they sell. And while you definitely don’t need that exact journal, the idea of a journal is a great match with these...
I feel weird spruiking it, but along with the themes is the journal that they sell. And while you definitely don’t need that exact journal, the idea of a journal is a great match with these themes, and you can probably pick up a basic journal or blank book or something similar for only a few dollars!
I think a big theme is very difficult to keep focus on, until you break it down into day by day, and just have that question/theme at the front of your mind several times a day. I think that’s why they have the journal, because if you make a daily commitment to reflect on your day in the context of the theme, then over time it will become subconscious that you’re asking yourself about your theme, or contextualising choices and decisions with that theme in mind.
You’re not gonna overhaul your life overnight, but if you reinforce an idea often enough, it will become easier and easier to bring it as a frame of reference to your decisions.
This will be my 4th year of a theme. 2023 was the year of new inspired by Beau Miles, 2022 was the year of "no" as I am a bit of a maximalist, and 2021 was the year of "little delights". This year...
This will be my 4th year of a theme. 2023 was the year of new inspired by Beau Miles, 2022 was the year of "no" as I am a bit of a maximalist, and 2021 was the year of "little delights". This year will be the year of authenticity.
2024
I feel like I'd like a second reset. I think the first one was Covid where I learned what parts of my life were really important and what parts should be culled. A lot has happened since 2020 and I think it's time to decide what I should focus on more and what I should let go.
Review of years:
2023
This year has been an interesting one in regards to my theme. Every year brings new things but I've really tried to be intentional with new opportunities this year and at least try things I've been meaning to get to forever. The first one was trying out civic duty and joining the Planning Commission of my little town. I think it was a bit of a shock for city staff and other commission members as I'm at least 30 years younger than anyone else on the commission and one of 3 people that young on any commission or council. It's kind of been a whirlwind. I really regretted it for a while, municipal politics is well a little too bitter and petty for my taste, but I appreciate our city staff so much more and the folks who are really trying to make the community better. There is a collection of folks I've gotten to meet doing it who really do warm my little heart.
Hobbies was another big one for this year. I got into backcountry skiing (or I should say split boarding) and am trying to ramp up for some trips this season but am being held off by a lack of snow. Excited for Jan/Feb! I managed to deck myself out for pretty cheap late last season and am getting the safety stuff in the next few weeks (beacon, shovel...). The other main hobby, and the one that I've taken to the most, has been open ocean swimming. It took me a while to be ok swimming in deep water, doubly so when the visibility sucks, but I'm getting much more comfortable. I used to lifeguard and teach swimming, but in a pool setting so the I wasn't sure how well it would translate to the open ocean. Turns out, I'm like a fish in water (pun intended). It's changed my whole routine from waking up groggy at 8-9am to feeling refreshed at 7am. It's also gotten me a lot closer to a few friends and some community members I didn't know before. It's been great! I had planned on trying out golf, but that will have to wait until 2024.
2022
2022 had mixed success and was a tough year. Honestly I can't completely remember why, but man I remember being at the end of the year and just wanting it to be over. I ended up over extending myself quite a bit (the whole point of the year of "no" was so that I didn't) and took on a bunch of extra work to try and get our startup off the ground (that did work!). I'm incorporating more of this into my life now, but I'd say iti didn't initially take.
2021
Oh what a year. I had graduated out of a masters program with the plan of starting a company in 2020 and ran headlong into Covid budget freezes. It was a tough year but my take away was that happiness could still be summoned through small delights. The idea came from a [This American Life episode](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/692/the-show-of-delights I think everyone should listen to. So while company funding struggled for half of the year, I found purpose and happiness in small things/activities. I started foraging heavily for mushrooms, seaweed, really anything in our local ecosystems. I started biking more heavily and started timing myself for small wins on short sections. I started writing stories and learned the history of our local area. I started setting routes at the local climbing gym and reveled in the joy of a good set and happy climbers. It was a really great time.
This year I had dual themes: the first half for me was Travel, the second half was Health. I spent my first half of the year going to Europe and Asia on solo trips which I really loved, and I...
This year I had dual themes: the first half for me was Travel, the second half was Health.
I spent my first half of the year going to Europe and Asia on solo trips which I really loved, and I started my 2023 partying with strangers in Iceland. After getting back from Japan I didn't have many plans afterwards, which means I had more time to focus on my own health, and I've lost 30 pounds since August!
Next year I'm starting my year in Korea and doing some more traveling, and also continuing my weight loss journey, but I'm adding a third theme of Celebration. I have about 4 weddings to attend next year, of which two of them I'll be a part of the wedding party! I figure I'll take the time to celebrate my friends, and celebrate myself as well, and take the time to appreciate my own journey.
There is a cortex episode on the 2024 yearly themes with a lot of very good insights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXexYmOHkas Some useful notes: As usual, a theme is not a goal, it's a...
There is a cortex episode on the 2024 yearly themes with a lot of very good insights.
Surfacing metrics in a very accessible way makes introspection easier, which makes it easier to stick to the goal
Around 27 minutes CGPGrey talks about how he worked on his health during the year, and how finding how to make the timing for exercise be compatible with his schedule was a learning process. He says ultimately he had to choose between having it be the very first thing before work, or the very last thing after work. I have the same issue and will give it a shot... my brain works a lot like grey's, so I am hopeful this will help.
I have also decided to lock in the theme to "well-being". Thank you for that, @lackofaname!
It's maybe a bit at risk of turning into a goal, but my so far my planned theme is Nihongo Jouzu. The actual phrase is a bit of a meme in the Japanese learning community. Literally it's just...
It's maybe a bit at risk of turning into a goal, but my so far my planned theme is Nihongo Jouzu. The actual phrase is a bit of a meme in the Japanese learning community. Literally it's just "good/skilled at Japanese". But the reason it's become a meme is that if someone is actually really good at a language, you probably don't start complimenting them on their language skills. So the actual stage where someone says "your English is very good" or "日本語上手" is usually a stage where you're functional but clearly not an expert at the language.
And really being functional in Japanese is sort of the target. It's another skill to bring up and some of the recent going ons in the world have convinced me that it's probably good to diversify a bit rather than just picking up another tech stack, and I've been learning this for 1.5 years now and am at the stage where I can handle material that's specifically aimed at beginners or kids, so the idea is to expand that into a broader range.
I have thoughts about what it means in terms of examinations or specific material I'd like to be able to manage it, but listing them would really turn them it into a goal.
For comparison, while it wasn't a theme in the Cortex sense, 2022 was effectively a year of Health for me as I got from overweight to healthy weight and took up some more activities, and 2023 was more a year of "taking things seriously" as there was a lot of stuff in my life I'd been just kind of bumbling along in that I wanted to sort out.
My theme for 2023 was authenticity. After months of umming and ahhing, I finally came out to my family in January and February, and have been using the guiding star of what feels like the...
My theme for 2023 was authenticity. After months of umming and ahhing, I finally came out to my family in January and February, and have been using the guiding star of what feels like the authentic "me" for the remainder of the year. I have become more comfortable in my personality and accepting of my flaws. I am much better at accepting that running out of spoons is just something that happens to me, and I will need to cut plans short or cancel them if I don't have enough spoons to get through the rest of the day. I have learned a lot of lessons, and continued to do so over the year. One of the more recent ones has been that I have been decelerating my transition a little for the benefit of my family, trying to keep them on board in baby steps. I decided to correct this over Christmas, and it's been a lot better: far fewer misgenderings, no cock-ups on my name, and above all I feel a lot more myself. All in all, authenticity was a really good theme for me, and I have learned a lot that I'll carry forward.
My theme for 2024 is going to be investment. I have been thinking a lot about the future, and want to set myself up for more success and stability. If anyone is familiar with Grey's Four Lightbulbs then my basic idea is to dim my hobby lights a fair amount, and brighten the social, work, and health lights in return. I want to get some IT certifications this year, and set the groundwork for getting a job with more responsibility and more pay. I want to start working towards buying a house so I can buy before my 33rd birthday in 2025, and make sure that I am saving enough for a pension. I want to make sure that I see my friends and family more regularly, and look after my body a lot better now that I actually like living in it. There are a lot of threads to all this, and it feels suitably broad to be a theme. As ever, it's about a lot of small decisions contributing to an overall change of direction. I feel very good about 2024, and I'm excited to carry the groundwork and improved mental health from 2023 into it.
I was a fan of your theme for 2023, and I'm a fan of your theme for 2024. Don't hesitate to tag or DM me if you want to talk about investment strategies. What is your job and what IT...
I was a fan of your theme for 2023, and I'm a fan of your theme for 2024. Don't hesitate to tag or DM me if you want to talk about investment strategies.
What is your job and what IT certifications are you eyeing? As someone working in IT (and employing people in the field), I do find most of them to be trash, with some very circumstantial exceptions.
Thanks! I batted a few different themes around, but "investment" was very much the one which had that tuning fork moment. For me it's less about investing money into the stock market (I don't have...
Thanks! I batted a few different themes around, but "investment" was very much the one which had that tuning fork moment. For me it's less about investing money into the stock market (I don't have the spare capital to do that at all meaningfully at the moment anyway), and more along the lines of investing in the skills and assets that will set me up for stability and security over the next decade of my life. That said if I do end up in a position where I am able to make a useful investment into stocks then I'll be sure to give you a shout, because I would be utterly lost at sea!
My job at the moment is "Junior Linux Support Engineer," and I would like in the next 5 years or so to be working in more of a systems architecture capacity. The vague plan for this year is to do a couple of AWS qualifications (Cloud Practitioner and Systems Operations Associate), Red Hat Certified Systems Admin, and Kubernetes & Cloud Native Associate. The AWS stuff is because at my company we lack a lot of AWS expertise, so I want to be able to step in and fill that niche, using it to negotiate a pay rise. RHCSA is because we're a Linux shop and my manager recommended to me that I should get it. And KCNA because we do a lot with Kubernetes, it's a tech that interests me, and I don't know anywhere near enough about it to be useful to a company yet. If you have any recommendations or anti-recommendations, I'd be glad to hear them!
Ha, I did understand financial investment but I definitely didn’t mean stocks either, that wouldn’t be my first stop for a “year of investment”! AWS certifications are useful for consultants, but...
Ha, I did understand financial investment but I definitely didn’t mean stocks either, that wouldn’t be my first stop for a “year of investment”!
AWS certifications are useful for consultants, but not really if you just want to be working at a company doing your thing. What personally brought me the most experience in system architecture was working at a startup and getting an accelerated crash course into “this is why you do metrics, this is how you read them, this is how you do them, and now you understand why the servers are burning you know how to rewrite it” kind of a thing. But yes, a certification would be a decent lever for a pay rise; I don’t think it would be necessary for it tho.
Hear me on this … play Factorio, if you haven’t already. A lot of factorio concepts are found in systems architecture and it’s a much cheaper way to learn it than risking the aws bill of a startup haha
Thanks for this! I'd given up resolutions a long time ago and tried to set intentions instead but I like going even broader. I need a good word though, so maybe folks can help. With my partner's...
Thanks for this! I'd given up resolutions a long time ago and tried to set intentions instead but I like going even broader.
I need a good word though, so maybe folks can help. With my partner's injury, and being a caretaker, and a recent promotion meaning we need to find a permanent place to live. I really want to reduce my extra spending, but more importantly, get rid of extra things. We currently have two storage units due to moving to the current apartment in some chaos, and just too much stuff.
I'm thinking "reduction" but IDK if there's a better word, "optimization" sounds a bit too buzzword for me.
"Less" seems good. "Downsize" is more active in my mind and would probably be my word if I were in the same situation. "Simplify" or "Streamline" might work for you too.
"Less" seems good.
"Downsize" is more active in my mind and would probably be my word if I were in the same situation. "Simplify" or "Streamline" might work for you too.
I hadn't heard of this before, thank you.
I never made resolutions because of the same reasons. I like the idea of the theme.
Looking back, I did set a theme at the beginning of summer: Health
I got a Garmin smartwatch and got back into running. I used to cycle a ton and ran some triathlons back before I had kids. While I had been lifting on and off for the past few years, my cardio was slowly wasting away. I wanted to get my body back in triathlon shape again.
And I did. And it feels great!
If I had to pick a theme for 2024 (because I have a feeling it will take more than just a season) it's going to be Relationships. I'm growing my consulting business that is focused on helping organizations clean up their accounting books, set up the processes to keep them clean and efficient, and understand the story behind their numbers.
To grow this business, I want to build more relationships with others who need my help or know somebody who does. My services don't make sense for everybody, but I have received referrals from my current clients, which is great! I just need to get myself out there more to grow in the right direction.
It's that time of the year again. Previous editions: 2022, 2023
The Theme System: https://www.themesystem.com/
The theme system, best explained in the video, is something I've been converted to a few years ago and which has radically changed my life since. My previous yearly themes have been "Body", "Finances", "Relationships", and "Focus".
This year went incredibly well for me. I started on self-control and shifted to focus after realizing a "more foundational problem" like CGP Grey says in the video. In this year of focus, I have gotten an ADHD diagnosis (obvious in retrospect), and recontextualized how I live my life under this. It's never been debilitating, in fact I have gotten very used to how my brain works and used it to my advantage all my life -- but this year, really understanding it lets me turn it into a superpower.
I have focused a lot on work, and found a way to tie my many projects together under a coherent plan. Narrowly avoided burnout. I've shifted focus on my existing company and grown it from 3 people to 20 people in the span of 5 months, all while creating a new startup and tied the two together.
As I'm going into 2024, I'm once again thinking about the state of my life - what I most desire to change about it. My focus on work has brought good things, but has greatly reduced my personal time and I have not been able to dedicate meaningful time to caring for my body. I don't rest enough, I don't play Beat Saber as I used to, I haven't put my skates on in over a year. I gained a lot of weight and I'm still addicted to food.
I'm not sure what my new theme will be. Should I do "Body" again and push my focus on getting back to where I was, forcing to make time for it? Or should I do "rest" and focus more on finding the time in the first place, making sure I don't burn out? I honestly don't know.
What's your theme going to be?
Thanks for sharing. I havent encountered this idea of themes before but I do know I hate setting specific goals and havent had a ny resolution in decades. Instead, I frame my interests in self growth around ideas or nice-to-haves. Im not sure I'll specifically try this method, but it certainly gives me something to think about in terms of tweaking my approach.
Maybe I'm totally offbase, but I feel like there's some commonality between your two themes of body and rest: wellbeing. Maybe a theme someth8ng along these lines would give you the flexibility of focusing on either physical or mental health as you feel you need?
You should research the 7 types of rest. Believe it or not, physical activity is a type of rest.
The way I understand the 7 types of rest, is basically doing the opposite of what you've been doing. If you've been sitting every day for a month, start doing yoga during your breaks. If you have seen the same 4 walls for a month, go for a nature walk, open the blinds when working, or move your office set up.
The 7 types are:
Physical - either exercise or stop moving depending on what you need.
Sensory - add new and uncommon smells, tastes, music, sights, etc to your day. Or, enjoy pure silence and a dark room.
Social - either spend more time with people who treat you well, or go for some "me" time by yourself. Maybe spend time with a pet.
Emotional - explore your recent emotional experiences. Watch a sad (or other kind of emotional) movie if you've had emotional constipation. Talking out your feelings works, too.
Mental - do a brain dump of all the things on your mind into a journal. Make to do lists so you don't have to keep remembering things. Offload trivial tasks to others you can depend on.
Creative - create more of the kind of things you want to create. Also, get away from the creative problem solving that comes with many stressful jobs.
Moral/spiritual - offer your time and effort to a cause you believe in. Charities, homeless or animal shelters, community contributions, etc.
I think I'm going to steal the year of "Focus" from you!
I've been struggling with what I think is ADHD for the whole year, keeping myself on track and task for things has become rather challenging (I'm procrastinating from many thing while I'm writing this) and the UK healthcare system for all its benefits has a several month waiting list for an ADHD diagnosis.
I have so many things I want to do or try, but they're stuck in limbo until I decide that I'm going to hyperfocus on them for a week or two and then drop them until they strike my interest again.
Going into 2024 I'm looking at (hopefully) a bit of a career change, and to get some long-term things rolling that I've been putting off for however long. Between the ADHD diagnosis, and getting myself to get these things started I hope that's going to fulfill what I've defined as the criteria in my head (but haven't written down). Also to catch up on my game backlog that's slowly getting longer and longer. That's a tertiary goal for the year though.
Well, I've had the best year of my life this year, so it'll be tough to pick a theme!
I'll go with health. I find myself anxious to hit "post comment" because I'm afraid to make it real, to make it a commitment.
I've always been naturally skinny so there has been very little immediacy in my desire to live a healthier lifestyle. As a person with ADHD, I usually need immediacy to get going on big things like this.
I feel weird spruiking it, but along with the themes is the journal that they sell. And while you definitely don’t need that exact journal, the idea of a journal is a great match with these themes, and you can probably pick up a basic journal or blank book or something similar for only a few dollars!
I think a big theme is very difficult to keep focus on, until you break it down into day by day, and just have that question/theme at the front of your mind several times a day. I think that’s why they have the journal, because if you make a daily commitment to reflect on your day in the context of the theme, then over time it will become subconscious that you’re asking yourself about your theme, or contextualising choices and decisions with that theme in mind.
You’re not gonna overhaul your life overnight, but if you reinforce an idea often enough, it will become easier and easier to bring it as a frame of reference to your decisions.
This will be my 4th year of a theme. 2023 was the year of new inspired by Beau Miles, 2022 was the year of "no" as I am a bit of a maximalist, and 2021 was the year of "little delights". This year will be the year of authenticity.
2024
I feel like I'd like a second reset. I think the first one was Covid where I learned what parts of my life were really important and what parts should be culled. A lot has happened since 2020 and I think it's time to decide what I should focus on more and what I should let go.
Review of years:
2023
This year has been an interesting one in regards to my theme. Every year brings new things but I've really tried to be intentional with new opportunities this year and at least try things I've been meaning to get to forever. The first one was trying out civic duty and joining the Planning Commission of my little town. I think it was a bit of a shock for city staff and other commission members as I'm at least 30 years younger than anyone else on the commission and one of 3 people that young on any commission or council. It's kind of been a whirlwind. I really regretted it for a while, municipal politics is well a little too bitter and petty for my taste, but I appreciate our city staff so much more and the folks who are really trying to make the community better. There is a collection of folks I've gotten to meet doing it who really do warm my little heart.
Hobbies was another big one for this year. I got into backcountry skiing (or I should say split boarding) and am trying to ramp up for some trips this season but am being held off by a lack of snow. Excited for Jan/Feb! I managed to deck myself out for pretty cheap late last season and am getting the safety stuff in the next few weeks (beacon, shovel...). The other main hobby, and the one that I've taken to the most, has been open ocean swimming. It took me a while to be ok swimming in deep water, doubly so when the visibility sucks, but I'm getting much more comfortable. I used to lifeguard and teach swimming, but in a pool setting so the I wasn't sure how well it would translate to the open ocean. Turns out, I'm like a fish in water (pun intended). It's changed my whole routine from waking up groggy at 8-9am to feeling refreshed at 7am. It's also gotten me a lot closer to a few friends and some community members I didn't know before. It's been great! I had planned on trying out golf, but that will have to wait until 2024.
2022
2022 had mixed success and was a tough year. Honestly I can't completely remember why, but man I remember being at the end of the year and just wanting it to be over. I ended up over extending myself quite a bit (the whole point of the year of "no" was so that I didn't) and took on a bunch of extra work to try and get our startup off the ground (that did work!). I'm incorporating more of this into my life now, but I'd say iti didn't initially take.
2021
Oh what a year. I had graduated out of a masters program with the plan of starting a company in 2020 and ran headlong into Covid budget freezes. It was a tough year but my take away was that happiness could still be summoned through small delights. The idea came from a [This American Life episode](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/692/the-show-of-delights I think everyone should listen to. So while company funding struggled for half of the year, I found purpose and happiness in small things/activities. I started foraging heavily for mushrooms, seaweed, really anything in our local ecosystems. I started biking more heavily and started timing myself for small wins on short sections. I started writing stories and learned the history of our local area. I started setting routes at the local climbing gym and reveled in the joy of a good set and happy climbers. It was a really great time.
This year I had dual themes: the first half for me was Travel, the second half was Health.
I spent my first half of the year going to Europe and Asia on solo trips which I really loved, and I started my 2023 partying with strangers in Iceland. After getting back from Japan I didn't have many plans afterwards, which means I had more time to focus on my own health, and I've lost 30 pounds since August!
Next year I'm starting my year in Korea and doing some more traveling, and also continuing my weight loss journey, but I'm adding a third theme of Celebration. I have about 4 weddings to attend next year, of which two of them I'll be a part of the wedding party! I figure I'll take the time to celebrate my friends, and celebrate myself as well, and take the time to appreciate my own journey.
There is a cortex episode on the 2024 yearly themes with a lot of very good insights.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXexYmOHkas
Some useful notes:
Around 27 minutes CGPGrey talks about how he worked on his health during the year, and how finding how to make the timing for exercise be compatible with his schedule was a learning process. He says ultimately he had to choose between having it be the very first thing before work, or the very last thing after work. I have the same issue and will give it a shot... my brain works a lot like grey's, so I am hopeful this will help.
I have also decided to lock in the theme to "well-being". Thank you for that, @lackofaname!
It's maybe a bit at risk of turning into a goal, but my so far my planned theme is Nihongo Jouzu. The actual phrase is a bit of a meme in the Japanese learning community. Literally it's just "good/skilled at Japanese". But the reason it's become a meme is that if someone is actually really good at a language, you probably don't start complimenting them on their language skills. So the actual stage where someone says "your English is very good" or "日本語上手" is usually a stage where you're functional but clearly not an expert at the language.
And really being functional in Japanese is sort of the target. It's another skill to bring up and some of the recent going ons in the world have convinced me that it's probably good to diversify a bit rather than just picking up another tech stack, and I've been learning this for 1.5 years now and am at the stage where I can handle material that's specifically aimed at beginners or kids, so the idea is to expand that into a broader range.
I have thoughts about what it means in terms of examinations or specific material I'd like to be able to manage it, but listing them would really turn them it into a goal.
For comparison, while it wasn't a theme in the Cortex sense, 2022 was effectively a year of Health for me as I got from overweight to healthy weight and took up some more activities, and 2023 was more a year of "taking things seriously" as there was a lot of stuff in my life I'd been just kind of bumbling along in that I wanted to sort out.
My theme for 2023 was authenticity. After months of umming and ahhing, I finally came out to my family in January and February, and have been using the guiding star of what feels like the authentic "me" for the remainder of the year. I have become more comfortable in my personality and accepting of my flaws. I am much better at accepting that running out of spoons is just something that happens to me, and I will need to cut plans short or cancel them if I don't have enough spoons to get through the rest of the day. I have learned a lot of lessons, and continued to do so over the year. One of the more recent ones has been that I have been decelerating my transition a little for the benefit of my family, trying to keep them on board in baby steps. I decided to correct this over Christmas, and it's been a lot better: far fewer misgenderings, no cock-ups on my name, and above all I feel a lot more myself. All in all, authenticity was a really good theme for me, and I have learned a lot that I'll carry forward.
My theme for 2024 is going to be investment. I have been thinking a lot about the future, and want to set myself up for more success and stability. If anyone is familiar with Grey's Four Lightbulbs then my basic idea is to dim my hobby lights a fair amount, and brighten the social, work, and health lights in return. I want to get some IT certifications this year, and set the groundwork for getting a job with more responsibility and more pay. I want to start working towards buying a house so I can buy before my 33rd birthday in 2025, and make sure that I am saving enough for a pension. I want to make sure that I see my friends and family more regularly, and look after my body a lot better now that I actually like living in it. There are a lot of threads to all this, and it feels suitably broad to be a theme. As ever, it's about a lot of small decisions contributing to an overall change of direction. I feel very good about 2024, and I'm excited to carry the groundwork and improved mental health from 2023 into it.
I was a fan of your theme for 2023, and I'm a fan of your theme for 2024. Don't hesitate to tag or DM me if you want to talk about investment strategies.
What is your job and what IT certifications are you eyeing? As someone working in IT (and employing people in the field), I do find most of them to be trash, with some very circumstantial exceptions.
Thanks! I batted a few different themes around, but "investment" was very much the one which had that tuning fork moment. For me it's less about investing money into the stock market (I don't have the spare capital to do that at all meaningfully at the moment anyway), and more along the lines of investing in the skills and assets that will set me up for stability and security over the next decade of my life. That said if I do end up in a position where I am able to make a useful investment into stocks then I'll be sure to give you a shout, because I would be utterly lost at sea!
My job at the moment is "Junior Linux Support Engineer," and I would like in the next 5 years or so to be working in more of a systems architecture capacity. The vague plan for this year is to do a couple of AWS qualifications (Cloud Practitioner and Systems Operations Associate), Red Hat Certified Systems Admin, and Kubernetes & Cloud Native Associate. The AWS stuff is because at my company we lack a lot of AWS expertise, so I want to be able to step in and fill that niche, using it to negotiate a pay rise. RHCSA is because we're a Linux shop and my manager recommended to me that I should get it. And KCNA because we do a lot with Kubernetes, it's a tech that interests me, and I don't know anywhere near enough about it to be useful to a company yet. If you have any recommendations or anti-recommendations, I'd be glad to hear them!
Ha, I did understand financial investment but I definitely didn’t mean stocks either, that wouldn’t be my first stop for a “year of investment”!
AWS certifications are useful for consultants, but not really if you just want to be working at a company doing your thing. What personally brought me the most experience in system architecture was working at a startup and getting an accelerated crash course into “this is why you do metrics, this is how you read them, this is how you do them, and now you understand why the servers are burning you know how to rewrite it” kind of a thing. But yes, a certification would be a decent lever for a pay rise; I don’t think it would be necessary for it tho.
Hear me on this … play Factorio, if you haven’t already. A lot of factorio concepts are found in systems architecture and it’s a much cheaper way to learn it than risking the aws bill of a startup haha
Thanks for this! I'd given up resolutions a long time ago and tried to set intentions instead but I like going even broader.
I need a good word though, so maybe folks can help. With my partner's injury, and being a caretaker, and a recent promotion meaning we need to find a permanent place to live. I really want to reduce my extra spending, but more importantly, get rid of extra things. We currently have two storage units due to moving to the current apartment in some chaos, and just too much stuff.
I'm thinking "reduction" but IDK if there's a better word, "optimization" sounds a bit too buzzword for me.
Maybe just a year of "less"?
"Less" seems good.
"Downsize" is more active in my mind and would probably be my word if I were in the same situation. "Simplify" or "Streamline" might work for you too.
Thanks, thinking about framing my year and season both. I may stick with "Less" and make seasons a bit more specific!