2020 Recap

2020 was full of lots of change and lots of family.

Well, that was a disaster. I have nothing meaningful to say about our collective experience. It’s well documented.

I reckon my personal experiences weren’t covered by the media. My dad’s cancer returned. My cousin had major brain surgery. My mom was stranded in Seattle. My sister had her first kid. My car caught on fire while I was driving it, and a week later I had a second kid. 2020 was a challenging year.

Sufficed to say, I didn’t make tremendous progress on my goals. But it’s worth reflecting on the year and staying optimistic for the future.

Partial Successes

• Read 26 books (4 related to a creative hobby). I read over 50 books, none of which were related to creative hobbies. Frankly, I didn’t have great outlets for creativity, but I did need distractions. I read some amazing writing: two gripping Pulitzer Prize winners, books about war and race and politics, and lots of science fiction and fantasy to escape from the dystopian horror surrounding us.
• Visit family 4x times. I got to see my family three times. I flew twice. Once, before the US shut down, I flew to Phoenix. My family rallied around my cousin who had a stroke last year. The stroke revealed a severe brain abnormality, and he was trying to get it fixed at one of only places in the country that would attempt the surgery.
  
  During the COVID dip in September, we flew our toddler and newborn across the country to meet my dad. It was a hard decision, but with cancer, healthy months are precious, and my dad was feeling good. We didn’t want to miss the window.
  
  In between, my mom flew to Seattle. She came to help out with our toddler and newborn, and as cases rose, she was stranded. It was unexpected, but good to have her around. I haven’t spent that much time with my mom in years.
  
  Honestly, these visits weren’t enough. I’m angry that COVID robbed me of time with my family.
• Keep a bullet journal task list 9/12 months. I was mostly successful. I have task lists from January to July (7 months). In July, we had another kid, everything past that is a jumble. I tried to resume journaling when I returned to work, but I wasn’t disciplined. I didn’t reflect on the month, and I didn’t migrate my tasks. I’ll try again next year.
• Structured workdays / work weeks (3mo). In an effort to maximize my time at the office, I set aside time to prepare for meetings and handle the minutia of work: emails, expense reports, etc. I blocked off an hour at the beginning of the week, 30 minutes at the beginning of each day, and 30 minutes end of each day.
  
  Structure helped. Meetings were more productive. I followed up on loose threads at the end of the day. But as soon as we started working from home, my work life bled into child care time, and it was harder to maintain discipline.
• Time track at work (1mo tracking, twice this year). I tracked my time for four weeks in February. It helped me understand myself better. Here’s an example, I originally thought that a full day of 1:1s would help me focus my time. I learned that a full day of meetings kills my ability to pay attention and be creative. It makes me worse at managing and doing individual work.
  
  I made changes to my schedule, but soon after we entered work from home. My schedule was unstable, and it didn’t make sense to do another month of tracking. It would be hard to compare work situations before and after COVID. That said, tracking was useful. I learned good lessons about myself and my work habits.
• Regular upper body workout class for 3mo. I started boxing. I took 2–3 classes a week in January and February. In March, the gym closed because of COVID, and I haven’t taken an in-person class since. I hope to return some day, but that might be a while from now.

Failures

• Run a marathon. Tightly packed crowds of people breathing heavily for four hours… seems like an activity for the before times. While I didn’t run a marathon, I did run. I ran a lot. I ran shorter distances (3–6 miles) almost every day. At the beginning of COVID running outside was eerie, almost post-apocalyptic. There were no cars on the street and very few people walking outside. I miss those times.
• Measure self 1x / week. When the lockdown started, I started running more. I was in great shape, and it was fun track progress. However, as the year continued, my energy levels waned. By the time we had our second child, tracking stopped.
• Cook lunch or dinner twice a month. This should have been easy, I was at home all day. I had time but no motivation. I rationalized eating out by claiming that I was supporting local businesses. Honestly, I ate out because restaurant food is delicious, and I was exhausted.
• Write post about cancer. Writing is hard, and this is the third year I’ve failed to meet a writing related goal. Maybe I just like the idea of having written, or maybe there have been good reasons why I don’t prioritize creative goals. Either way, I need to reflect on what will actually work before I set goals for 2021.
• Take a class. With schools shut down, taking in-person classes was impossible. Online courses aren’t same. I tried. I still want to take a class, but at this rate it’s gonna have to wait til 2022.
• Open mic standup (6 times). I’m sad about this goal. I had delusions of grandeur. Folks would find me hilarious, and I’d be that standup guy who used to be a computer guy. There is a real niche that I could fill. Sadly, starting a stand up over Zoom seems extra difficult. Thanks for ruining my dreams COVID.