This 2017 retrospective post is inspired by a couple of other blogs that I’ve really come to admire in the past year or so. James Clear and Chris Guillebeau are the two guys that have taken this Annual Review concept to a point of inspiration for me. Shouts out to the guys for continuing to march forward with their projects and doing so transparently.
What Did I Learn?
I learned that having a plan can be transformative, even if the plan changes. I learned that much of the strategy and tactics employed in my professional life can be readily applied in conducting my life as a totality with the right framework, energy, and follow through action.
I set out to achieve 82 distinct goals for the year, admittedly overboard – yet I nailed 42 of those goals that I set in January, 2017. I actually hit a much higher percentage of goals that manifested themselves over the course of the second half of the year – those are not included here in the initial count – as I ‘added scope’ throughout the year. I’ll take these results. At some point, I’ll share the 2017 OYM that I started off with…
- I learned that my need to perform is a blessing and a curse.
- I learned that my level of happiness is directly tied to the quality of the relationships I have in my life.
- I learned that we are all wired a certain way when it comes to emotions and feelings, and that this wiring is exactly by design.
- I learned that even when it is uncomfortable being vulnerable with ‘the feels’ – do it anyway.
- I learned that time is precious. Ensure those that you truly love and appreciate – know it, not just in a routine or expected manner – but in an ALL IN fashion. Every, single, day. This may be the biggest gift of my life in the past year – recognizing how precious our breathing minutes are and how we are prone to living ‘by default’ with our time.
- I learned that much of what I learned in 2017 – I had learned previously, and if not learned in earlier days, certainly in many cases – I had been previously exposed to..
- I learned that there is no such thing as coincidences. I have seen too many miracles in 2017 to question anything that is a blessing, and many times the things that are initially judged to be challenges – are only such because I judged them to be either positive or negative. Big props to Srikumar Rao for this.
- I learned that my health is directly tied to the choices I make.
- I learned that I had physical ailments as I entered 2017, and that the majority of the issues been completely obliterated. The ailments I had were degenerative. The bombs have been diffused, and the remnants of the issues are well in hand.
- I learned that I catalyze energy, and that that my energy levels can skyrocket into ‘a new level of unruly’ in the coming year.
- I learned that I enable potential via strong energy.
What Worked Well
Offsites – I took one true offsite for the year where I took a couple days on the beach by myself, and attempted to isolate myself from everyone in my life. What ended up happening is a key conversation with a very close friend, and meeting up with another close friend who happened to be in the same town randomly. I managed to conquer a few topics that I had been procrastinating on for months. I got very clear on the goals for the year, and locked in on slew of goals for the year that would form the basis for the year that I had. I was mentally exhausted after this offsite, but very relieved having done it. The mental cycles of avoiding the exercise I put myself through were cycles that I could pour into much more productive efforts.
Retreats – I deliberately built into my life at least ‘big weekend’ per quarter where I’d disappear and put everything on hold. This forced me to be much more productive with the weekends that I did have while also giving me something substantial to look forward to. The weekends were always exceptionally fluid, stress free, memorable, and rejuvenating on multiple levels. A true case of working hard balanced by playing hard. I always came back re-energized to push forward with my remaining efforts.
Health – A focus on getting my bloodwork done early in the year triggered all sorts of modifications in my lifestyle. It was an arduous journey with multiple tests, bloodwork runs multiple times in a few months, brain scans – seriously thorough stuff. Maybe I’ll detail this journey down the line – the point is that I had neglected doing some tests for a few years, this was the year where no stones were left unturned. I exited in December feeling much stronger than I have in at least two decades knowing exactly where I stood in terms of my health. Much more mindful about what I’m eating, sleeping, water quality, and general lifestyle choices – the energy is surging as I write this recap here in January. This was the goal of my offsite last January. And I’ve just gotten started.
Relationships – I’ve deepened and improved the quality of relationships in my life. This was a serious area of focus this past year, and the people that are closest in my life are certainly witness to the ‘What You See is What You Get’ attitude that has erupted across all DOLs. I’ve learned that relatedness is something to be very mindful of very late in the year, however the results of this learning have already juiced some of the most important relationships in my life. Definitely more to come on this topic in a future post.
Spiritual / Religion – I finally managed to become a regular church goer again. It took a bit of perseverance to get back, given a heavy dose of guilt given my chronic absence for too many years. The pull is real, and the response I got was ‘Welcome home, Mark.’ Exceptionally humbling, and strengthening as well.
What Didn’t Work Well / Trending Up
Sleep – My sleep still sucks. Duration is typically 5 hours a night, and the quality of sleep was typically of poor quality. The quality of sleep began to truly improve in November of this year in large measure due to a continued focus on nutrition, sleep hygiene recommendations, and a seriously strong tea that has had a transformative effect. In December, I had medical procedure in the back of my throat that is seemingly helping me out – although the jury is still out.
Finances – My income increased slightly, side hustles were largely non existent given the focus on my career / work DOL. My savings didn’t increase the way I had hoped, although I did end up buying a home in the second half of year. I’m still not sure how I managed to find the place at the price point, and pull it all together as seamlessly as it happened. Truly a miracle. Anyway, I’m not thrilled with this part of my life in 2017, and I’ve got some things in play to ensure 2018 is ramping on a variety of fronts in this space.
Energy Levels – For much of the year, my energy levels were uneven. My outlook was consistently strong and positive, but the energetic resilience I have historically had at what some have termed ‘unruly levels’ was not there consistently. I was told in February that my adrenals were fried, and that my diet was horrendous given my needs. I spent a tremendous amount of time focused on energy, nutrition, and the basics of life to recharge. By the time November rolled around – I was largely back – just in time for an incredibly tough stretch at work to deliver by end of year. We pushed through, and I had the reserves to drive the action with many on the team – all the way home. January is going to be spent leveling off and recharging, very hopeful on this topic
Key Metrics
Amount of Books Finished This Year
5 – I’m not including the Blinkist books that I listened to or the various books I’ve skimmed – only those that I’ve completed. Clearly, this is an area that needs to get some more focus.
I did take onboard a number of online courses, including a remotely delivered course from Stanford in Q1. I am looking forward to continuing to participate in some distance learning in my personal endeavors in 2018.
Workouts – Lifting
Jan – 25
Feb – 22
Mar – 26
Apr – 16
May – 15
Jun – 12
Jul – 15
Aug – 14
Sep – 16
Oct – 17
Nov – 14
Dec – 23
Total Lifts For the Year = 215
Arg Amt of Lifts Per Week = 4.13
Avg Amt of Lifts Per Month = 17.9
Personal Best Lifts
Squats 495 3 sets of 5
Bench – 235 3 sets of 4,5,4
Deadlift – 315 for 3
These numbers are a little lower than the reality of my actual lifting workouts for a couple of reasons. There were at least 3 weeks out of the year where I was without a tracking app or a phone that I could use to log my lifts. I also did not count lighter lifting days which were typical of work related trips where I’d lift, but the routine was an abbreviated session with lighter weights or shorter durations. I’ll take these metrics as satisfactory, as I deliberately dialed back the activity from April to Oct as I focused on recovering my energy/stamina. I definitely overtrained at the end of 2016 and into the first quarter of 2017.
Exiting the year, my strength was starting to return. My resiliency was back in spades, however the energy was overly directed towards my career/work life. Based upon my results here in January (where I’ve already set personal bests or tied my personal bests from last year – I’m back, and pumped in more ways than one.
Workouts – Cardio and Abs – I didn’t track my cardio activity or abs activity for the full year, so this is an empty cupboard in terms of real data. Thus, I’m leaving this out for this retrospective. In 2018, this will be getting tracked.
Energy and Action Content
Total Articles
27 – I wrote and published 27 articles over the course of the final three months
Avg Articles Per Month
9 – Over the final three months I averaged 9 articles per month being published.
Avg Articles Per Week
2.07 – I averaged slightly over 2 articles published per week, which was what I committed to delivering when I launched this.
Total Kits Published
0 – I did author a kit in 2017, but it doesn’t count here as it was held back for 2018.
Travel
Trips – work
30 trips – These were typically 3 days or less in duration with the vast majority as flights to the east coast of the US. This number is a drop-off from prior years. I expect to do a similar amount or less of work related trips in the upcoming year.
Trips – personal
I took an average of 1 ‘big trip’ per quarter that typically involved a long weekend to a remote location. The trips are defined as a drive longer than 4 hours or a flight to the location and it had to last longer than one day.
The trips covered a few different states domestically, and one international trip to visit a mentor of mine over a long weekend. The international trip to visit my close friend and mentor is likely a blog post unto itself. I witnessed first hand what a man can accomplish with sheer will and love over the course of that weekend. Yeah, there’s a post here.
Sleep (per Pillow and my Apple Watch paired up)
Avg Sleep Quality – 62%
Avg Time in Bed – 6.9 hours
Avg Sleep Duration – 5.4 hours
Total Sleep Sessions – 240
Total Hours in Bed – 1662 hours
Total Hours Asleep – 1296 hours
This data backs up my experience for much of the year where I was battling a few different issues involving my sleep patterns. I did not measure every single night, so the data is not 100% accurate for my year of sleep. However, I do think it is useful and indicative of my sleep patterns last year. I’ve got a number of posts focused on the sleep journey I’ve been on for awhile now. I fully expect these metrics to improve in the 2018 given the changes made in 2017.
