personal development

Yearly Review 2021

— 2 min read

It’s again that time of the year when we should take a look at the rearview mirror and see what happened (and if those are the things that should have happened).

Year in Numbers

At some point during the year, I realised that I find no joy in collecting all the data I used to collect. More importantly, I noticed I did not look back at the numbers nor did I make any changes or decisions based on the collected data.

All the data is meaningless unless put into proper action.

In any case, here are some numbers collected from various apps and sources (which admittedly, was a bit more laborious than last year):

  • Daily average 7639 steps. Multiplying that with 365 we get in a total of 2 788 235 steps. Slightly less than in 2020, but only slightly.
  • 215 workouts, however, that includes all the workouts, such as walking, stretching and walking. If we only look at strength training and calisthenics, it was 72 workouts. Less than I’d like, however overall I moved more than the year before. For 2022, more strength and calisthenics workouts.
  • Meditated 905 minutes, which is a bit lower than the year before.
  • I read 6 books.

What went well

  • Was more physically active and moved more than in 2021
  • Seen some positive physique changes despite working out a bit less (but focusing on eating more)
  • Towards the end of the year joined the gym from which I got more motivation and consistency in my training
  • We’ve made positive changes to our eating habits & been consistent with those throughout the year
  • Got a good amount of reading done
  • Got married and organised a superb event
  • Had a very nice summer holiday & honeymoon trip around Finland
  • Survived and inevitably grew professionally; The most challenging year in my career so far in many ways
  • I had a blast “Small Christmas” party with friends

What didn’t go so well

  • I did not work out as much as last year and many strength-related goals I set for this year were not achieved
  • I almost completely ignored this website and any blogging activities
  • Did not put enough time into practising programming and thus not achieving my goals
  • I forgot to follow and keep track of activities I set for this year, for which reason most of those were not fully achieved

Wrapping thoughts

So what did we learn for 2022:

  • If you set goals, remember to track the progress on a weekly and monthly basis
  • Now that activity levels & nutrition are on a good track, more focus on strength training consistency
  • If last year was more about “surviving” professionally, let’s be more deliberate this year when it comes to career progression and professional life

Even though I feel I did less of the things this year and/or not so much as I planned in early 2021, this was quite an eventful year with plenty of good things happening. Naturally, most of the year was coloured by the wedding with all the things that needed to be done both pre-and post-event.

With this, we move onwards with 2022. Time to take a good view on what I want to get out of this year and put some goals (and tracking process) in place. One of those should be related to this website.

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