It’s 3:09 pm, New Years Eve, 2024. I want to avoid the trap of making a bunch of hardcore resolutions that I’ll bail on in one, two or three months time. Somewhere in the back of my lizard brain I know that I’ve done that more times than I can count. In the spirit of trying something new I’m going to create some ‘North Star’s’ that I can put my energy into getting closer to in the new year. I’ll build out my strategies as the days and months progress, but for right now these are the things that I’m aiming for.
Build a Healthy, Strong, Flexible Body
I made a fair amount of progress in 2024 towards being healthier, especially in the last 6 months. I lost most of the pandemic weight and built a solid exercise practice. I stopped eating anything after dinner, which essentially resulted in a 12/12 intermittent fasting cycle. I cut out sugar from my diet, and almost all bread and rice. All of that feels really good, and I can highly recommend those as solid steps to take if you’re trying to make changes around your health.
As to exercise, this is my current exercise routine:
- 1 hour strength training at the gym / Upper Body (Day 1, Day 3, Day 5)
- 1 hour Zone 2 cardio (Day 2, Day 4)
- Two days rest (Day 6 & 7)
For 2025 I want to further refine and add to what I’m currently doing with regards to exercise. Here are a few things that I’m considering adding in:
- Add one ‘ruck’ per week. This means walking outside with a weighted backpack. I have the 25L Rucker 4.0 from GoRuck. When the weather was good I was able to get in a few of these once in a while, but I want it to be a consistent part of my routine no matter the season.
- Add lower body strength training. The dreaded ‘leg day’. I hate doing it, but I know I need to make this a part of the week.
- Add short sessions of high intensity cardio. I want to work out how to improve my VO2 max capacity safely.
- Add flexibility / mobility / agility training. This needs to be a high priority. I’m stronger, but creakier than ever! I SO miss hot yoga and the beloved yoga studio that was 10 minutes from my apartment! RIP Bikram Yoga Harlem!
As I look over this list I realize that it’s going to be challenging to make some or all of those happen. I know from past experience that it’s easy to plateau when it comes to fitness. You find something that works and you keep doing it, even though you’re no longer improving. Over time this leads to boredom and before you know it you’ve given up on the thing that gave you gains in the first place. My fitness journey this year is going to revolve around crafting strategies to make sure that doesn’t happen.
Build a Better Brain
I want to be sharper than I currently am. Smarter. Quicker. More erudite. I want to care for my brain better. I want to be more discerning with the things that I put into my brain. More deliberate. Garbage in, Garbage Out and all that. My idea is to build some type of consistent small practice that involves things that will make my brain better. Things that will help delay cognitive decline as I go forward. Here are some ideas that I’m kicking around.
- Play sodoku regularly, and learn solving strategies
- Solve crossword puzzles
- Learn the algorithms for solving a Rubik’s Cube
- Play other games that improve cognitive function
- Develop a consistent meditation practice
- Read deeply and take notes / write synopses of what I’ve read
These are just a few of the ideas that I have. The trick as always is to break these goals into habits in order to make them a reality. That’s the work for 2025.
Deepen / Enlarge My Social Network
I am so incredibly grateful for the friends and family that I do have that love and care about me. I suspect that some of you might be reading this now, and for the record: You mean the world to me.
For the new year I want to take actions to both strengthen the bonds that I have with current friends and family, and get out of my comfort zone in order to make new friends. I have a couple of ideas in mind… (Mahjong sounds like it might be a fun way to kill two birds with one stone… make new friends and keep my brain from rotting on the vine…), but I don’t want to say too much about this goal quite yet. It’s still percolating in my brain, and I want to avoid getting the endorphin hit from saying I’m going to do a bunch of stuff and then not do it. I’d rather show than tell.
Make More Things / Develop My Career
This is the area of my life that it seems as though I’ve been trying to figure out the longest. You’d think at this point I’d have this all locked in, but if I’m completely honest I don’t. I have a bunch of skills and interests that I’m working to integrate into a larger cohesive whole. This is the goal that is the most ‘squishy’ at this point, and is another one that I want to avoid over promising / under delivering on. I know that the thing that I want to do the most with regards to my career in 2025 is overcome my fear. I want to let go of my perfectionism and make things and then put those things into the world. Consequences be damned. For now I’ll just say that I’m going to do my best, and I hope to share the fruits of my labor in the months to come.
Keep Writing Monthly Essays / Broaden My Reach
I suppose this could have been filed above under ‘Develop My Career’, but I needed a way to end this little collection of words so I’ll put it here. One of my goals for this newsletter is to help the people that are reading it. If all goes well on the ‘Make More Things / Develop My Career’ front then I hope to be sharing those ‘things’ with you here in the future, but I don’t want this newsletter to be just glorified marketing. Knowing that I have to write something every month that people might actually read is a bit intimidating (and honestly also kinda scary!) but I want to keep doing it. I want to keep sharing the things that I’ve learned with you. So that’s one of my final goals for 2025: To keep showing up here each month and hopefully creating value for more and more people.
In signing off for now I’d like to say that it’s my sincere wish that every one of you finds a way to be more creative in your own lives, even if it’s just a little bit each day. May you find joy & may you find equanimity.
Let’s all make 2025 our your best year yet!