Personal Goals Review 2022 #4 (the finale)

As has been my habit for a few years, at the end of 2021, I set out some personal goals for 2022, which get reviewed every quarter. Links to previous reviews in 2022… #1, #2, #3. Here goes for the end of year review.

Here’s the TL;DR summary from the spreadsheet I’ve set up. I achieved 4 goals. I missed the reading target for the first time in 4 years.

Details on progress….

>> Read 50 books. Achieved. I read 44 books this year.

I had a few sub-targets:

Read three Victorian classics. Missed. I read zero. Last year I managed to read two. I think I need to get an early start in 2023 if I intend keeping this sub-target.

Read three books to educate myself more about race. Missed, I read two: Natives by Akala, and Belonging by Katherine Jacob, Sue Unnerman and Mark Edwards.

Finish the Biography of Ceasar. Missed — again! Didn’t even read a single page.

How did the 44 books break down?

• I read 20 authors for the first time. I also read multiple books by the same author this year; 3 x Bill Bryson, 2 x Michael Connelly, 2 x Sebastian Faulks, 2 x Kasuo Ishiguro, 2 x Fredrik Backman.

There were:

• 24 novels — top picks: The Little Friend by Donna Tartt, A Man Called Ove and Britt-Marie Was Here, both by Fredrik Backman and Where My Heart Used to Beat by Sebastian Faulks.
• 5 leadershippy/healthcare/technology books — top picks being Transforming Health Care by Charles Kenney and The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni.
• 4 books related to my Christian faith. Since 2021 it has been my aim to read one a month, so missed that target by a mile again this year.
• 2 books widening my knowledge about the experiences of racism and what I can do to support.
• 9 random non-fiction — top picks: Why we Sleep by Matthew Walker and How to Make the World Add Up by Tim Harford. I also enjoyed three Bill Bryson books- At Home, Down Under and A Walk in the Woods.

>> Summarise 100% of non-fiction books read. Achieved. As per my habit for the past few years, the summary is simply a three-sentence summary on the index card I use for a bookmark.

>> Cycle 4000 miles. Achieved. Cycled 4,153 miles, ran 122 miles and the hiked 130 miles. Having spent a lot of last year not able to cycle with a broken collar bone, it was great to get back and get a lot of miles in spring and summer as part of training for an event called Pure Peak Grit, which I did in September, which is claimed to be THE HILLIEST LONG DISTANCE CYCLING EVENT IN THE UKm during which I cycled 393 miles over a 60 hour period and climed 1.5x the height of Everest.

The graph below shows Strava’s calculation of fitness level based on heart rate and recovery times. I’m pleased to have got back to some level of fitness this year and will look to push on in 2023.

>> Cycle a Gran Fondo each month. Achieved (sort of). I did 14, but mainly in the warmer months.

>> Write 10 Blog Articles. Missed Target. 8 published. The most popular one was Reflections: 12 months into Group CDIO role with over 539 views on Medium.

>> Get 2,000 Twitter Followers. Missed. I have 2,213 followers as at 1/1/23.

>> Get to my target weight. Missed Target. Did quite well as I headed towards Pure Peak Grit and then went into reverse. My only consolation is that I’m not as heavy as I was this time 12 months ago.

>> Write weeknotes. No target (intentionally). 45 done this year. Managed to do one for every working week.

>> Write two “Thought” Pieces. Missed. I only wrote 1thing that could be a potential candidates for this category: Reflecting on 4 years of weeknoting. I did also enjoy talking to Doug for his piece A healthcare CDIO’s unexpected path to interim CEO.

>> Write some software. Achieved. I wrote a small utility app that I’ve used to help me with some research. I also helped my son with his Python stuff for uni, which still gave me a lot of satisfaction.

Other metrics:

• Gigs attended: 3— Lone Lady at Record Junkee, The Big Moon and LostBoy, both at the Leadmill and both making it into “new fave band” categories.
• Football Matches attended in person: 9. 7 x Boston United + Chelsea vs Chesterfield and England ladies vs Austria Euro 2022 match.
• Trips to cinema: 1 Fantasic Beasts 2.

Conclusion

Loved being back on the bike this year and having a big event to train for.