December 29, 2019 YearPlanReport
My life is boring. Unlike many previous years, when I either moved a country, got a newborn, changed a job, or travelled tons of countries, 2019 turned out to be unremarkable in so many respects. I do not know if this could be because of not having a clear plan as I usually do (see my reports and resolutions for past years here) or if this is because of becoming older and less ambitious. Hoping my 2020 is going to be way more exciting and positive! Wishing you a very happy new year!
Let me try to pull out at least something of notice for 2019:
Bad things:
While some of those good things might seem interesting or even inspiring and some of bad things might not sound too horrible, I hate to celebrate. Problem is that I do not feel any progress in this year whatsoever. One intriguing thing that I came to realize is that I do have resources (relative youth, great health, some money) allowing me to do so many things, but sadly I cannot do everything I want and, maybe, I shouldn’t. Let me bring a quote from one of the books I read recently:
… you can have just about anything you want, but not everything you want. Maturity is the ability to reject good alternatives in order to pursue even better ones.
Ray Dalio, Principles: Life and Work
This is so sad! We don’t know what is right in this life and there is no “start over” button, at the same time “game over” is coming for everyone.
So what’s up for the year 2020? A change! I don’t want any more children as two are already giving me hard time, but I don’t mind changing something about my work, learning something new and exciting, traveling somewhere exotic, or coming up with some fun that makes me and others happy.
Motto for the year 2020: “Break the records!“
Last updated 1 April 2020
Ok, these are 24 items. The goal is to complete at least 12 of them. Obviously some are more important and challenging like work related change and some are way less important and easy like learning to walk on hands, but, as a matter of fact, 92% of new year resolutions fail, so promising to do >=50% of the list might be a reasonable approach.
Dear reader, what’s your plan for the year 2020? Do you have one? Is it achievable and specific enough so you can keep yourself accountable?
CanYouGuess, uncover! :) Based on your IP you are very likely someone I know. Asked 12 20 people already and almost out of guesses by now.
Hello, Andriy! If a person sets goals – he fights …
Want to be more productive? Get up as early as possible, for example, at 6. Work in the morning, and after that there is a lot of time to implement your plan.
Hi Mykhaylo, thank you for your comment! Well, I tried waking up early in the morning (5AM-6AM) in 2019 for few months. Unfortunately this is very toxing for me as I am probably a natural night owl. I used the early time to do my workouts, runs, but focusing on mental activities during early hours is difficult for me. I tried same thing few times other years always failing in it. Maybe will give it another try this year, but very skeptical. Thanks for the suggestion though!
Sleeping 8-9 hours and do all the rest of the stuff you mentioned? That’s going to be tough, especially with no more than one cup of coffee :)
Thanks for the comment. I’m now reading the “Why We Sleep” (recommended by Bill Gates) – it says that sleeping enough is exactly the way to do many things and avoid health problems in future.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/34466963-why-we-sleep
Q: “the shorter your sleep, the shorter your life. The leading causes of disease and death in developed nations—diseases that are crippling health-care systems, such as heart disease, obesity, dementia, diabetes, and cancer—all have recognized causal links to a lack of sleep.”
Feeling more at home than in Austria, ha?
I don’t make NY resolutions because I’m pretty impulsive and my wishes and goals change pretty quickly, but if I get passionate about something, I work hard and get it, no matter what and doesn’t matter if it was in the list in the beginning of the year. Feel your personality, do what you feel like doing in this minute, don’t put yourself in a cage of pre-written list and maybe you will feel happier and less disappointed at the end of the year.
Sadly you didn’t mention any things regarding kids, in one of your previous year-summaries and plans I saw “2 hours with kids a day” or something like this. Here you only mentioned they’re giving you a hard time. All other goals in this post are about yourself only. But maybe it’s the idea actually?
Would be glad if you told me the kids are without doubt in the plan and didn’t need to be mentioned.
But that all above is just my humble opinion, everyone can do whatever he or she wants (as long as not bounded by the circumstances and personal responsibilities and not restricting the freedom of others)
Hi, my AnAustrian friend! Unlike CanYouGuess I know who you are.
>Feeling more at home than in Austria, ha?
That’s right. Not sure if this is because I feel more comfortable with English or if this is because effectively everyone in Canada is immigrant of some sort and no-one looks at you as if you are a foreigner. At least I don’t feel myself a foreigner. Having few more friends won’t be a miss. It takes time to build good friendships.
Being somewhat impulsive is part of human nature. If we didn’t have feelings and didn’t ride through emotional roller coasters we would just merely exist, so in that sense I do agree with you that goals and wishes change. Mine are not set in stone and I would change them if I would feel I need to. Also, I’m only committing to 12 points out of 24 so most likely I will be leaning towards those that I like more.
Thanks for bringing up important points here. I’m not too comfortable about publicly setting goals for something that is family related and sensitive. Setting goal to spend time with kids is a bit weird, but I do not deny that I’m not the greatest father and that I need to work on myself in that regard. I’ve just edited the post to include bullet point #1. Not that I didn’t have that in mind, but explicit point would make it more prominent.
But that all above is just my humble opinion, everyone can do whatever he or she wants (as long as not bounded by the circumstances and personal responsibilities and not restricting the freedom of others)
The part in brackets is very interesting one. Reminds me of the harm principle though you are making it slightly more strict. The other form I heard of was “you can do anything as long as it is legal and moral”, though then we have questions of what is legal (as it is defined by governments) and what is moral (as it is defined by society norms of where and when you live and of your upbringing). This is too philosophical to even entertain on, I personally hate being restricted by any circumstances even if they are inevitable. Unfortunately this also makes me feel guilty and somewhat depressed.
We shall have a chat next time I meet you in Austria, or in Canada? :)
Oh, I’m so glad that you’ve guessed! Didn’t know you could see my email though 😆, but no worries, I wasn’t hiding.
I think you like challenges, so let’s get even and make this comment harder than just guessing who I am..
here you go.
Es freut mich, dass du dich in Kanada nicht als Fremder fühlst. Englisch hin oder her, das ist gut und wichtig, damit man auch glücklich wird. Jedenfalls würde ich dem vielleicht nachgehen, damit ich für mich persönlich definieren könnte, was genau dieses Gefühl in mir hervorruft. Wäre für die zukünftigen Entscheidungen mal wichtig.
Freunde.. ja, ein Thema für mich auch. Man muss in die Beziehungen viel Mühe stecken, zahlt sich auch nicht immer aus.
Weiter. 24 Punkte in die Liste reinschreiben und sich nur zu den 12 zu comitten? 😆 Na geh, es wäre für mich den ganzen Aufwand nicht wert :) ich lass dort lieber 2-3 stehen, dafür soll ich voll dran bleiben!
Und weißt du was? Diese 2-3 sind ja eigentlich schon längst definiert worden, und die bleiben auch immer in der Liste, egal welches Jahr wir draußen haben. Das Problem ist nur, dass man sie quasi nie abhacken kann, da es sehr langfristige Projekte sind.. und ja, schlafen sollte man ja auch irgendwann mal, da gebe ich dir voll Recht.
Alles andere sind eher Kleinigkeiten, schön, wenn das Abhacken dich glücklich macht (macht es dich wirklich? Und wann bist du erfolgreicher und zufriedener – alle 24 Bücher gelesen vs. 3 von 24, dafür aber richtig tolle?), mir kommt das allerdings ziemlich trocken und formell vor. Nicht alles kann man mit Progress Bars messen..
→I personally hate being restricted by any circumstances even if they are inevitable.
Oha. Wow. Echt jetzt?
Wie ist das, wenn es solche Umstände sind, die du dir mal selber ausgesucht hast?
Warum wünscht sich der Mensch immer etwas, was er nicht hat bzw. warum will er das nicht mehr, auf was er vorhin ganz leidenschaftlich war?
Würde gerne mit dir weiter so plaudern, aber ich fürchte, wir werden noch die Pläne fürs Jahr 2021 online besprechen müssen 😅
I hope it wasn’t too much ;)
Wish you a nice evening (yes, now is evening in Austria;))
Thank you for your comment. You are bringing quite few important points here again.
SMART Goals and Numbers
12 out of 24. Call me a soft person, but setting an overarching goal of 12/24 gives be flexibility to slightly deviate between goals depending on preferences and unforeseen circumstances. Hell, by the end of 2020 I want write “I completed my NY resolution!” unlike majority of people who come up with resolutions and fail (92% resolutions fail). If I fail, I will have to acknowledge and learn from it, but as of this writing I’m fully determined.
Goals have to be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-related) – and this is exactly how I tried to structure them. I do the same with my goals at work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteria
Quantity vs. Quality
With 0 quantity there cannot be any quality. So when you say reading 3 great books instead of some 24 could be better value, I think it could be the case, but it might as well not be the case. How do you know you read great books? Who decides quality? Isn’t it a reader? And if you only pick very few, how do you know you are not missing out on some great ones? Just so that you don’t think I’m stubborn to finish the book if I hate it just because I need to have a “check”. (Well sometimes I’m, but not always).
Sleep
I just finished reading “Why we sleep?” 1/24. It is a great book. I mentioned it in earlier comment and will most likely have a post about it soon. Our health, both physical and mental, depends a lot on having great night’s sleep. Just think about kids who don’t get enough sleep. Adults are the same, though we are slightly better at suppressing our display of emotions. The book argues that other than health, having enough sleep makes you more productive even it may sound counterintuitive. More in coming blog post (will add a link when I have it).
Human Nature?
> Warum wünscht sich der Mensch immer etwas, was er nicht hat bzw. warum will er das nicht mehr, auf was er vorhin ganz leidenschaftlich war?
– Die menschliche Natur ?
I do actually think this is just purely part of human nature and we cannot do too much about it. Humans want to chase things they don’t have and once they have them they start focusing on new things and so on until we don’t care or die. If this wasn’t the case the humanity wouldn’t achieve so much.
> I hope it wasn’t too much ;)
No, it wasn’t :) I loved it.
1-Feb-2020 checkpoint
Blue – ahead
Green – on track, is not continuous effort
Yellow – behind
Red – near failure
1. [Edit 29Jan2020] Spend more quality time with kids in 2020 than in 2019 as measured by wife’s opinion
Yellow.
2. Travel a distant country (candidate New Zealand, other places count)
Green. No plan yet. A bit difficult time at work right now.
3. Write 24 blog posts, of which at least 12 are of a technical content
Blue: 3/24
4. Listen to/read 24 books
Green: 1 read, 0.5 of another
5. Run 52 times and take part in a race (candidate VanSunRun on 19April)
Green: 4/52 (signing up for VanSunRun)
6. Ski 12 days (night skiing after work counts)
Yellow: 5 days
7. Improve swimming by going 10 times to swimming pool (consider a course)
Green: starting later
8. Learn to walk on hands
Green starting later
9. Work out 104 hours
Green: 6 hours (11 times)
10. Gain another 7kg of pure muscles (70kg, BMI of 22, fat 11-15%)
Yellow: 62kg (need to add more intensity to 9)
11: Drive a racing car
Green: starting later
12: Go indoor climbing 10+ times, learn to do 5.10+ YDS and V4+ Hueco (USA)
Blue: 6 (seems like count is gonna be filled-in real soon, can do some 5.9 and think I’ve done 5.10; V3 also done)
13. Some adrenaline rush thingy (skydive, bungee, paraglide, etc)
Green: later
14. Learn a programming language (tiny project counts ~3 blog posts)
Green: chosen python as it is a very popular language and will is required for 15.
15. (re)-introduce myself to Machine Learning (basics + TensorFlow)
Green: went through TensorFlow recommendations and bought a book to kick-start
16. Sleep 8-9 hours, but learn to get up with damn alarm instantly (15 sec). This one might be the most challenging as this is a horrible habit of mine (hitting “snooze” for 2 hours)
Green: doing great on getting 8 hours of sleep, not so great with waking time except of some days
17. Limit read-only social media activities to 2 hours a week (scrolling Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/LinkedIn, excl. posting and messaging people) as to produce instead of consuming
Green: insta down to 30 min a day (still a lot but mostly due to heavy weekend use and chatting with people), not using Facebook almost at all, active at LinkedIn to get more connections, but really scrolling
18. Meaningful work related change
Green: have some interesting projects, cannot be shared publicly
19. Solve 100 leet code problems
Blue: ~30 done, will count later, current number of solved 489
20. Visit a tech conference and/or some tech meetup(s) (2+ counts)
Yellow: need to decide on conferences earlier
21. Quit regular money wasters (going out for lunch, 5$ coffee, etc, max 1 a week or 52 in a year)
Green: in Jan had no coffee I had to pay for, maybe had 2 lunches out, didn’t buy any crap
22. Reduce coffee (max 1 per day); best if I could go cold turkey
Green: having 1 coffee every day at home
23. Increase focus at work (track screen time and distractions)
Yellow: not too happy enough about this, but maybe because of work related distractions (they are probably work anyway… need to find a better way to quantify this)
24. Invest 20% more money in 2020 than in 2019
Blue: portion of my RSU started vested in Jan putting me ahead for that month
1-March-2020 checkpoint
Blue – ahead
Green – on track, is not continuous effort
Yellow – behind
Red – near failure
1. [Edit 29Jan2020] Spend more quality time with kids in 2020 than in 2019 as measured by wife’s opinion
Yellow – wife is still not happy.
2. Travel a distant country (candidate New Zealand, other places count)
Green. No plan yet, though things could go real fast.
3. Write 24 blog posts, of which at least 12 are of a technical content
Blue: 6/24 way ahead (~3 tech)
4. Listen to/read 24 books
Green: 4 read (Why We Sleep; Algorithms for Interviews; Competitive Programming Guide; Freakonomics) 3 in progress (***; Finite and Infinite Games; Deep Learning with Python)
5. Run 52 times and take part in a race (candidate VanSunRun on 19April)
Blue: 12/52 (signed up for VanSunRun)
6. Ski 12 days (night skiing after work counts)
Green: 9 days (3 left, hopefully can manage this season)
7. Improve swimming by going 10 times to swimming pool (consider a course)
Green: starting later
8. Learn to walk on hands
Green starting later
9. Work out 104 hours
Yellow: 13 hours (behind I need to increase length of workouts, as I somehow only do 20 min ones)
10. Gain another 7kg of pure muscles (70kg, BMI of 22, fat 11-15%)
Yellow: 62kg – damn stuck on 62
11: Drive a racing car
Green: starting later
12: Go indoor climbing 10+ times, learn to do 5.10+ YDS and V4+ Hueco (USA)
Blue: 9 times, done 5.10 and V3, working on getting to V4 level
13. Some adrenaline rush thingy (skydive, bungee, paraglide, etc)
Green: later
14. Learn a programming language (tiny project counts ~3 blog posts)
Green: started playing with Python
15. (re)-introduce myself to Machine Learning (basics + TensorFlow)
Green: Reading “Deep Learning with Python”
16. Sleep 8-9 hours, but learn to get up with damn alarm instantly (15 sec). This one might be the most challenging as this is a horrible habit of mine (hitting “snooze” for 2 hours)
Green: done great in Jan and Feb – it helps me a lot to reduce anxiety
17. Limit read-only social media activities to 2 hours a week (scrolling Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/LinkedIn, excl. posting and messaging people) as to produce instead of consuming
Green: insta down to 11 min a day!!! (weekends are still ~30 min), not using Facebook almost at all, active at LinkedIn to get more connections
18. Meaningful work related change
Green: …
19. Solve 100 leet code problems
Blue: ~33 done, will count later, current number of solved 492
20. Visit a tech conference and/or some tech meetup(s) (2+ counts)
Yellow: need to decide on conferences earlier
21. Quit regular money wasters (going out for lunch, 5$ coffee, etc, max 1 a week or 52 in a year)
Blue: in Jan had no coffee I had to pay for, maybe had 2 lunches out, didn’t buy any crap; In Feb quite coffee almost completely – still left room for 50 good coffees in the year
22. Reduce coffee (max 1 per day); best if I could go cold turkey
Blue: had 1 coffee every day at home in Jan; As of Feb gone cold turkey (1 a week option left)! hey!
23. Increase focus at work (track screen time and distractions)
Yellow: not too happy enough about this, but maybe because of work related distractions (they are probably work anyway… need to find a better way to quantify this)
24. Invest 20% more money in 2020 than in 2019
Green: portion of my RSU started vested in Jan putting me ahead for that month; Feb just regular contributions
1-April-2020 checkpoint
COVID-19 causing major disruption to this plan rendering some of the items impossible or alteration.
Blue – ahead
Green – on track, is not continuous effort
Yellow – behind
Red – near failure
1. [Edit 29Jan2020] Spend more quality time with kids in 2020 than in 2019 as measured by wife’s opinion
Green – wife is still not too happy, but due to COVID-19 I spend so much more time with kids.
2. Travel a distant country (candidate New Zealand, other places count)
Red. This might not happen – I was close to booking New Zealand trip when the hell broke loose.
3. Write 24 blog posts, of which at least 12 are of a technical content
Green: 6/24 exactly on target (~3 tech), March was not very good month for blogging
4. Listen to/read 24 books
Green/Yellow: 5 read (Why We Sleep; Algorithms for Interviews; Competitive Programming Guide; Freakonomics, Atomic Habbits (once again)) 3 in progress (***; Finite and Infinite Games; Deep Learning with Python)
5. Run 52 times and take part in a race (candidate VanSunRun on 19April)
Blue: 26/52 (signed up for VanSunRun). Running like crazy. Doing training for 44min 10K. VanSunRun cancelled due to COVID-19. I would still mark this completed if I just go a bit over 52 runs.
6. Ski 12 days (night skiing after work counts)
COMPLETED: 13 days
7. Improve swimming by going 10 times to swimming pool (consider a course)
Yellow: haven’t started yet, and there is a risk that pools won’t open this year? o_O
8. Learn to walk on hands
Green: April might be a good month to start
9. Work out 104 hours
Yellow: 17:10 hours (March +4:10), should have been at 26
10. Gain another 7kg of pure muscles (70kg, BMI of 22, fat 11-15%)
Yellow: 63kg – one might have thought that staying at home would help with this, but no. Need to exercise more for this to happen.
11: Drive a racing car
Green: starting later, hopefully this would still be possilble
12: Go indoor climbing 10+ times, learn to do 5.10+ YDS and V4+ Hueco (USA)
COMPLETED: 11 times, done 5.10 and V3, working on getting to V4 level. Haven’t done V4 yet, but I am counting this as completed anyway, once gyms open will continue going anyway)
13. Some adrenaline rush thingy (skydive, bungee, paraglide, etc)
Green: later
14. Learn a programming language (tiny project counts ~3 blog posts)
Yellow: started playing with Python, but not much progress
15. (re)-introduce myself to Machine Learning (basics + TensorFlow)
Yellow: Reading “Deep Learning with Python” (read few chapters), no practice
16. Sleep 8-9 hours, but learn to get up with damn alarm instantly (15 sec). This one might be the most challenging as this is a horrible habit of mine (hitting “snooze” for 2 hours)
Green: done great in Jan and Feb – it helps me a lot to reduce anxiety, March average 7:27 – need to add a bit to sleep.
17. Limit read-only social media activities to 2 hours a week (scrolling Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/LinkedIn, excl. posting and messaging people) as to produce instead of consuming
Green: insta was down to 11 min a day! but then due to COVID-19 is up to 28 min a day, not using Facebook almost at all, active at LinkedIn to get more connections (3.5K)
18. Meaningful work related change
COMPLETED: I just got promoted to SDE3 at Amazon (hoping to write a blog post on this).
19. Solve 100 leet code problems
Green: ~33 done, will count later, current number of solved 492
20. Visit a tech conference and/or some tech meetup(s) (2+ counts)
Yellow/Red: might not happen
21. Quit regular money wasters (going out for lunch, 5$ coffee, etc, max 1 a week or 52 in a year)
Blue: in Jan had no coffee I had to pay for, maybe had 2 lunches out, didn’t buy any crap; In Feb quite coffee almost completely, March went cold turkey and then started drinking coffee at home again – still left room for 48 good coffees in the year
22. Reduce coffee (max 1 per day); best if I could go cold turkey
Blue: had 1 coffee every day at home in Jan; As of Feb gone cold turkey (1 a week option left)! March started drinking coffee every day at home again (damn due to COVID-19).
23. Increase focus at work (track screen time and distractions)
Yellow: WFH isn’t so great for me as I have two kids running at home.
24. Invest 20% more money in 2020 than in 2019
Green: portion of my RSU started vested in Jan putting me ahead for that month; Feb just regular contributions; March invested lump sum of 10% of my base salary into this crazy bear market (call me crazy) maybe recession or depression is coming… if we all gonna die it won’t matter anyway
8-May-2020 checkpoint
COVID-19 causing major disruption to this plan rendering some of the items impossible or alteration.
Blue – ahead
Green – on track, is not continuous effort
Yellow – behind
Red – near failure
1. [Edit 29Jan2020] Spend more quality time with kids in 2020 than in 2019 as measured by wife’s opinion
Green – noticed that in April spent more time taking kids outside and reading some books to them
2. Travel a distant country (candidate New Zealand, other places count)
Red. This might not happen
3. Write 24 blog posts, of which at least 12 are of a technical content
Green: 8/24 exactly on target (~3 tech)
4. Listen to/read 24 books
Yellow: 5 read (Why We Sleep; Algorithms for Interviews; Competitive Programming Guide; Freakonomics, Atomic Habbits (once again)) 3 in progress (***; Finite and Infinite Games; Deep Learning with Python) – no progress in April
5. Run 52 times and take part in a race (candidate VanSunRun on 19April)
Blue: 38/52
6. Ski 12 days (night skiing after work counts)
COMPLETED: 13 days
7. Improve swimming by going 10 times to swimming pool (consider a course)
Yellow: haven’t started yet, and there is a risk that pools won’t open this year? o_O
8. Learn to walk on hands
Yellow: Haven’t started yet
9. Work out 104 hours
Yellow: 21:35 hours (April +4:25), should have been at 30
10. Gain another 7kg of pure muscles (70kg, BMI of 22, fat 11-15%)
Yellow: 63kg – truly plateaued here
11: Drive a racing car
Yellow: COVID meh… maybe some businesses will open soon
12: Go indoor climbing 10+ times, learn to do 5.10+ YDS and V4+ Hueco (USA)
COMPLETED: 11 times, done 5.10 and V3, working on getting to V4 level. Haven’t done V4 yet, but I am counting this as completed anyway, once gyms open will continue going anyway)
13. Some adrenaline rush thingy (skydive, bungee, paraglide, etc)
Green: later
14. Learn a programming language (tiny project counts ~3 blog posts)
Yellow: started playing with Python, doing TensorFlow Python tutorial
15. (re)-introduce myself to Machine Learning (basics + TensorFlow)
Yellow: Reading “Deep Learning with Python” (read few chapters), no practice
16. Sleep 8-9 hours, but learn to get up with damn alarm instantly (15 sec). This one might be the most challenging as this is a horrible habit of mine (hitting “snooze” for 2 hours)
Green: done great in Jan and Feb – it helps me a lot to reduce anxiety, March average 7:27 – need to add a bit to sleep, April – okish
17. Limit read-only social media activities to 2 hours a week (scrolling Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/LinkedIn, excl. posting and messaging people) as to produce instead of consuming
Green: same status as in March
18. Meaningful work related change
COMPLETED: I was promoted to SDE3 at Amazon (have a blog post on this).
19. Solve 100 leet code problems
Green: ~37 done, will count later, current number of solved 496
20. Visit a tech conference and/or some tech meetup(s) (2+ counts)
Yellow/Red: might not happen
21. Quit regular money wasters (going out for lunch, 5$ coffee, etc, max 1 a week or 52 in a year)
Blue: in Jan had no coffee I had to pay for, maybe had 2 lunches out, didn’t buy any crap; In Feb quite coffee almost completely, March went cold turkey and then started drinking coffee at home again – still left room for 48 good coffees in the year; half of April no coffee at all, then second half some home coffee
22. Reduce coffee (max 1 per day); best if I could go cold turkey
Blue: had 1 coffee every day at home in Jan; As of Feb gone cold turkey (1 a week option left)! March started drinking coffee every day at home again (damn due to COVID-19).
23. Increase focus at work (track screen time and distractions)
Yellow: WFH isn’t so great for me as I have two kids running at home.
24. Invest 20% more money in 2020 than in 2019
Green: portion of my RSU started vested in Jan putting me ahead for that month; Feb just regular contributions; March invested lump sum of 10% of my base salary into this crazy bear market (call me crazy) maybe recession or depression is coming… if we all gonna die it won’t matter anyway; didn’t invest in April other then regular retirement contributions
3 June 2020 Checkpoint:
Not too many changes. Almost completed all of my runs. Doing better on time with kids. A bit of progress on Python and Leetcode. Will do comprehensive checkpoint in July.
12-Sep-2020 checkpoint
COVID-19 causing major disruption to this plan rendering some of the items impossible or alteration.
Blue – ahead
Green – on track, is not continuous effort
Yellow – behind
Red – near failure
1. Edit 29Jan2020] Spend more quality time with kids in 2020 than in 2019 as measured by wife’s opinion
**Yellow** – Because of WFH and also because of a month of a break between jobs I thought of doing ok on this, though after asking my wife she says it is not enough :) so… yellow.
2. Travel ~~a distant country (candidate New Zealand, other places count)~~ somewhere far and for a long time.
**COMPLETED** Counting this as completed. We went on 2+ weeks road trip totaling 6.5K all over BC, and some parts of Yukon and Alberta.
3. Write 24 blog posts, of which at least 12 are of a technical content
**Yellow**: 10/24 behind (only 3-4 are technical); this means I need to do 1 post each week
4. Listen to/read 24 books
**Red**: Seriously behind as I only read 8 (Why We Sleep; Algorithms for Interviews; Competitive Programming Guide; Freakonomics, Atomic Habits (once again), Switch- How to change things when change is hard; The Phoenix Project; Feeling Good-The New Mood Therapy) 5 in progress (***; Finite and Infinite Games; Deep Learning with Python; Limitless-Upgrade your brain; Software Engineering At Google)
5. Run 52 times and take part in a race (candidate VanSunRun on 19April)
**COMPLETED**: 74+/52 – this one
6. Ski 12 days (night skiing after work counts)
**COMPLETED**: 13 days
7. Improve swimming by going 10 times to swimming pool (consider a course)
Red: Hard to sing up for swimming courses as due to COVID spots are limited and all booked months ahead. This one most likely will be a fail. Though I used opportunities to swim in leisure pools and lakes few times.
8. Learn to walk on hands
**Yellow**: Started training. Can do headstand for some 10+ seconds…
9. Work out 104 hours
**Yellow**: Behind, currently done ~35 hours; Need to do 30 min each day to keep up
10. Gain another 7kg of pure muscles (70kg, BMI of 22, fat 11-15%)
**Red**: 63kg – truly plateaued here; maybe if I do 9 with some protein… don’t know…
11: Drive a racing car
**COMPLETED**: Hooray: https://www.instagram.com/p/CEK9sSSjh_1/
12: Go indoor climbing 10+ times, learn to do 5.10+ YDS and V4+ Hueco (USA)
**COMPLETED**: maybe 20+ times, considering full membership, done 5.10 and V3, working on getting to V4 level.
13. Some adrenaline rush thingy (skydive, bungee, paraglide, etc)
**Yellow**: Haven’t done anything interesting. But can go bungee jump to make this count anytime :)
14. Learn a programming language (tiny project counts ~3 blog posts)
**Green**: started playing with Python, but now my new job will make sure I get to learn Go, C++, Python, and whatever it throws at me
15. (re)-introduce myself to Machine Learning (basics + TensorFlow)
**Red**: Reading “Deep Learning with Python” (read few chapters), no practice
16. Sleep 8-9 hours, but learn to get up with damn alarm instantly (15 sec). This one might be the most challenging as this is a horrible habit of mine (hitting “snooze” for 2 hours)
**Green**: In September I’m going to bet at 9PM and waking up at 5-6AM.
17. Limit read-only social media activities to 2 hours a week (scrolling Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/LinkedIn, excl. posting and messaging people) as to produce instead of consuming
**Green**: Good progress here. No facebook at all! Some instagram, but I”m now using Wellness apps to limit my time.
18. Meaningful work related change
**COMPLETED**: I was promoted to SDE3 at Amazon and moved to Google!
19. Solve 100 leet code problems
**Yellow**: behind with 37 done, will count later, current number of solved 496
20. Visit a tech conference and/or some tech meetup(s) (2+ counts)
**Red**: might not happen; need to lookup some virtual ones or give up on this
21. Quit regular money wasters (going out for lunch, 5$ coffee, etc, max 1 a week or 52 in a year)
**Blue**: in Jan had no coffee I had to pay for, maybe had 2 lunches out, didn’t buy any crap; In Feb quite coffee almost completely, March went cold turkey and then started drinking coffee at home again – still left room for 48 good coffees in the year; half of April no coffee at all, then second half some home coffee; Not spending money on coffee in September, but started buying useless things on Amazon. Another thing to tackle.
22. Reduce coffee (max 1 per day); best if I could go cold turkey
**Blue**: had 1 coffee every day at home in Jan; As of Feb gone cold turkey (1 a week option left)! March started drinking coffee every day at home again (damn due to COVID-19). In August maybe had 1-2 coffees, 1 in September so far. Really good. I think I lost my addiction, though would still love to taste it.
23. Increase focus at work (track screen time and distractions)
**Green**: As of 24th of August I’m working for Google. Still from home, but I improved my home office and I also wake early to avoid any kind of distructions.
24. Invest 20% more money in 2020 than in 2019
**COMPLETED**: portion of my RSU started vested in Jan putting me ahead for that month; Feb just regular contributions; March invested lump sum of 10% of my base salary into this crazy bear market (call me crazy) maybe recession or depression is coming… if we all gonna die it won’t matter anyway; didn’t invest in April other then regular retirement contributions. As of September maxed out my RRSP and added some money to my investments. Plus I got my next portion of Amazon shares which I didn’t sell.
Such an inspiring way of documenting your goals, achievements. I have read “You are the CEO of your life” and I can relate to it here. Waiting for your 2020 Recap / 2021 Plan.
| Markdown | Result |
|---|---|
| *text* | text |
| **text** | text |
| ***text*** | text |
| `code` | code |
| ~~~ more code ~~~~ |
more code |
| [Link](https://www.example.com) | Link |
| * Listitem |
|
| > Quote | Quote |
0 interviews given, really?
Well, depends on how to count. Recruiters reach out to me and I do talk to them occasionally. I would put number greater than 0 if I had passed or failed a complete interview in 2019. This didn’t happen. Hopefully you, CanYouGuess, were more active in 2019!
P.S. Have guesses, but cannot guess, please let me know once we meet or talk (if we know each other).