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I Hate New Year’s Resolutions, A Recap

I accomplished two of the four goals I set last year. I’m giving myself a break and still counting exercising ten times every month - February, March, April, June, July, and August had 2, 8, 2, 6, 8, and 8 workouts but the other months were 10, 17, 29, 34, 38, and 14 and that includes the final four months of the year. I also did a very good job at putting my personal devices aside, or at the very least using them considerably less, at night. I specify personal because I did find that I was working late at night much more often and that requires my computer.

I did not read five books… I did not read one book. I struggled with my nighttime routine and finding the right balance of spending time with my wife, exercising, unwinding, catching up on work, watching sports/tv, and trying to get to bed early.

I did not meditate fifteen times every month - or at least I didn’t intentionally do it. I know I meditate from time to time but it wasn’t something I gave enough attention to know if I did it or not.

Now for 2020:

  • Establish a better nighttime routine
  • Meditate fifteen times every month
  • Lose 20 lbs
  • Listen to music intentionally


There are repeats from 2019. They are repeats because I did not accomplish them but still want to.

I’m not calling out reading books but I do want to have a better nighttime routine. I’m classifying this as post 7:00pm when both of my children are generally in their rooms. Spending more time with my wife, exercising, reading, and getting to bed early are all things that would be positives. Mindlessly watching tv, staying up late, eating poorly, and staring at a screen would be negatives.

Meditating could fit in to my nighttime routine but I think it warrants a specific goal - it’s also something that I don’t necessarily have to do it at night. I will use the Health.app tracking of Breathe from my Apple Watch to monitor this.

I’m confident that I will workout regularly in 2020. I need to focus on my overall health, mostly my diet, so rather than setting a goal of exercise, I’m focusing on losing weight. I will exercise enough to lose weight but only if I eat better.

Music has always been important to me. I used to go to a lot of concerts and I love talking about music. My children have taken to wanting to listen to music as well (though their taste is questionable). Every time I start to read year-end lists of best songs and albums I always struggle to name my own. I want to spend more time reading about and listening to music.

There’s a lot of overlap with these goals and if I accomplish them I think that a lot of parts of my life will be greatly improved.

Hope springs eternal.

Happy New Year everyone.

PS - it is not lost on my that the previous post on this site is exactly one year ago. Hopefully that’s not the case in 2021.