Last week, between Christmas and New Year, I took the opportunity to complete a new version of the Yearly Compass (yearcompass.com). If you are not familiar with this compass: it’s a booklet in which you need to complete a bunch of questions with the purpose of closing the past year and planning the new year.
Although it’s only the second year in which I succeed in completing the booklet, I’ve been following the project already a few years longer: before I printed out the booklet, but eventually never really took the time to complete it. (with the poor excuse of always being too busy)
The first time I really completed it was in december 2020: with a lot of ambition and ideas on how I would tackle 2021, I wrote down all targets I wanted to reach and described the things I wanted to let go.
The booklet helped me a lot, as a guide in which I could lookup my priorities and which reminded on how I wanted to deal with my year. Exactly because of that help, I wanted to make sure to complete the booklet again by the end of 2021. Just to be prepared for 2022 and to write off any feelings of “unfinished business” I had for 2021.
Now, setting targets is one thing, but it’s also important not to get distracted on the path to your goals. This reminds me of a quote I heard for the first time a few weeks ago from a colleague, but that keeps on popping up in my head on a regular base: “When you are hunting elephants, don’t get distracted chasing rabbits“. I guess the idea behind this quote speaks for itself, but putting things into practice is something different. Nevertheless, it will be an essential part of my year 2022, if I want to reach the targets I’ve set for myself.
Over the course of the next weeks, I’ll share some targets, some intentions and some don’ts, as well as the progress that I make on these items. I’ve been thinking a while on whether or not I should publish these things here on this blog. After all, publishing them here means sharing some (very) personal ideas with the world. On the other hand, targets are much easier to reach and intentions are much easier to stick to, if you can be held accountable by someone. Of course, I have my wife and close relatives to who I can tell about my plans, so they can keep me accountable. But by publishing them online, I extend the range of people who are following my plans. This kicks the pressure of the responsibility and thus, the incentive for me to reach my goals.
So, I decided I will share the targets, goals and don’ts which are not too personal. Hope you’re with me 🙂
Well, let’s get started with the first important target: I’ve been ignoring my health and body too much in 2021. Truth be told, I was never a skinny guy, but as 2022 kicked in, the bathroom scale kicked me out and told me to make sure I get that weight below 110 kg again (and let’s put the challenge a bit higher: to get the weight below 100 kg again). So, that defines my first point of focus for 2022. I’ll share some insights on how to reach this in the days to come. For now, I will leave the the remaining pieces of Christmas pie for someone else ;-).
