Even though – technically speaking – it makes no sense to wait for some specific day to make summaries, we are doomed to the yearly cycle. Being creations of nature, we live in iterations, just like everything else does. There’s day and there’s night, there are season of the year, and there are passes around the Sun we reset every 1stof January.
Let me share with you how I fared through last 365 days. Just to make it easier, let’s split it into three categories: Health, Wealth, Relationships. After all, they encapsulate everything in life.
Health
Interestingly, having a lot of gear meant for running, I gathered tons of actual data on that. All it took was a wi-fi body analyzer scale and a proper smartwatch. Let’s see the comparison.
29th of December 2017
- Weight: 94.9 kg
- Of which: 27.4 kg of fat (28.9%), 67.5 kg of lean body mass.
- Resting heart rate: 78 bpm.
- Clothes size: XL.
29th of December 2018
- Weight: 86.0 kg
- Of which: 16.3 kg of fat (19.0%), 69.7 kg of lean body mass.
- Resting heart rate: 63 bpm.
- Clothes size: M, unless buying Italian – then XL.
Difference:
- Weight: lost 8.9 kg. Wildly mediocre result.
- Of which: 11.1 kg of fat burned. That’s not a mistake – I gained 2.2 kg of lean body mass (muscles) in the meantime.
- Resting heart rate: down by 15 bpm. One of things that allowed me to run faster and longer.
One year ago, I was close to my historical low in performance and health. Today, I’m 100% certain I’m the best so far – and that I will be even better tomorrow.
What I did:
A lot of running throughout the year. I added some weight training in later months. Also, I hugely improved my diet – white carbs are almost completely off the table, replaced by lots of proteins, and vegetables. Sweetened drinks, chocolate, any kind of sweets – not an option, not anymore, forever. There’s literally nothing good in them. They are just poison, hidden within touchy advertising and some dopamine inducing sugar.
Wealth
One year ago, I concluded my training contract (teaching Agile to non-IT people – that was real fun!) and was about to start full time in-house coaching position at Collibra. As of today, I’m still with them – and happy to be! I even reduced all my other engagements to some early morning email support at a very limited scale.
I published three short e-books in 2018:
Failed Agile Transformations – my absolute bestseller for seasoned Agile practitioners. It became an overnight success after it was reviewed on LinkedIn by one of Agile industry’s finest, Adrian Lander.
Three Gifts of Agile (and its Polish translation) – affordable and accessible primer on how to use core Agile practices in any domain and industry. I’m now shooting video for Polish version of web-based training on that – coming soon! 🙂
Target, Theme, and Routine (Polish version available here) – this one covers the most important idea I ever got to realize – how to make your life fulfilled, without all the BS motivational speakers shovel into people. It allows people to see all three crucial factors combined – following your lifetime achievement (theme), while achieving goals (target), supported by daily activities (routine). If you were to read only one book this year, you’ll benefit from this one the most.
I shot and uploaded a series of YouTube videos – from Agile to personal development, each of them putting me in the spotlight, exposed and vulnerable. You can see clear steer towards more passive options – that is correct. I can provide invaluable service to virtually limitless businesses and people – yet, my day has only 24 hours.
Relationships
That’s the hard part. There was good, bad, and ugly – with the latter two directly attributed to no one other but me. I went through a breakup, a mature one, but very emotionally taxing nevertheless.
On the plus side, the relationships I have with my closest circle – my friends, people that support me, and others – hugely evolved. If it was gamified, I’d see “Level UP!” all across the screen. I’m truly astonished as I reflect on how that happened. More honesty? Deeper conversations? Huge boost of confidence? Realization of what I want to achieve and relentless push towards it? Destroying fear of success?
All valid options.
Unexpected caveat
As I was looking through my notes, fitness data, emails, and everything else, I found something staggering. Without a doubt, I made all these changes, achievements, and failures over 2018. Its distribution however, is something different. These things didn’t build up evenly through the year.
Putting it bluntly, it was all in final 2 months. That’s immediately after my big picture all came together, when I committed to it, and decided that failure is not an option.
In health, I mentioned adding some weight workouts. That’s a bit of an understatement. Since 11thof November, I train every single day. I had two off days in December, both conscious decisions to support my friends. Despite that, as I see these two gaping holes in my workouts list, I get mad. I could’ve done better. Interestingly, as I committed to this ridiculous training schedule, everything in my life improved.
In wealth, all the books were written and published throughout November and December. I worked on them in airports and on planes, then every morning, evening, and weekend. Then I pushed to work on web-based trainings. It will be fun.
In relationships, all the evolution happened in last two months as well. Once you know what you want, get an idea of who you want to be there with you, and start getting after it – things change.
Though it’s not that they change. YOU CHANGE THEM.
2019 is going to be fun. I will change my reality a lot more, now that I boosted to supersonic. If you think I’m pushing too fast, too hard, too boldly, if you think what I do is impossible, if you think I should slow down – well, watch me. Or come along.
And if you’re still waiting for permission to join me, read the following quote over and over again, until it imprints in your brain.
Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
Marianne Williamson