January 2015 was supposed to be all about restarting. It felt more of like a month of “re-failing.” I suppose the good news is that I was more active towards completing my goals than I was in December, but I did not reach any of the levels I set.
I didn’t think my January goals were unrealistic considering that I had accomplished most of them them before. And then life happens, flu and colds go around, disruptive change happens, fatigue sets in, and accomplishing those goals without physical energy and drive feels impossible.
January Goal Recap
- Morning routine starting every day at 5:30 a.m. or earlier
- Hit about 50% them, but several days it was clear my body just needed extra rest
- YAYOG workouts at least every other day (no more than one day off between workouts)
- Better than December, far worse than November
- Difficult to maintain with huge energy deficits and other distractions
- Be less all-or-nothing in the future by something even if it is really easy
- Evening routine
- Hit about 25% of them
- Was not disciplined in making sure they got done or that I planned ahead to make sure they would get done
- At least 10 blog posts
- I didn’t do an exact count but I think I only did half of these. I think I’ll come close to this goal, but once again lack of planning and scheduling time was a culprit.
A New Job
One lingering item, in process from December, is that I changed roles at my company. I’m still with Red Hat (10 years and counting) and moved back to the Engineering Program Management team. I’m excited to dig back into a completely new product set in one of the newer business units in engineering–Storage. Ultimately I’m responsible for guiding and tracking the engineering product releases of Ceph and Gluster. I’ve spent the past four or more years working on OpenShift–first as program manager and then as a product marketing manager.
The opportunity to return to program management came out of no where. It required a sizable investment of time and emotional energy to meet with people on the product team and do my own soul searching as to whether it was the right next step for me. I’m confident it is, though I know it’s a decision that didn’t make sense to everyone.
February Goals
For February I’m considering working from a physical checklist each day. I’ve printed out a piece of paper that has boxes for each day and each thing I want to accomplish in a given day. I hope to review this page as part of my morning and evening routines and hope that by consistently reviewing it that will keep these things at the front of my mind and give them a better chance of getting done.
For a while I’ve had eliminating caffeine on my list of potential monthly challenges. I’m not ready remove that magic first cup of coffee in the morning, I’m reducing the amount of caffeine. I also want to drink more water and will increase the amount of water I drink first thing. I’ve found I have more energy on the days I drink a lot of water (lots–not just an extra glass).
Here are my specific February 2015 goals:
- 5 a.m. morning routine–one day rest
- 44 oz of water first thing (twice what I’m drinking now)
- Morning coffee 1/2 decaf
- Exercise at least 30 minutes a day (walking or YAYOG)–no more than two rest days in a row
- 20 minutes writing blog posts
- 15 minutes sorting or removing clutter from our house
- Go outside every day for at least 15 minutes
- Clean off my desk at the end of every day
- Evening routine
- In bed by 9:30 p.m.
I expect to have some missed days and rest days, but I’d like to be as consistent as I can. We’ll see if tracking and recording my progress each day provides any additional benefits or incentives.
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