2020: A Review

A review of my goals for 2020.

Last updated on 6 min read self-help, goals

2020: A Review

A review of my goals for 2020.

Kapil Earanky
Last updated on 6 min read self-help, goals

I set 21 goals for myself in 2020. In this post, I’m going to go over each of them and do a review asking myself 3 questions (where relevant):

  • Did I complete the goal?
  • What worked?
  • What didn’t work?

I also met a few goals that I hadn’t planned for too, I cover them in the unplanned goals section.

Planned goals

  1. Write 1 blog post every month

    • Did I complete the goal?
      Yes.
    • What worked?
      • Writing a blog post became a gateway to find new topics of interest. I wrote about investing, travel, quantum computing, among others. Writing helped clarify my thoughts.
    • What didn’t work?
      • Finding a right topic and getting into a flow state was painful. I need to find a dedicated time for writing every day/week.

  2. Try homebrewing

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • Nope, second year in a row.
    • What worked?
      • Nothing, just didn’t feel like it.
    • What didn’t work?
      • Other hobbies occupied my time.

  3. Learn technical and fundamental analysis

    • Did I complete the goal?
    • What worked?
      • A random walk down wall street helped me build my current investment portfolio.
    • What didn’t work?
      • Simply reading books/watching videos doesn’t get you far when it comes to understanding fundamental analysis. Have to get my hands dirty i.e. actually use fundamental analysis on companies in my portfolio.

  4. Reach out to one old friend every month

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • Partially. I reached out to old friends till July (7/12).
    • What worked?
      • This is a great way to re-connect with close-ish friends, who you’d get in touch with eventually at some point - through common whatsapp groups etc.
    • What didn’t work?
      • I kinda ran out of such close-ish friends by July.

  5. Go on 5 hikes

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • Yes. What else would I do in Corona.
    • What worked?
      • I naturally go on hikes, I probably don’t need a goal for this.
    • What didn’t work?
      • Not much. One way to make this more challenging would be to make them overnight hikes.

  6. Do 3 online courses

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • Yes.
    • What worked?
      • This is another excellent tool for discovering new interests. I really liked the Mountains 101 course.
    • What didn’t work?
      • I couldn’t complete ModPo because of time crunch. I do intend to take it again next year.

  7. Watch 1 documentary a month

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • Probably not. Twice in a row.
    • What worked?
      • Nothing really.
    • What didn’t work?
      • I tend to watch tv for relaxation, books for knowledge. Documentaries don’t fit in, unless they’re relaxing.

  8. Go to 1 meetup every month

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • No. CORONA!
    • What worked?
      • I enjoyed the JC Word bookclub meetup while it lasted.
    • What didn’t work?
      • The human immune system.

  9. Donate 250$ to NPR, NYPL, Nirmaan etc.

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • Yes.

  10. Do 1 DIY raspberry pi project

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • No.
    • What worked?
      • Nothing.
    • What didn’t work?
      • Other hobbies took up my time.

  11. Driver’s license

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • YES. FINALLY!

  12. Try kickboxing

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • No.
    • What worked?
      • Nothing.
    • What didn’t work?
      • Other hobbies took up my time.

  13. Try word bookclub in JC

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • Yes.
    • What worked?
      • Yet another excellent discovery mechanism. I tried the garbage water thursdays bookclub in Word, Jersey City until Corona struck. I would’ve never picked up the selections in this book club otherwise.
    • What didn’t work?
      • Covid. I moved on to the virtual MMD bookclub. Although, I’ve noticed it’s much easier for me to have a physical discussion than a virtual one when it comes to bookclubs.

  14. Watch all major sporting finals

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • No. Second year in a row.
    • What worked?
      • Nothing. I barely watched any sports at all this year.
    • What didn’t work?
      • There were few sporting events this year due to Covid. And even then I didn’t find them interesting enough.

  15. Brush my teeth at night every day

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • Mostly yes.
    • What worked?
      • Made it a part of my bedtime ritual.
    • What didn’t work?
      • Skipped it when I was too tired at bedtime.

  16. Visit 1 new National Park

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • No.
    • What worked?
      • Nothing.
    • What didn’t work?
      • Novel corona virus.

  17. Make one Instagram post a month

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • No.
    • What worked?
      • Nothing.
    • What didn’t work?
      • This was my attempt to be more social online. Turns out I only like to post stuff online when it means something. Posting at a cadence is not my thing.

  18. Write 200 words a day

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • Mostly, no.
    • What worked?
      • My method of implementing this was writing Dear Diary entries. I realized that whenever I did write these entries, they helped me introspect my day, and understand my feelings. It feels good to build a story of your day.
    • What didn’t work?
      • On most days I was too tired to write. 200 words seemed like a hurdle to undertake. I’m going to change this goal to Write for 15 minutes every day instead for 2021.

  19. Holiday in a new country

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • No.
    • What worked?
      • Nothing.
    • What didn’t work?
      • Bats.

  20. Read 12 books

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • Yes.
    • What worked?
      • Thanks to the lockdown, I was able to read 24 books this year.
    • What didn’t work?
      • Not much. But I’d like to improve my reading speed for 2021.

  21. Continue with improv/story-telling/sketch writing

    • Did I complete the goal?
      • Yes.
    • What worked?
      • I took Adam Wade’s story-telling class, and did a story-telling show. It was loads of fun!
    • What didn’t work?
      • Magnet moved to online classes due to covid. Will take more classes if they open back physically in 2021.

Unplanned goals

  1. Ran a half marathon

    • What worked?
      • I began running in March since that was the only option for exercise. I’m glad I stuck with it!
      • I followed Hal Higdon’s Novice-2 half marathon plan, and intend to run a marathon next year.

  2. Began playing the ukulele

    • What worked?
      • Yet another quarantine hobby. I did a few covers and I’m looking forward to learning to read tabs.

Summary

I achieved 11 out of my 23 goals this year, a 47% hit rate. It’s still an improvement over my 42% hit rate for 2019.

Here’s to a happy 2021! 🍻

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Kapil Earanky

I write about whatever I’m learning (amateur alert)