Goodbye 2022, Hello 2023
Hey folks! Happy New Year! As I write this post, we are already well into the new year. In fact, we're approaching the end of January!
This past year, I began the year on the right foot. I began the year by reading Atomic Habits, a book about habit forming and especially about promoting good habits in your life. It was a good foundation to start the year on because it sort of calibrated my mind to focus on achieving things through creating habits - which is a wonderfully sustainable way to approach one's goals.
Damola Mabogunje
That said, I didn't achieve a 100% win ratio with my habit forming. It was a bit of a bumpy ride - starting and stopping and starting and stopping again. Certain things stuck, while others didn't. For example, the book-writing habit I created by going to my terrace whenever I wanted to write creatively was short-lived. I loved it while it lasted, but after a few months, it petered out.
Similarly, my journalling habit which I had actually kept up all through 2021, died. Somewhere in the middle of the year. I think this is because I tried to do too much with it, and strayed from my every Sunday formula. This year I think I'll be returning to the tried and tested approach of reading my bible on Sundays, and journalling the same day. Instead of the everyday Bible reading I tried but failed to keep up last year.
Speaking of reading, I was able to hit my target of 8 books read throughout the year. The titles I read ranged from self-help to fantasy fiction and a few others in between. You can always check out the books I've read under the "Books" topic on this website.
Authors
I also kept up with my regular anime-watching, although I must admit that I didn't recommend up to half as many as I watched. The few I did recommend, I strongly suggest you check out for they made it to the top of my head despite everything else I had going on. And of the things I had going on, we can't forget Grandpa Mabogunje's Passing, nor my holiday on the Seychelles islands.
Shortly before the huge break that was the holiday, I had already started falling behind on my regular habits, but thankfully by the end of the year, I was able to get back on track. And with that, I think I have gotten everyone up to speed on what 2022 was like for me. So we can now collectively say goodbye to it, and look at the year ahead.
As has become my usual practice (even though this year is just the second time), this year I sat down with my mum for a strategy session on my future plans. We reviewed my vision, mission, core values, and purpose - and all of these things changed a little bit. Mostly because having lived with them for a bit, and having worked towards them, I had come to see a few ways I wanted to tweak them.
For example, my purpose which previously only spoke to a few of my skills, I now wanted to expand it to include all my skills and talents. And to my core values, I wanted to add "Curiousity." And for my mission which previously focused on my writing, I wanted to shift the focus to my Data Analytics portfolio.
These changes all came about as a result of having worked towards my original definitions, and they made me see that these things have to be "living definitions" that grow and change as you do. If I had not pursued my previous goals, I may not have felt the need for the changes I made. But because I did, I did.
So I face 2023 with a new plan in hand. And it is with this that I greet the new year. Goodbye 2022, Hello 2023!