2022 began a few days ago. It is the 4^th of January today. I love New Year’s. It always feels like a fresh chance to do it all over again. A fresh season. Another take.

This year I truly want to make it count. I want to push myself. I want to be highly functional. I think my word for the year is ‘driven’. Although many more words still come to mind. So I have set some goals for myself and I wanted to share some of them on this blog for accountability. They are achievable yet would require a high level of discipline. So here goes:

Data Science and AI projects– I want to work on six Data science projects, publish them on Github and write articles about them on my https://ech-21.medium.com/ blog. The end goal is to have a data science portfolio that will land me a consulting job, a collaboration or a sponsorship in the Data Science field.

Books– The goal is to read 20 books this year. This is a tough one considering I did not finish reading any book in 2021 (one of the failures of 2021 by the way). I want to challenge myself this year.

Writing– if there is something therapy helped me with, is to embrace my writing talent. I cannot believe I said it out in public, that my talent is writing, something I have always shied from. I will write about this one day. I don’t even understand how this came up in the therapy sessions. Damn the therapist was good!

My goals for writing this year are big. I have two blogs, this one that we share with Pattie and my https://ech-21.medium.com/ blog. I plan to post atleast one article in each blog every fortnight. I hope I can do more than that.

I also started journaling at the end of 2021 and I want to continue journaling throughout 2022.

Spirituality – This is very tough for me. For a long time now, years even, I have not had a spiritual side. Before that I struggled a lot with spiritual concepts and beliefs. Eventually I decided to stop bothering with it altogether. Again when I went for therapy last year, my therapist took me through why it is important to connect with your spirituality and how it helps to center a human being. I honestly don’t know where to begin with this but I truly want to explore this part of my life. So for a start I want to go to church at least twice a month then we’ll pick it up from there. Baby steps. I have not been to church in years. I hope I can pick up on meditation too.

Fitness– I want to work out atleast 4 times a week. It can either be at home or at the gym. This year I want to learn more about yoga and to master atleast 2 difficult poses. I also want to go for more hikes this year.

Financial– I want to save a lot more this year. I have a number that I want to achieve this year.

Morning routine- Another thing I learnt from therapy is the importance of having a morning routine. I have always tried to have a morning routine but in 2021, the routine was none existent. I would just roll out of bed and somehow get to work. My goal this year is to have a morning routine that makes my day start of pleasantly, makes me feel calm, purposeful and grounded.

Adventure– I want to do at least one new thing this year. Maybe go somewhere I have never gone to or learn a new skill. I might finally take a painting class this year! We’ll see.

2022 let’s go!

Feli