I accidentally skipped resolutions last year because I was on an airplane on NYE, flying home with my new dog Leila. I accomplished a lot last year, such as running two marathons and taking about 39 minutes off my time (4:43 => 4:28 => 4:04). I also lost another 12 pounds and found another new job. (Long story, don't ask.)
This year, I've got several goals.
1. VISA!!! For real this time. It's been on my annual to do list since 2022 now.
2. Investment strategy. Since moving to London I am not sure what is a legal and tax-efficient way to invest, so my money has stayed in cash. We sold the house on December 31, so I have some cash in my US bank account that is going to depreciate if I don't do anything with it.
3. Buy a flat, or at least make a plan for doing so. Step 1 is meeting with a realtor. Viola has a referral for me.
4. Run my first ultramarathon. I'm signed up to a 55k in the alps in September. Scary and exciting!
5. Work harder, not smarter. A perpetual goal for me, but at this point with my current job, NOT doing it is going to make this job miserable to keep up with. I'd like to have the time and mental energy to do other things besides work. This means saying no to some things, being more focused when I'm at work, and getting better at being disciplined about checking in a lot with myself and team, and acting more as a consultant and architect, rather than indulging in long, uninterrupted, often inefficient focus blocks.
6. Make a new friend. I made some new running friends in 2023/2024, but I'd like to find at least one more so I have someone to do more things with and talk to. Maybe doing things that involve more proximity to other people, like guided trips or a club of some kind?
7. Strength training twice a week. I was SO good from ~May 2023 to August 2025. Then I started this new job and completely stopped. If I want to progress and not get injured running, this is way too important to ignore.
8. Skincare routine. I have spent a lot of money on treatments and expensive skincare, but I use the latter really inconsistently.
Things I'm considering adding:
9. Swim lessons. I am torn on this one because I don't love swimming but I'd like to be more prepared for Croatia this summer. I think I should commit to at least a 3-pack of lessons and see if I can get into it. Alternatively, learning a martial art or how to dance have always been goals of mine.
10. Potty-train Leila. It would be so helpful to keeping my house clean, being able to have people over, and travel with her. But realistically, being at work all day, I'm not sure how I can accomplish this.
11. Relax more. I don't have any TV/movie subscriptions right now, and I barely crocheted this year. Being single makes indulging feel less acceptable, and the dogs need a lot of monitoring so I can't crochet easily. Maybe I should have a weekly TV goal? Or podcasts? It sounds counterintuitive but the default downtime activity is now scrolling Instagram or using ChatGPT which both feel a little self-destructive sometimes.
12. Build my startup idea. I'm not committed to this one mostly because I feel so tired all the time, and this is trading free time now hoping for early retirement. I'm 39 so the next five years actually seems a bit better having more personal time and letting work be a 9-5 thing working for someone else (if I can achieve that, see point 5). But also the AI era rising, now is kinda the time to strike. So we'll see.
