2018 GHDR Review 1

This is my first official checkin for my 2018 GHDR as I am following Dave Seah’s masterful plan. Since I’ve been doing weekly reviews, or at least inventories, I think I at least have some fodder for this review. Overall, I feel pretty good about the past month. I’ve been trying to do about a million things, but I’m mostly staying true to my goals.

Reminder of my 2018 Goals

My resolutions for the year broadly fall into categories: [H]Health, [F]Friends and family, [I]Intention, [M]Money, and [E]Engagement.

• I resolve to eat food that makes my body happy [H]
• I resolve to regularly go to the gym with friends [H,F]
• I resolve to run or walk intentionally at least 4 times per week[H]
• I resolve to do one thing with friends or family every month [F]
• I resolve to conduct a weekly review session where I summarize what I’ve done and how I’ve felt about it and where it is taking me [I]
• I resolve to conduct a monthly review of my progress on these goals [I]
• I resolve to make some kind of income and track it each month [M]
• I resolve to stay engaged and contribute to the communities that I have found [E]

What I did last month

At the very least, I think I touched each of these. That’s probably good for me.

• [H]ealth: I ate healthy foods all but four days in the last month - on those days, I had cookies or waffles, something benign, but not healthy for me. I did intentional walks with the amazing Cupcake (my dog) all but one day; we only ran once. I did not make it to the gym at all. That is unfortunate because I really need to do weight training; I think the cold, windy, generally yucky February weather was a hugely contributing factor in my not wanting to walk to the gym at night.
• [F]riends and family: Again, no gym. However, I did several fun things with friends and family over the last month. Highlights include: Halestorm concert last night!!!!, hiking Jimbayama, and sutra writing with zazen meditation and Dokuonji. While I did many things, and they were great, I only had a quality focused time with two people (retreat and dinner). I’d like to find a way to give more people, especially those closest to me, that direct and focused time.
• [I]Intention: I’m not sure here. I have been doing weekly reviews, and I’ve been logging my coding actions, mostly, but I don’t feel like I’m really improving here. Maybe I’m doing too much inventory and not enough reflection. Inventory is certainly easier, and it seems like the logical first step in intention and reflection, but I need to find a way to layer on the next steps. This review is part of that; just wrestling with my uncertainty seems useful somehow, but not the end.
• [M]Money: This is a little fuzzy. I pretty much put everything that is somehow contributing to business development in this category, but I am pre-launch, so it is a lot of work for a future payoff. I have been fairly consistent with my Open Collective work, which does provide some actual income. I think that I have focused substantial effort in this area, again because I am pre-launch.
• [E]Engagement: I did all sorts of engagement. I was active in the Moms Can Code group; I worked on my CNC2018 blog more challenge; I published a few things on dev.to; I uploaded repos to github; I engaged with folks on twitter. Generally, I still feel like this is hard to quantify, but I am engaging and feeling connected. As of yet, this hasn’t gotten too out of control like I thought it might. I am still looking for a better way to engage with twitter to see more relevant posts without spending hours clicking through different people and lists.

I also worked on things that will never make any money or fame or any normal motivations but might help someone - like the Challenge Study app. And, I felt great about getting both the dog and the cat to the vet for their annual checkups - that seemed like a huge effort even though it wasn’t really.

Insights

My goals/resolutions are heavy on the health, friends and family, and intention sides because those are the things that I thought I struggled with most for consistency. I still thing that is true, and it feels as though my struggles are even more specific. I am consistently (like once a week, rather than once a month) doing something fun with friends and/or family, but I am not consistently spending quality time with specific important people in my life. I am going to need to amend my list to add a specific targeting. For example, I’d like to do something with each kiddo and with my husband, alone, each month, at least once. Maybe I’ll try adding that. Along the same lines, I’m doing smashingly at eating healthy foods and avoiding alcohol, keeping my body happy - even though I make treats for the kiddos all the time; in opposition, I’m doing poorly at getting to the gym. Not once since I started have I been. This one doesn’t lend itself to adding a goal; perhaps I need to think about future me more often. How is this action/inaction going to impact future me? I shouldn’t dismiss the needs of future me, I love future me and want her to be happy and healthy.

Overall, I guess what I am learning is that I still need to hone in on some of my goals to shape my life more in the direction that I want to head. I’m happy with this insight because it seems like I am doing okay, and I can feel good about that, while I can identify particular actions I can take to do better.

Looking forward

The next month is HUGE for me. While there are not really any more things going on than usual, I have gifts-done launch day on 3/31. That makes me excited and nervous and a whole lotta other feels. Kiddo sports are also pretty active this month, so I’ll be cheering. March brings in a couple of seasons with first track meets and first baseball games, and it includes more swim meets, which are a staple of our lives. Other than those obvious changes, I’ll continue to work towards my goals. Here’s hoping I see the inside of the gym soon or reevaluate my health goals.

Goals I’m adding

• I resolve to do one thing with each member of my family individually every month [F]