And so it begins, the first week of 2025

Okay, so this is it, the first week of 2025 is slowly wrapping up. That went by quickly. There’s not too much to write about in this post, the week went well, I did some reflecting and preparations and that’s about it (more on that below).

Looking back at 2024

The entire experience of 2024 made me want to take self-improvement seriously. It was a good year all things considered, it could’ve been way, way worse, but instead of focusing on how bad it could’ve been, let’s focus on how it could’ve been better.

Essentially, the biggest issue is that after getting my first job as a web developer I became way too comfortable. That comfort pushed me in a hole I could not get out of. Being an ambitious person in a rut is one of the worst feelings ever, it keeps eating you up inside. Every time you choose to do some random, mindless, time-wasting activity you feel even worse, your self-esteem takes a hit as well as your confidence. You end up feeling not worthy of success, or doing things that are good to you, which further increases the resistance, which then repeats the whole cycle.

2024 was a good year for me. I got my first job, which then enabled me to drop out of uni (I really hated uni with a passion). I also gained weight (which is a good thing, I used to be underweight my entire life), and started exercising regularly for the first time in my life, 7 months and counting! I also made some great friends along the way.

But, on the other side of that is a deep dissatisfaction. I want to be a disciplined person who also has a decent life. Great income, relationship, habits, hobbies and so on. In 2024 I was stuck in a cycle of procrastination and bad habits. All of it kept eating me up inside, as I knew I could do so much more. Apart from getting a job and exercising, those were the only two things I managed to hold steady the entire year. Everything else was full of things that in the end kept making me feel empty.

I’m a very lucky person. I’ve got great parents, a roof over my head (still haven’t moved out), a good job, good friends, healthy body, and a will to strive for more.

Habits for 2025 (1st Quarter)

I decided to set my goals and habits for each quarter of the year, instead of the entire year at once, starting with the first quarter and planning the next one at the end of the current one. This will make it look more “bite sized”, and as things don’t usually go to plan and goals can just change as time goes on, I don’t have to update the entire year, I can just plan the next quarter accordingly.

Calendar planning the week ahead

I’ve already been doing this for a bit, the only problem is that I completely ignore the calendar and do my days as I wish instead of following the structure I laid out.

3 day exercise routine (with more cardio)

As I mentioned already, I’ve been exercising regularly for about 7 months already, but I want to keep it up. Somewhere along the way I completely cut out cardio, so I want to introduce it back.

Reading every night

I want to read before bed instead of doing some random mindless thing.

Current book: Red Rising

Meditate every day (eg. after breakfast)

I feel like my attention and focused are fucked, plus I can sometimes get a little bit stressed and caught up in overthinking. Meditation should help. It doesn’t have to be after breakfast, as long as I do it once a day, even for a few minutes.

Stay focused on work

Strict no procrastination rule during working hours (I’m working from home, getting distracted while no one is watching is quite easy, m’kay?). Breaks are allowed of course, and encouraged. Working like a mad man for hours and hours will only make me less productive.

This will reduce the anxiety and guilt/shame, and it will free up time to work on my personal projects and goals.

Weekly review and blog post every Sunday

Yep, gotta keep writing blog posts every Sunday for this blog, that’s the entire point of it. It will serve as a weekly review too. However, I’m already doing weekly reviews with my lovely accountability partner. The blog posts will be more like a journal.

Better focus on diet

I’m doing well with exercising, but I’m not paying attention to my diet. I need to be more mindful of the calories I’m taking in, the macros and the food I’m eating.

Goals for 2025 (1st Quarter)

Get Personal Project #1 to an MVP/Beta stage

I can’t use the actual name as it’d reveal too much information. It’s a bit of a large project so I’m giving myself until the end of Q1 to get it to an MVP/Beta stage, it sounds reasonable.

Read 6 books

This ties to the habit about reading I wrote above. I’ll have about 2 weeks to read a book. Sounds like a lot but the whole point of this is to push myself.

Have all blog posts for each week written and published

Self explanatory, ties to the habit I wrote above.

Reach 30 kg on the bench press

Not a one rep max. I want to be able to do at least 2 sets of 10 reps with this weight.

Reach 40 kg on squats

Same as above.

How I set my goals

I watched Ali Abdaal’s video on goal setting. It inspired me to set goals in quarters, and to write them down. I first wrote them down by hand in my notebook, then I extracted them into Obsidian as it’ll be easier to look at them and keep track. It has also inspired me to do weekly reviews and keep track of how I’m doing with each goal/habit.

How I reflected on the past year

I followed Chris Williamson’s yearly review template, it did take some time, especially as I did it in my notebook by hand, but it was worth it. It helped me outline what things were a waste of time and didn’t make me happy, and what things were valuable and did make me happy. Based on that I compiled this list of habits and goals.