Another year is behind us, and in a blink of an eye we’ll be soon entering February, so it may be about time to have a look at how I did with my 2021 goals and what to focus on in 2022?
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2021: A Mixed Year
2021 was a year full of action in which several developments happened, while some of these were generous, others were not so warm-hearted.
I started the year with a lot of excitement after I had been “promoted” as a design manager in December 2020. It sounded like the perfect pre-Christmas gift. My professional goal at that time was to leverage up the number of designs we issue to manufacturing, to increase productivity while keeping quality standards at their best, to grow a collaborative team with optimism and to be on a constant search for improvement. All of this to help the company on increasing their profits and keep my bosses happy, which consequently means increasing my income, as we move on.
That was my initial mindset after all the BS meetings I had had with owners/managers. Soon I noticed that what the company wanted from me didn’t line up with my long term professional goals. Owners were after replicating my skills to someone else, trying to “make a copy of me”. I sensed lies were behind their fake words, as I found myself becoming more of a trainer rather than an actual manager. Disappointment+covid+lies+GF losing job+things I needed to do in Spain (=) equalled hasta la vista babies!
I gave in my notice and things after that worked out pretty well for me. I was offered to work remotely 100% from Spain, and that gave me the chance to keep my income levels as they were while I sorted out pending tasks in the peninsula (in which one of them turned out to be to propose marriage)
Now, all that sounds great, so then what’s the less warm-hearted part of the year, Mr Pepperoni?
Sadly, that was my mum’s worsening health condition. I spent most of 2021 trying to digest her terminal illness (and still kind of trying). That’s hard, but such is life!
The other bad bit was the fact that I didn’t manage to get a pay raise for the whole year, after a year with such high levels of inflation is not great. But, as the cost of living in Spain is cheaper, it’s not a fact that “cools down my heart” that much.
Lastly, numbers for 2021 are acceptable. I outlined some of these on my December’s update, but I shall check them out altogether with my 2021 goals.
A Quick Overview At My 2021 Goals
Financial Goals
Increase Investment Portfolio To 150K Euros
ACCOMPLISHED! 😀
The stock market massive run helped me to achieve this early in the year. Thank you, Mr. Market!
My portfolio is about to reach an all-time high since February 2019. Despite the rather stratospheric run, it’s taken 3 entire years to get back to where I was, but glad I am finally getting there.
Reach and Keep a 60% Average Savings Rate
FAILED 🙁
My average savings rate for 2021 was 55.3%. I was doing well and kept my savings rate close to 60% mark, until a little surprise came in and basically ruined it all. I must admit that I spent more money this year than in previous years. It is easier for me to increase my consumer levels here than in the UK. Perhaps this is something to ponder about.
These are all my financial stats for the year:
Health Goals
Reduce body fat to 22%
FAILED BIG TIME 🙁
Being a six-packed guy sounds good, but unfortunately, I didn’t make any progress in 2021. My body fat ended up at 28%. It’s not that I want to find excuses, but working 100% remotely made this more challenging than it already was. I am looking forward to getting back to the gym for good, maybe training next to fit people will help me to focus on taking better care of my body?
3,120 min of weight lifting (60 min a week)
FAILED 🙁
The total time of weight lifting was 2456 min, that’s 21% below my target. Not great but much better than my body fat reduction goal.
Walk or Run 10,000 steps per day
ACCOMPLISHED! 😀
My hiking and running hobbies made this one a bit easier for me, although it was a tight one! I made a total of 3,655,840 steps.
At least I managed to one of my health goals, YAY!
Personal Development Goals
Read 3,650 pages of non-fiction (10 pages a day)
ACCOMPLISHED! 😀
Total pages read: 3,680.
It’s mind-blowing how many books you can read in a year by simply reading 10 pages a day.
This is a list of all the books I read in 2021:
- 7 habits of highly effective people
- Psychology of money
- Make your brain work (unfinished)
- Warren shareholder letter
- Get rich with dividends
- Thinking, Fast and Slow (unfinished)
- Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking
- Cryptoassets: The Innovative Investor’s Guide to Bitcoin and Beyond
- The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness
- Deep Work
- Marcus Aurelius (unfinished)
- Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger (unfinished)
Read 260 Pages of engineering or business vocabulary (5 pages a week)
ACCOMPLISHED! 😀
Total pages read: 265
My Goals and Habits For 2022
My goals and habits system for 2022 is going to be similar to 2021’s. I am prone to using Atomic Habits approach, which means setting up trackable habits that line up with your values, beliefs and end goals.
That’s what I will focus on this year.
2021 Goals & Habits:
1. Increase Portfolio Value to 240K EUR
2. Average Savings Rate: 50%
3. Make 2.92 Million Steps (8K Daily Steps)
4. 2600 min Of Weight Lifting Training (50 min a Week)
5. Reduce and Maintain Body Fat to 24% (Currently 28.4%)
6. Read 3,650 Pages Of Non-Fiction Books (10 Pages A Day)
7. Complete all tasks (681) on the Web Developer Bootcamp Udemy course (13 tasks a week)
Last words
In 2021, I’ve accomplished 4 out of my 7 goals. I did well on my personal development goals and not too bad on my financial goals. I could have done better with my health goals. Furthermore, I seem to prioritize my financial and personal development goals and this is shown on the results. So, I need to take my health goals more seriously in 2022. As I age, this will become harder and harder to get on track, so the time to focus on them is now. I am also very excited about learning web development, done only a few lessons so far, but I am loving the experience so far.
In 2022 something rather special will happen — I will be getting married — so this year I have no other option but to accomplish my health goals if I don’t want to look like a p*g on the wedding pictures!
This is it!
Happy to hear about your habits and goals, how did they go in 2021, and what are you planning to focus in 2022?