Personal OKRs for 2020

Like 2019 and 2018, rather than define a set of resolutions, I’m using the OKR framework and publishing my goals as a commitment mechanism. (Posting was a bit delayed this year due to uncertainty on the work front.)

As always, these are meant to be priorities, not a comprehensive list. By the way, I really like Strides for tracking these kinds of goals on iOS.

The last two years were very focused on personal growth given my work situation. As I start a new job soon, this year will be much more about carrying that growth forward and sustaining the important stuff efficiently.

End of year update: I scored these below. I’m going to take a break on publishing personal OKRs for 2021, since most of the interesting stuff is on the professional side and the personal goals would look very similar.

Healthy mind: create more headspace & focus

• Redirect 80% of “dead time” phone usage (time & instances) from Twitter et al. to reading, meditation, or nothing
  😐 Did pretty well at this for a month, then upon starting the new job ended up without any real dead time. When I did have time, it felt like the priority was in fact to have a mindless few minutes.
• Build an integrated meditation habit: try 10m+ 3x/week (while running?) and for 1m+ another 5x/week [30d experiment]
  🌲 Did this experiment, didn’t feel I got much out of it.

Healthy body: stay active through job transition

• Exercise 5x/week
  😐 3.8. I’ll take it this year.
• Find a ≤40m gym workout I enjoy
  - Ended up a moot point, no gyms to go to with Covid.

Happy family: make space for the meaningful stuff

• Find time to “just play” with each kid each week
  👹 Failed to even measure this.
• Write letters to my kids
  🌲 Success

Impactful work: start next phase

• (Starting a new job in February. Most goals will be confidential.)
  - This was where all the energy went
• Develop a daily on paper prioritization/focus practice [30d experiment]
  🌲 Did this experiment, didn’t feel it impacted my day at all, and juggling paper with digital was a pain.

Sustainable hobbies: less clutter, more reward

• Bring 1h of piano music to performance-lite level (not perfect, but good enough to record & share)
  👹 This turned out to be way more work than I expected. I put dozens of hours into some pieces only to realize I was so much farther off than I realized. Every bit of progress was met with a new appreciation for how far I was from where I wanted to be. I ended up getting 3 pieces – 11 minutes – above the “not embarassed” bar: a Bach French Suite movement, Tchakovsky’s October, and Chopin’s Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2.
• Finish photo & video library work from 2019 and retire NAS
  👹 Didn’t get to it
• Prevent the garage from devolving into a mess
  😐 Not great, could’ve been worse
• Add 10 new recipes to the repertoire
  👹 One