ANNUAL LIFE REVIEW 2022

This is a qualitative summary of how year 2022 unfolded for me. It is based on my goals, achievements, and journal entries composed throughout the year.

Its purpose is to serve me as a reminder and you as inspiration.

See my quantified review for a more quantitative Report

My theme for 2022 was Year of Kaizen.

My intention was to build new habits, strengthen my standards, and prune unnecessary things out of my life.

• I (re)read 4 books on these topics (Atomic habits, Kaizen, Gemba Kaizen, The Toyota Kata Practice Guide)
• I built short below 40 new (tiny) habits (half of which are stable and 10 of which I discarded again)
• From the yearly perspective I slowly lost some weight and body fat over the course of the year.
• I pruned my quarterly, monthly and weekly reviews substantially (most of which now take half the time)
• I established a daily “golden morning” hour before work which allowed me to write 16 blog posts on my new blog and work through 3 work-related books

I rate myself a 8/10 in fully embracing this yearly theme as I feel that overall I did a great job in “going kaizen”. Still, there remains a lot to explore in this realm. I also made some bad choices in regards to what kind of habits to build. The habits I chose to build did not really support my yearly goals that much.

2022 Goal Success Rate

For 2022 I set the following goals:

1. Empower my soulmate for a career life in Germany (Couple Goal) (85%) ✔️
2. Recover my pre-COVID physique and vitality (Top Priority Goal) (40%) 🐌
3. Master Kaizen – Build & Maintain 30 Tiny Habits (100%) 🏆
4. Start building my Indie App Portfolio (33%) 💤
5. Rekindle my Passion for Writing (100%) 🏆
6. Dive into iOS App Architecture (Opportunity Goal) (100%) 🏆

This makes for a 75,5% success rate which is a great result and substantially better than the 62,3% from 2021.

I attribute this success to several factors:

• I limited the number of goals set to only 5-6
• I used a “12-week year” approach and worked in “focus quarters”
• I allowed myself to alter goals if they became outdated or irrelevant

What I could have done better is to not being led astray by my opportunity goal. I first had set it to building an online course and invested 2 month into it before realizing that it was not the right time for it. Also, with my couple goal I yet again set a goal that depended too much on other people.

Annual Accomplishment Score

Additional to reviewing my goals, I calculate an annual score based on a list of actual accomplishments in the six life domains and compare them to the previous year:

1. MIND: 7/10
   1. I consumed 30+ (audio)books
   2. I was a forum moderator for a BASB cohort
   3. I switched over from Evernote to Obsidian for work-related note-taking
2. BODY: 7/10 (+3)
   1. I rejoined the gym and reestablished a strong workout ethic (averaging 5 workouts per week)
   2. I lost roughly 4kg and 2% body fat (gym scale shows below 90kg for the first time in 1,5 years)
   3. I filled my Apple Rings for 6 months in a row
   4. I completed a 3 day water-only fast
   5. I spent one month vegan and two months without sweets
3. SOUL: 8/10
   1. I got engaged with and married my girlfriend in a traditional Thai wedding ceremony in Chiang Mai
   2. I got Chia pregnant and we are expecting a baby boy in March 2023
   3. I helped my girlfriend to reach German Level B2 (albeit she did not yet pass the examination)
   4. I spent a lot of time with (old) friends and (new) family
4. PLAY: 6/10 (-1)
   1. I travelled to France (2 weeks) and Thailand (3 weeks)
   2. I made several short trips: sledging, hiking, and a mid-year review at Chiemsee
   3. I had a great bachelor party and watched a lot of movies, series + went to the theatre a lot
5. VOCATION: 7/10
   1. I released my first-ever indie iOS app into the AppStore
   2. I switched to a new project at work which is a lot of fun and supports my professional growth
   3. I worked through 4 books on software engineering and consumed a lot of other content (podcasts, youtube, …)
6. VOICE: 7/10 (+3)
   1. I started a new blog (and earned my first-ever money online)
   2. I tried out the 12-week year approach for Q3 and Q4
   3. I reached 1.000 Newsletter subscribers across all my newsletters
   4. I started building an online course (but shut it down for the time being)

6 points gained, 1 point lost, resulting in a +5 life score.

This makes an overall annual accomplishment score of 40/60 (70%)

Progress on my Impossible List

In 2022 I crossed off 10 items from my impossible list (vs. 3 in the pervious year):

1. Marry my Soulmate
2. Earn over 70.000 € in one year
3. Work >80% remote for two years
4. Publish a 100% self-made app on the AppStore
5. Go 3 weeks without coffee
6. Visit France (as part of “visit a new country every year”)
7. Moderate in a BASB cohort
8. Reach 1.000 Newsletter Subscribers
9. Perfect Apple Rings for a quarter
10. Perfect Apple Rings for 6 months

---

Here is how everything unfolded for me…

January ‘22

2022 becomes my Year of Kaizen. I want to explore the subtle art of making continuous progress on things. I set out to master habit building, establish new standards, and start to think in “smaller increments”. In the past I went “all-in” too often and I now see that this approach has its limitations. So I want to be skilled both in “heavy lift” as well as “slow burn” work. To kick off this journey I (re)read Atomic Habits (3/5 ☆) and Tiny Habits (4/5 ☆). I decide to build 1 new tiny habit per week, starting with 2 push-ups after using the toilet. Building the first few habits works out smoothly. One tiny habit per weeks seems to be a reasonable goal. So I decide to continue with this for the whole first quarter. To not loose touch with compassion for animals, I participate in Veganuary. Partly due to the usual new year motivation I manage to loose 1kg body weight. This supports my top priority goal for the year: to recover the shape I was in pre-COVID. Losing 1kg per month would get me there. I celebrate my birthday quietly together with my girlfriend - we go to see a movie and have dinner at the best vegan restaurant in Munich afterwards. I take a short trip into the mountains with some friends. Unfortunately, my current project at work isn’t much fun anymore and it takes a toll on me.

February ‘22

My health challenge for February is to avoid sweets. Except on one cheat day I manage to do so. Unfortunately, it has no positive impact on my weight and I remain stable. I continue to build kaizen habits and start to explore a second, related dimension: pruning. I manage to remove all the non-essential form my productivity katas and unsubscribe from one newsletter per day to declutter my email inbox. I further work on making my goals more visible (a challenge I had to deal with in the past was making my goals visible and “present” enough). My girlfriend reaches a new level of proficiency in German and we start to talk german at home more often. She attempts the German B2 examination, Unfortunately, she’s not ready yet and fails. We both also get our third COVID-19 vaccination (which yet again knocks me out for 2 days).

March ‘22

January and Feburary were but a prelude for the year. March finally brings in some fresh air. First off, I manage to release my first ever indie app in the AppStore. I also participate in a iOS lead essentials mentoring session where I get valuable feedback on the codebase. Then, a first “detour” presents itself. I get accepted as course moderator in the personal knowledge management course BASB. This not only brings valuable experience, it also makes me launch my new blog on personal productivity, reignites my passion for writing in general and on top of that I make a new friend. I also go another full month without any kind of sweets (again, no positive impact on my weight). But there are also drawbacks: since Chia failed her German examination she gets rejected at all places she applied. I consume a lot of caffeine, mostly in the form of coffee. But sadly I also start consuming energy drinks again and experience heavy caffeine-crashes in the evenings and thus default to watching a lot of TV (luckily without snacking). I feel stress accumulating.

April ‘22

With Q1 behind me, and with 75% of my quarter goals reached, I set out on the Spring quarter. Since my weight loss was not fruitful so far I decide to mostly focus on health. And due to lack of ideas I once again take a more hardcore approach (instead of doing it the kaizen way): I water fast for 3 days, resulting in a weight loss of more than 2kg (weight that I will gain back over the course of two months). I also restrict watching movies and series to once a week and try out 18:6 fasting to support my health goals. I start taking 30min morning walks right after waking and meditating in a nearby park. I continue blogging and moderating BASB. Other than that April remains a less spectacular month.

May ‘22

May is more of the same. I finish my moderating job, keep on blogging and meet up with the new acquaintance I made. It get soaked into the idea of “building an online course” and decide to use my opportunity goal for it. In the course of Q2 I manage to revise my second brain, moving over most of my work-related notes from Evernote to Obsidian. With my skills and motivation I prepare and give a personal knowledge management workshop for some friends. I spent a weekend in the mountains with some friends to celebrate their birthdays. Unfortunately, my weight relapses to 94kg. Work remains unsatisfying but fortunately change awaits. I have an interview for a new work project and get accepted. This was a welcome and highly anticipated change. It restores my passion for work and my work ethic. It also seems to be the perfect project to grow from intermediate to senior level.

June ‘22

June is full of variety. I manage to go 21 days without caffeine/coffee, go on a hiking weekend with my family, conduct my first-ever mid-year retreat at Chiemsee, determine a topic for my online course and start creating an outline for it. Unfortunately, I reach an all-time-high weight of 95,8kg. Except for a lot of walking I exercise little. I am truly “obese” now and start feeling kind of helpless. Additionally, my car breaks down and in general my financial situation starts to get worse. Still, June is an OK month as I get to meet many of my friends and also enjoy a short little WWDC camp with my colleagues in Frankfurt.

July ‘22

Q3 shakes things up a lot. Inspired and motivated from my mid-year retreat I try to change my strategy. I will now work in 12-week years with a full focus on quarters and ignoring anything but my quarter goals. As suggested by my new friend I try to go on a keto diet for Q3. Additionally I reviewed what has worked for me in the past in regards to weight loss and working out in a gym was very high on the list. So I decided to join a nearby gym and talking strength training more seriously again. I manage to lose 1,29kg and 0,3% body fat by going keto, reducing calories and working out in the gym, even though I get infected with Corona for the first time and need to go into quarantine. Also, I start in the new project at work and it is a lot of fun. I also refine my online course outline and plan to ask Chia to marry me. We plan to visit Paris in August and I plan to ask her in front of the Eiffel tower. I also Then, shortly before the month ends the surprising news: Chia is pregnant.

August ‘22

Life is ironic. Sometimes, when the future is unclear and you have too many options, it seems to be a good strategy to wait-and-see. With Chia being pregnant, a lot of decisions become easier to make. In general, our future seems to crystallise. It fells like a lot of puzzle pieces falling into place. I get into the groove of working out again, but gain back the weight I lost in July. Partly due to my vacation / trip where I drop keto as it is simply not feasible. But as planned, during my travel to Paris and get in engaged with my girlfriend. Afterwards, I join the wedding of one of my best friends, tell my parents that Chia is pregnant. It was a sentimental moment and I felt more connected with my parents than in a very long time. I also I request a pay raise at work and receive it and work on my online course. Except the setback in my weight, August is a great month.

September ‘22

To some extent, September feels like an extension of August. I gain even more weight back, work a little bit on my online course, blog, read and workout little. Going back into my daily routines after the vacation seems surprisingly hard this time. We have a summer party at work, I join the Oktoberfest which now takes place again and the exceptional new Lord of The Ring series starts. With only a success rate of 48% this ends the worst quarter in regards to my goals. I attribute it to the fact that I changed my approach with the 12 week year and I definitely want to try it again. I start to realize that I have deviated too much from the course I had set myself for 2022 and decide to put the online course project on ice. Due to the new project at work I am more motivated now to leverage my opportunity goal in a way that has some synergies. I also decide that I need help with weight management. I seem to not have what it takes anymore.

October ‘22

New quarter, new 12-week year, new motivation. Regarding work, I decide to use my opportunity goal to read 3 books to grow my expertise and to take a deep dive into iOS application architecture. Regarding love, we decide to marry in Thailand in a traditional wedding in December. This was a perfect opportunity for Chia to finally see her parents again, for my parents and her parents to meet and simply for me to experience and understand her live before she met me. Regrading health, I sign up for an online coaching program that would boost my growth efforts and promised me to lose 7kg in 3 months in a healthy and sustainable way. The program did a lot more than that for me. It reframed my whole self-identity, set me up for success in the gym and helped me lose 3kg in the first month. It also helped me realize that kaizen was probably the wrong approach for my situation after all.

November ‘22

Continuing the successes of October, in November I manage to lose 1,5kg more and further reduce my body fat. I average over 5 workouts per week (including cardio). I record a new low weigh in at 90,6kg, and the scale in the gym even shows me <90kg on one occasion. My friends organize a bachelor party for me and we plan the wedding in Thailand. My second 12-week year infused with the motivation of the coaching program seem like a fresh start and I definitely want to keep this approach going forward. I also have to deal with some bureaucracy due to Chia being pregnant and her Visa running out in February 2023. Luckily, everything goes smooth on this end. Likewise, I have to deal with some birth-related stuff like picking a hospital and signing up for some parenting courses.

December ‘22

With 2022 coming to an end and me spending half of December in Thailand (marrying, getting to know Chia’s family and traveling) I set the bar a little lower. I manage to finish all my kaizen and work-related goals before the trip. I also manage to work out a lot in the first two weeks of December, then average 1 workout and a lot of walking in the last two weeks of the year. I have a truly exceptional wedding day and travel with Chia’s family and my family through the Mea Hong Son province in the northwest of Thailand. We also book a Thai cooking class and I manage to find an awesome co-working space to write up this annual review early (its 28th of December right now). As of my last weigh-in I am at 90,8kg, meaning that I at least was able to roughly maintain my weight. Looking back 2022 was a very good year with a goal success rate of 75% and an accomplishment score of 70%, both of which being the highest since I maintain this review process. Q4 was an especially great quarter and I want to replicate that for Q1 of 2023.

Looking at it from a meta-perspective 2022 taught me some other invaluable lessons:

1. Kaizen is no Silver Bullet: Both innovation/big bangs as well as incremental progress have their place and one should use the best strategy for the given context. For my weight loss journey to really get traction, I needed a big bang approach via coaching.
2. Patience: While I consider myself patient, I was challenged multiple times this year. The weight on the scale did not show the hoped for progress even though I invested a lot of time and energy. Chia’s progress in mastering the German language also remained stagnant for a long time. Patience is a truly important character trait to hone, and I am glad that I got to practice it (considering that I expect a baby boy in 2023).
3. 12-Week-Years: 12 months is too big a time frame to make food plans and set goals. Setting goals and reevaluating where you want to go on a quarter basis will often yield a much higher success rate and brings the benefits of heightened visibility, clarify and motivation.
4. The irony of life: Planning is crucial, but never ever expect your plans to be how things unfold. Hold them lightly because life will always have some surprises for you in check. I knew this intellectually before, but it surprised me again this year. I did not expect to marry so soon. I did not expect to become a father so soon.

All in all, 2022 was a superb year. I rate it as a 8 out of ten as I grew in almost every regard in comparison to the year before. While continuing to struggle with weight loss, I yet again invested a lot in my relationships and family and even go married and will be a father soon. I am feeling highly capable of handling what’s to come and expecting to surpass this years results next year.

Going forward…

Based on the above summary, my annual score, and goal achievement, going forward I want to fine-tune what I ended up in Q4 of 2022:

1. Put primary focus on my BODY, SOUL and PLAY domains
   • I’ve been struggling with weight management many times throughout my life. While I had very good runs in some years I never quite solved it. With my current setup I feel like being able to make some decent progress and maybe even solve it for life. So I want to double down on this. I want to be able to prioritise health even on vacations and trips.
   • With expecting a little baby boy on the horizon, I want to continue with and doubling down on my SOUL domain. I will read a lot about the subject and take several months off to experience and watch my son grow.
   • I also want to highlight PLAY in 2023 as I have really neglected it in the last few years. With taking off several months this has some nice synergies with my SOUL domain ambitions.
2. Work in 12-week years with 3 goals each
   • I found that while yearly goals give a direction, there is way too much change to be expected. So for 2023 I will set quarterly goals only. As for the longer term string, in addition to a yearly theme, I want to set very rough directions or themes for each of my life domains instead (see below).
3. Mix project and kaizen approaches to achieve my goals
   • Being proficient in both project-based work and habit-based work I want to make smarter decisions about how to reach each of my goals.
4. Favor simplicity and pruning over adding and replacing
   • I want to continue with removing stuff from my life instead of adding something.

For 2023 I set myself guiding visions for each of my life domains:

1. MIND: FURTHER EXPLORE MINDFULNESS & SPIRITUALITY
2. BODY: Recover my pre-COVID physique and vitality (CONtinued)
3. SOUL: FOUND A FAMILY AND BEcome A LOVING & CARING FATHER
4. PLAY: REPLENISH MY ENTHUSIASM FOR LIFE
5. PROFESSION: BECOME A SENIOR iOS DEVELOPER
6. VOICE: BUILD A REVENUE STREAM / PRODUCT

The yearly themes I set myself over the last five years were:

• 2018: A Year of Vagabonding 🧳
• 2019: A Swift Year 👨‍💻
• 2020: A Year Quantified 📐
• 2021: A Year of Ratio & Will 🚀
• 2022: A Year of Kaizen ⛩

For 2023, knowing that I am now married, that I’ll have a baby boy and found a family, and that I’ll further explore mindfulness and spirituality, I want to more deeply explore all the kind of linkages and attachments we build in the world as we grow. 2023 will thus become my Anno Affectum 🔗 (from latin: year of the attachment).