I had started this habit of reviewing every year starting from 2016 until 2019, however, I missed doing a recap for 2020. Duh! Well, it should not be a reason to stop this habit. Moreover, writing yearly reviews is not a daily job, it's “once a year” :). So, here it goes.
I’ve taken statistics from multiple apps I use, the major ones being coach.me where I track my habits a.k.a daily check-ins. The order goes from the best to the worst, tracked every day of the year.
Reading habit: A perfect 365
This year, the reading habit took a perfect 365. I was able to reach my target of 15 books that included self-help, spiritual, financial, and language learning.
I liked almost all the books I learned, and the best one would be the Patanjali Yoga Sutra by Swami Vivekananda. I enjoyed Atomic Habits by James Clear as well; I was kind of surprised that I do most of what is suggested in that book and it is a real positive influence on how to retain my existing habits and also form new ones.
“Freedom from the known” by J.Krishnamurthy was another excellent read. I had earlier read about Jnana yoga by Vivekananda, however, it felt like this was a person to have lived such a life.
As for 2022, I am going to set the same humble goal as last year of 15 books. I have added some amazing titles in my “Want to Read” section in Goodreads and hopefully find a few more during the year.
Here are my reading challenges and their progress over the past 6 years followed by the check-ins compared.
As can be seen, 2021 was the first perfect year for this habit. Although I spent little time per day, some days as less as two minutes, I never skipped it any day of the year!
It is to be noted that 2016 was and will be the most aggressive year where I started this habit with a 165-day streak completing 40 books. That is 1 book for every 4 days compared to this year of one book every 24 days!
Language Learning
Spanish and German: Perfect 365
Spanish and German each get perfect 365. As for Spanish, I have had this habit now for a continuous 1462 days (4+ years) and German getting a continuous 775 days (2+ years)!
Regarding Spanish, although I have left Spain and no longer live there, I want to keep practicing it every day in some form or the other. Either through Duolingo, Memrise, books, etc.,
Portuguese and Chinese: New entrants
I have added Portuguese and Chinese to my repertoire of languages both getting a streak of 130 and 56 days. Portuguese feels kind of easy since I already know a good deal of Spanish. And Chinese has been super tough so far to get a grip on. Although it feels challenging, however, I am not going to give up until I get into decent shape.
Here is a summary of the year report from Duolingo
And from Memrise
I had to say some serious hours went into learning these languages over a year, however, for a single day, it is hardly 5 to 10 minutes which does not seem that big a deal.
Physical Activity
2021 has been by far one of the best years for Physical Activity. I joined the gym in July this year with a full-time Personal Trainer. I could say that 2021 has been the peak of my physical fitness thus far due to the plethora of resistance training exercises and muscle-building activities.
My objective for this year is to not push the limits, however, to keep continuing this habit.
Compared to the previous years, this habit has gotten better and is on the rise. Hoping to capitalize it big time this year!
Meditation
One of my best habits over the years was Meditation. However, in 2021 I went into some sort of hibernation. In fact, I could say it was a disastrous year when it came to inner strengthening. I have absolutely no excuse, hoping to bring it back to its glory days this year.
It all happened when I returned to India and slowly started procrastinating from 2 hours a day every day for more than 1000 days. Hopefully, I need to hit a reset and do it slowly but steadily. An embarrassing 89 check-ins with the last 5 months seeing only 5 check-ins. At least, I am tracking this so that I can reflect and act.
Also, my target of reducing my sleep quota has not made much progress. I am still staying at 7 hours per day of sleep. Need to bring this down big time this year.
As can be seen clearly, my sleep quota increased by half-hour every day after I stopped meditating seriously (around April). Half an hour in a day might seem small, however, when you take into account over an entire year, it comes around 180 hours which is a lot of time wasted sleeping!
Music
I had started learning keyboard way back in 2013, however, I had to give up for no reason. I thought why not resume the habit? Initially, I bought a keyboard for my daughter, but then I had found this wonderful app called Simply Piano. So resumed it and 2427 minutes does not sound bad given I started this habit only in the last quarter of 2021.
Bought Roland FP-30X, my first digital piano as well!
Hoping to continue this habit for this year and the years to come!
“If you don’t set a baseline standard for what you’ll accept in your life, you’ll find it’s easy to slip into behaviors and attitudes or a quality of life that’s far below what you deserve. You need to set and live by these standards no matter what happens in your life.” - Anthony Robbins from “Awaken the Giant Within”
Wish you all a cracking new year 2022!
