2021 - Annual Review

I used to write two pages on my notebook the highs and lows of the year at the beginning of the year. This was a sporadic habit, if you can call it one. Last year I decided to hold myself more accountable, and have a measured approach.

The goal is to ask the same questions every year instead of a ramble at the end of it. While I initially didn’t plan this I have decided to make this a public affair and see what impact it has in what I do in the coming year, knowing I will write about it here.

Lastly, as most year end endeavours tend to be, this is likely to be prone to recency and selection biases.

What do you have to show for your time?

• The second season of Bombay Daak
• A visit to Bhopal, Assam and Meghalaya, and Goa
• Two road trips including a 1500 Km solo drive to Kerala
• Developed my instincts in cooking, got better at it
• A fairly productive run with meditation

What took most of your time?

My things logbook shows I spent most of time on:

1. Harvard’s CS50 course
2. New Master’s Academy’s Foundational course in drawing
3. Movies and Podcasts
4. Travel
5. Cooking

What did you care about?

My year was entirely self entered on personal growth and learning and satisfying personal curiosities, as opposed to finishing projects. I cared most about the breadth of my knowledge than building depth in one.

How do you feel about your mind and body?

I lost some good habits like my meditation practice, journaling, reading and clean eating habits; I broke my routine… routinely, and gave up on fitness gains I developed during the year. So I see the state of my mind and body at the end of the year as unsatisfactory.

What kind of adult were you? What changed within you? (Hat tip pnts)

I was a curious, but not a fastidious or determined one. I gained some skills but at the cost of being self-centered. However, I improved my self awareness in the process and through my pursuits in learning have a better understanding of myself and the world than I did last year.

A summary of the year

It was a year of looking inward, and taking the exposure I received last year further. I focussed a lot on learning new things, but didn’t finish a bulk of the ones that I started. At the end of the year, I look back and see that exploring so many curiosities expanded my world view, but it cost me time to practice and gain expertise in anything. At the end of the year, I feel I should have tried to gain a certain master in one or two things as opposed to having an understanding of many. Also, a year with nothing made is always an unsatisfactory year. I look forward to correcting this next season.