quick-fire 2024 outlook

are writing New Year's resolutions cringe or not? 😬

Jan 02, 2024

Welcome back to The Angle 👋 Happy New Year! 🥂 I’ve just arrived back in the UK after a whirlwind few days in Copenhagen, so this is going to be a short one on New Year’s resolutions and reflections.

I have always found New Year’s resolutions “cringe.” Now it’s cool to find New Year’s resolutions cringe, so naturally I had to switch sides.

I am not talking about the broad sweeping resolutions, such as “lose weight” or “quit drinking,” which require mass amounts of motivation that’s unlikely to be triggered by a single calendar date change. Those still remain very cringe.

I am talking about the power of taking five to 10 minutes to reflect on the big wins from the past year and listing a small set of goals for the new year. It’s a quick-fire approach to resolutions. The list should be spontaneous — not what you think others want to hear but what you yourself needs to hear. It’s should be the first thoughts that emerge in the brief moments of respite in the holiday season.

This holiday season has been particularly frantic. I have spent the days between Christmas and New Years in Copenhagen as an early birthday treat There was lots of eating, drinking and a visit to Copenhagen’s Opera House for a New Year’s Eve concert. I spent a lot of time in the moment and very little time reflecting on 2023.

I arrived back in the UK on New Year’s Eve, having not thought at all about 2024 resolutions. On New Years Day, in a car ride to visit family, I suddenly realized I didn’t have any resolutions if anyone asked the question at the dinner table. I spent 10 minutes on my quick-fire approach and here’s what I came up with:

Three big wins from 2023

1) Saying no and setting better boundaries

I ended 2022 with no work boundaries. It was chaos with so many crypto collapses at the end of the year, which was a lot of fun to cover and witness this moment in history but I was saying yes to doing work way outside of working hours to the detriment of other areas of my life. I attended 9 gym classes in November 2022 and only 3 in December of that year. This is compared to 15 in November and 12 in December in 2023 (I was also out of London for a week or so both months, otherwise the figure would be higher.)

Getting laid off in early 2023 was a reminder that you should only go above-and-beyond when you really want to. It shouldn’t be to impress others. My work ethic didn’t save me from being laid off and has since served as a reminder to set better boundaries throughout 2023 and do more of what I want to do.

2) Getting my pull-ups back

I used to be able to do several consecutive pull-ups then I lost all my fitness when studying abroad. I cut back on CrossFit when I could no longer afford the membership as a student, then the pandemic hit and I cut back on all fitness. I was out of shape and back at a beginner fitness level. This year, I finally got consistently back into my fitness (thanks to setting better boundaries) and ended the year able to do three strict pull-ups consecutively. It’s a huge win to have this back.

3) Demystifying freelancing

I say demystifying, not demystified, freelancing because learning about freelancing is a continual journey. I’ve got to understand the basics this year from taxes to invoices and pitching. I finally see how some people are able to make freelancing a viable career. I am not going to bore you with the details on my lessons on freelancing as I did enough of that in my last newsletter, which you can find here.

Three goals for 2024

1) Do more public speaking and networking

Days before I got laid off, I was about to do a taster session with a public speaking coach ahead of conference season. Suddenly I had bigger fish to fry and I halted those plans.

I am not the worst public speaker. I can get by with lots of preparation and practice. But I struggle with things like voice projection at networking events where I always return home with a scratchy and sore throat from just a few hours of chatting or being asked to do host an impromptu panel that does not allow for lots of prep time. This year, I am planning to say yes to more public speaking opportunities and networking events to try and conquer my fears and fix my weaknesses in this area.

2) Learn to snowboard/ski

I am a winter bug who loves all things snows and hygge. Yet I have never been exposed to snowboarding or skiing. (It wasn’t exactly on the list of extracurriculars at the state school I attended in my working class hometown.)

Learning to snowboard/ski was on my New Year’s resolutions last year and I never got round to doing anything about it. Travelling through Copenhagen airport and seeing everyone heading away on ski trips, once again peaked my curiosity in winter sports. I hope to head out on a short intensive beginner course in skiing or snowboarding at some point this year to see if I like the sport. If not, I can just revel in the snow and après-ski activities.

3) Start to think about writing a book

I have a long-term goal that I would like to write a book. Ideally by the age of 35 — an arbitrarily selected age that floats around my mind. I have no idea what I want the book to be about and whether it will be fiction or non-fiction. I did have a non-fiction book in mind but the crypto collapses of 2022 scuppered that idea and also demonstrated how quickly journalists move to pitch and secure book commissions on news events.

Instead of waiting for a new idea to come to me, I am planning to spend time this year understanding and thinking about what is involved in writing a book. I think setting a goal to “write a book” is too ambitious and daunting, which is why my goal is focused on thinking about writing a book. I just want to get the cogs turning and keeping the prospect of a book at the forefront on my mind. Thinking about writing a book also goes hand-in-hand with a more broader goal this year to be more ambitious in my storytelling and pitching.