I have been reflecting on my past year for a few years now, but I did not publish them. This year I wanted to start the trend. Reflecting on my goals for the year, evaluating how I did, and rethinking how I spent my time. It has always provided me with clarity for the next year. Continuing what I started and starting something new has always been exciting for me, something to look forward to. Writing down the reflections, helps me see the gaps and the course corrections I need to make. It also helps me reflect on what went well, and what to improve on, and for all the things I am thankful & grateful for.
It has been a blessed year overall with a multitude of changes at work and in my personal life. I am grateful to God for providing me with the time, energy, good health, and resources to carry out the things I planned. I am thankful and ever so grateful to my family for always supporting and encouraging my ideas and routines. I am blessed to have my mother live with me and my sister & her loving family for their love & support.
I am grateful to my leadership and my team at work, and the support they provide. It has been a challenging year at work but we came through with tenacity, perseverance, thoughtfulness, and teamwork. I am proud of what we have collectively achieved, under pressure, amongst change and realignments.
Work
- Big turmoil at work and then an acquisition
- Losing my previous leadership team, and getting to know the new leadership team
- New role, added responsibilities, big team, cost optimizations, and huge target to meet
- Dealing with change, leading with compassion and empathy
- Reduction in the workforce, goodbyes to friends & colleagues
- Preparing for growth - company and personal
- Support from new leadership with new vision, new strategy, revised roadmap, revised goals, and new targets
- Promotion
Personal
- Reading: goal of 36 books, read 56 books
- Writing: goal of 6 articles, wrote 3 articles
- Newsletter: 1st year, goal 12 posts, posted 6
- Guitar: 2nd year in my learning journey, lacking practice cadence, can play a few songs, not performance-ready
- Sports:
- Golf: 1st year, started playing once a week, still learning
- Tennis: 17th year, practice once a week, play 2 leagues a year
- Meditation: 3rd year in my journey, 10 mins every day, missed a few days
- Exercise: walk 3-5 miles, at least thrice a week, and irregular visits to the gym
- Food: healthy home-cooked meals with occasional eating out, too much coffee
- Health: manageable stress, overall healthy numbers, slight weight gain
- Travel: a trip to Ireland; a trip to Santorini/Athens, Greece with my wife; a trip to NY with my daughter; a trip to India & a few road trips with the family
- Friends: dinner after tennis, breakfast/lunch after golf, occasional poker nights, 2 boys-only poker trips, weekend parties, overall feel blessed
- Family: our 25th wedding anniversary, empty nesters, son senior at Georgia Tech and internship in NY, daughter sophomore at UGA, more time for me & my wife to travel and enjoy quality time together, some Netflix, couple classes at the gym, mom is healthy, overall feel blessed
What were your reflections on things that happened this year?
If you have questions or feedback, please let me know in the comments below.