Patience and Humility

Everyone I follow had already sent out their New Year’s posts. The timing was perfect to start working on my own. This post is primarily an exercise to think through my first use of HBR’s “Strategize Your Life” exercise. As always, I hope one of my 85 subscribers (up two!) finds it useful.

2024

Last year began with typical resolution-style goal setting. I had evolved from “stopping” goals to “starting” goals. Yet, I hadn’t yet developed a rhythm of multi-scale planning. Knowing the compounding power of consistent, intentional practice, I chose three daily habits.

Given my longtime interest in fountain pens, I chose to practice Spencerian script on my nights in North Carolina. In search of a creative outlet and being a bluegrass fan, I added clawhammer banjo. For my third habit, I committed to walking our aging dog more often when in Maryland.

How did it go?

I began rushing through banjo practice, so I tried switching to a borrowed mandolin. When the same pattern emerged, I realized that what I was rushing to—Notion—was my creative outlet. At the DC Pen Show, I picked up an intriguing dip pen and some shimmer inks. This motivated me to finish three Spencerian copybooks over the year. It was another genuine interest. As for the dog walks, I only missed a handful and along with Adequan injections, Griswold is doing well.

Then the last three months of 2024 took an unexpected turn.

In October, my son’s fiance was hit by a car and remains in critical care. Hospital visits replaced time at home and the community rallied support. My son withdrew from college to spend as much time with her as possible. He also returned to work and adjusted to their new reality. Their story is theirs to tell, and though recovery hasn’t been linear, we stay hopeful.

In December, I downloaded Thomas Frank’s Ultimate Brain. I first tried Notion in 2022 but found it overwhelming, opting for Things as my task manager instead. I got hooked when I revisited Notion in late 2023 and discovered its no-code customization capabilities. Since then I connected it to my Readwise highlights. I built custom databases. I used it for web hosting. I tried, unsuccessfully, to convert my family. This thoughtfully designed template streamlined my organizational system, satisfied my workflow passion, and sparked an interest in coding.

Serendipity

During the two holiday weeks, I tackled four time-intensive tasks—one administrative and three requiring focused time. Working from home during this slower period allowed me to think deeply about the surrounding two years. I consolidated shallow work into mornings and preserved afternoons for deep work.

HBR’s framework aligned perfectly with Ultimate Brain’s architecture and my natural thought processes. It even expanded Cal Newport’s four components of a deep life into a more detailed set of 16.

Instead of beginning with daily habits as before, I started by examining my core values. I couldn’t find my Leadership Challenge Values Cards, so took an online quiz instead. Using Newport’s lifestyle-centric career planning approach, I defined my vision of a great life, my purpose, and measurable goals. For the first time, I quantified what HBR calls my “life portfolio” by tracking tasks across strategic life areas.

Ugh.

I’d been wondering what a calendar audit would reveal about my time allocation (which I’d earlier estimated using Notion charts). A task audit, while less granular, showed that 2024 was clearly imbalanced. Some of this stemmed from major decisions (living in two places), others from smaller commitments (volunteering at church). Unsurprisingly, our family crisis shifted my focus the last quarter. It redirected my attention toward what how I define a great life: being surrounded by loved ones at the end.

The gap between my ideal life direction and my pre-crisis time investments became clear. I could now close it through intentional portfolio adjustments in the coming year.

Editor’s note: My media consumption increasingly focused last year on technology. In one video, Thomas Frank mentioned using iOS notes and reminders with his family. They preferred this over his elaborate Notion workflows. I’d independently reached the same conclusion a week earlier. Another small serendipity!

2025

I’ve set three main goals for the year ahead. The full details are available at The Process Guide of Me, where I’ve mapped out the connections between HBR’s, Frank’s, and Newport’s models:

1. Learn programming: I haven’t coded since high school and would like to learn enough JavaScript for low-code solutions.
2. End my time as a geobachelor: I have several reasons for retiring this summer. One major reason is that living apart from my family proved more challenging than anticipated. While I don’t regret the experience, the emotional ROI of a third year is not there.
3. Find a new job: With three college-aged boys and a teenage girl, this is essential.

Happy 2025!