Each year I focus my attention on a few named goals as a way to be more intentional about the pursuits I direct my energy towards. The way in which I do this has evolved over time and these release notes serve to document the current state of the process and changes I’ve made recently.

Review Of v1.6

I made a few changes to this process back in Jan 2019 as part of the v1.6 version. Those held true for the entire seven year sabbath cycle, which reflects on how refined this process has become.

One of the most significant changes I made was to re-introduce a bucket list item, which was a way for me to take on some difficult physical challenges. I’d like to reflect back on that.

Bucket List

Under that category I ran around Mt. Rainier, did 125 mile multi-day run + SUP, ran a 100 mile mountain race, stand up paddled 70 miles, did a Murph workout, etc. I enjoyed these and the way it directed my physical activity.

What I found was that it actually solved two things for me, it 1) gave me a reason to consistently exercise outside and 2) gave me a momentous physical challenge for the year as a way to stretch myself and commemorate the year.

I like both of these but I’ve recently learned I can separate them.

In a funny way, training for the big adventure doesn’t actually impact the key part of it. I’ve found the whole point is to find my limits and try to push through them – it is an internal struggle. So, training more only moves those limits out farther. There is some benefit of that if you don’t know what limits feel like, because it allows you to compare your results with other people’s to see if you are really at your limit or if you are just a bit tried. I’m at a point in my life where I am very familiar with my limits though and removing the comparison by doing something unique is actually more helpful. I have found the impact of the day is the same no matter the physical fitness I got into it with.

I have also found that regular exercise benefits from some breadth. When I used to train for marathons I would run 8-10 miles every day and not do much else. That left a lot of parts of my fitness neglected. In recent years I’ve grown more familiar with mobility and strength training, both of which are important to long term health outcomes. I recently had a year where I managed to exercise three times a week across a broad spectrum of types (lifting in the gym, rucking, running, yoga, etc.) without having any fitness goal.

Realizing I can separate those two things, I’m going to split them. My ‘bucket list item’ will evolve into a Misogi (禊), a Japenese term I recently learned about that I think captures really well what my challenges have evolved into. It has its roots in a Shinto ritual of standing in cold water to both physically and metaphorically wash away the past. Recently some folks have reinterpreted it to mean a very difficult challenge that pushes someone to their limits as a way to welcome growth and mark the occasion. It turns out I was iterating for the last decade, finding I really liked something about these challenges, and the whole time the Japenese had already figured it out. There really is some wisdom in old traditions.

Other Changes I’m Making for v1.7

I have found the exemplar item to be a mixed bag.

One the one hand, it is great to have an excuse to learn about someone from history, especially someone closely related to the theme.

On the other hand, selection sort of biases the process to a certain type of person – a large personality who is a public figure and often someone who has a hint (or more) or narcissism.

With that in mind, I’m going to attempt to approach this a bit differently, especially in my next cycle, which is intentionally less self focused. Rather than focusing on biographies of a famous person, I’m going to try and find people that are experts on the topic and digest some from them. This is a little closer to what I did with Brene Brown in the year I focused on relationships.

V1.7

Sabbath Cycle Vision – A guiding vision for the the six years between sabbath years. This broader theme will help guide many aspects of life during this period, including big life decisions, the selection of themes for individual years and prioritization decisions when taking on new projects.

Example Sabbath Cycle Vision: ‘expand your horizons & do new things’ or ‘settle down and establish roots’ or ‘fight the destruction of the planet’.

Due to the longer period, this item can be much larger in scope. This will help in thinking about priorities that are larger than what can be accomplished in a single year. Due to the longer period, there will also be less certainty about specifics, and so it needs to be appropriately broad.

Theme – A central topic for the year that is important enough to focus a large amount of energy on. A single word can suffice or perhaps a few are needed. It is something to spend time thinking about and take a few concrete efforts towards. Because this exercise is designed to help grow as a person, the theme will likely not be something you are awesome at today. Instead chose something you would like to explore for the first time or something that is holding you back from getting to where you want to be.

Example Theme: ‘living within community’, ‘sustainable’ or ‘defending freedom’

Challenge – Something related to the theme that you have never done before, but that you would like to attempt. This is a chance to stretch yourself, step outside of your comfort zone and grow your experience of the world.

Example Challenge: ‘run a marathon’ or ‘play an original song at an open mic night’

These challenges might often be something that you feel is important, but the act of doing new things is important in itself. Attempting new things forces us to learn, which keeps our brains sharp, and it forces us to stretch our comfort zones, which gives us a larger area we can operate in the future. It also helps us become more comfortable with the idea of being out of our comfort zone, which makes future uncomfortable things less uncomfortable.

The challenge is setup so that accomplishing it is binary, but you can also add stretch goals for an extra challenge after you achieve the initial success.

I’ve found it helpful to pre-negotiate artificial limiters, such as budget or time commitment, to ensure that I don’t strain other priorities to accomplish this.

Habit – A behavior to improve or adjust that is related to the theme. Usually something you have done before but that you want to focus on in order to do it more frequently, less frequently or with better results.

These habits are a way to focus on the process and make adjustments to who you will be in the long run. They might be things that make you look more like the person you want to be or those that you believe will make you capable of achieving the things you want to achieve. By measuring the habit for a single year and making small improvements it is possible to make changes that will stick. A lot of this comes from the hard work during that year of overcoming the challenges that pop and making lifestyle adjustments. Once you have done those, you are much more likely to last beyond the year, instead of reverting back to the old ways once the year concludes.

The habit should be something that is repeatable somewhat regularly and measurable.

Example Habit: ‘exercise X times per week’ or ‘decrease sugar consumption to <X grams per day’.

This element is most likely to create lasting results when the targets are difficult but achievable. One way to ensure things remain progressively difficult as you get better is to break the year down into four quarters of three months each and make the target a bit higher each quarter. That way the year starts off pretty easy and gets harder once you’ve built up some success. Since you will be planning before you have much data, it is ok to adjust the target during quarterly reviews based on how things have been going. If you thought exercising five times a week was a good target but have only been doing it two or three times, try dropping your target to four for the next three months to see if having the goal within reach gives you the boost you need to make it happen – you can then increase it back to five the following quarter if doing four went well.

Depending on the habit you’re attempting I’ve found it is important to take into account seasonality when planning – some things are easy to do a lot of in the summer but get harder later in the year which could be discouraging if you didn’t plan for it.

Finally, celebrating success is important, especially with this category as it requires the most continual work. Each quarter as we review the habit, we should think of an appropriate way to celebrate that is proportionate to the results.

Exemplar – A person who who exemplifies the theme, either in thought or action. This will be someone you might spend time reading the writings of, learning about or, if available, spend time learning from directly.

Example Exemplar: ‘Clayton Christensen’ on innovation

Misogi – A difficult challenge that requires you to step outside of your comfort zone to achieve a transformative, year-defining experience.

It is best if:

• It is local – you don’t need to go around the world to find something difficult to do. A local experience gives you the benefit of connecting you to the space and giving your frequent reminders of the event when you pass by that place.
• It is weird – doing something common like running a 5k invites comparison to others, which is not the goal here. The stranger the experience, the better – instead of running a 5k, run 7.4 miles, or even do it backwards.
• It is personal – keep in mind your strengths or weaknesses when planning, it should be challenging to you, whether or not it is challenging to anyone else
• It is daunting – it should be something that doesn’t seem possible when you agree to it. Something that scares you a little. Even after preparation, it should be something you only have a 50% chance of completing.

Example Misogi:

• Running up and down a local for 6, 12 or 24 hours straight seeing how many times you can do it
• Carrying a big rock across a distance and then back
• An open water swim across a lake near you
• Fasting for 48 hours

Quarterly Review – In order to have the best chance at succeeding, you should have some form of accountability. I personally blog about my yearly focus. That isn’t the only option though, personal journaling, sharing your focus with those close to you or even a social media post can be equally effective forms of accountability.

At the very least, you need to write it down somewhere though, so you don’t forget the details. You should also review your goal every three months or so, jot down some notes about how things are going and what you can do next to keep progressing. That quarterly review is also a good time to readjust targets as necessary. Sometimes a year throws surprises at you, it is better to adjust and succeed than to fail and lose confidence unnecessarily.