2020 Goals

The 10 big things I want to get done this year.

I’ve been posting my annual list of goals since 2013, and it’s featured Ironman triathlons, epic hikes, Rubik’s Cubes, reading, writing and arithmetic, to name a few.

This year’s list is a slight shift from many of my previous lists: I’m making habitual, sustainable behavioral changes more of a focus, rather than one-time, bucket-list style accomplishments.

I still have some big bucket-list goals on the agenda — because they’re fun, and ideally so challenging that I’ll need to become a better person in order to accomplish them — but they’re outnumbered by goals designed to build healthy, regular habits.

In other words, this year we talking bout practice — not just games.

Don’t get me wrong: metrics, results and finish lines all matter. They’re just not always the most important thing to focus on. In many cases, it’s better to focus on the journey itself — how you’re getting to the summit rather than what you’ll do on, or what time you’ll get to, the summit — as motivation.

Success will come naturally if you consistently build healthy habits, strong practices and positive experiences.

That’s what I’m trying to do with my list of goals for 2020.

It’s a mix of a couple big things I want to accomplish, books I want to read, and — most importantly — habits I want to build to last.

Laying them out like this helps keep me organized and accountable.

Also, I hope that by sharing my list here — even though we’re already two months into 2020 — it gives you ideas on ways to approach your goals for the coming year, especially any goals you might have already given up on!

Here are the 10 big things I want to accomplish in 2020.

1. Make a big move; take a few months off to travel and explore random stuff that seems interesting; see where the wind takes you.

  • In progress. For more background read my article, With best wishes to SRP.
  • I kicked off the big adventure in Poland in early January with an ice bath expedition with Wim Hof and company. Read about that experience in my article, The Iceman Cometh.
  • Since then I’ve visited various cities in Poland — Przesieka, Kraków, Zakopane, Katowice, Oświęcim, Wrocław, Gdańsk and Malbork — many of which I’ll touch on in future posts.
  • My next stops are Iceland and Finland in March, then Copenhagen in April.
  • Seattle and Denver remain my top two candidates for final destinations in which to settle down for a while.

2. Get at least eight hours of sleep every night, preferably nine.

  • Go to bed and wake up at the same time every day.
  • No laptop work after 9pm.
  • Carve out an hour before bed to wind down (read, stretch, foam roll, etc.)
  • This goal was inspired by the book, Why We Sleep: Unlocking the power of sleep and dreams, by Matthew Walker, which I highly recommend.

3. Practice breathing exercises every day.

  • Get this done first thing in the morning, always on an empty stomach.
  • Start with a quick warm-up and stretch to get the blood flowing.
  • Focus on your intention.
  • Think of these exercises as vital moments to drop in and connect with your inside world, as opposed to the outside world, which you’re connected to all day long.
  • Remember that each session is the first one; each its own unique experience.
  • Take a cold shower immediately afterwards.

4. Take an ice dip at least once a week.

  • Ice baths, plunges in cold creeks, winter swimming in the Baltic Sea, do what you gotta do. Substitute winter running and cold hiking in shorts and no shirt as needed, applicable or appropriate.

5. Walk around outside for at least 30 minutes every day.

  • Aimlessly, with a confused look on your face if you like.

6. Do at least 100 push ups every day.

  • Throw in 40 pull ups too, if you can.

7. Write every day; publish a new blog post that people will find interesting every week.

  • Explore new styles, topics, channels, formats and opportunities to stretch and improve yourself as a writer. I will take great pleasure and joy in this one.

8. Go ultra: complete a 50-mile trail run.

  • This will likely be slated for the end of the year.
  • Maintain an active and healthy lifestyle while traveling: running, exercising, stretching, eating right, sleeping right, cold exposure, etc.
  • Follow a “no-program program” for training, a la the Wim Hof Method, Primal Endurance by Mark Sisson, Unbreakable Runner by Brian MacKenzie and Simple and Sinister by Pavel Tsatsouline.
  • I’ve had this one on my list since 2016.

9. Take an epic hike.

  • Maybe The Wonderland Trail in Washington, 93 miles around Mt. Rainier; or
  • Cross-country skiing in Lapland, Finland; or
  • Snowshoeing in Iceland; or
  • Fjord hiking in Norway; or
  • Something else. I’m open to suggestions.

10. Read 30 books.

  1. World Order, by Henry Kissinger
  2. First to Fight: The Polish War 1939, by Roger Moorhouse
  3. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, by Olga Tokarczuk
  4. The Family Moskat, by Isaac Bashevis Singer
  5. Stone Upon Stone, by Wiesław Myśliwski
  6. Antifragile: things that gain from disorder, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
  7. The Odyssey, by Homer
  8. Fentanyl Inc.: how rogue chemists are creating the deadliest wave of the opioid epidemic, by Ben Westhoff
  9. How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us About Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence, by Michale Pollan
  10. My Struggle, by Karl Ove Knausgaard
  11. Hopscotch, by Julio Cortázar
  12. Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe, by Lisa Randall
  13. The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  14. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
  15. America Before: The Key to Earth’s Lost Civilization by Graham Hancock
  16. The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind, by Raghuram Rajan
  17. Good Reasons for Bad Feelings: Insights from the Frontier of Evolutionary Psychiatry, by Randolph M. Nesse
  18. Remainder to be determined. I’m open to suggestions.