I’m trying to make it much easier for me to track my goals each year.  I never really tracked goals, but in the last 5 years of my life it’s been critical.  It’s really positive to look back at what you have set out to achieve and see whether or not you have or have not achieved your goals.  You may adjust them throughout the year but you always will end up achieving most of them.

I’m trying to find what I put for my 2016 goals so I can write down how I did, but I can’t seem to locate it.  So going forward, I’m going to use this space to track my goals going forward.  I pay for this site, so might as well use it for something useful!

So in 2016, I would say the top 10 things I achieved or highlights of the year were:

1. Completed my CIPS certification level 6 – last exam was in November and the results will be published 1 Feb 2017.  I believe I have passed which means I can now (as long as I continue to pay for membership each year) put MCIPS after my name.
2. Maintained my weight loss and achieved my body fat percentage goal of 12% – I fluctuated throughout the year with my weight but I was able to maintain on average a weight of 165-175 lbs.  I’ve definitely put on muscle mass which is due to the changing of my workout routine.  I started working off and on with a PT at Virgin and he suggested that I start to use weights in my routine.  In 2015, I was doing what I called 80-60-40 (80 pushups, 60 situps and 40 jackknife situps). I would do 3 sets of these.  In addition, I would also go to the gym at work (when I was at Linklaters before joining White and Case in October 2015).  I’ve also achieved a lower body percentage.  When I first got tested at Nuffield I was around 15-16% and I just got tested in November 2016 and was at 12%.
3. Read more – this is a goal for each year.  But I think for 2017 I’m going to set out to read a set of books and write a short summary.  I started using Audible in November 2015.  I have always heard of it but never signed up. I was listening to a lot of podcasts before signing up for Audible.  I just searched in my gmail for the first book I bought on audio and it was The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday.  This book is one I listen to time and time again.  There are always some nuggets in there that help me get through the daily, weekly, monthly, and annual challenges.    Other books that I have read/listen throughout 2016 were:
   1. The Isis Apocalypse by William McCants
   2. The Chimp Paradox by Steve Peters
   3. Talk Like Ted by Carmine Gallo
   4. Scrum by Jeff and JJ Sutherland
   5. Letter to a Christian Nation by Sam Harris
   6. Islam and the Future of Tolerance by Sam Harris and Maajid Nawaz
   7. The Name of God is Mercy by Pope Francis
   8. Smile at Fear by Chogyan Trungpa
   9. Buddhism for Beginners by Jack Kornfield
   10. Leading by Sir Alex Ferguson, Michael Moritz
   11. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
   12. Orientalism by Edward Said
   13. Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
   14. The Toyota Way to Lean Leadership by Jeffrey Liker and Gary L. Convis
   15. Gemba Walks by Jim Womack
   16. Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
   17. The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
   18. Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
   19. Ego is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
   20. Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu
   21. Key Person of Influence by Daniel Priestley
   22. Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh
   23. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman#
   24. Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
   25. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card
   26. The Everything Store by Brad Stone
   27. Elon Musk by Ashlee Vance
   28. Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer
4. Completed the Refurbishment of Our Flat – This wasn’t a goal set out at the beginning of the year.  Rather it was something that was planned sort of half way through the year.  It was expensive, but comparably cheaper than if we had gone with other contractors.  We basically refurbished the whole flat during the summer and completed the project by end of August before we left for the vacation in Chicago and Hawaii.  In total it cost approximately £40K.  This included labour, furniture, and materials.  It was supposed to include project management, but that’s where it all went wrong and as the saying goes ‘you get what you pay for’.  In the end, we’re happy with most of the work, but learned a lot throughout the process.  It could have been worse!
5. 3 week vacation in Chicago and Hawaii – I would say that the Hawaii part of this vacation was the highlight of the year.  I’ve never been and waited 37 years to go to a place that made me so relaxed that I actually wanted to move there!  But reality would set in.

I’ve recently (well not so recent, maybe about 9 months) have been using a Google Chromebook.  I needed a laptop and ordered this via AmazonPrime 2 hour/same day delivery.

Firstly, I think it’s great if you have bought into the Google way of life.  Google docs, gmail, etc.  It works brilliantly.

Secondly, it’s very affordable and if all you’re doing is checking email, surfing the web, writing blogs/journals, then I think it’s worth it.

So simple recommendation – go buy one and try it out!

2017 and back to my routine after a few weeks off in HK.  I’m back at 174.4 lbs as of this morning.

Have a goal to achieve 10% body fat by my bday 27 Feb.

This is my breakfast:

What is it? 3 x egg whites, spinach, black Chinese mushrooms.