Although this blog has not been alive long, I will recap the blissful time so far. My first annual Review! I plan to do this yearly and make a habit of doing an annual review. I will list my personal recap of 2019 and then hopes for 2020 for both the blog and myself. Before finishing with some fun short little questions.

2019 Blog Annual Review

– Readers –

Borderline non existent. Total site views sit at just over 200, with the highest daily views at 29. I’m hoping in a few years this post will be a nice reflection to come back and laugh at. Note though I haven’t been overly promoting my site quite just yet. I haven’t posted to my personal facebook page. Nor posting a crazy amount on Twitter too. I’m very cautious of promoting too much and being seen as spam rather than quietly making quality content. Especially as of now when there isn’t a whole library of work readers can choose from. 

– Content –

I’m fairly happy with how it’s started. I’ve listed a bit about who I am in my first post. Then gave my investment style and strategy.

My post on taking notes I thought was informative and I think will be beneficial to at least someone. Most of all I’m proud of my post about Autonomous cars. That was easily my longest post to date, but also I think my best. I think it had my best writing and best flow. That write up had the most (of very limited) traffic to the blog.

Personal 2019 Annual Review

– Travel –

With only 3 months of income this year, it’s been tough. I had my East Asia trip finish up in January after leaving early December 2018. A short trip to Bali just after mid-year, then a 3 week trip again to Bali for December. Grateful that Bali is so cheap and close to Perth. Otherwise, international holidays would have been a no go. Looking to try some more camping in 2020. Travel is conditional to finding work. No work, no travel.

– Work –

I haven’t worked since the middle of 2019 where the investment fund I loved working at had to close down due to insufficient funds. That absolutely killed me. Emotionally and financially. Those types of jobs don’t come around all that often either. The show goes on!

2020 Goals

Why bother? Putting goals on paper for the world to see can be an incredible motivator. Since I’ve listed them, I’m going to feel the pressure to perform them. If I didn’t let anyone know, I wouldn’t feel so bad about not completing them. Not all goals are pleasant and fun. A lot are. But some could be incredibly frustrating if circumstances change. I’m telling them here as a sort of commitment to the cause, so thank you for being a participant. 🙂

For 2020 I wrote on Twitter I had 3 simple goals. Listen more, read more and write more. These are true. Although here I will list in detail what specifically I’m hoping to achieve in the coming year.

1. Find an Income

To be frank, I’m on the bones of my arse. So this coming year I need cash flow. What type? Specifically I’m aiming to land an internship to compliment me starting my computer science degree. I’m still applying for finance and investment type roles both locally and abroad, but I feel my chances aren’t crash hot. 

50% chance. Honestly Job searching is pretty depressing at this point and all hope is nearly lost.

2. Grow the Blog

Specifically 100 newsletter subscribers and 20 site visits per day. Currently I have 1 newsletter subscriber (me), and hoping to grow that substantially. 100 is not an objectively large number. But when starting from 1 it does seem a long while away. As for site visits, I have no plans to be the biggest. I’m aiming to be more so the best. I want to attract similar curious and interesting people to interact with. But I can’t do that if no one reads this blog in the first place. So getting readership up and eyeballs on is the name of the game.

60% chance. I honestly have no clue how this will turn out. I can either see this blog staying dead this time next year, or blowing up and my goals succeeding 10x more than I thought. 

3. Keep up and Increase Writing Content

Besides University assignments I very seldom chose to write. Recently I’ve gotten into it and love it. Longer form articles are my preferred medium, and will be aiming to continue within 2020. I won’t necessarily put a word count on any post I want to do. I do want to publish consistently however. Not all my writing will be perfect. Hell, not all my writing will even be good! But by the act of doing, is the act of learning. If I don’t do, I won’t improve. By 2021, I hope by writing consistently, I will have more of an idea of what type of writing and topics I enjoy. 

80% chance. Loving it so far and relies mostly on me getting it done.

4. Read More Sporadically

Not everything has to be read cover to cover. Why waste time on unimportant intros and fluff? Take what you need and get the hell out. Especially for more technical and dry type books, I’ll be aiming to use them more as a reference type source. Also, if I’m not enjoying a book and not gaining anything, I want to cut it early. All too often I stick with a book hoping for it to improve to no avail. Maybe that says something about the quality of the book that I choose? 

80% chance. Just have to make more of an effort to peruse.

5. Build a Program

My computer science degree starts February this year and I’ve already started learning Python myself in my spare time. Why Python? So far I’ve found it beginner friendly. Yet also practical. Python also has a tonne of resources online which also helps. Overall I hope to build some sort of program in Python by early on in the year. What type of program? Unsure yet, but probably will involve some web scraping, sports and statistics I’d imagine.

70% chance. Strong chance I get it done. Lower chance I find it of acceptable quality.

Habits I Want to Start or Further Cement in 2020

Cutting Out Sugar

This is one I struggle with. I can’t help it. I have a massive sweet tooth. Especially as sometimes my daily total sugar count really creeps up on me. I have a protein shake daily after the gym which can’t be helped. But adding onto that with a couple of glasses of juice here and there. Maybe chocolate after dinner if available. I operate under the guise that I’m bulking up so I never feel too bad about it. But I feel like it just all adds up so quickly and I hate it. I’m making a conscious effort to really exclude sugar unless necessary. I still might have one juice a day. But only to mix my creatine in. Other than that, chocolates and desserts are mostly eliminated. I’m just aiming to make conscious decisions about my sugar choices. And not blindly consume.

Less Meat, Especially Processed.

I’m not a huge fan of processed meat. But similar to sugar, I seem to just consume it on autopilot. Bacon and Sausages are the first to go. Replaced with eggs and vegetables for breakfasts. Hopefully, this is just a small choice that positively affects my health and a little for the environment too. Either way, I don’t crave it. But again if put in front of me, I usually devour it. So aiming for a healthier and more environmental choice. 

Less Meaningless Screen Time

I don’t have a problem with using technology a lot. But I have a tendency to waste a bit scrolling through Reddit or my Twitter feed. I want to aim to use Google Docs and write more articles. Or read meaningful articles or videos. I’m sick of purely consuming. I want to learn and educate myself.

So that’s my goals & habits for 2020. Now for some rapid fire questions about 2019.

Favourite Quote this year?

Any individual decisions can be badly thought through, and yet be successful, or exceedingly well thought through, but be unsuccessful, because the recognised possibility of failure in fact occurs. But over time, more thoughtful decision-making will lead to better overall results, and more thoughtful decision-making can be encouraged by evaluating decisions on how well they were made rather than on their outcome.

Robert Rubin, Former Secretary of the Treasury of the United States

Most Played Song? (per Spotify)

Soul Shake – My Nu Leng, Flava D

Favourite Memory?

First trip to Bali in August.

In 2020 I want to be?

Happy, Healthy and Wealthy.

Summary

That pretty much wraps up my annual review and 2020 preview. As always, comments are appreciated. Feel free to take this conversation to Twitter too.