A Review of 2023: Rating My Yearly Goals

--- by D. Petkovski ---

Before the beginning of each year, I set targets that I want to achieve in it.

This post is a review of my 2023 goals.

Table of Contents

01. Daily Journaling [Done]

Description: maintaining a daily log of what’s going on in my life and around it.

It’s a sort of a diary, but practical and punctual. Not only that it gave me a great platform to introspect, but it was also useful to backtrack and find quick conclusions from past events.

02. Create a Baby [Done]

Yes, this was also a goal. The major one at that.

Having a kid was never something that would’ve just happened spontaneously for my wife and myself. But after a decade of building our foundation, careers, and safety nets, we concluded we’re ready to raise a healthy human.

And we went beyond “create” – we also managed to bring our son to the world in 2023.

03. Stay Mindful and Slow Down [Fail]

I don’t dislike my hyper-productive nature, but it made me incapable of being present in most day to day operations (or as I like to call it “embracing the boredom of undistracted existence and mundane activities”). As such, this created a challenge that I wanted to overcome for a period of time.

Basically, my goal was to be more mindful of the things I’m doing, even if they’re extremely trivial (like eating or brushing teeth), without my mind shifting to what it learned to consider important.

Long story short, I failed to maintain this condition for a significant period of time.

04. Create a Personal Website [Done]

This is something I kept postponing so often that I even abandoned it in the middle of the year.

However, in December I had a sudden reevaluation and dpetkovski.com was born.

I documented my thought process and challenges in my genesis post.

05. Amish Time Between 17:00 and 19:00 for 6 months [Done]

This basically meant having some electronics-free time after logging off of work.

Note: I’m not a “content junkie” and I never wasted my life doom-scrolling. This is something related to my goal of slowing down, meant to aid in having more mindful evenings and enjoying dinner without distractions.

06. Meditation – Link it With Your Training [Done]

Another one related to Goal 03. I’ve done this for a couple of months because:

I saw it being recommended everywhere
I always found “doing nothing” hard to do

And although I’ve made it a habit to have 10 minute sessions after my workouts, I couldn’t say that I found more benefits than from just being spontaneously mindful.

Glad I’ve tried it and maybe I’ll revisit it in the future.

07. Positioning for the 2024/2025 Bitcoin Cycle [Done]

I set this goal in December 2022 when I was already accumulating $BTC daily in (what turned out to be) the bottom of the cycle:

This goal was a meant to be a constant reminder to utilize my spare cash instead of holding it like a loser.

Given the market conditions, this seemed like a major asymmetric risk/reward opportunity, so I welcome all the rate hikes and inevitable cuts with aggressive accumulation.

Here is a screenshot of my orders since 2021 – riding the 4 year cycle the right way:

08. No processed sugar for 6 months [Done]

This was an easy one – I just didn’t buy nor ate processed sugar for 6 months.

Note: I continued consuming in moderation after the test period.

09. No alcohol for 6 months [Done]

I’m not a habitual drinker, so this was also an easy one. The main motivation to “officialize” it as a goal was due to:

Our plan to have a baby
Acting in solidarity with my pregnant wife
Refusing the smallest detriments to my training regime

Not only I did it for 6 months, but it spontaneously continued to this day.

10. Earn at Least $10k Online [Done]

Achieved and surpassed significantly.

Note: this had to be actual income or profit, not unrealized gains from my long-term investments.

Here are the main drivers (ordered):

Airdrops
Crypto presales and providing early liquidity
Blockchain-based community points
Narrative trading during hype waves
Niche websites – ad revenue and book sales

By the way, if what you read sparks your interest, make sure to subscribe. I’ll cover my approach to most of these in dedicated posts.

11. Read At Least 5 Relevant Books [Done]

Done, and here’s the list:

Flatland – Edwin Abbott Abbott
Counsels and Maxims – Arthur Schopenhauer
The Art of War – Sun Tzu
Meditations – Marcus Aurelius
The Bitcoin Standard – Saifedean Ammous
Man Alone With Himself – Friedrich Nietzsche
The Four Agreements – Don Miguel Ruiz
Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts – Martin N. Seif and Sally M. Winston
The Power of Now – Eckhart Tolle
Sapiens – Yuval Noah Harari
Logical Chess: Move By Move – Irving Chernev
The Montessori Baby – Junnifa Uzodike and Simone Davies
Show Your Work – Austin Kleon

Did you know that I also post book reviews, notes, and conclusions?

You might find those interesting.

12. Training: Be Able to do HSPU Consistently [Done]

Unlike previous years where I had a diverse set of fitness-related goals, this time I decided to narrow the focus.

My only goal was being able to do freestanding handstand push ups.

Here’s the result:

PS Probably lost this skill towards the end of the year as I went more “maintenance mode” due to travels and becoming a father.

13. No Compulsions for 6 Months [Done]

This is another one related to my goal of slowing down.

If I wasn’t not completely immersed into something, I used to start certain activities on auto-pilot. These include but are not limited to:

Quick games of chess
Compulsive cardistry
Splitting my attention across racing thoughts
Arbitrary Rubik’s cube combos (usually PLLs)
Checking price charts frequently, etc.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by D. Petkovski (@strengthcentric)

So I put all my decks of cards and Rubik’s cubes away for 6 months and it was an easy win. Additionally, I don’t have notifications on my phone and I only use it intentionally.

14. Reach 1500 Elo Rating on Chess.com [Fail]

Almost!

I surpassed 1450 but failed to reach 1500.

15. Learn Basic Waltz [Done]

Yup, we did it.

Here’s us vibing it out in the Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden:

This video was of great help.

Summary

I achieved 13 out of my 15 goals, an 86.66% success rate.

That’s irrelevant though, as the point of this is self-improvement. So even if I achieved a single one, I’d still have been a better person than the year before.

Excited for 2024!

Author

D. Petkovski

📓 The Author Husband & Father
Software Engineer StrengthCentric
Bitcoin Hodler DeFi Veteran
🌍 Everything Enthusiast 🔥 Optimist

Revolutionizing ideas. Simplifying complexity. Sharing knowledge.