2024 Goals

Howdy from Raleigh,

Last week, I published my 2023 full annual review.

In the review, I set 10 goals for 2024. You can check them out below.

My 2023 Goals

1. 📚 Read The Bible Cover to Cover

Overview: My intake of theology increased dramatically in 2023, primarily through the lens of John Mark Comer, Tim Keller, and my friend/pastor Chris Breslin.

I continually run into the same issue when consuming the work of these three. I do not have a strong enough baseline knowledge of the Bible. When folks quickly reference a verse or a parable, my mind is working overtime to try to figure out which story they're referring to, what the context is, and what the meaning is

By the time I resurface from a deep inquisition into my lack of biblical knowledge, two minutes have passed and I have lost track of the sermon.

It is time that I read the Bible cover to cover.

Plan of attack: 1. Consume The Bible Project overviews before jumping into a new book 2. Read the book and take notes in a study bible (ESV) 3. Recap that day's reading alongside The Bible Study recap.

My prediction: this first time that I study the Bible will allow me to build a foundation of knowledge that I will build upon for years to come in future Bible studies.

2. 🧘‍♂️ Do Yoga Nidra Meditation 1x Daily

Overview: Andrew Huberman is a Stanford neurobiologist and ophthalmologist. Through his podcast, Huberman Labs, I was introduced to the benefits of Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR).

A form of NSDR is yoga nidra, which is essentially a guided body scan. A narrator walks you through deep breathing as you check-in with how you're feeling throughout your body.

Ally Boothroyd is a yoga nidra teacher with plenty of recordings of varying lengths on YouTube. I recommend starting with a 15min one here, if you're interested.

The primary benefits:

Psychological Benefits: Recommended for sleep and anxiety issues, NSDR also helps anyone needing restorative practice for focused work.

Neurochemical Benefits: NSDR restores dopamine levels, aiding motivation, cognition, and motor control, especially useful for sleep-deprived individuals.

Physical Benefits: NSDR teaches real-time relaxation and aids in compensating for lost sleep, enhancing physical well-being.

Restoring Cognitive Ability and Performance: NSDR boosts cognitive task performance and confidence, replenishing dopamine and balancing motivation levels.

Plan of attack: 1. Do yoga nidra 1x per day, every day in 2024. 2. Read Breath by James Nestor, Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke, and How Emotions are Made by Lisa Feldman Barrett.

My prediction: this will help me be more present, regulate my dopamine, and increase motivation. The supplemental reading will also help empower me with the knowledge to increase my emotional health score, which was a bit low this year.

3. 🗣️ Eliminate Uptalk, Except for When I'm Asking Questions

Overview: About a year ago, my mom introduced me to the concept of "Uptalk." It's when the intonation in your voice rises towards the end of the sentence. We often do it when we're asking a question. It signals that we're inviting someone to speak.

When I'm explaining a concept to someone, I often uptalk. I'm doing it because I'm inviting them to stop me, provide comments, or ask questions since I want to make sure they understand what I'm saying. When you explain something and it sounds as if you're asking a question, you don't project confidence.

Once you're aware of it, you can't help but hear it everywhere.

Plan of attack: pay more attention to the intonation and tone in my voice (especially when I am explaining things), and invite people in my life to provide feedback.

My prediction: I'm going to be annoyed with myself at first as I battle this, but I'll eventually be able to hear myself do it and stop it.

4. 🏋️ Get Stronger, Leaner, and Improve Endurance

Overview: Last year was a good year for education about my body, but I need to get more specific about what I'm tracking in order to achieve my goals of becoming stronger/leaner and improving endurance.

Plan of attack: 1. Track my VO2 max, body composition (via DEXA scan), and bloodwork 2x a year. 2. Purchase a Garmin watch to track my steps, sleep, and HRV. 3. Read Peter Attia's Outlive, The Circadian Code by Satchin Panda, and Spark by John J. Ratey.

My prediction: I'm going to build a more holistic picture of my health and will continue to gain the knowledge to improve my health on this front.

5. ⛔ No Alcohol, Instagram, or Facebook

Overview: These three things do not have a positive impact upon my life. Full stop.

Spending quality time with my people, having energy to accomplish my goals, and mitigating anxious thoughts is at the top of my priorities. Each of these 3 things go directly against these priorities. 

For that reason, I'm cutting them out. I cut drinking for all of 2022 and FB/IG for all of 2023, so this goal feels attainable. If you are interested in doing something similar, I recommend cutting one of these things out for a month. Then, scale from there and go for 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, etc.

Plan of attack: no scrolling on FB or IG and no drinking.

My prediction: I'll get it done and be better for it.

6. 🖊️ Publish 2 Written Pieces a Month

Overview: Beehiiv, the platform where I host the newsletter you’re reading right now, has been good to me. I'm friends with a couple of their staff members and have watched as Tyler Denk & co. went from idea to MVP to scale. As the newsletter landscape has evolved, Beehiiv has been the go-to option for folks seeking to monetize their newsletter while Substack has become the go-to option for academics.

My interests are trending away from newsletter monetization and more towards wanting to jam with folks in academia. On top of that, Substack's social features are more active. As I said under intellectual health in the well-being scorecard, learning is meant to be a social activity. I've been doing it somewhat isolated. For that reason, I intend to make the switch from Beehiiv to Substack at some point in Q1. Then, my plan is to write less frequently but with more depth.

This feels somewhat like the end of an era. I have published every week on Beehiiv for 2 straight years. That's 100+ newsletters without missing a single week. It's been awesome, but there have been times when I'm eeking out a newsletter and it's a bit of a disservice to writing as a craft and to my readers. I'd like to go challenge myself more in my writing. I think it's especially important to do so in the age of ChatGPT. That's why I'm going to decrease my cadence in exchange for more meaningful work.

Plan of attack: 1. Maintain weekly cadence on Beehiiv until work/travel slows down in Q1 so that I don't kill my momentum 2. Switch to Substack for professional writing but keep Beehiiv for personal updates (such as quarterly reviews) 3. Publish 2 pieces a month with greater depth on Substack

My prediction: I'll be sad to ease off of Beehiiv when the day comes, but I'll build more connections on Substack.

7. 🧠 Study Psychology, Technology, and Theology + Build Network in This Space

Overview: The more specific I get about what I think I want my craft to be, the easier it is for me to identify pockets of research and people who I think it'd be fun to work with.

Plan of attack: 1. Take an online master's degree course in psychology in the spring to uncover if this is truly a route that I want to pursue (and also if I'm ready to jump back into structured learning). 2. Find out which researchers in the space are working on the most interesting topics. Start with Gloria Mark and Nita Faraheny. I'm also going to monitor the Center for Humane Technology's social feeds to identify any new research that is published which I might fight interesting.

My prediction: I think that I'll enjoy this work and conversations will naturally flow with new connections because I enjoy the convergence of these topics so much.

8. ⚾ Coach and Play Baseball

Overview: Baseball gives me joy. When I'm in the field, all other thoughts melt away. I focus on the beauty of the game and the camaraderie in the dugout. I want to continue to be a part of that as a player and a coach.

Plan of attack: coach Little League with Chris Breslin and pitch/play shortstop for the Durham Dirtbags.

My prediction: I'm going to make good memories, great friends, and consume a lot of sunflower seeds.

9. 💵 Perform Monthly Audits on My Budget

Overview: I kept my expenses lean in 2023 as I tried to start a company, but I wasn't consistent about taking the monthly temperature of my financial situation. I've got to get back on track in that regard.

Plan of attack: 1. Set-up a budgeting system. 2. Review it by the end of the first week the following month and make any necessary adjustments.

My prediction: this will allow me to be more confident in my purchases and the way in which I am generous with my money. This will also help me get my financial well-being score up from last year.

10. 🥾 Go on a Week-Long Backpacking Trip

Overview: It's pretty absurd that I didn't go backpacking in 2023. I love it too much to let this slip again.

Plan of attack: 1. Sign-up for a NOLS course to go backpacking for a week somewhere in the US in 2024.

My prediction: I will be grateful that I made the time to do this. Physical health is a gift. We've got to challenge ourselves and explore while we've got it.

Thanks for reading

What are some of your 2024 goals?

Let me know what you think by replying below,

Josh

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