resolutions – Christopher Wink

My 2023 Resolutions

My 2022 had its challenges and macroeconomic complexity threatens to make 2023 harder still.

Call me naive then but I maintain that it will be difficult to surpass the crush that was 2020, and even the daze that was 2021. I am optimistic that even if 2023 features a recession it will be a painful part of the journey out of this pandemic.

That attitude shines through in my resolutions for next year. I have two kids, new hobbies and a very different business than I had in 2019.

My 2022 in review

Another pandemic year, another year of personal discovery.

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My 2022 resolutions

If 2020 was a collapse, 2021 was a timid rebound. I hope to return to goals of 2019 with newfound learning and momentum to make 2022 something special.

Last year was a step back toward friends and family, thanks to a historic vaccination program and despite ensuing covid variants. I’m optimistic for continuing the development of a post-pandemic world — even though we know now that covid will almost certainly transition into a new seasonal affliction.

I see hopeful sign posts. I have plans to attend a wedding in each of the first four months of this year, all of which were postponed at least once, and they are planned to have the good food and dancing that any good wedding of old once had. For at least two of them, SACMW and I will be staying in hotels, while our baby stays with a grandparent; I understand these were once fairly normal acts in The Before Times but they’re novel, and downright exciting, to me now.

I am very eager to return to some form of travel in 2022 but it all feels so uncertain. So, though I initially considered resolutions like “Use my passport again” and “Get on a plane,” the pandemic and new parenthood combined kept those off the list for this year. Nonetheless, I have high hopes for next year.

My 2021 review

This year was better than 2020 but boy it brought its own historic stresses.

I am thankful for the remarkable vaccination program, for frontline workers, fiscal stimulus and the limitless inventiveness of humanity. I saw more family and friends this year than in 2020. My coworkers and I got ourselves to a stronger position than where we were even in 2019. I’ve regained a balance on knowing I am both extraordinarily fortunate and regularly challenged by the world.

Earlier this year, burnout caught up to me, and I had to confront those demons. I took a step back from social media and spent more time with my baby daughter and good books. Much of what I loved about my life in 2019 is still on a pandemic pause (travel, routine restaurant visits, indoor events and more). I found ritual and joy and added new habits. No matter how much this pandemic changes the world for good, I’ve changed — as a parent, the owner of a remote-only company and just a bit older and more experienced.

Thank you to so many who helped me grow this year. I hope I contributed at least as much.

My resolutions for 2021

Self-deception or not, I am an active participant in an annual reset. I personally appreciate taking a break, evaluating my goals and setting new ones for the next.

I hold some personal truths close, but I share annual resolutions each year. Even, or perhaps especially, after the very strange 2020, I am quite ready for 2021. Like you, I spent most of 2020 locked down at home or wearing a mask — as depicted above while walking my newborn daughter through a favorite nearby park. This will continue for what seems much of 2021. I suppose now I’m better prepared for it.

My 2020 Review

I am not alone in welcoming the end of this chaotic and disruptive year.

I’ve been gifted enough perspective to be well aware of how fortunate I am. Still, I’m allowing myself to wallow in the enthusiasm I hold for the end of 2020. The feeling of closure around the end of year is purely psychological and it’s a feeling I enjoy every year. But, man, 2020 am I right?

My 2020 Resolutions

I have work to do. The progress I made in 2019 on a frustrating year of 2018 is incomplete, slowed by a few steps backward, despite considerable forward progress. So bring on 2020.

As is my custom, I’m publishing here my resolutions for 2020 to get a little bit closer to the person I want to be, and to hold myself accountable to those goals. Find my past resolutions here.

My 2019 Review

I roared into this year with a plan.

After a 2018 of mixed results, I intended 2019 to be different. In many ways it was. My company had a big Q1. I got personal time back. By the end of summer, though, a key hire that was a major part of my work strategy had their own major life change. My plans had to change. Work taxed me more than expected, and that had ripple effects in personal ways too.

Knowing what I was working toward, I was exhilarated for most of 2019. Yet I still ended the year tired and distracted by reestablishing plans I thought I already had set. This year I was reminded that leadership may start with setting a plan but it’s tested by reacting to inevitable changes to that plan. I did that. I’m at least a year wiser.

Below find both a recap of important milestones in my year, and, farther down, find a review of how I did on my 2019 Resolutions.

My 2019 Resolutions

These are my priorities for the year for getting closer to being the person I want to be. As in years past, I want to share my resolutions.

Find past ones here.

I was proud of what I accomplished in 2018, which included a trip to Mexico City (and a visit to Paso de Cortes, as depicted above, where the Spanish conquistador entered the valley to attack the people sometimes called the Aztecs). I’m excited for 2019.

Continue reading My 2019 Resolutions