Happy New Year from the Last Homely House! The lovely wife and I didn’t make it to midnight - in fact we were in bed by about 10. Above is 2024’s first cup of coffee. We were up early so we could go out to greet the first sun of 2024 with a sunrise stroll on Periwinkle Cove, looking out over the Atlantic. It was about 25 degrees, so it was a tad chilly.
Afterwards we headed up to Kittery, Maine (which is about 15 minutes away) to go to Lil’s Cafe for their world famous crullers. Highly recommend. It all was the perfect way to start the new year.
So speaking of the new year, I have started my weekly goals again. They are:
(See sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XcjjkPYXM1qm11mImKD8KVh6ozA6NhCDD_VgwxgtuH0/edit?usp=sharing )
The goals break out into three broad categories:
Physical:
Cardio: at least 20 minutes of vigorous exercise. Can be just walking, but deliberate. Preferably running.
Weights: A friend of mine who has a PHD in exercise science developed this routine for me, pre-COVID, to do at a gym. I include the modified version I have been doing since COVID. It has worked very well for maintaining strength. Use at your own judgment - I don’t know your health status. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1cz6SltkLkDTdccynESOvql5Kcn2_NhMlY6KRCc9y--k/edit?usp=sharing
BJJ: At least two practices per week. I try for three. I find now that I am in my fifties, I need a day to recover.
Stretching: I have always been very tight, even when I was in my best shape. I’m trying to do at least 3 minutes of deliberate stretching. More as time allows.
Professional/Personal Development:
Read: Read at least 20 pages from a developmental book each day. “Developmental” is loose, but something that is good for me. Usually non-fiction, history, philosophy. Sometimes classic fiction.
Research: ⅜ of my FTE at work is supposed to be spent on research. The most profitable way to work on research is a little at a time. I’m trying to be more disciplined about this.
Artistic:
Poetry: I’m trying to spend at least 10 minutes working on my poetry each session to count. Poetry is something that has been important to me since I was a kid. I’d really like to get into a class at some point to get more coaching. I may join a peer critique group this year to encourage this.
Record poem: So once a week I will be recording a poem, good or mediocre. I’ve created a separate Substack for this if you are interested in following along at
Visual Art: I don’t have it in me to do another 365, so I am setting a goal of some sort of visual art, 15 minutes or so of effort. Probably will be a lot of line drawings. I haven’t decided if I will count photography or not yet.
So one thing to note is these goals are all set to be relatively easy to achieve in any one session, and the frequency is challenging, but not impossible. I try to set goals that can be achieved with a modest amount of discipline. I try not to beat myself up too much when I miss a goal. But I have the sheet set to give me a stop light (red, yellow, green) report so that I can keep myself honest about what I am trying to do.
The benefit of this is if you tell yourself you care about something, you should attempt to make a little progress every week. If you find yourself missing your goal week after week, you have to ask yourself, do you really care about this thing?
All of these things are good in small doses, and their benefit comes principally from doing a little bit with high frequency. For example, in 2024 I read 40 books, mostly 20 pages at a time. 20 pages isn’t a lot of reading (unless it’s philosophy), but 20 x 6 x 52 = 6,240 pages. That’s a lot of books. So small doses with regular repetition adds up. You eat the elephant one bite at a time.
These are mostly the same goals as 2023, and similar to 2022. A few adjustments this year. 2023 went pretty well until about October when I got overwhelmed by work and pretty much crashed and burned on most of these for about two months. I bounced back some once November came, but just did not get all the way back in the game. Nevertheless, this was a useful discipline and I will continue it in 2024.
So not counted on this list are my twice weekly newsletters (as you are obviously aware), the two monthly podcasts, nor my ongoing effort at learning Italian daily with Duolingo. All of these have enough prompts that I don’t feel the need to include them on the Google Sheet.
I find a Google Sheet is the easiest way to track this. Google Sheets is free, and you can get the app for your iPhone.
So what are you committing to this year? What small act could you take several times a week to be a better version of yourself by the end of 2024?
OK - on to the links. A few for New Years. As usual, willing good for all of you!
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Read
What: The Common Reader, Aiming at something noble. Resolutions for human flourishing.
Why: Excellent, summative essay about John Stuart Mill’s teachings about how to flourish in life. From the essay:
Thus, the purpose of life is to develop ourselves morally, practically, and aesthetically, to constantly educate ourselves, in order to be better reconciled to our environment, and to become more capable of making good decisions.
This is a longer essay, but is definitely worth 15 minutes to read. JS Mill is best known for his defense of free speech and for his utilitarianism, but the author does a very nice job distilling 5 easy to digest lessons about living a more fulfilled life from Mill’s philosophy.
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Watch
What: Pain is Inevitable, But Suffering is Optional | Buddhist story (3 min)
Why: A short Buddhist parable. Obsessing layers suffering over pain.
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Listen
What: The Great Books, 'On Duties' by Cicero (36 min)
Why: I recently found this podcast and I am in love. Even with the books I have read (like On Duties), I learn something every time I listen to this pod. And often I learn about books I have not read and add them to my pile.
Here’s one pile as of last week:
It always grows faster than I can get through it. I take one away, two more show up.
But I digress. Cicero was one of the great statesmen of the late Roman Republic. On Duties was essentially an open letter he wrote nominally to his son who was off studying in Greece (and maybe gallivanting a bit more than dad hoped). It’s a philosophical tract, but very readable because Cicero was also a great orator (unlike, say, Aristotle, who was not). It is a shame that more of our would-be leaders are not forced to study On Duties (also translated as On Obligations, which, as you might expect, appeals more to me).
This pod has me planning to re-read On Duties this year. If you’re looking for an easy way to improve yourself this year, you could do worse than by subscribing to this pod, even if you don’t read the books.