An Honest Retrospective

January’s almost over. Time for an honest look at how I’m doing with those commitments I made.

Weekend Boundaries: B+

Mostly held the line. Only worked one Saturday (actual emergency). Felt good most weekends.

Slip-ups: Still checking Slack occasionally. Not responding, but checking. Need to stop that.

Better than before. Phone stays away during family time more often.

But I still drift mentally. Physically there, thinking about work. This is harder to fix than I thought.

Published 27 posts this month. Some short, some long. Felt good to write regularly again.

Said I’d stop chasing every new model. Mostly succeeded. But still got distracted by Gemini 2 release.

Old habits die hard.

Taking weekends off. This was the biggest change. It’s holding.

Being more honest in my writing. Less “here’s the perfect solution,” more “here’s what actually happened.”

Saying no to projects. Turned down two consulting gigs. Would have said yes a year ago.

Mental presence. Being in the moment. My mind wanders to work even when I’m not working.

Patience with my kids. Especially when I’m stressed. I snap more than I should.

Imposter syndrome. Still questioning if I know enough, am enough, do enough.

Progress isn’t linear. Some weeks are better than others. That’s okay.

Awareness is the first step. I notice when I’m not present now. That’s something.

Perfect is the enemy of good. I won’t nail this perfectly. Aiming for “better” is enough.

One: Meditation practice. 5 minutes daily. See if it helps with presence.

Two: Weekly family activity. One thing each week, phones away, fully present.

Three: Monthly no-tech day. One Saturday, no computer, no phone. Just family.

Simple goals. Achievable goals. We’ll see.

I’m not crushing it. I’m not failing either. I’m somewhere in between.

Making progress in some areas. Struggling in others.

That’s real life. Not the curated version. The actual, messy, imperfect version.

And that’s okay.

Here’s to February. Let’s see what happens.