Revisiting 23 year old me: An introspective

Posted on: 17 May 2022

A little under 11 years ago I embarked on a challenge to complete 101 tasks in a 1001 days (roughly 2 years and 9 months). I did not fair well, completing just under a third of the tasks in the time frame (33). It was an interesting challenge to see how my goals change over time though.

In the same vein, I love a bit of introspection, and I thought it would be interesting to revisit the list, see how many I’ve subsequently completed, and see how my outlook on life has changed from my 20s to my 30s. So without further ado:

I have now completed 54/101 tasks. Over half!

Tasks completed since

It’s nice to look back on the 7 and a half years since the challenge ended and reflect on what I have achieved. Learning to ski and surf, owning my own pet, watching Chelsea abroad, learning Ruby and finally recoding this website among a few.

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Outstanding goals

Of the 48 outstanding, I’ve split them into 3 categories: really should have achieved by now; frivolous goals; and things I want to do before I die.

I was pleased to see a reasonably even split between the 3 categories. Things I still want to achieve being the highest with 40%, followed by frivolous goals: 36%, and really should have achieved: 23%.

Really should have achieved

I’m happy in the end there weren’t too many I felt I really should have done (11 in total from the original 101). These all feel achievable, and but for losing the best part of 2 years for the pandemic, some more may have been.

I never explored the freelancing route, which is interesting. I seemingly had aspirations to do this in my 20s, but I’ve instead chosen to stick to a combination of a full time job and side projects, rather than any extra paid work on the side.

Frivolous

It’s amusing to me how many of these involve pointless numbers, although in fairness to my past self, are at least quantifiable. Suffice to say, marathons and boxset-rewatching was not the highest on my priorities list in the end.

Hobbies such as photography fell by the way side. At least in terms of tech. I still enjoy the art of taking pictures, but primarily now with a smart phone rather than DSLR.

A ceiling-high DVD collection is almost a relic of the past now. I reduced my collection down several years ago but I’m a little ashamed I’ve not culled it completely. I can’t remember when I last watched a DVD!

Do before I die

This is the really interesting list for me. A mixture of waning hobbies, lack of consistency, and distant but still desirable goals.

Skydiving, scuba diving, and riding a hot air balloon & a sleeper train are all still activities I’d love to do one day. Charlotte and I snorkelled in the Maldives, which was mesmerising, but didn’t take the plunge on the scuba dive.

Music, like photography, has become a less significant part of my life. I would still consider it a passion of mine though, so one day playing live in a band (#13), with a Fender tele (#28) through a Blues Junior (#27) remains a dream of mine 😍.

Swimming a mile remains a current challenge.

Conclusion

Goal-setting is something I now approach with a bit more trepidation. Goals can hang over you like the proverbial albatross, especially if your time to yourself is limited due to family commitments, for example.

I would seriously struggle to come up with 101 things I wanted to achieve in the next 3 years now. Perhaps this makes me less ambitious (are you ever more ambititious than in your early 20s?) but I think I have a better grasp on my limitations now.

I still struggle daily with motivation, especially with more grandiose tasks, so I try to break things down into more achievable, atomic tasks. Journalling daily helps keep me grounded and track my progress towards my goals.

A life without working towards something aspirational would be a tedious one, so it's important to have your sights set on something. Just don't beat yourself up about it and try and make tiny progress as often as you can.