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A Deep Reflection of 2025

22nd January, 2026

How has the year gone?

2025 was the year of exploration. I said yes to everything - every social event, experience, project, everything! I wanted to put as much on my plate as possible. I wanted to find my limits; to see what I'm capable of, and to see what's available out there. It was a bit mental. A lot happened.

What went well?

I experienced a lot of new things:

What went badly?

Well, all the things that went well came at a cost.

Financially, I wasn't really caring what things cost when I said “yes” to plans. I was tracking my expenses! But only afterwards. It was only around Q3 that I started planning, as wall as tracking. Luckily I naturally didn't get myself into too much bother. Nothing that stopped me buying a property relatively comfortably anyway.

Physically, 2025 was a bit more volatile. At the beginning of the year I was doing quite well because I knew I had the marathon planned in September. I got my weight down to ~118kg around May-June time - but then I started being more and more spontaneous and routines started going out the window due to lack of consistency in life. When I attempted the marathon, I was sitting around ~125kg on the scales. Fast forward to now, after really letting myself slip, I'm sitting at ~137kg… what a fool I feel. I can physically feel everything that's declined. I get out of breath on the stairs. My clothes don't fit right again. I have a slight wheeze. My lips are always dry. I'm losing balance sometimes while just moving around the house. I can feel my heartbeat in my temple. I feel claustrophobic in my own skin now.

Why?

When I got so busy traveling, good habits just started fading away; becoming more difficult to maintain, or just being overwritten by new habits. I stopped playing rugby. Then I stopped exercising at all. Then I stopped cooking as much. Next thing you know, I'm a couch potato again.

Don't be fooled though. These were all intentional decisions. Because I had already lost ~18kg earlier in the year, I had disproved the belief I used to have that I couldn't lose weight at all. So knowing that, I felt more okay about sacrificing it for a while, because I now knew I could undo it. Strange justification, I know.

What lessons did I learn?

Losing weight is a simple equation: calories in < calories burned = weight loss. What makes it hard is when you force yourself to stick to habits/goals that don't suit you. The fun part is modifying the habits to suit you. I found it much easier when I set myself goals that suited the way my mind works; instead of “go to the gym 3 times a week”, I said I wanted to “reach a 200kg deadlift PR”. That goal is impossible to achieve without going to the gym. So I went to the gym. Simple.

In more general terms though, I learned that when I tried to inherit habits, protocols and knowledge that other people taught me, it never really worked as well as it did for them. And that makes sense. I'm not them. So I started iterating on things. Now, I do a lot of my own testing and iterating. For example, I now don't drink coffee very much because I monitored exactly how it made me feel. I tried to drink different amounts, and at different times of day, to see what happened and I realised that for me, personally, it gave me no benefit whatsoever.

I also learned that managing money is way easier when you have more of it. I also felt happier and more confident when I had more money. Not because I spent more, but because I knew I could if I wanted to.

What habit or system accounted for most of my success?

I think a more suitable question for last year would be 'What habit or system is responsible for removing a lot of my failure?'.

Stopping rugby was a double edged sword. It meant I wasn't going out and getting drunk every weekend, but it also stripped away most of my weekly exercise. I think it was a net benefit, but it's still hard to tell.

I became very aware of my meta-lifestyle; all the small habitual foibles I was performing that was pushing me further from my goals without realising. Things like not taking care of my sleep, not going outside very often or just doom scrolling when I felt sad - each foible was causing a wake of destruction through every other part of my life. So I cleaned most of them up.

What are the most valuable ways I spend my time?

Learning and practicing my craft - for sense of purpose

Golfing - for mental and physical development

Time with friends and family - for connection

How can I find more time for this?

Spend at least 2 of my 5-9's every week on my craft (can't be work related)

For now, make a habit of playing every Sunday morning - either on the course or at the range - and gradually up that amount when I get a golf club membership in spring and the nights start getting longer in Summer

Be more intentional with keeping in touch with people. I believe in “If they wanted to, they would”, but “If I wanted to, then I would” is the only one I can control

What brought me the most happiness?

I'm very fortunate to be spoiled for choice on this one. Let me mention 2 things; one external and one internal. Attempting the Glencoe Marathon and raising over £1,000 for charity definitely felt really good and brought me a lot of happiness. It feels nice to be nice. And then at the end of the year, buying my first property felt very liberating, which also brought me a lot of happiness.

How can I help these activities to happen more often?

Well I'm not doing the Glencoe Marathon again, I tell you that, but there's two principles at play there that's giving me this happiness; feeling useful, and feeling accomplished. Both excreted a sense of success, acceptance, and content, and therefore… happiness.

So how do I make that happen more often?

I would like to use my craft. I believe I can create something that helps people which will reproduce those feelings again.

Who are the people that had the greatest impact on me?

Kelvin and my Dad.

How can I see and collaborate with them more?

Now I live 10 minutes away from my Dad, rather than 2.5hrs, we'll be spending much more time together this year - golfing, exercising no doubt, the odd side project together too I imagine.

Collaboration with Kelvin is always top quality. Last year we went through natural phases; we'd go from spending 4-5 hours a day in Discord learning and growing together to maybe once every couple of days. I enjoyed how our excitement for our craft peaked at similar times; that made collaboration really easy and natural. This year I think we're going to try sprinkling in some consistency to see if we can foster an environment where, rather than having large ups and downs in our excitement, we have a more consistent level of maintained focus and excitement. We'll see if that benefits us more.

What did I expect to complete, but didn't?

I expected to weigh a lot less going into 2026.

Is this still an important goal of mine? If so, how can I make future follow-through more likely?

This is a very important goal, and is the number one priority for 2026. Having a routine means I'll cook more, and cooking more will lead to a vastly better diet. A routine also means I get to turn occasional activities and exercise into habits + building stronger social groups around them too.

What are the least valuable ways I am spending my time?

I watch a lot of YouTube; some is beneficial for either educational or entertainment reasons, but some is just an intentional way to turn my brain off for a bit so it can recharge

How can I prevent myself from continuing to spend time in this way?

I need to find a more productive way to recharge my brain… and I'm thinking the answer is the gym. This is a great opportunity to habit stack. I can still watch things on YouTube on my phone in the gym while I'm lifting if I wanted to. Definitely better than sitting on the sofa for 2 hours a day where I'll probably end up snacking.

How have my goals or priorities shifted over the last few months?

Well after buying my flat in December, my financial goals have changed drastically. Before, it was about keeping my debt-to-income ratio down and saving everything I could so I could secure the lending on my flat and pay any fees without extending into more debt. Now, it's about clearing all my high-interest debt quickly and cleverly by using 0% interest cards for balance transfers and paying off the highest interest debt first. I've calculated that I can achieve this in 17-20 months if I really go for it.

Another priority that's been shifted to the top now is my health. Now I have my own place that I know I'll be living in for a decent chunk of time, I can curate the perfect routines for myself. I'm currently deciding which gym facilities to sign up for; ideally I want somewhere that has a 24/7 gym, a pool, a sauna and in a location that's convenient for both me and my Dad… it's proving tougher than I thought to tick all those boxes so I might have to sacrifice some criteria in the pursuit of quick action.

Is there anything I am still doing that is no longer in alignment? Why?

Yeah, my diet. I'm still finding my feet in the way of cooking. I am gradually cooking more and more each week, so the graph is trending upwards which is good. I would like my next decent sized purchase to be a dining table so I can start cooking for others. At the moment, when I have guests, it's easier to go out to eat than try to eat food on your knees on the sofa, or worse… the floor.

Core Memories

What would I do this year if I wanted to make 85 year old me miserable?

What would 85 year old me wish I did more of?

What are the things I do to make my day go great?

What things make my days go terribly?

What do I think is productive that isn't?

Watching so many podcasts

What is productive that I don't realise?

Not having a TV in my bedroom anymore

What do I want to do less of with my time?

Watching short form content

What do I want to do more of with my time?

Creative side quests; writing, interior design, personal software

What does an ideal normal day look like? Write it out.

06:30 alarm goes off, get out of bed, put watch on charge, get shower, get changed, dry hair, make cup of tea, make breakfast, sit at desk, drink tea, eat breakfast, catch up on notifications
07:00 work/craft
11:00 either gym or walk (stack this with phone calls or podcasts), get home, make lunch, eat lunch
13:00 work/craft
16:00 do something that makes me feel inspired
18:00 cook dinner, eat dinner
19:00 do something that makes me feel connected
22:00 do something that makes me feel tired
23:00 go to sleep

What are the habits I'm committing to starting and stopping?

I will start…

I will stop…

What would've had to have happened by the end of next year for me to look back on the year and consider it a success?

Who do I need to become for next year's chapter of my life story to turn out the way I would write it?

Knowing what I know now, what advice would I give to myself 12 months ago? (pssst - you probably still need to hear this now)