Consistency
Yesterday began a new quarter of the year, but most importantly, it ended a terrible one.
As Q1 2025 closed, I reflected on my highlights and lowlights from the period. It pains me to say that there are oh so many lowlights and few highlights. I set high expectations for myself professionally and personally. But I can’t use that as an excuse since I had many highlights at my professional job. If only I could say the same about my personal life.
At the beginning of the year, I said I would write, read, code, maintain a healthy diet, and do stuff outside my comfort zone daily. I wanted to turn these into habits, but that did not happen.
I wrote once or twice per week, only publishing four posts to this blog. That put me far off pace from the 40 posts I plan to hit by the end of 2025. I didn’t read books much, either. Similarly to writing, I read once or twice per week. I only finished one book in Q1. There were five or six where I reached the halfway mark but couldn’t complete. My goal for 2025 is to finish 12 books, so I’m far off pace from hitting that number.
I coded consistently for the first month and a half of 2025. After that, however, I slowed down. My GitHub account shows that I have two commits between February 25th and March 31st. That’s nothing compared to the 230 commits from the start of the year.
And, finally, there’s my health. I expected to get in the best shape of my life during Q1, but the opposite happened, instead. Between alcohol consumption and unhealthy eating, I gained weight. I started the year at 191.2 pounds and peaked at 202.4 pounds on February 22nd. That’s a disgusting amount to gain. Yesterday, I weighed in at 198.4 pounds. It’s better than 202.4 but far from where I wanted to be—less than 185 pounds.
My unintentional theme for Q1 has been inconsistency.
I’m not ashamed to say it, but I’m in no way proud.
I don’t want to repeat my mistake during this new quarter. That’s why I decided to make my word for Q2 be CONSISTENCY.
It’s the motto I’ll live by for the next three months. Everything I do will have this in mind.
I enjoy setting measureable goals, as it allows me to track my progress efficiently. So for this quarter, I plan to do the following:
- Write every day for 30 minutes
- Code every day for 30 minutes
- Run 4x per week
- Lose 15 pounds
- Drink no alcohol
And as a bonus, I’ll include another goal that’s intentionally vague:
- Do something great
I don’t know what “something great” entails. It’ll be something that I will know I have accomplished once it occurs. I’m adding this to force myself out of my comfort zone and try new things. The fact I recently moved to New York City opens up plenty of opportunity for adventure. I must capitalize on that.
Part of me publishes this as an accountability piece that’ll keep me on track to hit my Q2 goals. I have previously read that publicly saying you will do something makes you more likely to do the thing. But, sadly, there’s no guarantee. I learned this the hard way, having previously posted goals and habits online that I intended to fulfill but always failed to execute. (Here, here, and here are some examples—though there’s still hope for the last one).
Even though I’m publicly declaring what I’ll do this quarter, everything I wrote here means nothing—for now, at least. Once Q2 ends, I’ll revisit this post, and only then will we know whether my words here hold any value.