Slowly musing on the year that’s ending, and gradually starting to think about the year to come.
All I’ve considered for next year is my tree learning plan. And some vague thoughts about collaborating to survive in the hellscape of late capitalism.
Table of Contents
2019 life changing events
- Nature Connectors by Wild in the City in April for the trees & woods & wilderness
- The Future is Back in June to October for the community of writers, feedback and the time, space & focus on my writing
- Visual facilitation bikablo training in December for the clarity I gained & levelling up my ability to communicate with myself and with others, & learning I can draw
Developed and forged some amazing relationships this year
- Housies at my home from home in Lewisham
- New friends at the Liberating Structures Global Gathering
Other notable events and occurrences in 2019
- Sabbatical
- The Artist’s Way, second time
- Deconstructing agile workshop
- Moved to Spotify 🎉
Speaking of trees…
This year I embraced my inner scientist, enthusing about botany, dietetics and lifestyle medicine.
Because of Wild in the City and the magic of trees, I got to know these organisations and attend their events:
And I went to the Wild in the City festival with a good friend.
I’m working on a ‘how to be a tree nerd’ guide, of what helped me along the way. Basically, those are the main organisations that made a difference for me. Since then I’ve found a few others that I’ll be trying out next year.
Back to this week specifically
Been watching Seven Worlds, One Planet and reading Overstory this weekend. I love them both but also, desperately sad learning about various extinctions, past and future. 😫
I was feeling sad. Working late does that – I’m very sensitive to changes to the delicate life balance I’ve created…
Listening to this helped. A lot. Hurray!
And I still enjoyed reading Overstory whilst I was feeling sad.
I started exploring permaculture ideas and, wow, so much resonance. Looking forward to learning more. Loving this playlist. Also, this was a quick & easy intro for me.
Learning by doing
Development is my foundational priority for next year in my work. I’ve been thinking a lot about effective learning practices. For example, I’m embedding what I’ve learned about visual communication by practising drawing every day, using the bikablo methods. It’s pretty great.
And I want to get better at teaching and training next year. Looking forward to doing some work on that. In the meantime, I’ve been focusing on agile coaching competencies. Rewatching What is an Agile Coach? by Lyssa Adkins & Simon Powers and assessing myself at work.
2020
Thinking about next year, the main thing I really want to do is keep learning. Thinking about it, if I have the same priorities in my personal life as in my professional life, the two domains will support each other.
So, learning, wellbeing, collaboration? Yeah, I’m happy with that.
| Learning | Wellbeing | Collaboration * |
| development, improving, growth | health, habits, behavioural change, public health, lifestyle medicine | community, togetherness |
| trees permaculture reptiles | move more, physical activity | thriving together in this world |
* (for work, that’s in the form of Liberating Structures and working together remotely, but I think broadening it makes what’s really important clearer)
Healthier habits, best of 2019
Outside of work, and aside from trees, I’m mostly learning about healthier habits. This year brought an end to my chronic insomnia, by way of the best bedtime routine I’ve ever had:
- 8 pm: Get into bed
- Do any/all of these wind down activities
- Read fiction
- Listen to podcasts or music
- Meditate
- 10 pm (or earlier): Sleep
- 6 am: Get up
Here’s what’s helped me improve how I relax, eat, sleep and move in 2019. Next year, I want to continue exploring how to move more.
Relax 📻🔊🔗
- 🎧 BirdNote (2 min) and BirdNote Presents (30 min), plus show notes
Eat
- 🌐 Nutrition Facts, I listen to the podcast sometimes, but prefer the videos
- Why When We Eat May Be More Important Than What We Eat with Professor Satchin Panda (and show notes) in Feel Better, Live More
- The first time I heard someone talk about ‘intermittent fasting’ and it actually made sense (and had a scientific basis). In summary, eat an hour after getting up and don’t eat late (ideally, not after 7pm).
- Has been useful for my sleep as well
Sleep
- Headspace has transformed my sleep health
- Matthew Walker, Ph.D., on sleep, episodes one, two & three (and show notes: one, two & three) in The Peter Attia Drive
- Feel Better, Live More, plus show notes