I’m finally taking the plunge!  For the past couple of years, Helen H. has followed Gretchen Rubin’s philosophy on New Year’s goals, and now I am as well with my own 23 for 23 post today.
I love the concept because it’s creative and optimistic about the future. The focus is on activities that could inspire happiness, not commitments that cause stress. A pull, not a push. A menu, not a checklist.
Let’s get started! Here are 23 activities that will give me joy and satisfaction this year, bucketed into four themes.
Live & Build
Enjoy weekly learning time with kids.  During the pandemic, I used to do multiple 15-minute learning sessions with each daughter, covering math/spelling/reading.  I want to bring it back at least once a week with each kid. Â
Finish Invisalign. I’m partly done with some teeth straightening and will be very glad to finish it out this year.
Install solar panels, heat pumps, induction stove, and wall batteries. Â Â Our big house project of the year is to look into electrification.
Complete cabin projects.  Our cabin is a place of joy and stress relief for us. I also find a couple ways to invest in it each year, as part of the renewal that comes with home ownership. This year, I’d like to continue our chainsaw art project, print out a checklist for things to remember when we leave, and redo the pantry.
Learn to like seaweed.  Each of us in the family is picking a food we don’t like and we are all going to try it for 10 days straight. I love sashimi but can never get into sushi rolls due to my dislike of seaweed.
Enjoy more non-red meat meals. Meatless Monday? I realized recently that almost all of my favorite meals involve red meat. I want to find more joy in vegetarian, fish, and poultry meals. This is both for my health and to ensure some novelty and creativity in meal planning.
Work & Invest
Incorporate Product Play into my routine.  Product makers giving other makers feedback is powerful, and I want to incorporate weekly play time with various products into my routines.
Drive Product Culture excellence in community & craft. I’m pushing on two areas of my team’s culture around creating products this year: Novelty in how my team engages with our tech community & reinvention of how we measure and attain a high-craft product, including world-class at-scale feedback mechanisms.
Lead as a bar raiser at a new altitude.  A recent promotion is forcing me to show up in a new way this year.  I have to operate at a higher altitude – more communication of support and alignment and less wallowing in problems.  I find myself needing to bar-raise for the team during times of change and adjust my style to have less automatic understanding of reasons why something might be hard.Â
Prioritize China news & info. I want to incorporate news from China into my information diet.  I’m starting with the Sinocism Substack.
Find more early-stage & angel investments. I want to continue our journey to learn the best practices in non-traditional investments - angel, early stage, real estate - and use them to improve our network and learn about more industries.
Deliver results as a non-profit board member. I’ve joined my first non-profit board - the Bellevue Arts Museum. I’m interested in balancing governance with execution and learning how to be useful to the arts community.
Play & Recharge
Throw a great party for Helen’s 40th birthday. This one is already in the bag, but we threw a memorable 50+ person party for Helen’s 40th birthday.
Do a solo recharge week.  In 2021, I did a solo recharge week.  I’d like to repeat this year.
Take a trip with each daughter. In 2022 while on sabbatical, I did a 1:1 trip with each daughter. Repeat!
Push myself at skiing (and other sports). I find it easy to push my limits with my mind more than physical things.  I’d love to crack it for sports, and I think skiing (which I’ve done for 30 years but find myself mostly coasting) is a good dimension.
Run a half marathon.  In 2022, I did my first long-distance race (Birch Bay 15K).  I trained during my sabbatical, so training during normal routines will be my crucible this year.
Invest in meditation.  In 2022, I introduced myself to meditation, in large part due to many readers reaching out and giving advice. I want to take it to the next level.  I’m interested in a multi-day meditation retreat some year, although probably not in 2023.
Write & Speak
Get good at interviewing.   I think I’d make a great podcast interviewer, but I know it takes practice.  I’d love to interview other product leaders and I’ve got a few unique approaches that would be differentiated.
Become a locus of good product jobs. I want to grow my LinkedIn following 50% (up +2K to 6K total) and use my network of fellow managers to connect job seekers with awesome product jobs and be known for it.Â
Publish a letter to the editor in either the NYT, WSJ, or the Economist. I’ve submitted before but have yet to get one published.   Â
Publish a short story. In 2022, I learned a lot about how fiction writing is hard and very different than the writing I do today.  I’d love to break down my fear of it and find a way to get started.
Increase to four speaking engagements/month.  I love speaking at learning days or offsites.  I’d love to create a few new talks in addition to the 7 that are in my rotation already.
In Closing
Helen’s list includes a few for the family as well, so it’s a team effort here in the Harmetz household.
The purpose of 23 for 23 is not to complete 100% of the items - Helen achieved 70%+ last year and I’d be happy with anywhere from 50%-70%. It's just fun to have the list of growth areas & expressions of joy to savor that I can be pulled towards.
Great list Adam!
Would love to learn more about #3 (Solar), especially which setup are you going for?