The beginning of a new year is as good of a time as any to look back and reflect on the past year.
In terms of reading, my pace this year was much slower than what it used to be. In the beginning of the year, I decided that 2021 would be a year without business books. And so it went.
It was interesting to realize how much of my previous reading was based on business books where I was reading and re-reading the same old concepts.
The breadth of my reading was a little different this year and I explored topics that I have not tried before.
At work, the year started similar to how the previous one ended. I was still a manager in a supply chain related job in a big pharmaceutical company. I still didn't like my job.
My prospects at work were still good and good feedbacks were pouring in. However, my satisfaction with my situation and the job itself was reaching a new low every week.
At this point, I started to have good progress on my plan of becoming a developer. I had released 1espresso and was working towards developing an app for tracking my food intake and well-being. This one is still in the works, but will come.
Then during the summer, I got invited for a technical interview at Connected Cars. It was my first time in this kind of interview and it was certainly hard. I got a very good impression of the guys interviewing me and crossed my fingers it would work out.
I wrote about the job preparation and change process here. Chronicle of a career change.
And work out it did. I got an offer to start on the 1st of October.
The last few months in the old job were strange. Most people still don't understand how I could do such change and many believe I will be back before long.
I am happy that the start of the new job went well. I was well received and the team is working on some cool stuff. That is not to say that it was easy.
I moved from a job where I was within my comfort zone to one where I am literally a beginner. It is a process to reset the mind in this sense that I am still going through. It will take a long time I think.
I still struggle to ask my colleagues questions that I think are too basic or that 'I should know'.
I still think (at least once a day) that they will discover that I am not good enough for this and will be fired.
I still get stuck with the basics and think that I am definitely not cut for this.
But at the end of each week, I look back and can definitely see that I am managing to accomplish and learn things at a reasonable pace and for that I am grateful.
Looking back at the photos on my phone and computer was a good way to go through the year. I can see that we traveled a little more than the year before, visited a few museums.
The pandemic still going on has almost not affected me.
My girlfriend and I do very well working from home and we actually believe that it has improved our relationship through simple things such as allowing us to share lunch and coffees together.
We had covid in the house, but didn't suffer and managed to go by in a calm way and for that I am very grateful.
On another note, I have managed to see a significant improvement on my ability to speak and understand Danish. My conversations with my step-daughter are getting more advanced and I am glad I am able to catch up. That´s the result of many hours of lessons and practice. It does pay off.
2021 was unfortunately not the year that I was consistent with my exercise routing. (It was not a new year's resolution either.)
With that said, I managed to make the long walks a habit and keep it going throughout the year. It all started with the first covid wave as a way of getting out of the house, but it become more and more a must for me and now it is hard to go by without it.
I struggle to squeeze the gym in if I don't get it done very early in the morning. This year I am trying to make that happen.
I continue to wake up early. Most days I still manage to wake up around 5AM. This is probably the habit with highest leverage that I have adopted in the past years and I definitely plan to keep it.