New Year’s and 2020 Resolutions – some people love them, some people hate them. Many fail them, many say there’s no point in making them. Dreams and their pragmatic offspring, goals and plans, are the bedrock to getting you on the way to success. In 2019 I made no resolutions, and therefore I succeeded on all of them. I succeeded at nothing. However I did do a review of my 2019 despite not planning my goals.
In 2020, in true blogging fashion, I’m putting my goals online. It’s an age old tradition for travel bloggers to review the past year and set goals for the next, both professionally and personally. I am aware that in February, I’m arriving at the party past midnight when everyone is already intoxicated and I’m chasing to catch up.
But these goals are not just for an audience, for a blog post. Predominantly they are a yardstick for yourself, and one to compare and celebrate the achievements at the end of the year.
I’ve had a great last five years, but recently I feel like I’m stuck in the same rut of heading from Winters in the mountains skiing to Summers on the U.K Festival Circuit. There will still be elements of that for me in 2020, but I’ve got complacent.
In mid 2019, I decided 2020 had to start with a bang. I heard about a couple of well known bloggers climbing the highest mountain outside the Himalayas for the start of 2020, and within minutes had asked to tag along. 2020 started at 3400 metres on the way to the top of Aconcagua.
Now, admittedly I’m late to the party, but in my defence I have been stuck up the Andes for most of January. There, I decided that 2020 for me was going to be The Year of the Mountains. Forming the bedrock of my year will be a push to complete 5 of the 7 Summits, the highest points in each continent.
Coupled with that, I also have some blogging, health and general lifestyle plans. Here are my 2020 Resolutions:-
1. Travel
Mount Denali, Alaska
– Climb Aconcagua (Jan) This was always going to be my first goal of 2020, and having completed it but the time I’ve written this post, that’s a big tick.
– Climb Denali (May to June) Mount Denali is the highest peak on the North American continent. It sits at the top of Denali National Park in Alaska, at 6190 metres high. Having come back from Aconcagua at almost 800 metres higher, it may surprise you that I’m more scared of this one. The mountain is beautiful, snowy, riddled with crevasses and frighteningly cold. Temperatures of -84 degrees Celsius have been recorded on it. It’s also an actual climb, using fixed ropes and Jumars to ascend up. And if that wasn’t enough, you also have to carry 100 litre backpacks filled with 25kg whilst towing a sled with another 25kg behind you. I had the very lucky fortune to be going to Denali with two of the team that climbed Aconcagua and I’m delighted by this, even if Denali turned out to be a spontaneous 2020 Resolution. It will be a fantastic trip and I’ve always wanted to see Alaska. But easy, it definitely won’t be.
– Climb Mont Blanc (July TBC) I’m hoping to squeeze in a week trip to the France/Italy border to climb Mont Blanc. Whilst not the highest point in Europe, there’s always some discussion about where the Asian-Europe border falls in Russia. This makes Elbrus in Russia most commonly attributed by mountaineers to be the highest point in Europe. Many people still think Mont Blanc is Europe’s highest, a throw back to many decades ago, and while not a 7 Summit, I just really want to get to the top as part of my 2020 Resolutions..
– Climb Elbrus (Sept TBC) Elbrus sits at 5642 metres. It’s on a par with Aconcagua for a climb, maybe slightly easier. It’s still a tough “slog” especially if you tackle it from its North Side as I wish to do. It’s also in Russia, which would be a new country for me to visit.
– Climb Puncak Jaya (Nov TBC) Finishing off the climbs for the year is Puncak Jaya, otherwise known as the Carstensz Pyramid. It sits at 4884 metres in Papua New Guinea, on the continent of Australasia. It used to involve a jungle trek to its base until tribes started turning up on bridges with bows and arrows extorting and threatening climbers. So now, as magical and interesting and death defying as that trek may be, all climbers fly by helicopter to base camp. After base camp is a very technical (for the novice) rope climb up to the summit. If I can round off November at Puncak Jaya, it’s also a great way to celebrate on the beaches of Bali afterwards. Having climbed Kilimanjaro in 2012, the highest point on the African continent, it will also be my 5th of 7 Summits. Only the very expensive Everest in Asia, and Vinson in Antartica would be left.
– Visit 15 New Countires In my mid thirties I have gotten a little too comfortable. Winters spent going back to Italy to work, where I love the skiing and views and culinary delights. Summers spent working in English festivals, with kind and like-minded individuals, sunshine and music. It’s a nice life. But it has hampered my drive to explore new countries, to boldly go where no-one (or at least me) has gone before. One of my big 2020 Resolutions will be to reverse this chain of events. My time in 2020 will be sparse but I’d like to do a couple of trips that “grab” a few more countries. Don’t get me started on the whole debate about slow travel being better for you than fast travel – sometimes it’s just nice to see a couple of places in a country for a few days, and then head off! I’m also on my 48th country visited so I want to think about my 50th, and whether it should be someone inspirational.
2. Health (from Feb 2020)
Eating less meat and alcohol is on my list of 2020 Resolutions
– Get Rid of my Pericarditis/Palpitations/Back Pain/Hip Pain I don’t actually know how to accomplish this one, so maybe it shouldn’t be a goal. However, I am hoping that the following list of things will help. I’m due potentially to have hip surgery this year so that will help. It will come with a recovery period so I will need to think about how that works out with my mission to have climbed 5 of the 7 Summits before the end of 2020. I’m also trying to figure out what has brought on my pericarditis (read chest pain) and palpitations (read thuddy-fluttery heart) since November last year. That’s prompted a few of my goals below.
– Lose weight to 11 Stone and then put on a stone in muscle I’m overweight. I’m fairly fit for an overweight guy, but I’m still holding too many pounds. In 2019 I started the year at 15 stone and ended it at 13.5 stone. As part of my 2020 Resolutions, the plan is to get down to 11 stone and therefore lose a lot of the “flab” then to put on a little muscle instead of fat deposits. My BMI would suggest I need to be 11 stone but I think 12 stone is a good all round weight to aim for.
– Run 10km This may seem on paper an easy goal. I’ve not a big runner, but I have done 2 obstacle type 10km races before. The difference is I haven’t run, at all, for years. Furthermore, the doctors have sworn me off the gym and high impact exercise. But I feel like it’s time. I going to start hitting the pavement (or some soft grass in a field somewhere) and try to slowly but surely get that distance up. This is potentially one of my hardest 2020 Resolutions.
– 100 Tokens of Meat I kinda, sorta stole this once. Two of the team from Aconcagua are doing 75 tokens of alcohol this year which means that they can only drink alcohol on 75 days. This is the same, but for meat, and admittedly with 25 days more. I love meat. And there are points when I eat it less in the year. But I’ve decided I need to make a conscious effort to eat less of it. There’s 330 days left of the year and 100 tokens equates to 2 days of meat a week. I think for me it’s still a stretch but achievable. Furthermore, 230 less steaks and burgers has got to be better for the heart, as well as the planet.
– Less Alcohol There’s no exact measurement but it makes the list. My 2020 Reoslution is actually to stop drinking entirely alone, or when you’re just with a mate or two down the pub. I’m trying to make the alcohol you consume be on occasions that mean something – celebrations and holidays – when the drinking really adds to the experience. Also, alcohol can cause palpitations.
– 1 Coffee or Tea Maximum per day I drink a lot of coffee, if I can. I love it. But 10 cups a day in the massive mugs I use when at home probably isn’t the best. My goal this year is to switch out for decaffeinated blends, and herbal teas, simply a hot water with lemon or ginger, or nothing. N.B That 1 Tea a day doesn’t include herbal teas. I don’t think caffeine affects me that much, but it can cause palpitations, and it would be good to cut back.
– Eat Fruit Every Day Look I know it’s meant to be 5 pieces a day, but that is ridiculous. There are days when I don’t eat fruit and that needs to change. My goal is to be putting at least one banana – or similar – in my gob daily.
– Brush Teeth and floss each Day I’ll let you in to a disgusting truth. When I travel, I rarely brush my teeth. It is the very first thing that gets dropped when my routine changes. On Aconcagua, where you brush your teeth by your tent without water, I did it 4 times. We were there for 2 weeks! So this is a big one for me. Last week I came back shamed from a painful and bloody dentist appointment, so it went on the list.
3. Blog & Business
Working on my website is key to my 2020 Goals.
– Increase Domain Authority (DA) to 20. Whilst DA may not be one of Google’s own scoring systems for websites, it’s a ranking invented by Moz that takes twenty different metrics to tell you how strong a website is. For instance, Amazon has a DA of 96, Marriott hotels has a DA of 67, and davechant.com has a DA of 2. You may think that’s low but when I started three months ago, it had a DA of 1 (as all new websites do). I screamed for joy the day it went to 2. This year, I’ll be implementing new content and strategies to get to 20 by the end of 2020.
– Make 3 figures per month ($) It might not seem like a lot of money, but many bloggers make no money. It’s an uphill struggle. If by the end of 2020 I’m making three figures a month consistently, I’ll be happy.
– Have 100 Posts by the end of the year. Currently there are 14 posts on the blog. One of the ways to get noticed by Google, and increase your DA, is by sheer depth and quantity of content. For my 2020 Resolutions I hope to add 86 new posts to the website, or roughly one every 4 days. That may not sound like a lot but content takes time, especially with other work commitments, mountains and travelling getting in the way of blog writing. A properly researched post to write, find photos and post can take a good 8 hours.
– Write a Mountain Series of Books I’ve always wanted to write a book. Strictly speaking, I already have – it was an account of my Everest Base Camp trek in 2010 and was self-published. I hid it from public view so no-one could buy a copy so the only copy sold in 10 years is the one I bought. But I’m not really counting that. This year I’d like to write a 7 Summit Series and a Mountain Series starting off with my trek to Aconcagua. Keep your eyes peeled!
– Make Video Content Every trip I take loads of video, come home and do…nothing. Sorting and editing video takes a lot of time and effort. This year I want to add more video content to the blog and personally for myself too to remember some of the amazing places I’ve been and things I’ve done.
– Complete a Video and Photography Course. I signed up for a vlogging and photography course a year ago. Have I touched it? Hell, no. In 2020 one of my goals is to complete both of them.
– Less reliance on social media but automate Instagram and explore TikTok We all know social media is evil but as content creators, it’s seen as a necessary evil. This year I’d like to concentrate on SEO (how Google sees your website) and rely less on social media, but it’s a good way to drive extra people to your website. Currently I’ve fallen out of love with Instagram and Facebook, but I do want to automate Instagram so I can post more but schedule up front. There are a lot of tools to help with this. I just need to decide what’s best for me. I also really like the look of TikTok. I’m not sure there’s a massive advantage to having it as a blogger but I’d like to try it out. The number of people using it nowadays internationally is ridiculous, and it reminds me of the fun days of social media with Vine and early Snapchat.
– 5000 Unique Visitors per month Again, it may not sound like much but I would love to be having 5000 unique people per month on the website. That’s not page views or returning visitors, but 5000 different people per month looking at my content.
4. General Lifestyle
Reading books was one of my surprising joys of 2019, having neglected reading for decades.
– Read 50 Books in 2020 Last year I read again for the first time in years. It was so therapeutic. A few of the quieter months I actually got through 10-15 books. The more I travel and work, the more that seems to slip away. It’s going on the 20202 Resolutions, and potentially for many years to come.
– Write a Bucket List Love them or loathe them, I’ve never written one. Or to be exact, I’ve never finished one. I have so many things to do and whilst Resolutions each year are great, I’d like a master plan to inspire too. It may change as I grow older and things may drop off and be added, but for the first time I’d like to sit down and give it a massive and extended think.
– Be Minimalist and buy less. I must admit that buying less is a little counter-intuitive when you’re going on expeditions that require massive down jackets and sleeping bags that can survive -40 degrees. However, except for needed gear, I’d like to cut down. I also started in 2019 taking a re-usable cup, collapsible tuperware and cutlery with me everywhere I went, and also using my water bottle out and about. It’s these time of environmentally sustainable practices that I would like to be doing more of. After a successful stint car booting in 2019, I’d like to sell more of my stuff in 2020. At least then it’s recycled and not thrown out. Then I intend to not buy any more shit!
– Listen to Podcasts. Everyone raves about podcasts. I don’t get it and I’ve never listened to a single one. In 2020 I aim to change that.
– Less Phone Use. In September 2019 I gave up my smartphone for a month, and it was (largely) blissful. I decided it’s a useful piece of kit though so in October when I got it back, I made a list of commandments to follow – you can read them here. I’ve broken all of them. So in 2020, I’m going back to the list and making it live once again.
– Just Let People Be Them. This is both a selfless and selfish goal. I find myself getting more and more annoyed by people. Generally. People are shit – I’m looking at the slow walkers, the bad drivers, and the people that spend tons of time faffing when you’re in a queue waiting. But let’s be honest, they don’t have a huge impact on our life, even though they annoy the crap out of us. So, on my 2020 Resolutions, I’m just going to concentrate on my “tings” not everyone else’s. Just let them do them, and you be you. Breathe, release, move on with life.
– More Random Acts of Kindness. Damn, that sounds so cheesy! I’m just more and more aware that as the years go on, and we feel like we have more and more to do, and less time, we’re getting meaner. There are some amazingly kind people out there. Recent generations are more socially, environmentally and politically responsible than ever before. But also some of the kindest people are also the first to anger and get A-Grade shitty when the world doesn’t go their way. As a whole, I think we aren’t as nice as we used to be. I never stop to help people anymore – I think about it and then I decide not to. Feel familiar to anyone? So in 2020, I want to create a bit more love. I’m not sure how, but I’ll let you know if it’s successful.
Is It 2021 Already?
Wow! That was longer than I thought. If you’ve read to here, then congratulations. I hope that maybe one or two things have prompted you to think differently about your goals for 2020, and I’d love to hear from you.
I’ll see you in 2021!