2019 Lookback and Review
2019 was a big year. It is an end of a decade, even if you disagree its ending the 2010’s and starting the 2020’s.
A few people have pointed out that the new decade doesn’t begin till the END of 2020. Really? Is that how you want to start the new decade? With controversy? #Roaring20s
— Glen Foster (@fosterfunny) January 1, 2020
2019 was focused on optimizing IronMic, growing my skills, and getting on a schedule. The past decade was about becoming an adult, I graduated high school, dropped out of college, and started on a strong career path in marketing. I launched side-projects and sunseted them. Let’s not focus on the past 10 years, lets focus on the one that happened – 2019.
When I started writing this post, I went back the 2018 in review article I wrote. In 2019 I had sunset Digital Bounds, help launch IronMic, began a new job, and set some lofty goals. I set a goal of wanting to publish 52 blogs between this site and IronMic. I also wanted to record 25 podcast episodes along with building Marketer Chat. I fell short of some of these goals, well most of these goals. I feel like they were a little too much and caused me to avoid some of them for that reason.
Here are some of my stats from 2019:
150 tacos eaten
1068 tweets sent
1 new family member
1 meetup with Kyle & Sunny
31 Blog post posted
119 images shared online
1,521 hours online
2.1m total steps
First, I want to dive into the 1,521 spent online. I tracked the time through Rescue Time and only included my Mac. This data doesn’t include time spent on my phone or other devices that were not tracked with Rescue Time.
I spent a lot of time online through Slack. A lot of this is communication at work but also communication with Kyle and Sunny. The second biggest spot I spent online is through Microsoft Outlook, which is my work email, and the primary way I communicate and stay organized.
The second metric I want to touch on is the meetup with Kyle and Sunny. I went to Chicago in early October to hang out and work on our side projects. While we were in Chicago, we went to see Hamilton, worked on IronMic, and got the chance to catch up in person.
We will start to plan what we will do in 2020, but we will likely visit another one of our cities. That may be San Antonio, Charlotte, or maybe Chicago again.
Leon Hitchens
Then in November, my daughter was born – on the 1st. Adding a new family member has been a exciting and extremely tiring, but it’s been amazing spending time with the family.
This is my second daughter. The first daughter is 4 years old and adjusting to the new sister very well. Mom is healthy and getting some rest, and when this article is published we will have a 2 month old!
Over the year, I wrote 31 blog posts. Theses post were between the IronMic Blog and my blog here. I planned more blog posts but lost a lot of momentum over the summer. I started picking up the pace in the fall and this winter, but the summer was a spot where I became lazy and had some burnout.
I have a number of articles planned out and started using Trello more and more to have a schedule. This structure is what I lacked through 2019, and lead to some of the burn out and laziness.
Leon Hitchens
Over 2019, I walked over 2.1m steps. This data is tracked through my Apple Watch and the Gyroscope App. I’m sure I took more steps over the year, but some days I forgot my watch, or it had died early in the day.
The Gyroscope App tracks other data like sleep, calorie in-take, weight trends, and much more. I will publish a more in-depth article on my year based on everything I have documented on the app.
What’s planned for 2020?
I am not going to set lofty goals or try to say I am going to publish 52 articles this year. I am going to keep the focus on writing when it feels right or when I have a topic that sparks my interest. I want to reboot my podcast, Leon’s Podcast, into an interview-style podcast where I can talk to interesting people and friends.
Beyond those main focuses, everything is about slowly building my brand. Also, being consistent is big. I am looking forward to 2020 and seeing how the new decade goes!
Happy New Year!
