Yearly reflections: My big three for 2023
Photo by Moritz Knöringer on Unsplash
Well, it’s that time again. Christmas trees are up. Suburban houses declare their holiday cheer with an assault of glistening lights and glowing reindeer atop usually-barren terracotta rooves. We prepare, collectively, to share in end of year celebrations; a welcome wind down from the grind that comes with those first eleven months. Those who still indulge in the paper diary are picking out the cover that will get them through the next twelve.
And, as one is wont to do amidst Spotify wrapped Instagram stories, heartfelt Facebook posts, and twitter threads inviting me to make 2023 my best yet (follow my Substack to learn how!), I find myself prompted into reflection on the last 360-odd days.
In some ways, this year has been challenging. At a personal level, I’ve taken a seat on the periphery of some loss and some illness. I’ve also experienced some great highs. At a professional level, the year has been characterised by hard work, growth, and questioning. Questioning within my topic of research, because I started doctoral studies this year, but also questioning myself; where I want to go, what I want to focus on, and what’s important. That journey is ongoing. The three ideas below are ones that, in one way or another, came into focus for me this year, which I hope to carry into 2023.
1. To build talent, focus on consistent qualitative work improvements.
Perhaps one of my favourite papers entitled ‘The Mundanity of Excellence’ involved an examination of Olympic swimmers in the 1980s. It found that what placed the greats above the rest wasn’t a natural gift, but discipline, attitude, and other qualitative training differences. In other words, excellence was not a matter of innate talent or even putting in the most hours: It was actually quite mundane.
When it comes to our go-to explanation that high achieving athletes are simply talented, the author Daniel Chambliss says; ‘at best, it is an easy way of admitting that we don’t know the answer, a kind of layman’s slang for “unexplained variance”… what we call talent is no more than a projected reification of particular things done: hands placed correctly in the water, turns crisply executed, a head held high rather than low in the water’ (p. 80).
To transfer this idea to other realms, then, to develop ‘talent’ we need to work consistently at qualitative improvement on the thing we want to do. Getting better at writing, for example, might involve focusing on specific technical skills, or expanding our professional network to find high-quality collaborators and critics. Getting better at public speaking may involve practising with specific development areas in mind — concentrating on gestures one week, on replacing filler words with pauses another week. Quality trumps quantity, so it’s worth considering what, specifically, we intend to improve or do differently at regular intervals.
Of course, consistency and discipline are still a big part of the game. When a budding writer asked what to do when one loses incentive, J. D. Salinger responded, “Write your way out of it. Put everything down. Otherwise I have no answers for you.” I love J. D. and I think this answer complements the mundanity of excellence, supporting the notion that there is no ‘magic sauce’ for motivation, discipline, or achieving great things. In writing, and probably in most pursuits, often the only way out is through.
I hope to channel these ideas in a couple of areas next year. One focus for me in 2023 involves physical health — including consistent training, but also with new, specific progress goals. Another focus is on my personal writing (like this blog). My consistency with writing has dropped over the last couple of years, so I hope to work on that aspect first, before focusing on qualitative improvements with each new piece.
2. Rest and play are as productive as work.
Consistency, discipline, qualitative training and development? Yes. Overworking, burning out, doomscrolling at 2am on a Tuesday to feel some semblance of control? Let’s start saying no to that one. Rest and play are really important parts of the human experience, and I’d suggest the majority of us don’t dedicate enough time to them. And as a bonus, they can also be productive.
Sometimes the best ideas hide backstage, and peering into the darkness or trying to forcefully open the curtains doesn’t work. The best way to let those ideas in is often to leave them alone, and in times of rest and play they can finally step into focus. Letting our mind drift can be powerful. Some research even demonstrates the power of boredom, with one study finding that participants came up with more creative ideas after first doing a monotonous task like copying numbers out of the phonebook.
Hammering at a problem for hours on end rarely provides the same outcome as letting it sit in the back of the mind for a while, and the former comes at a much higher cost. Next year, I intend to focus on protecting rest and play, and channelling the energy that comes from them into shorter bouts of more productive work time.
3. Now is all we have, and all we’ll ever have.
The stoic phrase, Momento Mori, is in focus for my 2023; remembering and meditating on the inevitability of death. Momento Mori is not supposed to be dark or depressing, but rather a welcome reminder that nothing is guaranteed. That life is what is happening here, and now: There is nothing outside of here and now, and this moment is as precious as it is fleeting. Marcus Aurelius wrote “Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what’s left and live it properly.”
As far as we know, we only get one chance to do life as a human on a big orbiting ball. We may as well make the most of it by spending our limited time and energy on those things and people that matter most to us.
So, those are my big three for 2023. I’m hoping it will amount to a year of marked improvement in craft and health, more rest and play, and overall, enjoying the human experience more than ever with those I care about. What are your big three for 2023?
Also, as part of idea #1, I’m also looking at relaunching my newsletter — updates to come in 2023!
Wishing you and the ones you love a wonderful New Year,
Sonia