A mid-year update on my 2020 goals

In these pandemic times, it’s difficult to look back on what I planned in December 2019 for this year. For a few months, I simply did not look at my goals as it was too painful to see all my plans that did not go through. But in the end, I realized I can try to do some things still.

So, here’s an update on my 2020 goals:

1. Build our house => No progress
2. Visit the Amazon jungle => I was planning this for November, but I’m holding off until the pandemic weakens in this country
3. Go on a yoga retreat => I will do a 1-day yoga retreat at home with Ekhart Yoga instead
4. As a researcher, work on sustainability => No bandwidth at the moment
5. Drink green juice daily for 40 days => Yes, I did this. Helped me make sure no green veggies from my weekly package goes to waste.
6. Practice the cello regularly => I am playing more often, yes, and even made a guest appearance on a musicians-at-home video (Sting’s Piece of my Heart)
7. Spend more time with my husband => Well, we’re both working from home, so we’re more in the same space, but each doing our own thing.
8. Take an NLP course => Looked more into this, and this seems to be pseudoscience, so I’ll look for a different online course insstead
9. Do a project cooking food from every country => Slow progress

All in all – not as bad as I’d have thought!

And others:
10. Run a half marathon => Gave this idea up because of the lockdown, then decided to start training on my treadmill and running circles in my gated community.
11. Visit Banos => Booked and paid, but we couldn’t go because of the pandemic. Maybe when things improve in the country?

Besides these goals for the year, I have the following goals for the Fall semester:

Work
1. Submit 5 papers
2. First slab experiments in Delft (PhD student project)
3. Planning and start of other PhD project
4. project on covid19 & academic parents
5. deliver the book about the phd defenses
6. teach a new MEng course

Self
1. Run a half marathon (the distance, not in a race)
2. Play cello
3. Meditate
4. Sleep more

Relationships
1. Start construction of our house
2. 4 date nights