For those in the corporate world this will sound familiar. Time for the Mid-Year review! Three months ago, I released an article about my 2020 objectives progress. Today I’d like to review where I am. Am I a doer or a sayer?

Reviews are tough and self-assessments even more difficult. It’s that time of the year where we need to do some introspection and see how far / close we’re from our goals. At least those ones we wrote down for this year! I’ll recap on my list of objectives and share an update.

My 2020 Resolution & Progress

  1. Read one book a month
  2. Write one new blog article a week
  3. Work out 5 days a week
  4. Discover 6 new countries
  5. Donate and pick up a charity
  6. Environmental Awareness
  7. Improve my guitar skills
  8. Meditate 15 minutes a day for 30 days
  9. Sugar free for 30 days
  10. Vegan food for 30 days


Read One Book A Month

Even though I didn’t read exactly one book per month, I managed to catch up to make it to the following 6 books so far:

  1. Why We Sleep (Matthew Walker – 360 pages)
  2. Cross Stitch (Diana Gabaldon – 864 pages)
  3. Wine Folly (Puckette & Hammack – 240 pages)
  4. Dragonfly In Amber (Diana Gabaldon – 756 pages)
  5. Rich Dad Poor Dad (Robert Kiyosaki – 336 pages)
  6. Atomic Habits (James Clear – 320 pages)

At some point, I’ll review some of these books. By the way, Kindle is my preferred way of reading. And this is not sponsored by Amazon! I just love the fact that I can carry all books I want everywhere, less weight and also better for the environment.

Write One New Blog Article A Week

As mentioned in my previous article, January was a great month for the blog. I took a break in February for my wedding and honeymoon and came back strong in March. From that point, I’ve managed to publish an article consistently every week.

Work Out 5 Days A Week

As James Clear mentions in Atomic Habit: “If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection, just get your reps in”. This one I don’t even think. It’s been natural for many years. HIIT is my favourite as it requires only 20 or 30 minutes a day and I feel so happy and energised after that for the rest of the day.  Oh yes, sometimes I’m not in the mood for the workout but I still show up because I know I’ll feel much better after that.

Discover 6 New Countries

This one has been completed. In fact, 7 countries and all part of our honeymoon: Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, St Thomas (USVI), St Maarten, St Kitts, Dominica, Barbados. Obviously, we stopped travelling when the pandemic kicked in but it would be great to discover one more country this year!

Donate And Pick Up A Charity

This year I’ve financially supported the following organisations:

  1. WIRES (Australian Bushfire Emergency)
  2. WWF (Australian Bushfire Emergency)
  3. British Red Cross (Coronavirus Emergency – United Kingdom)
  4. Fondazione La Stampa (Coronavirus Emergency – Italy)
  5. Black Lives Matter (Global Network)

Needless to give reasons to do so. There’s still on my list the British Heart Foundation as I have lots of books, clothes and other stuff that would be useful for them besides any monetary amount. I’m currently researching animal sanctuaries and organisations with environmental footprint in mind. I want to do more. And to be honest, money is not enough. Yes, sometimes that’s the “only” thing we can do. But I want to be the change and part of the solution. Still learning!

Environmental Awareness

There is no Planet B. Climate change is real. This is the greatest challenge we ever faced. Probably the last generation that can do something about it. What am I doing? Cutting my own emissions. I’m vegetarian, so I don’t eat any type of meat. I’m also trying to waste less food. I went paperless. If I want to read a book, I download and read on my Kindle. Moreover, I’m exploring changing some habits in terms of transport but I’m still far away here. I’ve also invested in my Sustainability career as this year I took a course at Harvard regarding Sustainable Business Strategy. I’ll keep learning and more importantly doing! I know we need the public and private sector to work together and make big a big push but that’s not an excuse. The change starts with us.

Improve My Guitar Skills

If there’s an area for improvement, this is the one! Being honest, I didn’t spend time here. I used to play in my childhood, I truly loved it. For some reason I struggled to find motivation so far. I need to figure out what’s going on. Great opportunity for the 2nd half of the year.  Hope I have good news next quarter.

Meditate 15 Minutes A Day For 30 Days

This one has been completed. I felt in love with meditation. With a 30-day-goal in mind I started my journey on 2nd January. It turned out to be a 133-day-streak! I then missed 14th May. No problem. Started again on 15th May and currently on a 59-day-streak. Today is the day 194 of the year and I’m proud of having meditated on 192 days. Almost 99% of the year so far. To be precise, 46 hours. This is 2,760 minutes. On average, 14.4 minutes/day or 14.2 minutes/day if we include those 2 calendar missing days. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would be writing about this.

Sugar Free for 30 days

Not started! Yes, everything has sugar. Perhaps I should have defined a range. Up to 10% or to avoid refined sugar. Still unsure here but it’s a little challenge I want to explore at some point this year.

Vegan Food for 30 days

Not started! However, being an ovo-lacto vegetarian this “only” means to stop eggs and dairy for a month. Honestly, I hardly eat eggs. In fact, I no longer enjoy eating eggs. I stopped cow milk months ago with few exceptions where coffee shops had no alternative options. In general, I very much enjoy oat milk with my coffee or in smoothies. It’s delicious. The one thing I was not able to stop was cheese. So, I can’t say I tried this challenge. I’m confident I’ll pass the 30-day-challenge this year but I’m thinking beyond that. What if I like it? Does it mean I’ll be on a vegan diet for long time? What are the benefits for my body and my mind? Questions and more questions but it will be definitely an interesting challenge and surely, I’ll learn a lot in the process regardless the result!