Annual review 2025/26

Review

2025 was a good year. I’m healthier, my relationships are better and I’m allowing myself more play in life. Work is also going well; I’m growing both professionally and personally, and my wealth is stable.

Goals 2025

• [ HEALTH ] Boost performance: Run a half marathon in under 1h45m by the end of May 2025. Completion: 100% (goal achieved - 1h36m54s - on May 4, 2025).

I derived a 3 month workout plan together with ChatGPT with the objective to run a half-marathon under 1h45m and the constraint of 3 runs per week. It worked out well.

• [ GROWTH ] Learn in public: Publish 6 blog posts by the end of 2025. Completion: 100% (goal achieved on Oct 19, 2025).

Started off the year strong, but then lost momentum again. I didn’t have the mindspace to write nor did I prioritize it properly. However, it picked up again towards the end of the year. This was partly related to ramping down work in the beginning of Q4, which created more mindspace and inspiration for writing.

More importantly though, I significantly lowered the barrier to publishing by timeboxing, not caring much about length, and viewing the blog posts more like notes for myself without worrying too much whether it was useful to anyone else. As a result, most articles are short and likely of questionable value but at least they are published and I’m steadily building a writing routine.

I’ll strive to keep writing but I won’t set a specific goal for next year, to ensure focus on my new goals.

• [ GROWTH ] Accelerate integration:

  • Pass German C1 by the end of 2025. Completion: 25%.

  I did a B2 course early in the year but failed to prioritize this topic sufficiently. I’ll need to review the goal for next year and reflect on how I can increase the probability of success.

  • Listen to 52 History of the Germans episodes by the end of 2025. Completion: 100% (goal achieved on Feb 16, 2025).

  The key to success here was to add this goal to my habit tracker. I removed it after goal completion and quickly forgot about the podcast and effectively lost the habit. Another effective strategy was bundling it with an existing routine, which I did with my weekly Sunday long run.

• [ RELATIONSHIPS | PLAY ] Reconnect with people and play:

  • Travel with friends and/or family to at least 1 new place in Germany by the end of Q2/2025. Completion: 100% (goal achieved on Feb 7, 2025).

  Travelled with my partner to Dresden in February.

  • Complete a workcation tour in Sweden visiting old friends by the end of Q3/2025. Completion: 0%.

  I planned the trip but failed to execute.

  • Travel with friends and/or family to at least 2 new countries by the end of 2025. Completion: 75%.

  Travelled with my partner to the UK in August, and did a solo trip to Ireland in October. Both were new countries to me, but since the latter trip was done solo I consider this 75% achieved.

Dimensions

Health

I achieved my health goal to run a half-marathon faster than 1h45m and generally I’m healthier than ever before, measured both from subjective experience and objectively through the metrics I track with Whoop and Withings Body Scan . I believe the biggest impact comes from being much stricter and consistent with sleep.

Additionally to sleep, I’ve established a protocol that I enjoy and works well for me. It consists of time-restricted eating, daily meditation, gratitude practice, and journaling, weekly yoga (4 / week), resistance training (3 / week), and running (3 / week). Recently I’ve also incorporated a weekly sauna and cold shower session (1 / week).

The resistance training is based on Huberman’s foundational fitness protocol , and the typical running week involves intervals (usually Norwegian 4x4 ), a mixed run, and a long run (15+ km).

2026 will be about maintaining this protocol, continuously improving it, and a focus on clean eating.

Wealth

I’ve consistently met my savings target of 45% of my net income, made easier by complete automation of my savings. My wealth has grown in line with the market which is expected given my investment strategy. Nevertheless, I’d like to increase my knowledge and evolve my practices this year. Starting with more research, setting long-term financial goals, and auditing my portfolio.

Play

Play was a focus in 2025 and the related goals were mostly achieved. I travelled to a few new places both alone and together with my partner. I also spent more time reading more and working out. Both are relevant to this dimension as they are important hobbies of mine. For 2026, I’d like culture and food to play a bigger part of my life. Not yet sure how.

Relationships

I’m happy how my relationships have evolved this year. I’ve been able to maintain and deepen those that matters the most to me, create a few new ones, and end some that were impacting me negatively.

Work

This was a rewarding work year, although it was not a prioritized area in the 2025 plan. I got recognition from the challenges I had to navigate in 2024 with a promotion in June and a new job in November. There are exciting work challenges in 2026 and I will not set specific goals related to this dimension for 2026. I’m happy where I am as it provides ample opportunities to learn and grow.

Growth

I grew tons both professionally and personally due to work, however, I did not achieve my goal about learning German. As I don’t see a move from Germany in the foreseeable future, this remains something to pursue in 2026.

Plan: Goals 2026

I don’t anticipate major changes in 2026, but rather a focus on continuous improvement and laying the foundation for the future. Some goals (like learning German) are carryovers from last year. Disclaimer: the list below is not complete as there are a few goals I consider too personal to share publicly.

• [ HEALTH ] Improve my body composition by reducing body fat to 15% by end of Q1 and maintaining it for the rest of the year. Status: 17% (on track).

• [ HEALTH ] Improve overall health by having max 12 weeks with more than 2 alcoholic drinks during 2026. Status: 0 weeks (on track).

• [ GROWTH ] Elevate my German skills by obtaining a B2 certificate by the end of Q3. Status: No certificate (on track).

• [ GROWTH WORK ] Elevate my AI skills by building an end-to-end AI-powered solution by the end of Q4. Status: No certificate obtained (on track).

• [ WEALTH ] Set long-term financial goals by the end of Q1. Status: No goals set (on track).

Execute: Action plan

Some initial actions to make progress are set and will be tracked in Obsidian . I’ll keep the monthly review practice started last year to assess progress as well as to create new goals and actions.