Setting a theme for 2023

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Here we are again, at the traditional time of year when we reflect on the past and set goals for the future, goals that often go abandoned faster than February rolls around. Except for the seasonal weather changes (if you live in a place with seasons), life will pretty much carry on as usual for most of us after the holiday season ends.

But this year, I had an idea told during a virtual meeting: instead of setting specific goals, what if we were to set a theme for the year? This idea isn't even new – a quick online search will turn up plenty of articles explaining why setting a theme is better than setting a goal. And I'd bet that most of these articles are published around this jolly festive time of year.

Personally, I agree with the idea of setting a theme. I had set a goal for myself this year: to finally run a 10k race here in Tübingen. But as you can see from the chart of my tracked sports activities, you can probably guess in which month the race took place and what happened afterward.


So for the coming year, instead of setting a specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and trackable goal, I'm going to adopt a theme for the next 12 months:

Running. 🏃 With a capital R.

At first glance, this might merely seem like a health or sports-related theme, and of course it is. Obviously. But I already know that it will also impact other areas of my life. Time management is an easy guess – regular training is necessary if I want to eventually improve from running a 10k to running half-marathon distances. Attending various races will require careful planning, too. It will also affect my holidays and social events, as I'm already planning to visit friends abroad and participate in their local races at the same time (hello Budapest and Basel). I'm also considering joining local running groups instead of always running solo. And if you need some motivation to start running, feel free to reach out to me. I'm excited to see how this theme will affect other areas of my life as well.

Here's to a good start to 2023, and keep on running everyone! 🙂
Location: Tübingen, Deutschland

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