26 Dec 2018 2 min read

A look back at 2018

During my holiday downtime, I decided to tabulate statistics in key areas of my life like fitness, wealth, happiness, friendships, etc.

By the numbers

I called my grandfather 55 times this year

I called my mom and dad 35 times this year

I called my sister 22 times this year

I've run 542 tracked miles this year so far

These runs equate to approximately 88,346 active calories burned

My total tracked fitness in Strava increased from 4 to 50 since July

Quick definition of fitness from Strava's site: "While fitness is a complicated concept, it can be simplified to an accumulation of training. The Fitness Score is calculated using Training Load and/or Relative Effort to measure your daily training, and an impulse-response model to quantify its effect over time. This will intuitively capture the development of fitness from training, as well as the loss of fitness during a break."

Net worth increased by 32% from the beginning to the end of the year

I finished 8 books this year:

Make Time, Jake Knapp & John Zeratsky
Blood Meridian, Cormac Macarthy
The Hunt for Red October, Tom Clancy
40 ways of looking at Winston Churchill, Gretchen Rubin
House of Leaves, Mark Danielewski
Getting Things Done, David Allen
The Thirst, Jo Nesbo
The Snowman, Jo Nesbo

I have 5 other books in various states of progress:

Inferno: The World at War 1939-1945, Max Hastings
The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin
Atomic Habits, James Clear
Make, Pieter Levels
Ancillary Justice, Anne Leckie

I've maintained 14 active friendships this year (outside of family, but close enough to consider a friend. Regular contact and good feelings.)

I have 24 inactive friendships (outside of family; a pal. Fallen out of touch or regular contact)

I have 12 acquaintances (A developing friendship or one I'm holding at arm's length---or someone holding me at arm's length. I also need to remember their names for them to count. This disqualifies people I meet in a blur at a party or something and never followup with)

Lowest happiness index: 82/100.

Happiness Index is a number I assign to an instantaneous point in time that takes into account my general satisfaction and joy in my life. I rate it on a scale of 0-100 with 100 being the maximum (perfect bliss) and 0 signifying that I no longer wish to go on with life. Factors: level of productivity, creative satisfaction, physical condition, amount of travel, relationship satisfaction. For me, anything lower than an 85 tends to mean that I'm in some kind of depressive state.

Highest happiness index: 91/100