General 2014 was an emotional wringer of a year, perhaps the most difficult one I’ve ever had, thanks in part to losing H, and O, but also because of difficult transitions at work. All in all, it’s been a largely forgettable year, with spots of delirious joy in between. Here, in each of the seven focus areas undergirding the life plan are a little bit more detailed thoughts on how my 2014 went with a (R)ed, (A)mber or (G)reen indicator.

  1. Spiritual: AMBER
    • Improved attendance at church over 2013, primarily due to improved commitment to attending midweek church in Q3 and Q4.
    • Struggled, as I have for the past few years, with committing to a daily practice of prayer, worship and meditation. Big spurt, again in Q3/Q4 thanks to the NIV Men’s Devotional Bible.
    • Struggled with trying to make sense of loss all year, given H and O’s passing this year. I suspect this will be an ongoing one for the next few years at least.
  2. Physical & Health: AMBER
    • Kept physical activity levels up, averaged 6 miles per day through the year, slightly down from YE 2013
    • Marginally better sleep; more time in bed, less time awake, lower number of awakenings ~ 5.8 hours asleep from 6.5 hrs in bed on average, longest sleep was on the 15th of February. For the life of me, I can’t remember what might have trigged that ( I know I didn’t cry myself to sleep though, Val or no Val.. )
    • Lost gains from 2013 in weight loss, up 6kg from YE 2013 to ~ 90kg. Loads of Papa John’s, Nandos and KFC to blame without question.
    • Less control of blood pressure, inched upwards towards the end of the year, correlated with weight, and all those high salt content fast food.
    • Losing my memory - at least I think so.. It might just be old age, but…
  3. Career & Work: GREEN
    • New R&Rs defined with emphasis on a specialist Corrosion & Materials role and the required skill sets;
    • Issues across the patch created opportunities to leverage my skills in support of other assets
  4. Social & People: AMBER
    • Took a long hard look at things and realised the thing with K was heading no where; and then I met B
    • Lowlights for the year were teething problems with unlearning solitude and juggling my people commitments amidst all the work and personal issues that defined the year, something I have struggled with for a long time.
  5. Financial: RED
    • Failed to meet my 30% of net earnings target for the year, only achieved in 5 months of the year (January, March, May, November and December)
    • Managed to recover my pension funds - significant boost to the net worth; kicked off the process of retrieved my stranded UX5 pension also. Should receive feedback in the new year.
    • Overall, I spent more than I earned in 2014. Main spend drivers were helps and charity, purchases and OpEx with the excesses incurred here accounting for ~35% of overall 2014 spend.
    • Oil price and associated Naira value loss impacted contribution of Nigerian funds (fixed deposit and  stocks) to net worth (~£3k loss vs YE 2013)
  6. Mental & Personal Development: GREEN
    • Passed the API 571 exam (Advanced Corrosion & Materials) and received certification documents; waiting on the results from API 580 exam (Advanced Risk Based Inspection) in December;
    • Progressed the NACE Senior Corrosion Technologist Certification; notified of success in late December
    • Managed to read 16 books from the 30 planned; a few key titles - Albert Camus’ The Outsider, Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit and John Green’s somewhat over praised The Fault in Our Stars
  7. Causes & Charity: GREEN
    • Wrote each of my sponsored children (Moises and RosieMarie) once each, sent a special gift to RosieMarie at Christmas (and her birthday which is early in 2015)
    • Helped family members out significantly over the course of the year; downside was this was a key contributor to poor financial performance.