2019 → 2020
As ever, I bit off far more than I could chew with my New Year’s resolutions for 2019. Pretty much the only thing that I managed to keep up was not shopping on Amazon. Better than nothing, I guess.
Next year, I plan to drink less alcohol, go to bed earlier, read more books, exercise more, keep a daily journal, and not be so busy. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary.
But I’m also planning to focus on a different activity every month, inspired by Derek Sivers’ monthly self-expansion project. While Sivers picks something he doesn’t know about each month, I want to spend a month going deeper into something that I love, or on cultivating a specific habit. Things like:
Writing a song a day for a month
Practising yoga every day for a month
Quitting caffeine and sugar for a month
Writing a book over a month
Something about the month-long time limit makes these activities seem more manageable. And hopefully, some will stick once the month’s over. If not, it’ll be a learning experience.
Highs ‘n’ lows
At the start of the year, I recorded a new song and released it under a new name: Try, Try, Try – Give it Up. It wasn’t ‘a hit’ but I really liked it. I also helped Robin launch his startup, Bankuet, which makes it easier for people to donate to food banks.
As summer set in, I did a bunch of training for Abingdon Marathon, before deciding that I was way too busy to run it as well as I wanted to. No marathons this year. Then Lily and I took Noser: The Startup Musical to Edinburgh Fringe and got some tepid reviews. Edinburgh was lovely, though.
At the end of August, I launched a Kickstarter to fund a new album but cancelled the campaign after a few weeks. That was a bad time. With work, Noser and everything else going on, I couldn’t really hold it all together.
Annabel and I continued our dog-enforced UK travels, visiting Cromer, Devon, Wales and the Lake District. (My only overseas trip was a weekend in Gothenburg to celebrate Pär’s birthday and record Give it Up.)
While I didn’t do as much as many fun projects as I wanted, things went well with my freelance work. I wrote some words for people like Boords, Jumbo, Memrise, Monzo, OVO Energy, Stack Overflow and lots of others. (Drop me a line if you want to work together in 2020.)
Outside of work, I wrote about the joy of giving back, forgiveness, a year of having Hyko, taking a show to Edinburgh, cleaning up the neighbourhood, a Christian diet and why we should quit Amazon. I’d like to do more of that next year.
That’s it from me. I’d love to know about your 2019 faves and next year’s resolutions, though. Send me an email if you want to talk: lukeleighfield@gmail.com.
Have a great 2020 🏄♂️
Top 10 albums
Big Thief – Two Hands
Charli XCX – Charli
Hajk – Drama
Klabbes Bank – Bnk
Leif Vollebekk – New Ways
Lizzo – Cuz I Love You
Maggie Rogers – Heard It in a Past Life
Noah Gundersen – Lover
Sigrid – Sucker Punch
The Band CAMINO – tryhard
Listen to my favourite song from each record in this playlist.
Favourite books
Non-fiction
Fiction
Full book log
Sally Rooney – Conversations With Friends
David Chariandy – Brother
Thomas Page McBee – Man Alive
Johann Hari – Lost Connections
Judd Winick – Pedro and Me
Erling Kagge – Silence
Tara Westover – Educated
Han Kang – The Vegetarian
Austin Kleon – Keep Going
Marilynne Robinson – Home
Nick Drnaso – Sabrina
Marilynne Robinson – Lila
Richard Holloway – Waiting for the Last Bus
Scott Jurek – Eat and Run
Matt Haig – Notes on a Nervous Planet
Joseph O’Neill – Good Trouble
Un-Su Kim – The Plotters
Ben Folds – A Dream About Lightning Bugs
Jia Tolentino – Trick Mirror
Ann Patchett – State of Wonder
Margaret Atwood – The Handmaid’s Tale
Margaret Atwood – The Testaments
Yancey Strickler – This Could Be Our Future
Richard Powers – The Overstory
John Carreyrou – Bad Blood
Thomas Page McBee – Amateur
Unfinished
Akala – Natives
Cal Newport – Digital Minimalism
Darren McGarvey – Poverty Safari
Want to be book pals? Add me on Goodreads.
Go back in time
If you’d like to hear from me more often, sign up for my weekly newsletter: Ten Things.
