2023 in Review

I should have published a blog post last year summarizing my goals and resolutions for 2023. I missed that, so there’s a bit of a gap. Regardless, we’re back on track and motivated to blog!

This was an eventful year. I took new jobs within Lockheed Martin and the National Guard. Shalene wrapped up her graduate coursework, leaving only a thesis for her last semester. We traveled quite a bit to visit family and friends, and we purchased a minivan to help with that.

Shout out to Will Larson (@lethain) for inspiring some updates regarding how I format my annual post. Also, here’s my accountability to Matt Mullenweg’s (@photomatt) request for a blog post as a birthday gift!

2023: My 2 #s

The impetus for this goal came from the Fat Loss Made Simple episode of The Art of Manliness podcast. My two numbers (plus a bonus) that I tracked:

• Health—Get back to <10% body fat
• Wealth—Become financially fluent in Harper Aviation’s business and numbers
• Knowledge—Read or listen to 52 books

Health

I dipped below 20% body fat (and 200 lbs) by the end of the year. I had been lazily doing 15-20 mins of lifting and then hopping on the exercise bike to be able to read something on my iPad. The reading was motivating, but I wasn’t sweating much by the end of my workouts. By recognizing in autumn that I had a goal due at the end of the year, I re-focused my efforts by tracking calories, using intermittent fasting, and recommitting to difficult workouts. 

Wealth

This one’s tricky. The legal side of things was the holdup. Our paperwork is set to go through any day now (as soon as I review the final draft and sign). Once the purchase agreement goes through, I’ll be able to register Harper Aviation with the State of Colorado and then open a bank account. Until now, Rick has been handling everything in QuickBooks. I have made significant progress in manufacturing, however, and I should be able to spend the next year dialing in our per-unit cost and updating our standard operating procedures.

Knowledge

I accomplished this one. A separate blog post will follow with my ratings, and I’ll come back to add a link here: [post] 

My 5 Fs Framework

I’ve used my “5 Fs Framework” for several years. The 5 categories that matter to me all start with “F”: Family, Faith, Finance, Fitness, and Flight. I reviewed them weekly in my journal. I didn’t have any particular goal in mind but would instead rate myself on a scale of 1–10 on how I felt I did that week in each category. Did I take on more work around the house? Did I fly a lot, working on PC progression? How were my workouts?

It was more qualitative than I had hoped for, but I did notice a few trends. I also found that a weekly accounting of progress for all of my goals was too much, so I’d end up skipping it entirely. I should start implementing a quarterly check-in instead.

2024 Goals + Resolutions

My 6 Fs Framework

I’ll be attempting a new and improved Jonny’s 6 Fs Framework™. I’m adding fulfillment this year and trying it for a spin. 

Family

• Develop a weekly routine of meal planning, grocery shopping, and meal prepping

Faith

• Develop a regular habit of scripture reading (I could be more specific here, but I currently don’t read at all, so anything “regular” is an improvement)
• Attend the temple quarterly

Finance

• Identify a project and start learning Python to produce something by the end of the year
• Start my master’s degree

Fitness

• Score 540 on the Army Combat Fitness Test

Flight

• Make pilot-in-command (UH-60L)
• Start my private pilot license

Fulfillment

• Complete 6 drawings I’m proud of
• Complete 4 woodworking or home construction projects
• Publish 4 blog posts
• Read or listen to 52 books
• Journal weekly (focused on introspection and retrospection, not a chronological recounting of the week)

Her Needs + Love Language

Perhaps my favorite marriage resource is the book, His Needs, Her Needs by Dr. Willard Harley. He outlines the typical husband’s top 5 needs, as well as the wife’s. Pair that with The 5 Love Languages, and you’re golden. Both books were gifted to me one birthday by a close family member, and His Needs, Her Needs is now our default wedding gift.

Benjamin Franklin is known for his self-development plan of pursuing virtues, emphasizing one trait for some time, and then moving on to the next trait he wants to improve. I intend on utilizing Dr. Harley’s top 5 needs for wives, plus Shalene’s love language of words of affirmation, and I’ll cycle through one each month to make sure I focus on what matters to her.

• [#1] Affection
• [#2] Conversation
• [#3] Honesty and Openness
• [#4] Financial Commitment
• [#5] Family Commitment
• [Love Language] Words of Affirmation

Thank you to Shalene Henderson, Beth Barber, and Jeremy Newman for reading and providing feedback.