2022 in Review

I set 9 goals at the start of 2022, in hindsight, this was clearly over-ambitious, and I should have had less and prioritized them.

This year was relatively tough, both physically and mentally. Let's go into the highs and lows by looking at the success of my 2022 goals.

Feedback on my 2022 goals

Here are the nine goals that I set at the beginning of 2022.

I gave them a score of 10 to reflect on how well I achieved them, along with feedback on what happened and, importantly, why.

I am back enjoying walks with the family, even my Dad has got into it!

Fitter and healthier (5/10)

This has been my biggest disappointment for 2022.

In 2020 I decided to prioritize my health since suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) in the late 90s.

I went from 71kg in January 2020 down to 63kg, but since then have crept up to 71kg as of today!

During 2021 I felt great and was getting stronger, and by focusing on good nutrition (thanks Supergreen Tonik) and sleep was healthier than I have ever been before.

I struggled with my health after getting COVID twice, ironically, the second time was worse and lingered for many weeks. This affected my fitness and health.

I was fatigued for weeks and suffered from brain fog similar to the early days of CFS.

Anyone who has experienced this knows that getting anything done is challenging, but not just that, it completely affects your mood, and you feel, what's the point?

I definitely felt like this on several occasions this year.

But I have to take ownership of this because I often knew I could do better.

I have to admit there were some occasions where I gave up and just focused on my business and neglected my health (ironic when you consider my business is a health supplement!).

Scale my business to 7-figures (10/10)

It’s been a great year for us.

We hit seven figures for the year and over doubled our 2021 revenue.

We achieved this by onboarding more affiliates and ambassadors and purposely scaling back on the expenses that affected our bottom line.

In August, we launched Red Tonik and was blown away by the response from customers. We sold 500 tubs in 7 days from just emailing existing customers of Supergreen Tonik.

I initially released Red Tonik from customers requesting we do a reds supplement. We developed a stand-alone site to test the response, and there was a clear demand for our reds.

This led to us developing our company site https://humantonik.com.

This year was massive for us, we are profitable and looking to expand in 2023 with new supplement brands.

Importantly, despite the challenges, I enjoy working in this business.

Adam holding a tub of Supergreen Tonik

12 Podcasts (7/10)

Although I have an ambivert and, in certain situations, enjoy being in the limelight, I dislike being on video or public speaking.

That’s why in 2022, I thought about combining my aversion to public speaking and growing my business I would try podcasting.

True to form, I rushed out and bought the needed gear, as I love to do. (A very nice RODE mic, stand, and lighting equipment).

I reached out to friends of friends to appear on their podcasts and did four in total.

I purposely stopped after four because it didn’t seem scary anymore, and the traffic value for the business wasn’t there.

This is because the audience wasn’t the best fit for purchasing customers, which I knew as they were entrepreneurial podcasts.

It was a great learning experience, and I may look to do more in the future.

Make some music (0/10)

There was absolutely no music this year, even though I bought some more gear or clarified software synths!

The reason is simple, though.

I wanted to spend less time on my laptop, so evenings, I looked to switch off (literally).

Weekends I spend with my family, and evenings are out, this leaves during the week, but I tend to be focused on my business during this time.

It’s clear that to get back into music, I would need to reduce my working time and allocate “music days” during the week.

Realistically this is possible by making changes in my business (see above).

Will we see Collusion (my solo band from the '90s) in 2023?

Playing my first gig at university

Less Netflix and more reading (8/10)

I try not to work in the evening and avoid the laptop as much as possible. This often meant I switched on Netflix and watched whatever caught my eye.

I noticed in 2021 that this often meant watching anything that looked mildly entertaining.

Now, I am more selective about what I watch and aim to spend less time with it.

This year I read a lot more.

I also purchase a LOT MORE books, in fact, I can’t read them fast enough!

This is a habit I enjoy and will do more of in 2023. I love reading physical books.

I still enjoy Netflix, I have finished watching the Japanese series “Alice in Borderland,” which was awesome, but it’s not the default behavior every night.

Books I enjoyed in 2022

More personal writing (5/10)

I wrote a LOT of content for my blog this year.

The content was more on health, wellness, and nutrition than personal writing.

This tied into my obsession with growing my business, and so I decided to write more about this and less on the personal writing side.

I am enjoying doing the interviews on Lifehacker Guy and looking to do more in 2023.

The year's outcome proved this to be a good move, so the focus will continue in this direction.

Increase Networth by 20% (7/10)

Financially this year was a mixed bag that ended up with my net worth being 30% less than in 2022.

My cryptocurrency portfolio took a huge hammering this year, and in the end, it looks like I got out just the initial investment.

There is a chance I will get my investment in BlockFi out, but I have written this off as I believe it’s unlikely.

This is a huge blow, to be honest.

When the news broke, I was in shock for a few hours and couldn’t help but feel regret for not selling at least 50% of my portfolio when it was worth $1.2 million in 2021.

Hindsight eh?

My wife was incredibly supportive and, within a few days, was positive and took this as a huge learning experience. Not only to protect the downside and to ultimately take profits on the way up!

On the plus side, my business has been fantastic.

We are profitable, and I took a healthy salary.

It also means the business is very sellable and, at current multiples, could double my net worth if I wanted to take this route. I don’t wish to see it because I enjoy running it and can see the growth potential for 2023 and beyond.

Conversational Mandarin (0/10)

I made zero effort here, and it’s not surprising (especially if I mention this to my wife, lol).

This is one of those goals that has been wishful thinking for years.

I have to decide to make this happen and prioritize this if I want this to happen.

Even the lovely ShaoLan Hsueh the creator of Chineasy.com has not encouraged to keep this habit 🙁

Better communicator (8/10)

Yes, but certainly not in Mandarin (see above), lol.

I made a more conscious effort to spend quality time with my family and improve my relationship with them.

Enjoying time with my kids.

Summary of 2022

These scores above are not looking good, eh?

I didn’t have positive habits this year to make realizing these goals remotely possible.

My focus was very much on business growth, which has paid off to the detriment of other goals, namely music/mandarin.

Now, I am putting together my goals for 2023, but this time they will be realistic and measurable.

I hope you had an amazing 2022 and are as excited for 2023 as I am. I wish you a Happy New Year.