25010A - Complete a first draft of a novel

Updated

25.01.01

Duration

C25

Objective

Complete a draft of a novel in 2025 that is 70k words or more in length.

Hypothesis

I’ve written novel partials and drafts in the past. In 2025 I’m committing to write a novel of 70k words or more. By naming this as an explicit goal and arranging several quarterly and monthly goals around the process, I’ll have the time and space to get the words on the page, even though they will still require significant rewriting and editing.

Experiment Design

I expect to dedicate 6+ Months of quarterly and monthly experiments to writing a novel as my creative endeavor. Based on prior experience, this should be sufficient time to get a draft done.

Risk

Writing novels is hard. I’ve failed many times. Time is the most challenging component for me, and it’s one of those projects that must do done in lieu of completing many other creative projects.

Results

25009A - Reduce annual expenses by 20%

Updated

25.01.01

Duration

C25

Objective

Like 008, not going into personal finances in detail here. However, I intend to cut roughly 20% off of our annual expenses. Much of this savings will apply to the debt payoff protocol in 008.

Hypothesis

We have some large ticket expenses falling off the docket in 2025! Yay, no more full-time daycare/preschool. Coupling these large expense reductions with some monthly reductions, we should be able to decrease our overall spending in 2025 by nearly 20%.

Experiment Design

Identify both large and small monthly and recurring expenses. Make reductions where appropriate. One example is that we can easily reduce our food budget by ~$200 a month by veering away from takeaway and dining out as often.

Risk

We might have unaccounted for expenses. We might decide that reducing certain items is not a net positive for us, despite the savings. Inflation is real, and possibly the impact of proposed tariffs.

Results

25008A - Pay off all non-mortgage debt

Updated

25.01.01

Duration

C25

Objective

Pay off all non-mortgage debt in 2025. I’m not going to go in the specifics of our finances online, but we carry a few student loans and an RV payment alongside of our mortgage. Within our current payoff protocol we are on track to have everything paid off by January 2027, but with Laura potentially going to graduate school this fall, it would be ideal to accelerate that timeline and pay everything off in 2025.

Hypothesis

While we aren’t necessarily frugal with our money, our family adheres to specific budgets and we prioritize things like retirement, college funds, and paying off debt over many luxuries. With a planned decrease in family income for 5-7 years, having all debt paid off will provide us with ease of mind and comfort. By increasing our payoff rates in lieu of some other luxuries, we’ll be more comfortable in the short to mid-term.

Experiment Design

We’ve reallocated our budget assignments and identified short term increases in income streams for 2025 to accelerate our payoffs.

Risk

We might have unaccounted for expenses. We may not increase our income as much as expected.

Results

25007A - Sleep in the van for 30+ days

Updated

25.01.01

Duration

C25

Objective

We purchased our Class B motorhome, aka the camper van, aka the Winnebago Solis 59px, aka the Solis, aka the van in the summer of 2023.

This was in no doubt a luxury purchase, with the intention of creating long lasting family memories while having a blast to do it. One of the thoughts at the time was that having the camper would encourage us to camp more, and reduce the setup and breakdown time of tent camping with a bit more comfort.

In 2024 I spent 25 nights in the van over many weekend, 1 night and one week long road trip, with the whole family, the boys, pals, and by myself. I’d like to spend a full MONTH in total in the van this year.

Hypothesis

The boys love the van. I love the van. The dog loves the van. Let’s use it even more. If we can spend the equivalent of 1-month of sleeping in the van, then we’ll have really used it for at least a good portion of 60 days, which in my mind is a ton of time to have fun, create memories, and just get outside.

Experiment Design

This will be a mixture of booked in advance trips, like 4th of July weekend, and more spontaneous weekend trips where we find a place to stay and head out. I expect this to be a mixture of state sampgrounds, Harvest Hosts, and private campsites. I’ll log nights and days out in my journal’s Camping spread.

Risk

Weather, van maintenance, and my spouse’s patience are all things that can cause this plan to go awry. 30 nights is a lot, a I recognize that.

Results

25006A - Wear an Activity Tracker all year long

Updated

25.01.01

Duration

C25

Objective

In 2023 I spent a full year quantifying health data through Whoop and the Apple Watch. In doing so, I had greater visibility in indicators like sleep quality and general movement. I thought that this entrenched some healthy habits but discontinued using it as the Whoop armband modality was annoying and not something that I enjoyed maintaining.

Hypothesis

As 2023 indicated, I make stronger lifestyle choices when there is active data to review on a daily basis. Switching to the combination of the Apple Watch, and Oura ring should provide this data going forward, in a form factor and modality that is less annoying than the Whoop.

Risk

The Oura could suck. Otherwise the risk should be minimal in completing this experiment. The only concern is that the ring will not be worn in some workouts sessions, so I will still want to manually capture these events through the watch exercise programs.

Results