To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what to do about this.

I like having an optimistic view

of time. The way I see it, I want to fit as much as I can into each hour. The upside is I get
a lot done throughout the year. The downside is I have very little margin of safety. If
everything goes to plan, I can get it all done. If something doesn't go perfectly, a
deadline is missed.

Weightlifting. In 2018, I exercised 141 times for an average of 11.8 workouts per
month. Those numbers might look good at first glance, but both are a fair step down
from last year (more on that in a minute).

When I broke the year down in detail, the issues became obvious. You can tell which
months I turned in the manuscript (February), launched the book (October), and did a
media tour across the US (December).

Workouts per month in 2018:

 January – 18

 February – 7

 March – 12

 April – 14

 May – 10

 June – 16

 July – 14

 August – 14

 September – 12

 October – 8

 November – 11

 December – 5
I am proud of myself in one respect, however. I could have said, “Oh, I'm launching a
book in October so I can't work out.” But getting 8 workouts in was better than zero.
Managing to make it into the gym despite a crazy schedule (even if it's only for 15
minutes) is important for maintaining momentum.

My best lifts of the year were:

 Back Squat – 400 lbs (181 kg) for 1 rep

 Bench Press – 280 lbs (127 kg) for 1 rep

 Deadlift – 500 lbs (226 kg) for 1 rep

These numbers are pretty good for me, but none of them are personal bests. I have been
training fairly regularly for about ten years now and I believe this is the first time I have
conducted an annual review and not hit a PR in at least one major lift.

Writing trajectory. I only wrote 10 articles in 2017, which was my lowest total ever.
Somehow, I managed to lower the bar even further in 2018. The drop in output
impacted other areas of the business too. Website traffic, for example, was highest in
January and February and declined throughout the year.