Reflections on 2020 and New Year’s resolutions for 2021

A new year begins tomorrow. I’m taking the opportunity to reflect upon the past year. 2020 was a historic and terrible year in many ways. The COVID-19 pandemic changed life as we know it and demanded many sacrifices. I lost my sabbatical (read my sabbatical posts here).

But 2020 was not entirely a bad year. I took on new hobbies, habits, and challenges. As 2020 comes to an end, I reflected upon what I was able to achieve in 2020.

• I started new research related to the pandemic and critical infrastructure resilience. It has been a creative year.
• I did more media outreach to improve public understanding of risk management.
• I wrote my first op-ed. Actually, I wrote four.
• I was selected as a IISE Fellow and a AAAS Fellow.
• I learned about best practices for inclusive teaching in online environments and updated my teaching materials and improved my pedagogy. I am a better teacher now than I was a year ago.
• I developed a new routine at home that helped my productivity.
• Virtual K12 school at home is not easy for my three kids, but they are doing about as well as anyone can.
• I started new hobbies, including jigsaw puzzles and tennis. I even went to the driving range and (sort of) golfed for the first time.
• I expanded my vegetable garden and was able to grow a lot more than in the past.
• I love being able to cook and bake. Working from home means I can knead bread dough between meetings and cook elaborate and healthy dinners. I have been eating very well.
• Extra quality time with my family has been wonderful.
• I have been able to appreciate the small things all year long.

New Year’s resolutions in 2021

1. Less doom scrolling.
2. Create more, consume less.
3. Continue high levels of public outreach through media appearances and public lectures.
4. Fewer zoom meetings. I often did not meet my goal of 4 hours or or less of meetings in 2020.
5. Replace one-on-one zoom meetings with phone calls, where I can go on a walk and stretch my legs during the call.
6. Write and edit my writing every day, even if only for a few minutes.
7. Become a better vegetable gardener. I’m good at growing tomatoes and herbs. I want to learn how to grow more vegetables, including the cool weather vegetables like greens and root vegetables.
8. Go on vacation.

For more reading, check out my New Year’s resolutions in 2018 and 2019. Dijkstra’s 10 commandments of academic research also serve as potential New Year’s resolutions.