Your best days of 2024 / My year in numbers / The joys of Padel
December 2024
Your best days of 2024
Before you start thinking about your plans & goals for 2025, it is worth taking some time to look back as well. I find many people quickly forget some of the highs (& lows) of the previous year - but how do you know what you want to do more of if you don’t remind yourself of the best bits of 2024?
The attached “Reflections” sheet is very quick to fill in and hopefully a bit more fun than your annual review at work!
The first part is all about looking back over 2024 and I have found the best (& most enjoyable) way to do this is to scroll through the Camera Roll on your phone. You may be surprised how many events or occasions you have already forgotten…
These were a few of my favourites days of 2024…
23 March: organising 20 schoolfriends from King’s Canterbury to meet up in a pub in Victoria, many of whom hadn’t seen each other for over 30 years.
4 May: joint 50th birthday party at our house in London with 100 friends & family.
29 July: a trip to the Louvre followed by Olympic beach volleyball in front of the Eiffel Tower.
22 August: eBiking up and (rapidly) down the mountains around Courcheval with the Pitstop app team.
22 October: taking my middle son Archie to the Gray Nicolls factory in Sussex to see how cricket bats are made and to choose new blades for both of us.
The other question I have added in to this page this year is “What or Who should you have said “No” to in 2024?” A good habit to start building up for next year…
The second page focuses on your aims for 2025, not just individual areas of focus but also the favourite people you would like to see more of. I encourage you to focus particularly on that one, as you can immediately message one of those individuals and find out when they are free to meet up in January - no one has a full diary at this time of year!
My year in numbers
Courtesy of Whoop, Strava and my own habit tracking sheets)…
😴 7hrs 20 mins = average sleep per night. Very low variance across year (low = 7hrs 7 mins in Nov, high = 7 hrs 46 mins in Aug)
🦶19,700 = daily steps. Am now getting step data from Whoop - which I wear 24 hrs a day - and my measured step count is 50% higher than I was getting from the pedometer on my phone.
❤️ 47 beats per minute = resting heart rate. This is a bit higher than the 44/45 bpm it has been for the previous 4 years. Am I getting older or has Whoop changed its algorithm? My average heart rate across the whole day is unchanged at around 65 bpm throughout that period.
🏃🏻455 km run in 2024, plus I reckon another 80km of treadmill running not captured on Strava. Given I bought my current trainers in January 2024, this means I am definitely due a new pair and probably should have swapped them out a couple of months ago.
🥵🥶 124 saunas; 76 cold water lake dips ranging in duration from 5-7 mins and temperature from 5C up to 15C. And I suspect 365 cold showers as this is very much a daily thing for me now.
🍷🍺 44% of days alcohol-free, which I am bit disappointed with as was hoping for at least 50%. Saving grace is that most of my alcohol days were generally only 1 or 2 drinks, with a few very notable exceptions...
🌎 5 = new countries/places visited - Hungary, Slovenia, Abu Dhabi, Utah, Girona (NE Spain).
If you want a pdf of my monthly habit tracking sheets, just email me at info@stevedavies.coach or you can download it here:
The joys of padel
Why am I having so many positive conversations with clients & friends about Padel Tennis at the moment?
🎾 It's sociable: the court is small and you only play Padel as a doubles game, so four friends can catch up and have a fun game in an hour, and maybe a drink afterwards.
🎾 It's easy: there are some amazing videos of proper pro Padel on social media, but anyone playing for the first time can have a really enjoyable game. I took three school friends for a game last week, none of whom had really played before, and we got straight into a good match that ended up being quite competitive...This contrasts with tennis (in my view), where you need to be quite proficient to have a satisfying match. It also means it doesn't matter if you can only play Padel occasionally rather than every week.
🎾 You don't have to be super fit to have a good game. Yes you are moving around but at fairly low intensity (at least in a social game) and covering pretty short distances. For those who like the numbers, my heart rate averaged 118bpm across the hour I played last week - definitely in the moderate range as far as exercise is concerned.
🎾 It's time efficient: people really like that the fact that you are combining a bit of competitive spirit and some physical exercise with seeing your friends. On top of this, it is only taking up 60-90 minutes so can easily slot into a lunchtime or early evening.
🎾 It's relatively cheap & increasingly accessible: booking a court for an hour costs around £50 in London right now (you may have to rent racquets on top of that) but that is very reasonable across 4 people and most places allow you to pay per session rather than requiring an annual membership. And new courts and clubs are springing up all the time as the sport's popularity keeps rising.
If you haven't played before, give it a go. And if you fancy a game in London in the new year, give me a shout...
If you are looking to make some changes or improvements to your life in the New Year, whether in your professional domain or more broadly, then the brochure below is a good introduction to how I work with my Performance Coaching clients. You can also read their own perspectives on how they have benefited from coaching on my website.
You can contact me on 07956 157172 or via info@stevedavies.coach
Best wishes to all my readers for 2025 and I look forward to catching up with many of you in January.
Steve