My year in review 2021, stay flexible!

My mother used to write a "year in review" and send it out to our family and friends. As a kid I thought that this was rather embarrassing. But I get it now. Writing has such a curative effect and it forces you to combine memories into a coherent and memorable structure. Therefore, I decided to write personal year in review for me - and for you. I promise to keep it interesting for you and I'll have some pictures!

What a year that was! I got my first daughter, I learned to be a parent, I was challenged in my job and last but not least I achieved a three lifetime goal of mine: I can do the middle split, I benched 100 kg and I achieved my black belt in southern praying mantis Kung Fu!

Of habits and supply chain disruptions

The year started with a lot of good resolutions in the lock down of early 2021. Home office has been established as a standard for me and I wanted to grow personally, in the job and athletically. Therefore I put together a list of 5 habits to keep me up on track for the year. Something I want to investigate deeper and draw my conclusions for the future.

1. Write a journal

I have a daily reminder in my calendar to write a page in my journal every day. Usually it is about my workouts, work performance or my personal life. I have gotten a bit sloppy with the frequency of my entries lately so this is definitely a focus for 2022. I write anything in my journal that seems to me to be important enough to read it later. I track personal records, project progress and I set goals for myself for the future. Sometimes I can cross of a book of my reading list and sometimes I write my new work out routine into the journal.

2. Work out

This brings me to the next habit I kept going after this year. Work out. I cannot tell you how much it helped me this year. If you are kept awake all night by your newborn and you think you cannot control anything in your life. Work out was what kept me sane. I might not be able to control everything. But I can control this heavy weight. I started of light in the beginning of 2021. My body weight was starting to get too light for exercises and I needed weights. But as with anything supply chain disruptions were ever present. There were no dumbbells available in Switzerland. None. After two weeks, at least 10 websites scouted and several sign ups to availability update emails I finally got one 10 kg dumbbell. There my lifting journey begins. Later more and more equipment started to pile up. I bought a bench in April and I got a barbell for my birthday from my lovely wife in September along with more plates. Now finally I got myself a squat rack and a pull up bar for Christmas.

Look at this beauty! I am quite proud of my home gym in my home office. I have achieved great results form lifting weights. I gained about 8 kg of muscle in this year and reached my bench press lifetime goal of a 100 kg one rep max.

Stay Flexible!

But lifting wasn't the only part of my workout routine. A faithful evening in early 2021 I had a lovely conversation with the new girlfriend of my brother in law. One led to the other and on the end of the evening I was performing, the best I could manage, of a middle split. My father and brother in law joked around saying that this was a habit with me and trying to perform the splits. After a bit back and forth and some heavy gesturing we agreed on a bet. I was to perform a full middle split over two chairs this Christmas. A bet I am going to win! Therefore I incorporated stretches and horse stances into my work outs. Below you'll see the result. If you need a full video prove that I can perform a split, here is my post on "No pain, no gain!"

To stay flexible is my new life motto. You never know whats coming tomorrow so you'll better be adaptable. If you want some strategies and tips for your material supply in 2022 follow me for my upcoming article on staying flexible during supply chain disruptions.

The key is discipline

I have already in the past written how much I have learned from martial arts. I have had the opportunity this year to coach at the swiss national wushu championship in Oberentfelden. If this event taught me anything than that physical attributes make up maximally 30 percent of the performance. The other 70 percent are mental. Your work ethic, your mental strength during a fight and the will to victory are all so much more important. I have said it before, hard work beats talent. That is so true as much in business as it is in martial arts.

Now this Wednesday December 15th 2021 I had the task to lead the belt exams. What I didn't know was, that this was as much my exam as it was the exam of all other students. After nearly 15 years of southern praying mantis Kung Fu I was awarded the great honor of the black belt and instructor title. I want to thank my Sifu Reto Turnell for all the years of training and guidance. Thank you that you thought me discipline, something that keeps paying dividends wherever I apply it. I guess I also need to thank my dear friend Claudio Peterhans too for him introducing me to Kung Fu in the first place.

3. Shower cold

To shower cold is to feel comfortable being uncomfortable. I dare you. Try it for a month. Start with 30 seconds on the end of your regular warm shower. Gradually increase the duration up to 2 mins per shower. See how you feel afterwards. Mood, athletic and cognitive performance all improve, I bet. Whenever I started to get sloppy with my breath work and cold exposure (aka the Wim Hof Method) I didn't feel as well or was in a cranky mood. Another great, maybe a bit crazy activity, is running shirtless in winter. Something I tried out this year extensively. It's amazing how much heat your body can generate and just to shut those comments down. I NEVER caught a cold during these runs. The opposite was the case, whenever I didn't take the cold exposure and breath work seriously I got sick.

4. Read

I set up a reading list for 2021 that I shared with you, my network.

I admit it. I didn't read all of those books and those who I did read, I did not all read. What? Well, I cheated. I listened to most of them. Reading time was super scares and the occasional drive to work ( yes does existed) or the walk with the stroller were perfect for some audio books. I got myself an audible subscription and am very happy with it, but whatever you prefer. My favorite books this year were Beyond Order: 12 more Rules for Life from Jordan Peterson, the Wim Hof Method from Wim Hof and Never Split the Difference from Christopher Voss. All of them I can highly recommend. The book I didn't manage to read was laser sintering with plastics. Unfortunately sometimes you never make it into the top three priorities the whole year. You don't get to do everything you plan, but that's OK. If you wondering what I'm reading (listening to) next year, Here is my reading list 2022!

5. Meditate

In the hectic time we are in, with work ever present at home, without much distractions or free time activity available to everyone, meditation and spirituality are one of the most important habits to keep up. I especially noticed this in my wife. When our daughter was born she hadn't had much time for herself. Her mood improved dramatically when she continued to go to my mothers knitting courses. For those of you who don't know knitting is a very meditative exercise. At this point I have to give my mom a shout out. If you wanna learn the meditative effects of knitting go to aha-mode.ch for her course program. I myself prefer a different meditation technique, the wim hof method. A combination of controlled hyperventilation and breath retention, best combined with cold exposure. The calm of mind you achieve after three to four rounds of the breath work is simply amazing. Every morning at 5:50 I get up do three rounds of breathing and have a cold shower. Then I begin my day. During the breath retention I meditate, I try to control my body temperature or scan my body. But whatever suits you best. Walks in nature can have a similar calming effect, something I practiced with my wife in her pregnancy a lot. Meditation is a workout for your mind!

Of Babies and other Challenges

So I was well of into my year. My habits were set and worked. Although the first half of the year was very turbulent with the supply chain disruptions busying us for most of it, I was doing perfect. I was adapted to what I was doing, I had habits, patterns of adaption and regular sleep. Then on the 24th of may 2021 on 8:05 I held my baby girl Eleonora Viviana Pianegonda for the first time. Her mother, the love of my life, just went through the most difficult four days of her life. On Friday the labor pains began, after that we were in and out of the hospital for three times in total until at Sunday evening, when the cervix was finally 1 cm open! After another sleepless night in the hospital and the whole day we could finally welcome our baby girl in our life. My wife put up with it like a champ. No pain killers, no complaining, no nothing. I knew she could do it, I knew I had to have faith in her but I was deeply impressed. If you ever have the chance, attend childbirth do it. This is not for the fainthearted, its hardcore.

This will always be a special day and I'll never forget it. Like my graduation, the publishing of my master thesis and my wedding this day it is up there on most memorable days in my life. And after that day a lot of things changed! You never will appreciate sleep more than when you have a baby. In the beginning she needed to catch up. With below 3 kg in body weight she needed to eat frequently, usually every 1.5-2 h. In addition to the sleep deprivation. The hormone drops caused my wife to have panic attacks. Do not underestimate the mental challenges after child birth. My parents and my parents in law were life savers. They created islands for us to recover for a bit. After three months our babies sleep and eating improved tremendously. My wife got better and our baby girl grows and learns everyday, she nearly crawling now! Here I need to insert a picture of a proud father in his home office. Eleonora or "Eli" as we usually call her is a real sunshine and an absolute mini Me! I always wondered if I would have been pretty as a girl, now I know that I would have.

Shout out to my boss Philipp Seiler and my colleagues Laura Zwerenz for organizing the "Junior Materials Manager" jumpsuit for my baby girl.

This brings me to the next big change. I no longer work at Sulzer. I work at medmix now. Have I changed the company? No! We spun off in September and we are an own corporation now. We are looking into a bright future in plastic medical devices! We will continue to innovate sustainably with devices that help people have more confident and healthier lives. What a mission to be on! This journey will continue next year and ahead lie so many material related challenges: increasingly complex material compliance requirements, sustainability requirements and supply chain issues. In order to do this I need to delegate project execution and focus on the technical expertise in materials. Therefore my job title will change into Technology Expert Materials. As much as I will miss project management I am very excited for the new challenges ahead.

With this I want to thank everybody who accompanied me this year! Not only my wife and family who were an absolute beacon of light, but also to my colleagues at work and business contacts. It was a difficult year, it was a challenging year but I grew tremendously because of it! With this said: Merry Christmas and a Happy New year everybody!