The YOLO report 2017

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YO.LO

14 min readJan 7, 2018

THE YOLO REPORT 2017

Welcome to my third YOLO Report. 2017 is over and I am now 30.570851 years old. This report is now an end-of-year ritual for me.

Many people are asking me how I can track so many stuff so at the end of this article you’ll find all my tips and tricks to write your own year-in-review report alongside the tools I use to do so.

2017 was a wonderful year full of challenges, love, and new friendships. Let’s dive in.

What am I grateful for?

I am grateful for loving and being loved by Wonderful Human Beings :)
I am grateful for having managed to remain friend with my ex-girlfriend, Lisa. Not an easy thing to do, but when you think about it, it’s stupid to burn bridges with an ex if nothing dramatic happened. Nurturing a friendship with that person is totally normal and healthy in my opinion.
I am grateful for working for such a startup shaping the future of work: comet. It’s definitely true when we say that you should work for something you’re passionate about so you don’t feel like working anymore.
I am grateful for sustaining some friendship despite the distance with some of the people I like the most.
Still grateful for having great, and supporting parents :)

TO DO 20181/ see my old friends more often.
2/ see my family more often.

2017 challenges 🥇

This year, my main challenges were professional. I went from working as a freelance growth hacker for comet to becoming the Chief Marketing Officer of this amazing startup.

As you can imagine, responsibilities and skills needed are totally different when you’re a CMO.

I had to learn a totally new skillset: Management.

It seems like an easy thing to do but it’s actually way harder than you realize. 2017 was the year to create the foundations of me being a manager, 2018 will be the year I’ll build upon those foundations. Let’s see in 365 days how things will turn out.

TO DO 20181/ find a mentor.
2/ meet and learn from other great managers.
3/ meet and learn from other great CMOs.
4/ be an example for my team.

Sports/Physical activities/Health 🏃

Weight 𐄷

1.5kg lost in 2017.
59.7kg at the end of the year.
61.2kg, last year average weight.
58.8, my lowest weight, recorded on the 2nd of December 2017.
63.5, my highest weight, recorded on the 5th of April 2017.

Some noticeable facts:

Early December is always the time of the year when my weight is at its lowest. March/April, is alway the time of the year when my weight is at its peak. Maybe there’s a correlation between the amount of sun, the increase/decrease in temperature?
There’s a clear correlation between my physical activity (number of steps) and my weight. The more I walk/run, the lighter I am.

running 🏃

I ran 162 times (with runs ranging from 5k to 32k) → 9% more runs than 2016. Here’s the calendar of all my runs.

I ran a total of 1000 kilometers (25% less than in 2016) or the same distance as a trip from Paris to Prague (compared to a Paris — Budapest last year).

I spent 83 hours or 3.45 days running.
Longest run= 32km on the 2nd of September.

fastest run= 5km in 21 minutes on the 9th of March.

TO DO 20181/ run an official semi-marathon.
2/ run an official marathon.
3/ run more often.
4/ avoid injuries by drinking more!

Walking + running

In total I walked and ran a total of 4,540,045 steps or 2,724km which is 32% less than in 2016 due to the fact that I didn’t train for a marathon + since I was working, I had less time than in 2016 to walk around Paris. It’s equivalent to a Paris-Moscou compared to a Paris-Yerevan last year.

Most active month: August with an average of 14288 steps/day.

Most steps on Saturday, September the 2nd with 43,212 steps.
My daily average number of steps for 2017: 12,150 steps.

TO DO 20181/ walk more by stopping 2/3 metro stations before my final destination when I go to work.
2/ walk more often during weekends.

Sleep 😴

Slept approximatively 95 days in 2017.
Sleep quality by month:

I seem to have slept better from August to January, August because it’s a way more relaxed month in France (less work usually), from September because Manon started to work. Hence going to bed earlier :)

Average time to bed by months:

Pretty crystal clear. During summers, I go out way later.

Sleep quality affected by physical activity:

Pretty interesting. Either having very little activity (less than 7k steps per day) or a lot (more than 15k steps per day) seem to enhance my sleep quality. But a mild physical activity (between 7k and 15k steps per day) seems to decrease my sleep quality.

TO DO 20181/ wake up in between 5:15 and 5:30 at least 3 times a week.
2/ go to bed not later than 11pm when I wake up early.

Working out with Freeletics 💪

I did a total of 400 workout sessions with freeletics. That’s 32% more than in 2016.
I trained for 2,420 minutes or 40 hours.
I did 10,320 jumping jacks, 7,320 squats, 5,131 pushups.

TO DO 20181/ work out more often.
2/ work out more intesively.

Tracking my digital life 💻

1,884 hours or 78.5 days spent online which really sounds crazy. Living in a VR world is not as far as we think.
189 hours or almost 8 entire days on Slack.

169 hours or almost 7 days on Google Inbox (congrats slack! you’re beating the email).

133 hours or almost 5.5 days on Google Spreadsheet.

52 hours or 2.1 days on Apple Notes app.

42 hours or almost 2 days on Facebook.

35 hours or 1.4 days on iMessage.

TO DO 20181/ spend less time on slack by avoiding FOMO.
2/ spend less time in Google Inbox by being more drastic regarding when I check and write my emails.

Books 📚

14 books read, 1.16/month. 1 less than 2016.
5228 pages read or 14.3 pages/day compared to 5733 pages or 15 pages/day in 2016.
Here’s the list of all the books I read.

My favorite books this year were:

→ non fiction

A book that can serve anybody, creative or not, entrepreneur or employee. It’s full of clear and actionnable content that you’ll read in a blink of an eye! I won’t tell you more about it. Read it now!

→fiction

A very interesting book about the life of a Butler, his professional values, and his relationship with a former colleague. The themes are pretty wide: dignity, banter, social constraints, loyalty, politics, love, relationships, memory and perspective.

other facts about books

shortest: you are a message with 306 pages but like 1/2 sentences per page.
longest: tools of titans with 707 pages.
average book length: 349 pages.

TO DO 20181/ read (or listen to) at least 20 books and audiobooks.
2/ don't be afraid to stop reading a book if I don't like it.

Travels 🗺

17 cities explored.
5 countries visited.
2 new countries: Czech Republic and Ireland

TO DO 20181/ visit at least 30 different cities.
2/ go to 1 or 2 countries I've never been before.

Movies and TV shows 🎬

My favorite movie was The Fantastic Mr fox 🦊

Why?

Funny.
Magnificent photography.
written with an abundance of intelligence and wit.

Movies data

Watched 36 movies (+111% compared to 2016).
74 hours or 3 entire days (+164% compared to 2016).
October: max. amount of movies watched with 7 movies.
May: min. amount of movies watched with 0 movie.

Here’s the entire list of the movies I watched:

hotel transylvania
The fantastic Mr Fox
La la land
Silence
The game
Split
beauty and the beast
Ghost in the shell
Layer cake
Café de flore
Big hero 6
Baby boss
Comet
Spiderman homecoming
Wonder Woman
Valerian
Dunkirk
Airplane!
Zombieland
Ex Machina
The God Father Part 1
Bigfish
Seven Sisters
Kingsman
Incendies
Blade runners 2049
Watchmen
Appolo 13
Kingsman: The Golden Circle
My Neighbor Totorro
Coco
The big short
Star wars: The Force Awaken
Bright
Easy-A

TV Shows 📺

My favorite TV show was…Rick and Morty

I can’t believe I lived right next to this TV show without ever watching it since 2013! It’s a mix of Charlie The Unicorn, South Park, and the Simpsons. How can one not fall in love with it!

TV shows data

55 hours or 2.3 days spent watching TV shows (3.5% less than 2016)

My iPhone home screen at the end of the year 📱

Some noticeable things

My first screen is totally empty except for one folder with the apps I used the most and the notes app at the bottom. It helps me not being distracted by notifications.
Still no phone app on my first screen.
My last year’s prophecy was right (“The Camera app will probably disappear from my first next year as I’m only using the shortcut from the lock screen to use the iPhone camera”). Indeed, I’m not using the camera app icon anymore to launch it but the control center. Even more since I own the iPhone X.
I’m using the notes app more and more.

And here is the second screen of my iPhone:

Cryptocurrency app Coinbase has appeared.
I no longer use Flipboard. I’ll probably delete it soon.
Same for Periscope.

TO DO 20181/ if I don't use an app for one month, delete it.

Podcasts 🎤

Since last year, unfortunately, I’ve decreased a lot my consumption of podcasts. Maybe because I’m listening to more audiobooks. Here’s my 2017 list:

Reply All (Gimlet Media) → a show about the internet
Startup (Gimlet Media) → a show about what it feels like to launch a startup
Containers → Containers is an 8-part audio documentary about how global trade has transformed the economy and ourselves. Host and correspondent Alexis Madrigal leads you through the world of ships and sailors, technology and tugboats, warehouses and cranes. At a time when Donald Trump is threatening to toss out the global economic order, Containers provides an illuminating, deep, and weird look at how capitalism actually works now.

TO DO 20181/ listen to 3 new podcasts on top of startup and reply all.

Side Projects 📝

Happenstance

Sarah Marga and I launched Happenstance on Product Hunt (Check it out here) at the beginning of 2016. The project is still on hold as we need to develop the platform in order to automate everything. We have a waiting list of more than 5,000 people now. I’m sure it could be a great service. I just need to devote more time and money on this project.

Just a reminder:

We created happenstance because we wanted to meet new interesting people, with no other purpose than sharing thoughts, ideas, and life experience. We had that burning desire to expand our world, and to discover the lives and adventures of other people we don’t know yet. Although internet is pretty great for finding jobs, dates, and old friends, there is no service that would allow us to meet some random people, who are obviously cool and curious just like you (and us).
With Happenstance, we want to allow everyone to meet someone new and different, but yet kind of similar. Maybe a teacher from Japan, or a student in Europe, or a traveler in Asia, or a journalist from Africa, or a gardener, or a dentist, or an archeologist, or a professional gamer, or…well you get it.

TO DO 20181/ develop a V0 automated version of Happenstance and start sending emails agains.

Unmakr

Unmakr is still alive. Kinou (AKA Christophe) and I started a project called Unmakr where we pick our favorite iconic objects and we tear them apart to see their guts. Last year we shot 3 different objects (an iMac, a Tamagotchi, and a Walkman). You can follow us on medium or on Instagram.

TO DO 20181/ publish 5 new tear downs.
2/ share it with some press to get some coverage.

Music

My favorite artist of the year: Still the Beatles.

22,074 minutes listened, or 15.3 days (40% less than 2016).
I’ve listened to 965 different artists (40% less than 2016) and 2,129 different songs (19% less than 2016).
My most-listened artist of the year is Kanye West.
here are the most played albums of 2017.

Since 2016 I track my music by creating monthly playlist. Every time I like a song a lot I add it to my playlist. You can find all of them on my spotify profile:

Yoann Lopez

Yoann Lopez, a user on Spotify

open.spotify.com

TO DO 20181/ discover more new artists by listening to my discover weekly every weeks.

My favorite articles of the year

Neuralink and the Brain’s Magical Future on Wait but Why

Two of my favorite person combined (Tim Urban and Elon Musk) in the same.

In this article, Tim Urban explains how Neuralink, the new venture of Elon Musk will help Human Beings to evolve and to merge with AI. Long-read but must-read (as usual with Tim Urban).

TO DO 20181/ use Instapaper to read every articles I ran into so I can highlight and take notes.

Random stuff 🎲

In 2017 I drank 344 liters of beer (+23% compared to last year) → let’s assume that a pint is 5€ then I spent €3,440 on beers 😕 that’s quite a lot. Let’s make it more painful. Imagine that I invested this amount in Bitcoin in July 2010 when the price of 1 bitcoin was $0.08 dollars or €0.07 (today’s exchange rate). It means I could have bought 49,142 bitcoins. Today one bitcoin is worth $13,913 (01/02/2018). It means I would be worth €683,712,646 at the end of 2017. 😱
Month I drank the most beers: July with 38 liters. Went to Calvi on the Rocks.
Month I drank the least beers: October with 16.5 liters. A lot of work as we were announcing our first fundraising with comet.

TO DO 20181/ drink less beer.
2/ for each day I don't drink, save 10 euros.

I cut my nails 42 times (+7% compared to 2016) or once every 8.6 days → yeah that’s still weird to quantify this but I want to see if the way I eat, aging, etc. affects this figure in the long run.
2017 Key learnings. Every time I ran into a useful piece of content in an article, book, podcast, audiobook, etc. I wrote it down on my iPhone. Here’s the result. 106 key learnings:

You can download it on slideshare

My Codex Vitae or “book of life” is now updated→ Yoann’s Codex Vitae

✨ BONUS — HOW TO WRITE YOUR OWN YEAR IN REVIEW ✨

Here’s a quick guide on how I collect and write my year in review.

YEAR IN REVIEW - HOW TO + APP I'M USING AND THEIR PRICE $$1/ I use my iPhone X (€1,250), my Apple watch (€350), and my Macbook Air (€1,200).2/ For tracking my weight I’m using a Nokia health scale (€100) paired with the Gyroscope app (€60/year)3/ For tracking my runs I use the coach.me app (free) + runkeeper go(€30/year) paired with Gyroscope.4/ For tracking my sleep I use the Sleep Cycle (free) app on my iphone.4/ For tracking my freeletics (€120/year) workouts I use my Apple Watch paired with Apple Health paired with Gyroscope.5/ For tracking the books I read, I'm using Goodreads (free). Which is also great to save books you want to read later or discovering new ones.6/ For tracking my travels I use gyroscope.7/ For tracking the movies I watch, I'm using a simple Google Spreadsheet (free).8/ For tracking my TV show, I'm using the TV time iPhone app (free).9/ For tracking and listening to my podcasts, I'm using the Overcast iPhone app (free).10/ For tracking my music I'm using the Spotify year in Review + its integration with Gyroscope.11/ For tracking my digital activity (app/website usage on my mac), I'm using Rescue Time (free) paired with Gyroscope.12/ For tracking random stuff like my beer consumption I'm using a simple Google Spreadsheet (free) that I'm filling out every day.13/ At the end of December I gather all the data in a note saved on the Mac Notes app, then I start writing this medium article. It usually takes me a week or two to finish it.14/ For each data, in 2017, I've started to see what actions I could trigger based on what I've collected.

If you have any question, don’t hesitate to shoot me an email at yo@yoann.co.

Happy 2018!