Self-improvement DELUSION

At the beginning of 2019, I decided it would be the best year of my life.

With a list of New Year’s resolutions nearly as long as the half marathon I'd be signing up for, I set about making ‘Operation

Self-Improvement’ a reality.

Meditation apps were downloaded and motivational podcasts were neatly arranged into playlists, ready to spur me on during 6am runs in the wintry drizzle. Bestselling self-help books were bunged haphazardly into my Amazon basket – a bulging library I was certain would change my perspective on my career, health and life in general.

I’d be learning a language, naturally (Japanese couldn’t be that hard, could it?), and while I was at it, why not turn the average two-bedroom house I’d recently bought with my girlfriend into the dream home we’d been planning?

Call it post-Christmas optimism or new year naivety, but I felt genuinely psyched up to transform my life in the way that so many lifestyle