From Strength to Stillness: Reframing My OKRs for July

After a long hiatus, I’m back—with a few lessons from burnout, a new sense of purpose, and a gentler OKR.

Jul 08, 2025

In June, I dipped my toe back into something I’ve long relied on to bring structure and meaning to my personal growth: OKRs (Objectives and Key Results).

I even shared the process publicly for the first time, in this LinkedIn post—partly to stay accountable, but also to see if others were finding OKRs useful outside of work, too.

The response was heartening. Sharing my OKRs publicly was a way to hold myself accountable; and hopefully show others that this framework isn't just for the workplace, but can bring clarity and momentum to personal goals too.

So, how did my June OKRs go?

Let’s just say: progress was made. But more importantly, some truths surfaced along the way.

June’s Objective: Improve my physical strength

Key Results I was aiming for:

Increase my average golf drive to 150+ yards
Perform upper body Pilates workouts with increased resistance (moving up from beginner level)
Hike to the summit of Knox Mountain in under 40 minutes and feel strong at the top

What actually happened:

My golf drives got close to 150+ yards…but weren’t consistently there
I’m now using moderate resistance on the Reformer for upper body (and slightly higher for lower body!)
I did hike Knox in under 40 minutes… but only once. I realized it wasn’t as motivating as I thought

Action plan recap:

✅ Played 4 rounds of golf (but only hit the driving range once)
✅ Did Pilates 3x/week (except the week I was on vacation)
❌ Hiked 4 times (half of what I planned)
❌ Walked maybe 5–8 days total…not daily
❌ Took creatine consistently for about a week and a half

What I Learned

I could frame June as a “partial success,” but that misses the bigger insight:

Even with movement and activity, I still felt mentally foggy and emotionally flat.

I’ve been brushing up against burnout for a while now, and June made that harder to ignore. I had energy for the checklist—but not always for joy. And that told me everything I needed to know.

I came to this realization a few days ago, and today this article landed in my inbox: The Recovery OKR by Christina Wodtke. It felt like additional validation to shift the focus.

July’s Objective: Reduce Stress and Feel More Grounded and Happy

This month, I’m working toward emotional resilience and sustainable joy…not another layer of self-optimization.

Key Result:

I report feeling happier and less stressed, with with my PHQ-9 score improving by 25% or more by the end of the month

Action Plan:

Walk daily (even short, slow walks count)
Meditate daily

I’m excited to see where this narrower focus leads me, stay tuned for the recap at the end of the month.

What About You?

Are you setting any intentions for July? Are you craving productivity or peace?

If you’ve been walking a fine line between burnout and ambition lately, you’re not alone. And you don’t have to “push through it” to make meaningful progress.

Sometimes, recovery is the work.

Thanks for reading. It’s good to be back.