My 2022 Goals
// The Goals
🖖🏻 Alright you lot - welcome to the clique, my clique. It's my bi-weekly newsletter where I share my rambling thoughts on sales/business, practical life advice and insights into building my own personal brand through content.
🎯 My Goals - The New Years Resolutions Bit
I didn't set any New Years resolutions. I could end the newsletter there and it be all over and we'd have nothing to talk about but I didn't do it straight away, thats the point - read on people.
I figured that as soon as that clock strikes 12 and we flip over into the New Year and I vowed to not drink again, get a 6 pack and become the English visual equivalent of Zac Efron in that Baywatch movie - I'd fail so I decided to take a step back and wait two weeks
You see, every year (and I have done this as long as I can remember and thats not that far back, but thats another story) I set myself these big audacious goals and I am supremely motivated - think Wile Coyote on his very first day - and I always without fail, fail.
Always - not once in my entire life have I developed a 6 pack because of a New Year affirmation, I have only ever completed a Dry January once and Zac can still claim to be way more ripped than I am.
So I decided to let the furore and eagerness subside this year and thats why my first Newsletter wasn't one of those newsletters which outlined goals and made a public pledge - I knew that by the time my second newsletter had rolled around, I'd have had that first beer which would have depressed me. (making me drink yet another beer).
🤴 So What to Do Instead?
You're going to have to stick with me a little on this one - so, I have followed this one chap on Youtube for a while - August Bradley - and he is a big advocate and user of Notion - its a funky little app which can basically do anything, it stores data, creates calendars and I use it for a complete personal life management system.
I have toyed with the idea of setting up a weekly/monthly goals system for some time - as I mentioned in the last newsletter, I use a notepad for pretty much everything and I carry over my to-do lists every week but I want something to push me to achieve my goals - something I'm accountable too.
So then I read Mark Masters LinkedIn Newsletter, You are the Media Extra and there was a fella he recommended called Stew Fortier who had done an annual review based on something that another guy does, (Dr Anthony Gustin) I'm not at that level yet but what that did, was to create a list of goals for the future based all around his aspirations and wants/needs.
So I did that exercise and you can find it here if you want to complete it yourself. Its a fairly long process and being the impatient human I am, I skipped loads of it but in the end, I came up with 10 goals which I want to achieve in 2022. I'm going to keep track of them in a Notion database which (I told you that you'd have to bear with me) I'm going to utilise and create after following August Bradley and I'll tag that in my next Newsletter for anyone who wants to keep me accountable and track along with me.
By having annual goals, rather than firm commitments that work in the postive sense, rather than making 'I will not' commitments can hopefully bring me to a place where I can remain on track and by the end of 2022, I should have them all ticked off or completed.
So, the goals.
👉 The Goals
1️⃣ I will hit all my company goals - revenue, profit & expansion plans and make sure all of my team hit all their goals - I won't go into too much detail on this but I'll be keeping this as my number one goal this year. It's my main focus and most of my energy will be pushed into this area. As I mentioned in my last newsletter, the focus for 2022 is on 'Am I Doing Enough?' and I want to make sure that when it comes to the company and my career, the answer will be a resounding yes.
2️⃣ I will learn to skateboard - I asked for it from the big man with the white beard and red suit and he delivered. I got my first ever Skateboard at the age of 41 and I want to nail it. Much hilarity and bruised knees will occur but I will capture it all and post it on Youtube.
3️⃣ I will cycle over 1000km in 2022 - in 2021, I nailed 530km on my road bike - albeit I didn't cycle at all until May and even then, it was a half hearted effort until I started to enjoy it in September and October. I'm on Strava so this is a fairly public goal but I want to make sure that I average 20km a week, every week. (Total so far this year - 0km)
4️⃣ I will read (and finish) 12 books in 2022 - for those of you that know me well, I do read but not to completion. I buy books like they are going out of fashion but I fail to actually read them all the way through. I read just three books all the way through last year and this year I want to complete one a month. I've actually started this goal already and I'm halfway through Twelve and a Half by Gary Vaynerchuk.
5️⃣ I will complete a free-standing backflip - this was one of my 'theoretical' goals for 2022 when I typed up a list in November but the lovely folk of LinkedIn decided to vote and this is the goal that got the most. So, guess I've got to go ahead and blimmin well do it now. Again, I'll be recording the trials and tribulations of attempting this and again, posting it on Youtube for all to see.
6️⃣ I will not get drunk more than 12 times this year - abstinence doesn't agree with me (see the opening paragraph about poor goal setting) so this year, I'm going for moderation. I'm aiming for long breaks between subjecting my body to large intakes of alcohol and towards the end of last year, I punished myself way too much with social events and parties. This year, given that my number one goal is to 'smash the shelly' out of my company goals, I'll be taking a wide berth to my social commitments but allowing myself at least one night out per month. (This one was actually stolen from Stew Fortiers goals list)
7️⃣ I will seadip at least twice per month, every month - normally, my sea dipping takes a brief hiatus from November through to May as the sea temperature just annihilates every fibre of your being but going along with the You are the Media 'sea-dippers' every Friday has meant that I've had companionship whilst doing it. I'm going to remain committed and whilst two a month doesn't seem a lot, you try doing it in January.
8️⃣ I will spend at least two nights per week, phone free - we set an example to our children and as mine are getting older, they obviously have phones and as parents we plead with them to spend time away from their phone and be with the family. I've come to realise that its a bit hypocritical of me - I'm on my phone as much as them so to set an example, I'm going to have two phone free nights a week - 7pm through to 7am.
9️⃣ I will grow a kickass beard or grow my hair long - So I started trying to do this (one of those quick snap January 1st decisions) and I got so frustrated with both areas of my head being hairy that I quickly trimmed my beard off. I've come to realise that I can't do both, so I'll have a go at growing my hair out and if that doesn't agree with me - I'll grow a smashing bit of facial hair.
🔟 Finally, I want to grow my social channels - I started to dabble with Youtubeat the back end of 2021 and I enjoyed the process of making videos but I also have a decent following on Instagram too - I've been stagnant at around 8000-9000 followers on Instagram for a while now and I have posted anything consistently for around 8 months so I want to get back into posting. Creating content and sharing that with the world is my happy place, I like sharing something that I've created and I want to get back into the habit of making things again.
There you have it, my 10 goals for 2022. No wishy-washy statements - they are all 'I will' (apart from the socials one but thats not life and death is it) statements and through this newsletter, I'm going to keep the updates coming - how I'm getting on with them and now they're public, you can keep me to account too.
Things I Think You'll Like -
🎥 Podcast - Diary of a CEO featuring the incredibly smart and plain speaking Jordan Peterson - this blew my mind, I've seen clips of Jordan speak on social media and have always resonated with his viewpoint but to hear him speak for over an hour on one of my favourite podcasts was an absolute belter.
🎮 Game - as a family, we got UNO over Christmas. I shouldn't really need to finish this little description but I'd never played it and now its all we play together - 6 people ranging from 6 years old through to 41 all playing UNO and being majorly competitive. We love it at home and I think you should play it too.
📺 TV Show - my wife and I binged The Tourist on BBC1 over this last week and its so good! Being my doppelganger, Jamie Dornan is brilliant in it and it's a great 6 episode show that you can watch over the course of 3 nights.
Things I'm Looking Forward To -
🎥 Course - Casey Neistats Filmmaking Course - I'm actually 'in' the course now and I'm in the process of filming my first video for the first week, it's straight in and Casey talks a lot about his process behind the ideas for videos and the methods he uses to capture a movie - I'll be releasing my first short film in a week or so, it would be great to share it all with you.
💭 Free Course - You Are The Media Learning - Events - 2021 was a great year for the learning side of You Are the Media and we return on 27th January with an hour long session on putting on events - in person or online - given the escapade we experienced with the final YATM event of 2021 (there was a power cut - check it out here.) this should be a session full of learning.