Annual Review Part 2: Looking to 2018

In spite of all the craziness, 2017 was a great year. Admittedly, the fact that I’m writing this post on January 14th says something. Given all the political, life and business craziness, I feel a bit like I’m running behind (in all the things).

But being intentional when that disfunction sets in is crucial, hence the attempt a consistent annual review. Goals for 2018 outlined below, action items for each in italics.

Life:

  • Re-do the Micro Resolutions – A series of one month experiments. (No TV, No meat, etc…) Starting February 1st. Blog post forthcoming.
  • Play hooky  – I haven’t been the best about sneaking out of work, grabbing Lida from daycare and rolling to the woods.  2x per month.
  • Date night – Since parenthood arrived, my wife and I haven’t done a great job setting aside time for ourselves. 2x per month.
  • More volunteering – I’ve been asked to chair the board of IM ABLE, and I’ve still got a Big Brothers Big Sisters little brother (if 17 and 6’2″ is little) that I connect with as often as possible. . 10 hours a month. 
  • Disconnect  – From the interwebs. Less is more. No internet on Sunday’s until dusk.
  • More live music – This is is hard given where we live these days, plus you know a child. But its still important. 6 shows. 

Travel:

  • Spend 20 days in the park – National Parks, State Parks, Forests, etc. I figure I’d better see them before we turn them all into oil fields.  (I’ll count a day as more than ½ of the day itself.) 10 days planned by EOM.
  • Try staying put for a month – No travel outside our local area (I don’t think I have done this, ever.). March?
  • 2 weeks at the lake – We’ve got that kickass lake house. its time to use it. Dates decided on by 2/15.

Fitness:

  • Weave in variety – I’m pretty set in my fitness routine. (MTB, Crossfit, <5 mile runs. All on repeat). Try 5 new disciplines. 
  • 3 races – At least one 24 hour + adventure race. Two signed up for by 2/15
  • Fix my knee – I’ve been dealing with fairly chronic patellar tendonitis for the last year or so. It sucks. Doing what I have been doing is not working.  Create a calendar by 1/20

Business:

  • Productize our services – Basically, this means making everything we do more standardized from start to finish. Published to LG site by 2/15.
  • Create a real product – Likely a software tool of some kind that creates more potential for scalable revenue. Launch by 8/1
  • Macro-manage – Focus my input for the LooseGrip team on the big stuff. Rather than the details. Ongoing.
  • Write more – I think by writing. (meta right?) More is better. Publish 2x per month. Create book proposal by 9/15.

About my annual review: For the last 7 or so years, I’ve tried to look back at the year before and see how it stacks up, while also setting goals for the year to come. I find the exercise invaluable as a mechanism to be inspired to do more cool stuff. As categories,  Life, Fitness, Business & Travel work best for me, but if you’d like to do your own I recommend checking out my buddy Chris’ Template to get started.

 

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