It’s time to be publicly accountable!
In November of last year I posted a set of goals for 2013 on this here tablet with the hope that it’d keep me accountable for accomplishing all that I wanted to.
Well it’s halfway through the year and I figured I’d let the team know how I was holding up. But first…
Did posting my goals publicly actually help with progress?
Absolutely. It comes down to understanding the human condition: there’s a theory that we all strive to be congruent and consistent with whatever we say we’re going to do because it signals integrity, a quality which we strive for.
I found this to be absolutely true. I was motivated by my desire to remain consistent with what I said I was going to do.
Ok, on with the show:
Things I completed:
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Paid off student loans in full (thanks SinglePlatform)
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Create and market a digital product (created 2 with sales nearing almost 1000, plus have a brand new one on How to Break Into Biz Dev coming soon)
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Take 2 weekend trips with friends (Did 5. Oops)
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Join a team with friends (NYC Dodgeball – we joined but I spent more time at the bar than on the court)
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Create an LLC for side business (Britton Holdings baby! In retrospect, I should have picked a cooler name)
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Get the twitter handle britton (Thanks team Cojourneo!)
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Create a monthly BD newsletter (600+ pretty people subscribe to BDNewsletter.com)
- Create a new skillshare class (Did one on pitching as a followup to “Going in Cold”)
Goals I’m on track for:
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Steady side income of 2K a month with less than 8 hours worth of work (Did $3500 last month with 4 hours worth of work. 4 hour number is totally coincidental I promise)
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Volunteer atleast once a month (doing 2x a month at BRC. Serving breakfast to the homeless at 6am!)
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Reach 1000k blog subcribers (778 w/ 20% month over month growth)
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Guest blog for 6 reputable blogs (4 down, but haven’t really hit a tier one blog. If you know an editor of a legit blog and like my writing, holla at your boy)
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Interview someone cool once a month (8 down)
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Spend 1 hour each week planning out my goals (This has been my biggest breakthrough this year. Goal achievement is all about prioritization)
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Travel to 2 new countries (China, Brazil – coming soon)
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Create an event people love (New York Personal Development Meetup)
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Read some biographies (Churchill, Teddy Roosevelt)
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Get better at using VAs (loving Zirtual and my homie Josiah)
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Grow BDNewsletter to 1k subscribers (604 w/ 15% steady month over month growth)
- Go to 3 concerts this year (2 down)
Not sure
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Gain 1-2 professional mentors (have a few folks in mind, but still working on em)
- For the most part, give up drinking (Damn I love the taste of beer)
Off track
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Grow HackingNYC to 500 members (342, but with sub 10% growth rate)
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Set two times a week for non-essential meetings and stick to this (Been taking more non-essential meetings than usual. Guess I’m a softy.)
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Spend one weekend every two months completely unplugged (Have only done this once and not cheated)
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Start an annual party with friends to benefit a charity (Totally botched this, but going to be tough to pull off at this point)
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Get a six pack. (Again, I love beer.)
- Have a regular meditation practice. (Did this for 2 months and it actually worked! I need to pick this up again)
- Host a dinner party every 2 months with friends
No traction
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Become a contributing writer for a cool, popular publication
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Speak at a local ted event
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Read a book on the pyschology of confidence
- Give a talk to 200 people
- Create something to sell on Appsumo
Shelved
- Book – I have a great idea for one and am passionate about the topic, but frankly I’m 25 and need a bit more experience to really crush this. I’m going self publish a small ebook on the topic to gauge interest…lean startup style.
So there it is. This is my 2013 goals report card after the first semester outside of my workplace (goals are private there). If you can help with anything, I’d be super grateful. If you can’t, we can still be buds.
If there you’re interested in how I make progress on my goals on a daily basis, I told my email subscribers in an article that outlines my goal achievement system. Subscribe below to get the goodies I can’t share publicly : )
P.S. Awesome to see other friends adopt this practice