Planning for 2022.
I’m pretty good at following through on the goals I set for myself.
Mostly because I’ve thought about it enough to be fairly certain I’ll achieve it by the time I set one.
This is good and bad. Good because I can build momentum as accomplishments build on each other. And bad because it probably means I’m not pushing myself if I’m always achieving what I set out to do. It means I’m playing it safe and not setting ambitious enough goals that challenge me to keep improving.
This is why I’m doing things a bit differently this year.
I usually keep my goals to myself as they’re for me, and I don’t really care what anyone else thinks. I’m not really motivated by a desire to live up to anyone else’s expectations. Rather, I’m only looking to impress myself.
This year I’m stating my goals publicly.
Having more visibility on what I’m planning to do will help me make sure I’m only working on things that matter. When it’s just me, I tend to focus on busy work or things I know I can complete instead of what’s important. And, when I’m the only one who knows what my goals are, I’m free to bend the rules and let things take longer than they should.
I don’t want to be like that anymore.
By doing this, my theory is that I’ll be more conscious of how I’m spending my time. Not that I’m looking for outside accountability, but more that I don’t want to let myself down by not following through on what I said I’d do. Now, with whatever I’m doing, I’ll always have to ask myself, is this helping me achieve my goals, or am I distracting myself from them?
I didn’t set goals like this last year and if you read my article, Looking back on 2021, you can see how I missed the mark on a few things I was working toward.
And like that article, this one is for me too. I don’t expect you to read this, but if you’re interested, let’s get started.
Format.
As I’m going to do this every year, I’ll use the same category framework I followed in last year’s review. Doing it this way helps me better track and understand how I’m spending my time across the five categories: Health, Relationships, Work, Wealth, and Experiences.
Additionally, I will define a Theme for the year as I think it will help set the tone for how I approach everything I want to accomplish.
Themes.
My two themes this year are Intensity and Inevitability.
Intensity.
I’ve been thinking about the idea of intensity after hearing Sam Parr and Shaan Puri talk about it on their podcast. They talked about how upping your level of intensity when you work out can remove the need to be more disciplined in other areas. Specifically, you could increase your intensity while working out and achieve even better results instead of restricting your diet.
They also applied the same idea to business as they talked about how it’s so much easier to do more with something you already have going on than trying to start something completely new.
For me, increasing intensity goes hand in hand with how I want to be more aware of what I’m working on and how I’m spending my time. Instead of making incremental progress on many things, I want to have a few projects I make significant progress on. It’s also a way to make sure I’m fully present with whatever I’m doing rather than be doing one thing but have my mind somewhere else.
Inevitability.
Another thing I’m thinking about as I head into next year is how to make achieving my goals inevitable.
One of the challenges with setting goals, especially when thinking about a whole year or more, is they tend to be quite large. This doesn’t make them bad. It just means they’re harder to approach.
When I have big goals like this, I’ll often get caught up trying to perfect the process or spend too much time thinking about how great the outcome will be. Either way, when I do this, I’m not doing any of the actual work it’d take to achieve those goals. I fall into this trap because it’s easier to focus on things I can control instead of what I can’t.
So, when it comes to making outcomes inevitable, I think it’s about figuring out how to balance those two things. First, knowing where I’m headed, and second, having the proper process to keep me on track but not distract me.
To do that, I need to constantly be questioning whether or not the work I’m doing is helping me move forward or if it’s just keeping me busy.
Again, having this mindset should help me focus on a few important things rather than many.
Goals.
Since this is the first time I set goals this way, I’m approaching next year as a foundational year.
It’s foundational in that what I do this year will set me up for the year after. And, I expect next year will set up the following year, and each year after that. The point is, instead of having goals that are a ways off, constraining them to one year will introduce a sense of urgency to achieve them.
I’ve also made each goal quantifiable so I can clearly track my progress. But, as you’ll see, some are finite while others are more open-ended. This is important to make sure I don’t get overwhelmed and burned out from trying to do too much. To help with that, I tried to be realistic and set goals that support and build on one another. This way, I’m not having to switch between things all of the time.
That said, there’s still probably too much here, but I’d rather that than too little.
Health.
My health goals are not things I’ll be able to do quickly. This is why I only have two of them. They both will take planning and discipline to see through, and I think doing them will benefit me in other areas in ways I don’t realize now.
Add 15 pounds of muscle; Currently 125 lean muscle mass
Full sit down Pigeon Stretch on both sides
Relationships.
My relationship goals all center around time. I want to be more intentional about the time I spend with the people I care about. This means it’s not just more time, rather, it’s that the time we spend together is meaningful.
Girlfriend.
Review our individual goals together and set goals for us as a couple
12 Monthly check-ins to review our progress and see how we can support each other
1 date night per month minimum
Family.
Take my dad out 4 times
Take my mom out 4 times
Friends.
Explore two local communities or groups
Work.
Last year, I realized I look up to the people I do because they create and share content all of the time. In the last few years, I’ve experimented with writing, making videos, and being more prolific on social media but never did it long enough to gain any traction. This year, my work goals focus on implementing all of those skills I’ve been building up so I can be more like the people I admire.
wesjones.co
Publish 10 Articles
Create 3 Paid Information Products from Articles
Create 8 Vlogs (Can include videos for Liip and Superperfect)
Acquire 4 consulting clients from DTC Articles
Liip.
Open 20 retail accounts
Create 3 brand storytelling pieces for the website
Interviewed by 2 publications
Write 6 Articles for the Liip Blog
Start Liip Team with 5 influencers
Create Affiliate program
Superperfect.
Launch website
Create 1 About Video
Publish 10 Articles
Create 2 Paid Information Products
Post on Instagram 150 times
Employer.
Promoted to Sr. Content Strategist
Wealth.
Last year I set the goal to reach $100 a day in passive income but didn’t get close to it. It was one of those things that sounded easy enough, but without an actionable plan, I couldn’t make it happen. Now, I think I can make this one inevitable with the work goals above.
Achieve $100/day Passive Income between WJCO and Superperfect by the end of 2022
Simplify my Investing strategy to a “Set & Forget ETF strategy” to focus on wealth creation
Experiences.
I often travel for reasons other than my own. Honestly, I’ve never taken a trip for myself. It’s always with or for someone else. I don’t know if it’s because I don’t feel like I deserve it or what, but it’s something I want to try.
Take one personal trip for more than four days
Getting started.
When I step back and look at my goals for next year, I simultaneously think it’s a lot and also not very much.
I know I have the foundational skills to do all of these things. Now it’s simply a matter of following through. This doesn’t mean it won’t be hard, though. I expect I’ll have to make a lot of tradeoffs throughout the year if I want to achieve all of this.
So, instead of trying to take on everything at once, I’m going to map my goals out against the full year. This way, things can build on one another and create momentum to carry everything forward. To stay on track, I’ll be conducting quarterly and monthly reviews along with weekly and daily reflections.
As I said before, the point for next year isn’t to do many things. Instead, it’s to do a few things really well.
I’m excited to get started.
Also, I don’t believe in resolutions and waiting for a new year to set goals. It’s just the easiest way to time block things consistently.
If you’re interested in following my progress, you can find me @wesjonesco on Twitter and Instagram.
