off to a great start

I’ve decided to run my yearly calendar from June 28th

For the purpose of organising life my birthday is way more significant to me than nye. Also I’ve noticed a pattern where

winter is where I reflect and brainstorm big plans
spring is where I seed and prep for execution
summer is where I harvest, hammer time
autumn is where I tie the loose ends and prep for the new cycle

I much rather start ’the year’ taking full advantage of the long days to execute well and use the long nights over the colder months instead to prep for the next harvest

To kick off the tradition, last year I gave myself a set of personal OKRs, six months in it’s now time to check on their progress. Ideally I would have done a quarterly update but life is more complicated than that. And that’s ok

reflection on the exercise

Yearly OKRs are a great way to create long term focus. This allowed me to tackle projects that are complex and require more than a few weekends to get done

Having a clear idea of what I wanted to work on this year made it easy for me to say no to anything else and keep focus. I ❤️ OKRs

To grade the individual KRs I’m using a very precise scale 👇🏼

🚨 not on track/ needs work
🏃🏼‍♂️ on it’s way / needs more focus
⛵ smooth sailing / on track
🌳 achievement unlocked / complete

#1 Organise our wealth

- Run monthly budgets 🚨
- Save 20% of our monthly net profits 🚨
- Invest 10% of our monthly balance 🚨

Reading it back this was very ambitious, and that’s what worked best

We really made good progress, not so much on the individual KRs but on overall wealth management philosophy and getting a grip on our finances

The next 6 months will require more effort, at least tracking how much we are falling behind from a metrics standpoint

#2 Launch a media property

- Create at least 26 pieces of content ⛵
- Publish on a by-monthly schedule 🏃🏼‍♂️
- Syndicate across at least 3 platforms on a weekly basis 🚨

It was a rough start. I practically didn’t do anything up until the end of 2018

However, knowing what was the objective allowed me to have the deliverables top of mind throughout

Even without shipping, I spent time thinking about the end goal. Once I had some headspace catching up to the metrics (although retroactively) was easy

#3 Improve my presence

- Aim for an 80/20 listening/speaking ratio 🏃🏼‍♂️
- Always start with the other person business ⛵
- Schedule at least 30% personal time 🌳

I’m so glad I wrote this one down. It really helped me keep focus on some easy to track deliverables that made a real difference in the way I interact with people

Being aware of what makes the needle move is priceless during day-to-day operations as it holds you accountable in-the-moment