Josh Sherman
Without goals, we are aimless.
I thought I had come up with a great opening line for this post only to find out that it’s actually a quote from a book I have never read. Thanks Google ;)
My lack of originality aside, I do believe in goals. Goals are something that are a big part of my life since starting at SumoMe. Personally as well as professionally.
Regarding the business, we have a yearly goal. We just hit our goal this past week and it felt fucking amazing. It was something we had been working toward all year. It was hard and well fought but now that we’re over the hurdle, all I can think about is next year’s goal.
On the personal side of things, working with a group of young and hungry individuals has forced me to up my game. Last year I set out to start reading more because I felt somewhat inadequate because of my reading habits. This year I more than doubled the goal through focus as well as a bit of optimization.
What has been interesting about having a goal at work is that over the last 15+ years in technology, this if the first time I have had a clearly defined work goal. Something attainable. Not the vague “make more money” shit I’ve dealt with working at shitty startups.
BTW, we’re totally hiring!!~!
So with goals, I’ve become very fond of long reaching ones. If you’re like me, you’ve tried the one hundred push-ups only to quit half way through. Twice.
There’s nothing wrong with short goals, but I like them better when the small goals are contributing to something bigger. Life’s a marathon not a sprint. Great things take time. Insert your own cliche quote here
All right, so here’s what I am hoping to accomplish in the coming year. Everything on the list is something I know I can break down into smaller chunks to make things a bit more realistic on the daily or weekly basis.
Reading
From around 1997 to 2014 I had read roughly 34 books… total. In 2015 I had set out to read 10 books, and surpassed my goal by 7. This year, I wanted to read 25 books. With the inclusion of audiobooks during my drive to the office, I have been able to knock out 35 books thus far this year.
Goal: Consume (read or listen) to 50 books.
Just shy of a book a week. At my current clip and with an avoidance to any more Ayn Rand tomes this should be do-able.
Writing
Way back in 2013 I had made the decision to blog at least once a week. It had never become a yearly goal but at this point I have been blogging weekly for nearly 4 years. I plan to keep the weekly blogging streak alive but I wanted to add to writing mix in some way.
Goal: Write and publish a book.
Seems like the natural progression after so much blogging. In fact, I already have the first chapter written and a basic outline in place. Going to be a work of fiction, not just a rehash of my blog ;)
Fitness
Aside from some failed attempts at one hundred push-ups and a few short stints of working out regularly, I don’t focus much on my health or fitness. That said, I am nearly done with a 30 day plank challenge (post to come on that) and I love how I’ve been feeling and how my body’s been adjusting.
Inspired by a Tweet I saw talking about working towards 10,000 push-ups this year…
Goal: Do 10,000 Burpees.
Not in a row or anything! I already have it planned out by starting with 1 burpee a day for the first week and increasing slowly over the year.
Family
I’m not saying that I neglect my family, but I could stand to spend more time with them. Specifically my daughter on the weekends. To be able to accomplish this I will have to re-arrange my schedule a bit and optimize my workflows.
Goal: Disconnect on the weekends.
It’s something I’m bad about. I always have something I could be working on. It may be a bit nuclear, but by disconnecting on the weekends I’ll not only have more time for the fam but will also be forced to improved how I work during the week.
Who’s with me?
So that’s what I have planned for 2017. No resolutions, just big goals to work towards a little bit every week.
There are a few other things I would like to improve in the coming year but I didn’t want to innundate myself. I’ve tried that in the past and I get overwhelmed and accomplish nothing.
So what are your goals for 2017? Comment below, would love to hear about them!
