The image above is of the bottom shelf of my bookcase in my office.
GMPLN’s are annual game plans that I’ve created for myself dating back until 2010. Within them contain my annual personal and professional goals, thoughts, resolutions, and strategies – along with weekly, monthly, and quarterly journal-type recaps along the way.
They’re super interesting to look back on and read.
I didn’t always hit all of my goals, and the game didn’t always go according to plan.
But as a whole they are a somewhat incredible (and certainly insightful) personal chronology of my thoughts and mindsets, my struggles and victories, and the evolution of my worldview of such things.
One of the most striking aspects to me is the shifting of what (and how) I wanted to accomplish in each year.
They started out as Resolutions – loosely defined characteristic traits.
Then they moved to SMART Goals – specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound.
And then they evolved into Habits.
This evolution was so pronounced that for the first time in a long time, I didn’t even keep an official GMPLN for 2020 or 2021. And perhaps ironically, these are two of my most “successful” (in my personalized definition of the term) years I’ve experienced both professionally and personally.
….
One thing I’ve been redirecting in my life – largely due to James Clear’s Atomic Habits – is a focus away from outcome-oriented goals or results largely outside my control, and instead focus on the input-oriented habits largely within my control.
And for 2022, I’m actually taking this a step further, inspired by my good friend and fellow advisor Ashby Daniels. I’m going to write down my goals, but I’m going to send them away to be returned to me at the end of the year and try my best to forget what they specifically were (which as someone with a pretty poor memory, shouldn’t be too hard to do).
This is a long journey from the not-so-distant past when I literally had my goals laminated in my shower to be reviewed every morning.
Don’t get me wrong – I still have goals.
I have a few fitness goals, a reading goal, a writing goal, a giving goal, a total revenue goal, and various family goals.
But what I’m going to focus most of my daily effort on are the habits that can support these goals. I’m going to measure them every.single.day. (Made super easy with the Way of Life app).
….
As I reflected back on what 2021 looked like for me, some of the highlights weren’t on my goal list. They weren’t even on my radar.
Launching an online course with my industry hero.
Writing about the one-page-plan at Nerds Eye View (and then being included at the top of the top 20 articles of the year!).
Speaking at Michael Kitces’ Advisor Value Summit.
A publisher reaching out about the concept of writing a book.
Exploring the concept of being part of a key-note session at a large industry event.
None of these were goals. I didn’t write them down anywhere, much less laminate and hang in my shower.
Maybe this is why super-high achievers don’t set goals, and others define goals as “socially acceptable limiting beliefs.”
But I believe that the habits I developed led to a lot of these.
The habit of doing work in public.
The habit of networking and getting to know people and introducing others who I think would benefit from knowing each other.
A habit of being uncomfortably transparent and sharing what I’ve learned to work for me (and not work for me) with others.
And I believe those habits lead to results we don’t ever dream up. They lead to opportunities we never saw available, or challenges we never saw coming.
While these goals above were NOT on my radar, there were also some pretty awesome accomplishments in 2021 that I was intentionally working towards.
Increased and high quality time with my family.
Better health and fitness.
Reading goals.
Various business goals.
Doing better at living in Today vs Tomorrowland.
And every single one of those “on-the-radar” goals were fulfilled not by magical thinking, but through consistent habits.
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So all of that said – my evolution on what “things” to focus on for the New Year has been interesting.
From resolutions to goals. From goals to habits.
But I think, somehow, they’re all related – which is a topic for a whole other time. But briefly, I believe getting clear with our Values helps shape our Goals. Knowing those Goals helps us determine our Habits. Doing the Habits both accomplishes our Goals while simultaneously fulfilling our Values.
A current work-in-progress image capturing all this is below.
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If you’re curious – and at the very real risk of being “that guy” – these are the habits I’ll be measuring every day for 2022, each of which is either directly or indirectly linked to a larger goal or objective (but also not limited to its outcome).
I’ve broken them up into a “6F” framework I use each year, which happens to be super convenient since my firm starts with the letter F. Again, there are more material “goals” associated with most of these – but I won’t be reviewing it at all during the year.
Faith:
Daily prime office (>30 minutes – no screens for first 60 mins)
Read for >30 minutes (non-fiction in morning, fiction at night)
Family:
High quality, present time with kids
Help with household chores
Fitness:
Move for >30 minutes
>90% or better sleep performance (via Whoop app)
Drink >90 oz of water
Intermittent fast
Finances:
Update YNAB daily (this is a gimme – at this point I can’t NOT do this)
Friends:
Encourage someone
Fident:
Write for >30 minutes
….
I share these not to boast or virtue signal – but perhaps serve as encouragement if you’re thinking of your own New Year Resolutions or Goals or Habits.
Also important to note: I’m not aiming for perfection – I’m aiming for progression.
I believe these Habits will work backwards to the accomplishment of Goals (some that are set, some that aren’t on my radar). And I believe those Goals, determined or undetermined, will lead to the Resolution or Values of who I want to be.
And I think the same can be true in your life as well.