Losing My Virginity by Richard Branson is a great look into his brain and how he looks at business. And maybe less so a look inside the brain, but into his heart.
It’s been a long time ago since I read the book, so if I ever read it again I will make a review.
See other reviews at Goodreads.
“You have to keep upping the ante.” – Anders Ericsson
Lessons learnt: Deliberate practice is king. Do it.
http://www.summary.com/book-reviews/_/Peak-Secrets-from-the-New-Science-of-Expertise/
What do you wan
The Book:
“By sowing frugality we reap liberty, a golden harvest.” – Agesilaus
Lessons learnt: Align your goals, let them build on each other. Money should work for you instead of the other way around. There are better ways to live than the 9-5 lifestyle.
What is money to you? Is it something you always spend when you have it? Or is it something you save up for a rainy day? In the Early Retirement Extreme, Jacob Lund Fisker proposes another way of thinking about money: as your employee. Instead of working for money, what if it could work for you! Of course, that’s not only what it’s about, the book describes everything from frugal living to aligning your goals. It’s the perfect book for the renaissance man (or if you don’t know what that is, it’s also perfect for you!)
In the first few chapters, Fisker describes the ‘lock-in’, or the current way of how we look at finances. ‘Normal’ people pursue a degree, a career, a big house with a white picket fence around it. Most don’t save for the future and an emergency fund is almost always small or non-existent (read: people on average have more debt than savings, in America). Is there a way out of this cycle?
Before we get to that, let’s consider four types of men. The salary, working, business-, and renaissance men. They are of course only prototypes, so imagine that you can also be anywhere in between these four:
The renaissance man is a person who thinks about his or her life and takes a conscious decision on what is important. The renaissance man thinks about goals as building blocks that should complement each other. And he or she breaks apart the expenses into needs, wants and savings.
The renaissance lifestyle considers living frugally as one of the main philosophical pillars. It ponders whether we should own that brand new car (no) and if we can’t borrow the drill from the neighbours instead of buying one (yes). One of the key takeaways I found most interesting is that you should think about the lifetime spending you will have on things. Your TV subscription ‘only’ costs you 10 euros per month, but in 20 years that is easily 2400 euros (or much more if you incorporate returns). Throughout the book you will be introduced to many more frugal principles, relating to everything from health to transportation.
“Creation is a better means of self-expression than possession; it is through creating, not possessing, that life is revealed.” – Vida Scudder
In the end, the book is much more philosophy and contains little actual financial advice. There is a good reason for this, financial advice is always personal and differs greatly per situation, philosophy can be good for more than 3000 years. And so when you finish The Early Retirement Extreme you will be educated on living the renaissance life. And if everything works out you will become financially independent in only a few years.
Get it on Amazon:
The Early Retirement Extreme – Jacob Lund Fisker – ASIN: B0046LU7H0
“Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence.” – Colin Powell
Lessons learnt: 10.000 hours of dedicated work is more important for success than luck. Giving meaning to your work will give you drive. Your environment has more impact on your success than you know.
As always Malcolm Gladwell keeps on amazing me. In Outliers: The Story of Success he digs into the hidden forces of not social events or our thinking, but what makes us successful. The book is divided into two parts, 1) opportunity and 2) legacy. In the first part, he tackles the notion that success comes from luck or inherent ‘talent’. He argues – very successfully – that hard work and dedication for something you stand behind are much more important than talent. In the second part, he argues that we are not alone in creating our success, we are very much dependent on our circumstances and the people around us. In an ever entertaining way – with the use of plenty of examples and stories – Gladwell has written another classic.
Many people like to believe that success comes from ‘talent’, that you are just lucky to have it. If you find out that you do not have ‘talent’ then you will never make it, others will always be better. Some may say that this is a fixed mindset (versus a growth mindset), you cannot fight the status quo. People love to bring up the young prodigy Mozart. He was composing music before most kids were even writing full sentences. Gladwell investigates this story and comes to three conclusions. The first is that Mozart was strongly pushed by his family, the second that his early work is actually not that good (go listen to it!), and third that at about 10,000 hours of deliberate practice his work came to be as brilliant as we all remember it to be.
You may argue that this is a one-time fluke and that there are many other people that have gained great success without much practice. For this, I challenge you to think of someone who has climbed the Mount Everest without training, a great voice without years of practice (pop-stars with auto-tuning do not count!), or a professor who only reads one book a year. Gladwell argues that you need about 10.000 hours of dedicated work to become an expert in your field. That does not mean you will be the best, that is dependent on how dedicated others are too. What he does strongly state is that it has little to do with intelligence (sorry SAT scores) or luck. If you are really dedicated to your work, you will put in the hours and become an expert.
But it is not all about you. Your environment has a very large – a much larger than we normally think of – impact. An investigation into the success of Bill Gates leads Gladwell to this conclusion. Bill Gates was born to a (moderately) wealthy family in America (2 points for environment). When he went to school, his school was one of the first to have computers (the really slow kind), he then got interested in them and wound up being one of the first people to work on computers at a university (2 more points for environment). It was the right place at the right time that made him start Microsoft. Also, the people around you can have a great impact. Think for instance about Silicon Valley, tech entrepreneurs do not (only) go there for the great weather, they know that there are likeminded people and opportunities to get to those 10.000 hours as quickly and effectively as possible.
“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good.” -Malcolm Gladwell
Of course, success requires hard work, at the same time it is your environment that can greatly help you. I remember the personal story of Dan Ariely (author of Predictably Irrational and The Upside of Irrationality), where he speaks about the accident in which 3/4th of his body was burnt. He has no chance anymore to compete in sports and gets interested in the irrationality relating to small things like (not) taking medicine or how his nurses removed his bandages each time. He is now one of the leading thinkers in behavioural economics and irrationality. Sometimes you do not know what the future will bring, and where you may be motivated to do your work. All that is certain is that the right environment and your 10.000 hours are the (very difficult, but achievable) way of getting it.
The Book:
Outlier: The Story of Success – Malcolm Gladwell – ISBN-10: 9780316017930 – ISBN-13: 978-0316017930
More on Outliers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=596wT4mRq8w – Audio of Outliers on Youtube
http://gladwell.com/outliers/ – Outliers on the website of Gladwell
http://cs.ecust.edu.cn/snwei/studypc/jsjdl/data/OutliersTheStoryOfSuccess.pdf – .pdf of Outliers
Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman takes you on a journey through the extensive research that Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky have done. Luckily it is not a long, and boring read, that summarises the findings in academic jargon. The opposite is true, it gives a lively overview of their findings, and uses vivid real-life examples.
The main concept of Kahneman’s theory is a division between System 1 and System 2 thinking. System 1 is fast, intuitive, and emotional. System 2 is slow, deliberate, and more logical. When you try and solve the equation 2+2 you will almost immediately shout out the answer. But when you compute 12×37, a deliberate strategy, in which you apply some rules of math, will take place.
System 1 uses heuristics, shortcuts that make understanding the world less tiresome. Although most of the time this poses no problem, Kahneman has come up with an impressive list of worrisome cases when it does. Choice architecture, a topic also discussed by Dan Ariely, is only one of them.
Between The Netherlands and Belgium, there are vast differences in how many people are organ donors (think 25% and 90%). And now consider that The Netherlands has had a very large campaign to promote organ donor and has stuck at 25%. And Belgium has done no such thing. The key here is the form, in The Netherlands, it is an opt-in form, and in Belgium an opt-out form. That means that the default option in Belgium is to be an organ donor unless you actively say you do not want to be one. Kahneman shows that by such a small change, a vast difference between choices is possible.
Also see Predictably Irrational.
In a reflection on his lifetime of research, mostly with Tversky, Kahneman has done a great job of giving insight into the thinking of men. He has exposed many of the underlying principles that govern some of our largest flaws. He states that the System 2 thinking is hard and that our brain loves to be lazy. The power of habits becomes clear in that System 2 actions will become System 1 actions.
With a Nobel Prize in his pocket, Kahneman has done an astounding job of making the field of Social Science open to the public. The only critique on the book may be the length, after 418 pages of new information, your System 2 will be saturated.
The Book:
Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman – ISBN-10: 0374533555 | ISBN-13: 978-0374533557
More on Thinking, Fast and Slow:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thinking,_Fast_and_Slow – The Wikipedia of Thinking, Fast and Slow
https://www.cia.gov/library/center-for-the-study-of-intelligence/csi-publications/csi-studies/studies/vol.-56-no.-2/pdfs/Babetski-Thinking%20Fast%20and%20Slow.pdf – The CIA on Thinking, Fast and Slow
http://www.amazon.com/Blink-The-Power-Thinking-Without/dp/0316010669 – Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
http://www.amazon.com/Predictably-Irrational-Revised-Expanded-Edition/dp/0061353248 – Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
http://www.amazon.com/Nudge-Improving-Decisions-Health-Happiness/dp/014311526X – Nudge by Richard H. Thaler
http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Habit-What-Business/dp/1400069289 – The Power of Habits by Charles Duhigg
http://www.amazon.com/Quiet-Power-Introverts-World-Talking/dp/0307352153 – Quiet: The Power of Introverts by Susan Cain
Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel Pink turns motivation upside down. Pink dissects motivation, throws out the old stick-and-carrot and replaces it with autonomy, mastery, and purpose. More illuminating than Drive would be quite the performance. It is based on rigorous science, yet is able to convey one clear message. Motivation needs to be rethought; we are working with an outdated system and need to reconsider how we motivate people.
The old system is a mismatch between what science knows and what business does. The latter depends on stick-and-carrot motivation. They offer large rewards for (individual) performances, but at the same time scare people with threats of layoffs. This system is based on extrinsic motivation and belongs in the 20th century. Yes, it does work there, the stick-and-carrot approach works for left-brain tasks. People work faster and faster when they are rewarded more and more for mechanical tasks. The question now is; how many jobs fit this description?
Almost all jobs in the current workforce ask for (rudimentary) cognitive skills. In the 21st century work consists of right-brain tasks. Instead of a narrow focus (stick-and-carrot), the jobs of today require creativity, problem-solving skills and novel approaches. The famous candlelight problem beautifully showcases this effect. When participants are presented with the classical problem they perform better when given no reward than when given a reward. And between a low and large reward there is a negative relationship; the larger the reward, the longer participants took to solve the problem. Only in the special (20th century) situation where the candles and pins were taken out of the box (making the solution obvious) did rewards have a positive impact.
Motivation in the 21st century should consist of three integrated parts. The first is autonomy; being free to choose what to do. The second is mastery; becoming better at something. The third is purpose; doing something that matters. Drive perfectly explains the three concepts and in the end, gives advice on how to activate the three areas to their full potential. Daniel Pink has written five books to date, he was the speechwriter for Al Gore and definitively knows his way with words. He has made Drive into a clear and concise book that achieves great explanatory power.
More on Drive:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc – Drive animated
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html – TED Talk by Daniel Pink
http://www.danpink.com/ – More on Daniel Pink
I’m writing this post for my Couchsurfing host in Copenhagen. He has been very generous in inviting me to his ‘hyggelig’ home, and with this post, I hope to be able to repay him partially. At the same time, this is a topic I’ve been wanted to explore for a long time now. It will explore the topic of dualities, of holding two thoughts in your head at the same time. I hope this blog helps and inspires.
When I go on a challenging run I put on my shoes, warm clothes and get myself amped with some upbeat music. Without too many preparations I go out and start my run. Every run starts the same, easy at first, more difficult after the first hour has passed. “What did I get myself into“, I sometimes ask myself. Or just as likely, I say “Why am I doing this in the first place?“. I feel secure about my ability to start running, but I’m also insecure about my ability to continue running 3 hours into a marathon.
The same goes for business. I know how to install a WordPress website, I even know how to do it with ServerPilot and Digital Ocean Droplets (#nerd). But I don’t know how to do the perfect optimising for a website, or how to get the e-commerce funnel to start working better. I feel insecure about my ability to decide on what task is most important. And I feel insecure about what the future holds.
But I don’t stop. If I stopped I wouldn’t have run more than 1km in my life. Or if I stopped I wouldn’t have done the Iron Viking run. Whenever I feel insecure, I remind myself of two things. First, that I’ve come a long way already. Second, there is a next step to make. I don’t have all the answers, but inaction will not get me any further. And it’s ok to take a step back sometimes, my running ability sometimes deteriorates, but I always get back on the road.
I can feel both confident and insecure at the same time.
“Hello, this is energy/internet/utility company 666 calling you with an amazing offer…” Who hasn’t had a call like that? It’s irritating, an intrusion on your time, and the chances of you buying something is indistinguishable from 0. At the same time, we do buy things, and we don’t always go for the cheapest option.
The second duality is selling and being human. Via email, phone and in-person, you are always selling. That is the idea I want to ‘sell’ you. If someone asks you what your business is, you tell your story, that isn’t selling, right? Well it is, your story is probably even one of the best ways of selling you or your company. And that friend in the office you told about your collection of TinTin figurines, if he comes back with one from his travels, didn’t you sell him your idea?
I believe that in every interaction you are ‘selling’ something. It might be an idea, it might be a request or it might be a ‘real’ sale you are pitching. There are small differences between incoming and outgoing sales, but they might be smaller than you think. If someone calls you to ask about your products, how is it different from you calling them? In both cases, you are presenting your offering. In both cases, the other party might be interested, or not.
What I think makes outbound selling difficult is that much of it is based on sending. You are projecting your worldview onto someone else. And there is a high likelihood that the other doesn’t share your worldview. When someone calls or emails you, the chances of a shared worldview are much higher. Therefore I think that in every interaction you have to be human, you have to be a person, talking to another person. Why not tell something about yourself, ask the other about their lives, before getting into the sales mode.
I think you’re always a sales human.
If you know me, even remotely, you might say that I’m not the most patient person in the world. Some may even call me impatient. Because, why wait? Don’t we want to have it all, right now? Instant gratification is what our brains are built for, right? We get a dopamine shot for every time we open Facebook, check email, or scroll through Instagram once more. Blip.
Patience at the same time is what makes the world spin. If Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to end segregation in a day, he would be in despair and without energy after 24 hours. If you want to build a sustainable business, you can’t be done in one day. If you want to run a marathon, you have to train for months.
Our brains have a disposition for the now, the chemicals are happy when we ‘get’ something. At the same time, we are the only species that are any good at planning. We can save for retirement, we limit the cans of Ben&Jerry to once a week, and we sometimes don’t check social media for hours.
I believe that planning is one of our greatest skills and that through habits we can turn planning into actions in the now that have a positive outcome for the long-term. Habits are a way of using the now to take actions that help the ‘future’ you. We are attuned to the now, but that ‘now’ can help us build a great future.
If you could be 100% certain, a decision should be very easy to make. Or should you trust your gut feeling, what could all that data even tell you? (insert favourite populist here). Of course, in most situations you have some data, but you don’t know everything for sure. You might have data about a bump in sales from last year when you promoted that discount code, but will it be the same this year? And what about external forces, like rain that will impact your protest or the presence of a crowd on your performance?
Data and gut feelings go hand in hand. In ‘Blink‘, Malcolm Gladwell makes the argument in favour of trusting our gut feelings. The example he uses is of a Greek statue that has passed all the authenticity tests, but it didn’t feel right to one of the board members of the museum. After the museum has bought the statue, it turns out it was a fake. This is a clear case for gut feeling, right?
Gut feeling is based on ‘adaptive unconscious’, which I loosely translate as the culmination of your experiences that send a signal to your brain which is too fast to be reasoned with. Or in other words, it’s based on data, it is years of experience, maybe even solid statistics, but something that gets interpreted without you being conscious of it.
Therefore I feel that your decisions should always be based on a healthy dose of gut feeling that is based on data.
Here is some more from ‘Simply Brilliant‘ by Wiliam C. Taylor. Double Vision, the capacity to act with confidence in terms of what’s always been done, even as they are doubting, questioning, and probing their assumptions. The data sometimes doesn’t exist. Yet without such leaps, companies and people remain stuck in the status quo.
Our great minds, that reside in all of us, have the ability to hold two thoughts at the same time. I believe that we should do that in many cases. And that in many of those cases, the duality between the thoughts is actually a synergy. Because together, they help you make better decisions for a better life.
Just like last year, I’m taking a slightly different approach to setting my goals.
This year I will be looking at them as a series of experiments. Each experiment has a:
Without further ado, here are my (first batch of) goals experiments for 2017!
Become financially literate – April 1st
Why: To free myself from the pressure of the ‘unknown’ and map what actions I need to take towards financial freedom
Success: Knowing exactly where I’m spending money, what steps I can take to improve both expenses and income
Hire a part-time Personal Assistant – February to March
Someone will help me for 5-10 hours per week with tasks that are not specific to me. For example organising a few articles around a topic, arranging meetings, summarising information.
Why: To give myself more time to focus on important things
Success: When, after the 2-month experiment, the freed up time/outsourced tasks lead to a positive (financial) outcome
Run the Rotterdam marathon in under 4 hours (10th of April) and finish a half Triathlon (Q3 2016)
And run the half marathon in Iceland with my brother (and mother who will do the 10km).
Why: To challenge myself both physically and mentally.
Success: When physically in the best state (fittest) that I’ve ever been and healthy throughout the year (and finishing the events)
Organise my knowledge in a private search-friendly environment – April 1st
Writing allowed mankind to keep some of its knowledge outside of our heads. Over the centuries we’ve built on this. There are ways for us to improve the knowledge we can store, but as far as I know, they rely mostly on ‘tricks’, that have little long-term real-life benefits. Storing on the other hand, and making retrieval (recall) very easy, should be beneficial. Especially if I want to further study things I’ve already gathered information about.
Why: Free space in my own brain but still have it readily available
Success: I use the knowledge centre on a daily basis
Read 50 books – 31 December
Why: Never stop learning.
Reading (or sometimes audiobooks) allow me to gather information in the most efficient way (Podcasts are a close second). I love just sitting down and taking something in (and annotating, highlighting). Topics will be diverse, and the number of books is there to make it a daily thing.
Success: Inspired by multiple books (10+) to take new/different actions than before
Talk to 50 entrepreneurs – July 1st
I love meeting new people, but I don’t always go out there to meet many fellow entrepreneurs (or at least not as much as I really want). So, therefore, I will make a direct effort to meet two new entrepreneurs each week. Just to sit down for coffee, interview them, or have a chat over drinks.
Why: Build meaningful connections that will benefit both parties
Success: Having met (20+) interesting people who also help further my endeavours as an entrepreneur
Share the stories of 50 entrepreneurs – July 1st
On a platform (making it now) I will share stories from entrepreneurs. Together with a friend I will design the platform and gather the first stories. How the stories are shared, who can share the stories, etc, are things we still have to figure out.
Why: Inspire others to become an entrepreneur
Success: Stories are shared organically and people give feedback that they have taken action because of the stories shared.
Travel to another city for a week-long workation ever month – July 1st
I travel to another city every month to work there for a week. I will find a workplace and at least 2 people I can work together with (and/or interview for the stories). In the afternoon/evening I will see cultural sights and not forget to enjoy the travels.
Why: See more of the world whilst working
Success: Productive weeks in which I gain both business and cultural knowledge
Make at least 26 qualitative blogs for personal website – December 31st
Why: Deeply explore topics that help me live a productive and effective life
Success: Every blog helps at least 2 people make a better decision
Build a strong base for Effective Altruism Rotterdam – December 31st
Why: Get more people to donate to good charities
Success: Get 10 people involved in EA in a way that they themselves become ambassadors
Learn Max all the things for a well-behaved dog – July 1st
Max sometimes is a bit too enthusiastic and therefore can be a bit too much. He also, sometimes, pulls too much on the leash. And he can definitively learn some more tricks (which he is very good at). I just need to take the time to train him more.
Why: Have Max be perfect for the office and for sitters
Success: Max never jumps on people, follows commands and keeps his joyous attitude
Improve the looks of my house with ‘hygge’ (gezelligheid) decorations – July 1st
I love my house but there is more that I can do there. Therefore I will take one room at a time and improve the looks. Of course, nothing is permanent, the goal is to have a basis for each room that can organically change over time.
Why: To make my house even more a place I love to be and to add a more personal touch
Success: The house is totally personalised and every ‘room’ has an own personality
Experiment with food and the cognitive effects thereof – April 1st
I’ve read a lot about food and the effect it has. But I haven’t done very good research into what is effective for myself and how I can better use this information for making food decisions. Things I will be testing with are fasting, nootropics and the balance in macro-nutrients.
Why: To better manage energy levels and improve cognitive output
Success: I know the (personal) effects of multiple well-researched changes to my diet
That’s it 🙂 All the experiments I have for the coming time. Each quarter I will evaluate and update where necessary.
2016: Where I missed out on connecting.
I’m very grateful for what I’ve been able to do this year. I’ve been to India for 3 weeks, hiked there and saw a very beautiful country. I make a living by doing what I love, being an entrepreneur. My schedule is flexible, I’m my own boss. And Max, my dog, is slowly becoming my friend.
Now that I look back on the goals I set for this year, I see that I am far from achieving most of them. Some were to do with external circumstances, others with a lack of throughput from my side. What I want to do now is look first at what were the right things that I did. After that, I will write shortly about each goal.
***
80/20 Analysis – More.
What were the 20% of X activities that led to 80% of Y outcomes?
Happiness. There were two situations in which I was most happy. Being together with people I love is the first. Laughing out loud is good for you. An example would be playing with my nephew. The second is ‘working’ on something important, but not urgent. Reading a book, running, fitness, financial plan, etc. The commonality between both types of happiness is that I was living in the ‘now’. I was wondering off to somewhere else, just living in the moment. They call it flow.
Productivity. Combining theory and practice is what was most productive. Thinking about what not to do is also what drove growth/saved time. Being alone/not disturbed for 3-5 hours resulted in my best work. And finally, being in a good mental and physical state works wonders. After meditating in the morning, having gone for a run, those were the best moments.
Health. Cooking, both mentally (calm) and physically (good food). Going to bed early and rising early. Challenging myself (e.g. obstacle run), pushing for something better each session.
***
80/20 Analysis – Less.
What were the 80% of X activities that lead to 20% of Y outcomes?
Happiness. There is a ‘Profaned Vase’ in our office and it might be my doing. I get most frustrated when things don’t go my way and when I run out of patience. Less acutely I think that I sometimes forgot to enjoy the moment. Being more mindful and just remembering how great work (and other moments) is, should become more common. Lastly, we had a conflict with a partner at work and that led to the most stress over the run of multiple weeks. In resolving the conflict I think we couldn’t have done many things differently, but in keeping my calm/sanity and still being happy with other aspects of life is really something that I could have done better.
Productivity. Most of my time was categorised as Marketing (Growing was a close second). The biggest time drain was making a new website, as compared to the impact it had. Less website fiddling next year. Cooperations with events/small companies were far from profitable. Adwords, which we try and outsource, is still not working like we want to, so have to do a good analysis of costs/benefits. A lack of focus on where I can make the most impact is also what crippled me a bit this year. I did a lot of things others could do too. Next year more focus on strategy and leadership.
Health. Binge drinking and eating. Hangovers, upset stomach, loss of a full day. Binging is really something I will consciously avoid next year.
***
The Goals I Set 364 Days Ago.
I spend 80% of my time on important, non-urgent tasks. To be honest I think I spend something like 30% on those really big goals, 50% on day-to-day processes (of which a big percentage were improvements, not only execution), and 10% on things that were really urgent.
I am familiar with the full start-up skillset. I’ve learned so much this year, but it’s not organised yet. I have trouble naming specific things, whilst having read 25+ business books, listened to 100+ podcasts about it and learning many things at Queal. Expect something related to this next year.
I make half a million (pre-tax). I earned enough this year to live from and save more than most people do. But it’s far, far, away from making that half million. Both a lack of the growth we wanted at Queal and the cancellation of another big project have hampered my money making plans.
I learn and blog about 11 (sub)topics. I still don’t know exactly what to blog about, but I do have a better idea. The subtopics are still things I’m very much interested in, but I will have to see what I will write exactly.
I play the saxophone twice a week. I have played the saxophone. Most in recent weeks. With a new work schedule, I will continue to make time for it. But definitively haven’t played the amount I wanted to.
I have optimised my weekly schedule. Multiple attempts at good schedules have been made, and all have had some flaws here and there. The most important thing I failed at was making time on Sunday to look over the coming week and making a plan where there is enough free time, time for thinking and sleeping.
I have read 50+ books. I should have made a list. But yes, definitively read (or listened) more than 50 books. Many were fantasy books (Discworld, Enders Game), business (Elon Musk Bio, 4 Hour Body), and other (thanks Lasse and Kawai).
I run a sub 3:45 marathon. With a time of 4:20 I was slower than I planned for. The second half, or particularly the last 7km were killing. New chances coming year.
I am under 12% body fat at one point. I did reach the related goal of <88kg, alas there was also a loss of water weight. I am now in the best shape I’ve ever been and next year will be even better. Sixpack here I come.
I finish the iron viking. YES YES YES!!! This was awesome to do. Amazing to do together with my brother. Something to do again, someday.
I reach the 1000 pound club. After the two marathons I decided to take it slow and although I’ve improved again with lifting weights, I didn’t reach the 1000 pound club.
I moderate my alcohol drinking & meat eating. I think drinking less hasn’t been a goal that I’ve achieved. Eating less meat I did reach. Never did I buy meat from the supermarket and more than ever whilst dining out I ate vegetarian.
I have a dog. WOEF (that was Max). It was quite the workload in the beginning, but the amount of ‘gezelligheid’, coziness or ‘hygge’ he brings is enormous. Still a bit of training to do, but he is very, very lovely.
I have 3+ social events per week. Looking back on the agenda, the average looks more like 4 social evenings per week. So yes, I got out enough.
I am offline&social for 1+ day a week. I think almost every Friday night to Saturday evening I was offline. But I could be more conscious about it.
I go on vacation for 4+ weeks. Yes.
I run/start the Rotterdam EA chapter. Together with Johan and Joeri, I help organise the EA Rotterdam meetings. We can be more active, but the start is there.
I 10x my giving impact. I know at least one confirmed story from our EA group that someone has taken the pledge, but I don’t think I’ve reached a 10X yet.
I donate 10% of my income. Done. Please support Against Malaria Foundation if you want to make the world a better place (and really have an impact!)
I spend less than 1200 per month. Definitively not. I spent way too much on going out and also on groceries. I do manage it now in AFAS online and I will be able to get a good grip on it the coming year.
I plan each week, priority every day. Most days I did make a plan. But the weekly plans I forgot to make. More weekly planning (and accountability) coming up shortly.
I review every 1 & 3 months. I did do a review end of Q1 and Q2 but didn’t do one after Q3 (not publicly). So everyone who calls me so goal-oriented, I also fail sometimes 😉
I buy a house. I have a house, and it’s bea-uuuu-tiful. It’s really becoming my place and although I want to still do a lot of things, it’s already my home.
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Systems are Key.
The goals I failed to achieve we’re mostly a fault of ‘systems’. I mean that I didn’t plan ahead to make time to review my goals and planning each week. Or that I went on a bender without agreeing with myself to limit the drinking to a few consumptions. Preparing better habits and strategies is one of the things that will make 2017 even greater than 2016 has been.
Thank you for reading
– Floris