2021 Goals (And first blog post)

I’ve set goals on a semi-regular basis (usually twice a year) since my sophomore year of college. Those past goal-setting processes were usually executed from my bed whilst in a pseudo-hungover state. The output consisted of 8ish bullet points that were then left for dead in an Apple Notes file and rarely, if ever, revisited. This changes today! Yesterday I read this annual review by Justin Mares, and his piece resonated with me enough to actually spark action! I believe that writing clarifies and strengthens one’s thinking, and that public declarations increase personal accountability. Hypocritically, I have done very little writing and public declaring over the last couple of years, so again…THIS CHANGES TODAY!

Huh, writing that preamble ramble was surprisingly fun…maybe I was born to blog. Anyway, on to my written and publicly declared 2021 goals.

Justin broke down his goals into 4 categories (he attributes the inspiration to Naval’s tweet):

1. Fit body
2. Calm mind
3. House full of love
4. Business

I like that categorical breakdown, so I will copy it. Also, I like Justin’s idea of pasting a comprehensive theme on the year’s goals, so I’m dedicating 2021 to exploration. I chose exploration because my top 2 goals for 2021 are to explore the U.S. (and maybe internationally depending on the COVID situation), and to explore entrepreneurship (specifically to start and grow a business to $10k ARR by year-end).

My 2021 Goals
Theme: Exploration

Fit body

1. Spend 10 days hiking in US national parks I haven’t visited before (any 2hr+ hike counts as a day)
2. Train in a martial art at least 2x/week starting in April (Post-ski season)
3. Ski 35+ days (Moving to Park City, UT for the winter, so this should be easy unless I get injured!)

I embraced CrossFit style exercise at the beginning of quarantine in NYC (just bodyweight movements + rowing machine in my apartment), but ramped up the intensity over the summer when I subscribed to Garret Fisher’s program ($7/month for 5 CrossFit workouts every week) and gained access to weights. I’m in the best shape of my life and hope to maintain a strong fitness level moving forward, but adding “Do a CrossFit workout 5x/week” to this list would force me to sacrifice other goals I have for 2021 (across all categories) that are more important to me right now.

Calm Mind

1. Write a blog post every week. No length requirement.
2. Meditate 6x/week for 10+ minutes – my default is 20 minutes, but I currently struggle to hit 6x/week, so I want to improve my consistency.
3. Read a book every 2 weeks (300 pages is the quantified benchmark)

Meditating and reading are long-time habits of mine, so I’m mainly focused on improving my consistency. Writing, however, is something I’ve always wanted to be good at, but have spent 0 time pursuing. Improved writing -> improved thinking & communication -> improvements across many aspects of life.

(Nomadic) House full of love

1. Facetime parents and siblings every week
2. Long call with 2 friends/week
3. Make new friends in new places. I’m not sure how this will play out during COVID, but I imagine my success or failure here will disproportionately affect my nomadic experience.

I spent a good portion of quarantine living with my parents and siblings, and I spent the past 3 months living in NYC where a bunch of my friends are based. I think these communication goals are especially important now that seeing family/friends is no longer my default in many cases.

Business

1. Start and grow a business to $10k ARR by year-end
2. Manage PA…adequately. The markets aren’t a primary focus for me this year (although I’ll certainly trade from time to time), so if I can protect my purchasing power I’ll be happy – inflation is coming…

I left the only job I’ve ever had this past September (investment management) and am totally naive concerning making money via the internet. I recently built my first (admittedly janky) website – an investment allocation app called macrofade.com. At dinner last week I caught myself saying that my dream job is to run a company that makes money by helping people to improve their health…so a couple of days ago I decided to shift my focus to the health space. That’s all I know right now, but feel good about the direction.

Nice to have

1. Maintain CrossFit 5x/week level fitness
2. Double the S&P500 return in my PA
3. Learn to ride a motorcycle
4. Tweet daily
5. Grow 2 inches taller
6. And more…

I can’t distract myself with second-tier goals given the first-tier is difficult enough to achieve. Ruthless prioritization. I must avoid actively pursuing second-tier goals at all costs (obviously I’m not going to avoid massive investment returns if they occur, I’m just not putting any extra effort towards that lofty objective). I stole this from Warren Buffet via James Clear.

Conclusion

Starting a business from scratch is my most time consuming goal for 2021, but writing in public every week (on this blog!) is the highest leverage goal on the list (i.e. provides the most benefit if completed). Writing publicly forces me far from my comfort zone, and even though I only have 33 twitter followers (share the love!), knowing that some family and friends will read this is enough to make a relatively introverted, private person (me) sweat bullets. Onwards to 2021!

*Note on public declarations – a quote from my favorite Paul Graham essay. Full text here.

“Since then he has not only dropped out of grad school, but appeared full length in Newsweek with the word ‘Billionaire’ printed across his chest. He just cannot fail now. Everyone he knows has seen that picture. Girls who dissed him in high school have seen it. His mom probably has it on the fridge. It would be unthinkably humiliating to fail now. At this point he is committed to fight to the death.”