“The average man is a conformist, accepting miseries and disasters with the stoicism of a cow standing in the rain.”
– Colin Wilson
When 2014 began, I was determined NOT to be a cow standing in the rain. I labeled it a transformational year and it has been just that. Since I started this blogging journey I have shared tons of personal stories, successes, and failures. 1 year ago I shared my goals for 2014 in an effort to keep myself accountable.
I didn’t want 2014 to be “just another year” in my life. It wasn’t. Not by a long shot.
2014’s List of Goals
VolunteeringSpeed ReadingBuilding a TV StandWriting an eBook- Sprint Triathlon
Monetizing the BlogFinish 40 Books
As you can see, I crossed off almost everything I set out to do this year. I couldn’t be happier about reviewing this list and re-reading my post about goals from last January. It shows me how far I’ve come as a writer (mainly how far I still have to go) as well as how my focus has shifted from last year.
When 2014 started it was all about personal development. I didn’t really know why, but I knew I wanted to be a better person. This year has been a success and I owe it to the commitment I made to better myself through my goals, my writing, and a desire to learn. Every day I sat myself in an oversized chair and did my best to learn something, to create something, and to begin forging my own path.
“Compounding interest is one of the most powerful forces on the planet.”
– Ryan Holiday
No single day changed my year. The combined interested of my daily work has resulted in multiple accomplishments I am fortunate enough to achieve. That same combined interest has opened doors for me and opportunity awaits on this side of 2015 that I couldn’t imagine one year ago.
All that said, 2014 still had it’s valleys and I learned copious amounts through trial and (mostly) error. I’m better for it. Here are 7 things I’ve learned from the goals I set at the beginning of the year. :
Volunteering
This was one of the most rewarding things I did throughout the year. Every time I did something for others, even though sometimes it was begrudgingly, I walked away feeling humbled. That humble attitude has to be recharged, it’s not permanent. Guess what you’ll see on my 2015 list of goals? Yep, continuing to volunteer once each month.
Aside from personal humility, doors were opened for work because I put myself out there. In my first ebook, Giving to Gain, I explained what happened when I decided to help a friend coach his 8-man football team.
Takeaway #1: Humility is a battery that has to be recharged. When humility is fully charged, good things happen to you.
Speed Reading
The entire reason for learning to speed read was to read more books. Since learning to skill, I rarely put it to practice. Racing through books doesn’t give you time to soak them up, think through the author’s words, and come up with your own ideas.
Takeaway #2: If you want to read more, dedicate more time to it.
*Pro Tip: Set aside time every morning to read, even if it’s only 20 minutes. It’s worth it, I promise.
Building a TV Stand
The whole carpentry thing started with a Coffee Table and has expanded to a number of other projects. As I become more skilled, the details are becoming increasingly important. I noticed part of my TV Stand was done sloppily (after it was finished) and if you look close, you’ll see raw, unstained portions of wood I didn’t take the time to polish off.
Lesson learned.
My next project will be even better because of this shortcoming. If it’s worth 20 hours to build, it’s worth 50 hours to build. If it’s not worth your 20, then don’t it at all.
Takeaway #3: Even the backs of the wood matter. If you’re going to put your effort into something, make it worth while. Don’t leave the backs of the wood unfinished and do a sloppy job.
Writing an eBook
This was one of the most rewarding items to check off my list in 2014. Giving to Gain was published on July 25th and has since been downloaded and shared hundreds of times. I’ve learned so much in the past few years and this was the best way I knew to share it with the world.
As I’ve talked about before, this blog was started with practice in mind. I have a book I’m writing about my college football experience which will be published later this year. I write every day to practice my writing skills. Before I release the book, I want to publish a few works to practice the process of starting, editing, and shipping a complete work.
Giving to Gain took a lot to ship. I learned a ton about the process of completing a large body versus a small one like a blog post. The next book I publish will be even better because I forced myself through this routine.
Takeaway #4: Writing a book is a massive undertaking. Big things take big effort. The more I put in now, the greater the result will be down the road.
Sprint Triathlon
Last year, I asked for suggestions from readers after my well blog topics ran dry. A high school friend asked me about knowing when to give up on a goal. That was a challenging idea for me because I hate to quit. Giving up just isn’t in my nature, no matter how silly the cause may be.
There was no getting around this one, though. I had to give up my goal of completing a Sprint Triathlon in 2014. I had too many injuries (100% of which were self-inflicted) and my body just couldn’t perform.
Having to give up on this was helpful, albeit difficult. Instead, I took up the coaching opportunity which lead to so much more than a silly trophy and few lousy blisters.
Takeaway #5: Not everything you set out to accomplish is worth the sacrifice.
Monetizing the Blog
I actually checked this off back in March, even though it’s not what I had imagined. When I wrote “Monetize the Blog” I meant to receive recurring revenue each month. First off, I learned to be more specific about my goals since $1.09 was obviously a let-down…
But second, I came to the conclusion that I didn’t want to try and make my living through ads or affiliate sales. That path (ads and affiliate sales) isn’t based on something I create, it’s based loosely on traffic. If all I do is write to gain traffic and generate pageviews, I’m not truly putting my energies into my writing.
Instead, in 2015, my focus will be shifted to creating quality content.
My next ebook is going to be a course on goal-setting and I’ll be charging for this one. If I focus on putting my best work into an inexpensive product, I will have a much better success rate than $1.09 in 12 months. Not only that, but the process of charging for something I create is a skill I need to learn to perfect if I’m going to sell copies of my book about football.
Takeaway #6: When your goals aren’t what you expected, you have to pivot. This can be scary and it may even feel like you’re letting yourself off the hook. But, if you do it for the right reasons, you’ll thank yourself in the end.
Finish 40 Books
This was far and away the most important goal I set for myself last year. Education is important to me, and not necessarily in the traditional sense.
A coach at CSU used to say to us that you’re moving forwards or backwards, never standing still. Educating yourself means you’re always moving forwards. And reading is one of the best ways to continually educate yourself.
My goal was 40, but I reached 44 – the most I’ve ever read by a long shot. You can check out the entire list here. This practice habit is what I attribute much of my success to this year.
Reading as has brought me new ideas, new insights, new techniques, and opened my mind to entire new worlds.
In 2015 I will still focus on reading, but focusing more on quality than quantity. I have a stack of books I need to go back and read/listen to and take notes on so I can carefully soak up the information.
Takeaway #7: It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality. If you race through every book or stage in your life, just trying to get to the next one, you’ll miss out on what’s right in front of you. You’ll skim the lessons life is trying to teach you and you’ll forget to take notes. Be more present!
Have a Happy and PRESENT New Year!
What did you learn in 2014?
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Leave me a comment or chat with me on Twitter, I’d love to hear from you.
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