One of My Goals For 2020 – Blog More!
To Focused Compounding Members,
I hope everyone had a great holiday! Let me start by saying I am not one for New Year’s resolutions. I genuinely believe you should start today instead of tomorrow – and that an arbitrary date should not dictate when you should work to become the better version of yourself.
That said, one of the things I wanted Geoff and myself to do before the new year was to write down 5 goals that we would be proud of if we accomplish by this time next year. We had professional and personal goals. I decided on 5 because this was right out of Warren Buffett’s 5/25 strategy for focus. You can learn about that below from James Clear’s blog post below. (Hopefully James won’t mind me stealing his story if I link to his great book, Atomic Habits: https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0735211299/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1578004386&sr=8-1
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https://jamesclear.com/buffett-focus
“The Story of Mike Flint
Mike Flint was Buffett’s personal airplane pilot for 10 years. (Flint has also flown four US Presidents, so I think we can safely say he is good at his job.) According to Flint, he was talking about his career priorities with Buffett when his boss asked the pilot to go through a 3-step exercise.
Here’s how it works…
STEP 1: Buffett started by asking Flint to write down his top 25 career goals. So, Flint took some time and wrote them down. (Note: you could also complete this exercise with goals for a shorter timeline. For example, write down the top 25 things you want to accomplish this week.)
STEP 2: Then, Buffett asked Flint to review his list and circle his top 5 goals. Again, Flint took some time, made his way through the list, and eventually decided on his 5 most important goals.
Note: If you’re following along at home, pause right now and do these first two steps before moving on to Step 3.
STEP 3: At this point, Flint had two lists. The 5 items he had circled were List A and the 20 items he had not circled were List B.
Flint confirmed that he would start working on his top 5 goals right away. And that’s when Buffett asked him about the second list, “And what about the ones you didn’t circle?”
Flint replied, “Well, the top 5 are my primary focus, but the other 20 come in a close second. They are still important so I’ll work on those intermittently as I see fit. They are not as urgent, but I still plan to give them a dedicated effort.”
To which Buffett replied, “No. You’ve got it wrong, Mike. Everything you didn’t circle just became your Avoid-At-All-Cost list. No matter what, these things get no attention from you until you’ve succeeded with your top 5.”
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One of my goals for 2020 is to write a lot more. To quantify this, I’m committing to one post a week on Focused Compounding for the next year.
Members reading this will probably think that’s a pretty small goal, especially considering Geoff’s goal is to write up 200+ stocks for Focused Compounding in 2020. But, truth be told – I really do not enjoy writing. The podcast and video outlet are much more natural for me. I enjoy conversations. I enjoy letting my personality flow through. I enjoy laughing with Geoff, and the ability to take the conversation whichever way feels most natural. Geoff and I do zero prep for the podcast. We have the topic that we want to talk about, and then we just roll with it. Now, I have the benefit of Geoff’s computer-like-brain that allows me to go down any rabbit hole that comes to mind, but I’m constantly thinking while recording how I can get the best out of him to benefit all of the listeners. It’s incredibly fun to be a part of, and I really do hope we have provided value to those who consume our content.
Here’s an interesting thought…
I probably do not like writing because I don’t consider myself the best writer. But, how can you get better at something if you never practice it? A lot of times, behind every source of fear or reluctance to start something is the person you truly want to become.
People are afraid of public speaking, when, in reality – all they want to do is become an amazing public speaker.
People are afraid to go to the gym because they feel insecure about their current health, when, in reality – all they want to do is be healthy and in shape.
People are afraid of writing up stock ideas and putting it out there on the internet for the world to see, making yourself vulnerable to criticism and feedback, when, in reality – all this would do is actually make you a better investor.
…you get the point.
I’m sure behind my reluctance to write in the past is truly someone who wants to enjoy and become a great writer.
They say a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. So, here’s mine. I plan to write about whatever topics I find interesting. Sometimes it may be about stocks, and other times it may be about random stuff that I think readers would find worthwhile to read.
Let’s all become a better version of ourselves in 2020. What is something you’ve been putting off? What sources of fear or procrastination are keeping you from becoming the person you truly want to be? I encourage you to follow Buffett’s strategy and come up with 5 goals that you’ll be proud of if you accomplish them by this time next year.
Let’s start the journey of a thousand miles together… One step at a time…