Q2 2023 Goal Check-in

Howdy from Durham,

We are halfway through the year.

That means it’s time to check-in on how Q2 of 2023 went.

2023 Goals Updates for Q1

1. 💰 Build Self-Sustaining Income Independent of a Corporation

(✅ - on track to hit)

Original plan of attack: build Feather AI: the premier speech-to-text summary service. See what sticks.

Update: we shut down Feather. It was not going to be able to sustain me and my co-founder. I’m currently pursuing a few new opportunities and will have more updates in Q3.

For now, I’m working part-time jobs at an outdoor outfitter and a farm.

2. 📫 Publish Newsletter Every Thursday & Grow Subscriber List to 1k

(❗️ - needs work)

Original plan of attack: collaborate with other newsletter writers, cross-promote each other's work, and gain new subscribers by marketing long-form essays.

Update: growth has slowed significantly. went from 323 email subscribers to 335 in Q2. This goal, more than any of the others, needs attention.

I’d like to develop a writing mentor by helping someone with larger distribution than me write/edit their work. My hope is that, in doing so, I can provide them value and improve my knowledge of distribution.

3. 📱 Take a 1-Year Break from Facebook and Instagram

(✅ - on track to hit)

Original plan of attack: store the log-in info far away (off my laptop), delete mobile apps, log out from browser, and don't access FB/IG for 2023. Keep in touch with folks via text, phone calls, and the newsletter. Build meaningful relationships on Twitter by helping other people with their businesses, writing, and other projects.

Update: haven’t been on FB or IG. I also limited Twitter use a great deal to focus on closing Feather, but I’d like to return to writing on Twitter.

4. 🖊️ Publish 1 Essay Per Quarter

(❗️ - needs work)

Original plan of attack: write one essay per quarter in 2023, market these pieces through channels of distribution such as Product Hunt and Hacker News.

Update: in Q1, I said the following, “If I don’t have 2 new essays published by end of Q2 2023 (6/30/2023), I will venmo one of my email subscribers $100.”

Well, I didn’t hit that mark. That’s why I sent $50 to 2 email subscribers over the weekend. Shoutout to Michelle V. and Max G. Don’t spend it all in one place.

Still motivated to get 4 essays out in 2023 - down but not out on this goal.

5. 🏃 Build Endurance, Balance, Flexibility, and Better Nutrition

(✅ - on track to hit)

Original plan of attack: go on two backpacking trips, participate in 1 F3 workout per week, walk to co-working space each day, do stretching sessions 2 times per week, buy local produce, get 8hrs of sleep, sleep with your phone in the other room, and drink 16oz of water when you wake.

Update: I just wrapped 75 hard, a 75-day holistic health challenge that includes reading, working out, hydrating, and eating healthy every day. I hit some PRs lifting, integrated a yoga/stretching practice, and have vastly improved my nutrition.

I did a paleo diet (fruit, veggies, meat, no grain, no added sugars). Additionally, I’ve been playing on an adult league baseball team which is a blast.

6. 📰 Improve Information Caption System

(✅ - on track to hit)

Original plan of attack: review Tiago Forte's content on Building a Second Brain, link instapaper + Readwise to Notion, decommission your broken Evernote/Apple Notes systems, and make time to read what's timeless (not just timely)

Update: my Notion/Readwise integration is in full swing. I wish Notion had better search functionality across my entire kindle highlight repository, but my information capture has improved regardless of that. I’ve also integrated Readwise Reader Beta (in place of Instapaper).

I am hopeful that Readwise Reader may be able to become the one-stop home for all of my note taking (across essays, articles, books, etc.) when they launch their full-fledged product.

The next step is to determine if Readwise Reader is good enough for me to decommission Instapaper. For me, the less apps to manage = the better.

7. ☀️ Rest fully on Sundays

(✅ - on track to hit)

Plan of attack: go to church, spend time with friends, get outside, get off your phone, meditate, read, and write. Just be still.

Update: still crushing this one as I haven’t been doing work on Sundays.

8. 🧘 Build a 2x Daily Meditation Practice

(❗️ - needs work)

Original plan of attack: 20min of transcendental meditation before the day starts, 20min of transcendental meditation in the late afternoon/early evening - mix in Wim Hof when in need of a more active meditation.

Update: as a part of 75 Hard, I added in a 1x per day meditation habit. Transcendental meditation wasn’t doing it for me, so I switched to a Yoga Nidra meditation, per a recommendation from the Huberman Labs podcast. It’s more of a guided body scan and a much more physical meditation.

Interestingly enough, after 75 days of Yoga Nidra, I’d like to return to TM.

Beginning to think that 2x daily may have been too steep of a goal, but we still have 6 months to test things out and see.

9. 🤟 Participate in a Local Service Opportunity 1x/week

(✅ - on track to hit)

Original plan of attack: meet with my local Pastor, identify a need I can help play a part in, and schedule a weekly cadence to participate in the service opportunity.

Update: I served as an assistant little league coach with my pastor in Q2. Our 9 year olds won the little league championship. It was a blast.

I’ll now be on the hunt for a new service opportunity. My church is moving to a new physical location, so I think that there could be an opportunity to help with the move.

10. ⛷️ Try Things That Are Completely New & Do Things That Bring You Joy

(✅ - on track to hit)

Original plan of attack: go skiing, do some two-stepping, go in with an open mind to whatever other adventures come your way this year, and just have some freakin' fun, you nerd (calling myself a nerd, not you, lol).

Update: jumping into coaching gave me the itch to start playing baseball again. I now play on the Durham Dirtbags, an adult recreational team that’s a part of the Carolina Sandlot Collective. We use wooden bats, play on 90ft bases, and have a great time.

I originally phrased the goal “try things that are completely new,” but I learned in Q2 that returning to an old love of mine like baseball can bring immense joy.

What I’m paying attention to:

Apple’s Vision Pro may be the first consumer product to normalize brain-machine-interfaces.

Thanks for reading

How did your Q2 go?

Reply and let me know!

Josh

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