Latest / The Daily Writer / My 2018 Annual Review & 2019 Goals
Transcript
- 0:01SPEAKER_00: For as long as I can remember, I've set aside time at the end of December or in early January to reflect on the previous year.
- 0:08SPEAKER_00: However, it's usually been somewhat of a haphazard sort of process with not a lot of real direction.
- 0:14SPEAKER_00: Over the last couple of years, though, I've started to do a more intentional annual review.
- 0:18SPEAKER_00: So on this episode, I'm going to share my thoughts on 2018 and what's in store for 2019.
- 0:33SPEAKER_00: Hey friends, welcome to the Born to Create podcast.
- 0:36SPEAKER_00: My name is Kent Sanders, and I'm an author, professor, and creative coach.
- 0:40SPEAKER_00: This is the show where we explore the mindset, habits, and principles to help you make a bigger impact in your life and creative work.
- 0:47SPEAKER_00: Before we get into the content of this episode, I should give credit where credit is due.
- 0:52SPEAKER_00: I'm following the annual review format that James Clear does on his blog, and you can find a link to that in the show notes.
- 0:59SPEAKER_00: And his annual review focuses on three areas from the previous year.
- 1:03SPEAKER_00: What went well, what did not go well, and what he learned.
- 1:07SPEAKER_00: Also, I was inspired by my friend Chad Allen's annual review process, which is very similar to James Clear's.
- 1:12SPEAKER_00: Now, in this episode, I'm also going to share some goals that I have for 2019 in addition to my annual review.
- 1:19SPEAKER_00: So, first of all, let's talk about what went well for me in 2018.
- 1:23SPEAKER_00: There are several things that I want to highlight here.
- 1:26SPEAKER_00: Number one, I relaunched the Born to Create podcast, which you're listening to now.
- 1:30SPEAKER_00: Now, originally, when I first launched this at the beginning of 2017, it was just an audio blog format.
- 1:36SPEAKER_00: Now, what you're listening to now is actually an audio blog.
- 1:38SPEAKER_00: So this is a blog post and you're just listening to the audio version of this blog post.
- 1:43SPEAKER_00: But a few months ago I relaunched it adding interviews every week as well.
- 1:48SPEAKER_00: So why did I do that?
- 1:49SPEAKER_00: It's simply because it gives me a platform to learn from other people and to add value to other people through audio.
- 1:55SPEAKER_00: However, I do have to say that podcasting is not for the faint of heart.
- 1:58SPEAKER_00: Podcasting is pretty time consuming, and a lot of people find that the technical hurdles of podcasting are a lot because there's a lot of technical elements involved in podcasting.
- 2:08SPEAKER_00: So if you've ever thought about starting a podcast, I recommend that you really consider it.
- 2:12SPEAKER_00: But also, I would love for you to check out my interview with Steve Stewart, who is a podcast producer.
- 2:17SPEAKER_00: That aired a few weeks ago.
- 2:19SPEAKER_00: You can find the link to that in the show notes.
- 2:21SPEAKER_00: Steve gives a lot of great thoughts about whether you should start a podcast and how to go about doing it and just some things to think about.
- 2:29SPEAKER_00: So number one, I relaunched this podcast.
- 2:31SPEAKER_00: Number two, I spoke at a number of events in 2018.
- 2:34SPEAKER_00: This included a men's retreat, a writer's event, and also the Missouri Christian Convention, which is of course a statewide convention.
- 2:42SPEAKER_00: Every time I speak at any sort of retreat or any sort of a setting, I always think to myself, I gotta do more of this because I love connecting with people that way so much.
- 2:51SPEAKER_00: It's really fun, it's really energizing, and there's something special and unique about connecting with people in person versus doing, you know, blogging and podcasting and all that stuff.
- 3:01SPEAKER_00: And I think the cool thing about it today is that we can do all these things.
- 3:04SPEAKER_00: You can do speaking at live events, you can do podcasts, you can do blogging and self-publishing and all these really cool things.
- 3:12SPEAKER_00: So I love speaking.
- 3:13SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't want to only do speaking because that would be really exhausting because I'm kind of an analytical introverted person.
- 3:20SPEAKER_00: Um it kind of sucks my energy being around people for long periods of time.
- 3:24SPEAKER_00: So I'm thankful that we can also do podcasts today as well, because you know I can do it from the comfort of my own office, which I'm doing right now.
- 3:32SPEAKER_00: Number three, I moved into a new role in my day job.
- 3:35SPEAKER_00: Since 2004, I had been the main professor of worship and music at St.
- 3:39SPEAKER_00: Louis Christian College, where I've taught since then.
- 3:42SPEAKER_00: And I've honestly been wanting to transition out of that role for the last few years.
- 3:46SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of different reasons for that, but I'm just going to kind of leave it at that, that I wanted to transition out of that role.
- 3:52SPEAKER_00: Nothing because of the college.
- 3:53SPEAKER_00: It's just because I wanted to kind of make a change in my life and I became interested in new things and wanted to kind of go a different professional direction.
- 4:01SPEAKER_00: Last year, I was really thankful because the college was able to hire a new professor to update the program that I was overseeing and to also just oversee it and to make some needed changes and bring it up to date and so forth.
- 4:14SPEAKER_00: So I was really thankful for that.
- 4:15SPEAKER_00: And actually, on an upcoming episode of the podcast, you're going to hear my interview with the new professor of worship arts at the college.
- 4:22SPEAKER_00: His name is Eric Marshall, and you're really going to enjoy that.
- 4:25SPEAKER_00: So stay on the lookout for that episode.
- 4:27SPEAKER_00: So my new title at St.
- 4:29SPEAKER_00: Louis Christian College is The Professor of Communication Arts, and I'm loving this new role.
- 4:34SPEAKER_00: I'm really enjoying it.
- 4:35SPEAKER_00: My courses focus on speaking, writing, storytelling, film, and new media such as blogging, podcasting, video, and so forth.
- 4:44SPEAKER_00: The fourth thing that went well in 2018 is that I played drums on our church worship team.
- 4:49SPEAKER_00: I had to go through this really extensive audition process, and I got to play several weekends on our worship team, and I had an absolute blast doing it.
- 4:57SPEAKER_00: That experience really scratched this musical itch that I've been feeling for some time.
- 5:02SPEAKER_00: I haven't really been involved in any kind of a music team or anything like that for quite a long time, and I didn't realize how much that I missed it.
- 5:10SPEAKER_00: I've actually stepped away from doing that for a few months so I can focus on getting a draft of my book finished and focus on some other business things, but I'm really anticipating stepping back into that role sometime maybe mid-2019 or so.
- 5:22SPEAKER_00: It was really fun to have that musical outlet, and I forgot how much I enjoyed being a part of a worship team and of a band.
- 5:30SPEAKER_00: Number five, I became more involved in the local business community.
- 5:34SPEAKER_00: I attended several meetups and luncheons, which resulted in a lot of cool connections with people.
- 5:39SPEAKER_00: And this experience really fueled my desire to grow my business and to take myself more seriously as a business person, not just as a writer or as an artist, but as a person who is a business owner and who wants to make a business out of their creativity.
- 5:58SPEAKER_00: More people than ever before reached out to me for help in writing a book.
- 6:02SPEAKER_00: And all of these people were first-time authors who wanted to know how they can get started.
- 6:06SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be thinking a lot more in the coming months about some type of course, group, mastermind, or something that can be a means of helping first-time authors on a more structured basis.
- 6:18SPEAKER_00: So stay on the lookout for that.
- 6:20SPEAKER_00: I'm anticipating doing something this year that will really help first-time authors.
- 6:24SPEAKER_00: Number seven, I got to attend the tribe conference in Franklin, Tennessee in October.
- 6:30SPEAKER_00: Now, honestly, I hadn't planned on attending the tribe conference, but I was able to go because a really generous donor gave me their unused ticket.
- 6:37SPEAKER_00: And I thought that was such a cool thing.
- 6:39SPEAKER_00: So if you're listening to this, I won't name the person because they may not want me to name them, but you know who you are.
- 6:45SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for your generosity.
- 6:47SPEAKER_00: Attending the Tribe Conference was a major highlight of my year.
- 6:50SPEAKER_00: The speakers were phenomenal.
- 6:52SPEAKER_00: I made a lot of new connections, and I felt inspired and challenged to keep on writing.
- 6:57SPEAKER_00: So if you have an opportunity to go to Tribe this year or another conference that can boost your creative life, I really highly recommend that you do that.
- 7:04SPEAKER_00: Then finally, number eight, I met weekly with my Monday morning mastermind group.
- 7:09SPEAKER_00: Now you may have heard me talk about this mastermind group before.
- 7:12SPEAKER_00: This group has been going in one form or another for probably, gosh, at least four years, maybe even five years.
- 7:18SPEAKER_00: And with the exception of holidays and a few other times of the year when somebody's sick or whenever we have different things going on, this group meets together every week on Monday mornings and we talk about our goals and we work through our life problems and help each other in different ways.
- 7:33SPEAKER_00: Honestly, this hour on Monday mornings is one of the most transformational parts of my whole week.
- 7:38SPEAKER_00: It's such a rewarding thing to be a part of this group.
- 7:40SPEAKER_00: We help each other and we encourage each other.
- 7:43SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we pray for each other.
- 7:44SPEAKER_00: Well, I think we're always praying for each other, but you know, the spirituality aspect of it is not the main component of what we do, but it's definitely there because we're all Christian guys who are trying to help each other with our creative businesses and our with our writing.
- 7:58SPEAKER_00: So those are eight things that went well in 2018.
- 8:00SPEAKER_00: Now let's dive into what is probably a less exciting portion of this.
- 8:04SPEAKER_00: What did not go well in 2018?
- 8:07SPEAKER_00: So I had some definite wins, as I just mentioned, but I had some what I would consider pretty big misses as well.
- 8:14SPEAKER_00: Here are several misses of 2018.
- 8:18SPEAKER_00: The first one is that I wrestled with self-doubt seemingly more than I ever have before.
- 8:23SPEAKER_00: And I don't know what it was about 2018, but I regularly battled a lot of self-limiting beliefs.
- 8:29SPEAKER_00: I think it's because I've been trying to grow and stretch and learn.
- 8:32SPEAKER_00: And anytime that you're trying to expand your creative life, anytime that you're trying to address your fear and do new things and stretch in ways that you haven't stretched before, those self-limiting beliefs, those voices come and they just seem to get louder and louder and louder.
- 8:47SPEAKER_00: And sometimes those voices say things like, Can I really do this?
- 8:52SPEAKER_00: Can I finish this next book?
- 8:53SPEAKER_00: Is it going to be any good?
- 8:55SPEAKER_00: Do I have what it takes to build a business?
- 8:57SPEAKER_00: Uh do I have what it takes to make this dream a reality?
- 9:00SPEAKER_00: Or am I just some middle-aged guy who's never going to accomplish anything significant?
- 9:05SPEAKER_00: You know, and maybe you've had voices like that in your head at times as well.
- 9:09SPEAKER_00: The interesting thing about those voices is that whenever you have those thoughts, I recognize those thoughts as lies.
- 9:15SPEAKER_00: I I don't intellectually process them as being something that is true.
- 9:19SPEAKER_00: However, they still are emotionally impactful.
- 9:22SPEAKER_00: They still uh impact your emotional life and how you feel about yourself.
- 9:26SPEAKER_00: And it's easy to sort of sink down into this black hole of insecurity when you let those voices just take over your life.
- 9:34SPEAKER_00: And I've really come to believe in in the last year that the most powerful words that we speak are the words that we speak to ourselves.
- 9:41SPEAKER_00: So we have to speak words of kindness, we have to speak words that are uplifting, words of truth.
- 9:46SPEAKER_00: I think a really important part of that is being in God's Word on a daily basis.
- 9:50SPEAKER_00: I don't want to get, you know, over spiritual on you necessarily, but I honestly do think as a Christian person that is a key part of my life is starting off my day in God's Word.
- 10:00SPEAKER_00: And letting Him speak words of life into my spirit.
- 10:05SPEAKER_00: Being around other successful people is an important part of that.
- 10:08SPEAKER_00: Reading good books is a big part of that.
- 10:10SPEAKER_00: And those things have helped to sort of you know reduce those voices of self-limiting beliefs and self-doubt and fear.
- 10:18SPEAKER_00: So that's number one, uh, I feel like was a miss or a challenge of 2018.
- 10:22SPEAKER_00: I wrestled with self-doubt more than ever before, it seemed like.
- 10:25SPEAKER_00: Number two is my health and my weight.
- 10:27SPEAKER_00: I was stuck at the same weight for almost a whole year.
- 10:30SPEAKER_00: When summer hit, you know, I live in Missouri, so it gets warm around April or so, then it starts to get really cold around October or so, sometimes earlier, sometimes later.
- 10:41SPEAKER_00: So whenever summer started to hit or late spring, I started running a lot more and riding my bike, and I lost some weight over the summer, about 10 pounds or so, almost 15 pounds.
- 10:51SPEAKER_00: However, whenever it got colder, I just kind of gave up on my exercise goals, and I gained the weight back and actually a little bit more.
- 10:57SPEAKER_00: So this year I'm determined to really do something about that, and I've already uh actually gotten off to a really good start here in 2019.
- 11:05SPEAKER_00: But that was definitely a challenge.
- 11:07SPEAKER_00: The third challenge of 2018 is that I didn't finish writing my book.
- 11:11SPEAKER_00: This in many ways is the most painful and discouraging and disappointing thing for me from 2018.
- 11:17SPEAKER_00: I had every intention of writing and releasing my book called Born to Create last year.
- 11:23SPEAKER_00: It's a parable about creativity.
- 11:25SPEAKER_00: Uh it's about a guy who loses his creativity and finds it, and it's gonna be a really fun book, I think.
- 11:31SPEAKER_00: But it's such a big project that it was just overwhelming to me, and I didn't get it done.
- 11:35SPEAKER_00: And as the guy who you know talks about the creative process and reaching goals and trying to manage your time, I feel like a complete hypocrite, to be honest with you.
- 11:44SPEAKER_00: I feel like, you know, why should you listen to me?
- 11:46SPEAKER_00: I can't even get my own book done.
- 11:48SPEAKER_00: But I'm just being honest with you, that's something I really, really wrestled with this past year.
- 11:52SPEAKER_00: And it really struck me as I was writing out my reflections on this last year, that it's really a lot easier for us to help other people accomplish their goals than sometimes it is for us to accomplish our own goals.
- 12:03SPEAKER_00: And maybe sometimes that's even a way that we in a way that we sort of sabotage ourselves, as we we help other people so much, and then we just kind of justify it saying, Well, I helped other people so much, but I'm not really working on my own goals.
- 12:16SPEAKER_00: But man, we got to work on our own goals as well.
- 12:19SPEAKER_00: And I'm definitely preaching to the choir with that one.
- 12:22SPEAKER_00: The fourth loss of 2018, something that did not go well, is that my business made less money than the previous year.
- 12:29SPEAKER_00: I lost a couple of freelance writing clients, and I didn't have a really good system for pitching and securing new business.
- 12:35SPEAKER_00: It's really just as simple as that.
- 12:37SPEAKER_00: It's not a matter of lack of opportunity, it's not a matter of lack of talent on my part, it's just a matter of I just didn't do the work of pitching new clients and doing the legwork, and it's really just as simple as that.
- 12:48SPEAKER_00: Number five, and then finally, I wrestled with a big lack of clarity about what my business is.
- 12:55SPEAKER_00: You know, the interesting thing about sort of what I perceive as my business is that I've made a little bit of income from a lot of different things.
- 13:01SPEAKER_00: Writing show notes for clients, doing editing, um, doing book formatting, um doing websites, um, several other things that I can't think of at the moment.
- 13:12SPEAKER_00: I've made a little bit of income from a lot of different things.
- 13:15SPEAKER_00: However, you can't focus on a lot of things and expect to do well with all of them.
- 13:19SPEAKER_00: You have to focus on one thing to really grow a business and to be kind of known for that one thing.
- 13:25SPEAKER_00: And I had a lot of difficulty last year pinpointing what exactly that thing is.
- 13:30SPEAKER_00: Now that kind of is a good transition into the the next section, which is what did I learn from 2018?
- 13:37SPEAKER_00: I would describe 2018 as a year mostly of floundering in many ways.
- 13:42SPEAKER_00: But rather than beat myself up over what I feel like are some failures, I want to learn from those failures.
- 13:48SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I feel like I had to go through those failures last year to give me clarity on what I need to do in 2019.
- 13:55SPEAKER_00: So I don't I'm not gonna beat myself up over my perceived lack of success in a few areas in 2018.
- 14:01SPEAKER_00: Rather, I want to learn from those things and kind of chart a new course and chart a more clear direction.
- 14:07SPEAKER_00: So let me give you a few things that I learned from this past year.
- 14:10SPEAKER_00: There's four specific things, then I'll get into my goals for this next year.
- 14:14SPEAKER_00: Number one, I must get clear about my business.
- 14:17SPEAKER_00: This means I need to nail down who my audience is as well as the services and products that I'm providing for them.
- 14:23SPEAKER_00: That's why I'm reading a really great book by Steve Woodruff called Clarity Wins.
- 14:28SPEAKER_00: I'm actually going to have a podcast interview with Steve coming up before too long, so you'll definitely want to check that out.
- 14:33SPEAKER_00: This book is really, really great because it helps you to get clarity about what your business is.
- 14:38SPEAKER_00: And this pursuit of clarity in my creative and my business life is also why I've recently joined a paid mastermind group where I will take part in some group coaching and I'll be challenged to become the best version of myself.
- 14:50SPEAKER_00: And I'm really looking forward to that process.
- 14:52SPEAKER_00: The number two thing that I learned from 2018 is that systems and habits are critical for success.
- 14:59SPEAKER_00: And I attribute my biggest failures of last year, particularly when it comes to not finishing my book and not losing weight and getting healthier, I attribute both of those things to a lack of systems and habits.
- 15:11SPEAKER_00: I had some goals, I had some big goals, in fact, but I didn't have any systems to help ensure the accomplishment of those goals.
- 15:18SPEAKER_00: And I think that's where we get hung up a lot of times is we have a goal, but we don't really have a consistent way to achieve that goal that's measurable and that's doable.
- 15:26SPEAKER_00: So because of that, I'm working my way through James Clear's excellent book called Atomic Habits to help me achieve some better habits and better systems in my life.
- 15:37SPEAKER_00: The third thing that I learned from 2018 is that your community in large part determines your success.
- 15:43SPEAKER_00: The people that you spend the most time with are the ones who are going to probably determine your thought patterns, your expectations, and your mindset.
- 15:51SPEAKER_00: That's why these days I'm being much more intentional about spending time with the right people.
- 15:56SPEAKER_00: Now, what do I mean by the right people?
- 15:57SPEAKER_00: I mean people who are positive, people who are success-oriented, people who are kind, they're, you know, kind human beings, they're they're people who want to achieve things and who are going to help me live at a higher level professionally and personally.
- 16:13SPEAKER_00: Now I also believe that mastermind groups are critical of your success, and that's why I've doubled down on my participation in mastermind groups.
- 16:21SPEAKER_00: The fourth thing that I learned from 2018 is that I know what I don't know.
- 16:26SPEAKER_00: And let me explain what I mean by that.
- 16:28SPEAKER_00: I think the root cause of a lot of my floundering last year was because I hadn't changed my mindset from being a hobbyist to that of a business owner.
- 16:37SPEAKER_00: And there's a huge difference between somebody who blogs or podcasts just for fun and somebody who wants to create a real business around writing, coaching, speaking, consulting, content development, content marketing, those kinds of things.
- 16:49SPEAKER_00: And my eyes have really been opened the last few months, and now I really feel like I know what I need to learn to begin the journey toward building a successful business.
- 16:58SPEAKER_00: And I don't think I really knew that at this time last year.
- 17:01SPEAKER_00: I didn't really have much of a clue.
- 17:02SPEAKER_00: But I've been spending a lot more time around business-oriented people, have learned a lot, and have really grown in that regard, I think, and now I have more of a clear idea about what it is that I need to learn as opposed to just sort of doing all these different things.
- 17:17SPEAKER_00: So with all that said, that's kind of a review of 2018 from a few different angles.
- 17:22SPEAKER_00: Now let me share briefly before we wrap this up about my goals for this next year.
- 17:28SPEAKER_00: I have three major goals.
- 17:29SPEAKER_00: Well, I have probably more than that, but three of my major goals for 2019 are launching my Born to Create book, getting down to a healthy weight, which in my case involves losing fifty pounds, and also building my business to a true part-time income.
- 17:45SPEAKER_00: However, with all that said, I'm not going to be focusing on annual goals like I usually have in the past.
- 17:50SPEAKER_00: Instead, I'm following the system that's described in the book called the Twelve Week Year by Brian Moran.
- 17:57SPEAKER_00: I think I'm pronouncing his name correctly.
- 17:59SPEAKER_00: Let me look at this book.
- 18:02SPEAKER_00: Um and actually, the author is not just Brian Moran, it is Michael Lennington.
- 18:09SPEAKER_00: So my apologies.
- 18:10SPEAKER_00: Uh it is by those both of those authors.
- 18:12SPEAKER_00: The reason I'm doing the 12-week year is simple.
- 18:15SPEAKER_00: It's because a year is too long of a time frame to give you clarity about what you should be doing on a daily basis.
- 18:21SPEAKER_00: So the 12-week year is a goal setting system that helps you achieve more in a shorter amount of time by helping you focus on just a couple of short-term goals in one 12-week stretch at a time.
- 18:32SPEAKER_00: So in the first three months of 2018, I have three simple goals.
- 18:36SPEAKER_00: Number one is to lose 20 pounds.
- 18:39SPEAKER_00: Number two is to write a first draft of the book, Born to Create.
- 18:43SPEAKER_00: And then number three is to make$5,000 inside income.
- 18:47SPEAKER_00: So I've developed some weekly tactics and habits to support these goals.
- 18:51SPEAKER_00: Although 2019 has just started, I can already feel a difference in my attitude and my focus for the year by honing in on just these three goals.
- 18:58SPEAKER_00: I'm going to stick with the 12-year system for all of 2019 and see if it helps improve my success.
- 19:04SPEAKER_00: So I should also mention that I've been using the Full Focus Planner for about a year and a half.
- 19:08SPEAKER_00: That's a planner that was developed by Michael Hyatt.
- 19:11SPEAKER_00: He's a productivity expert and author and has lots of cool things online.
- 19:15SPEAKER_00: And I really, really like that planner.
- 19:17SPEAKER_00: You can find a link to it in the show notes.
- 19:19SPEAKER_00: The Full Focus Planner is a quarterly planner that helps you set and achieve goals, and I'm really looking forward to using it in conjunction with the 12-week year system.
- 19:28SPEAKER_00: Well, friends, I know this was a longer solo episode, and I hope this has been encouraging and helpful to you as you reflect on your previous year and as you consider what you want to achieve in 2019.
- 19:39SPEAKER_00: Well, I would really love to hear your thoughts.
- 19:41SPEAKER_00: What are your wins or challenges from 2018?
- 19:44SPEAKER_00: And what goals do you have for 2019?
- 19:47SPEAKER_00: You can join the conversation and find the post and the links that accompany this episode at KentSanders.net slash 2018 annual review.
- 19:56SPEAKER_00: That's 2018 Annual Review.
- 19:59SPEAKER_00: And all those words have a dash between them.
- 20:02SPEAKER_00: Well, friends, that wraps up this episode.
- 20:04SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed listening, please subscribe and leave a rating and a review on Apple Podcast.
- 20:09SPEAKER_00: That is so helpful in helping other people to discover the show and lets other people know that you found value in it as well.
- 20:15SPEAKER_00: And if you enjoyed this episode, please consider sharing it with a friend or a family member who you think would benefit from it.
- 20:21SPEAKER_00: You can find lots more resources to help you unlock your creative potential at KentSanders.net.
- 20:26SPEAKER_00: Until next time, remember that you were born to create and designed to make a difference.
- 20:30SPEAKER_00: Now go create something awesome.