2015... Your Exclusion Goals?

[Mattie]

Oops. Which thread? Actually not even at school now and have been working! Just didn't see it.

I don't remember actually. You'll have to dig through the threads.

 

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[Adam Secada]

@MJ DeMarco -- I will be giving up Television, Staying Up Late, and "Quicksand Friends"

I have a friend who keeps up with 75 TV Shows. That's not a typo. I had him write down every show he follows, whether it be via Netflix, Hulu, ABC or NBC, and it came out to 75. EVEN WORSE, when he gets halfway through a season he feels compelled to stick with it, EVEN IF HE HATES THE SHOW FOR THE TIME INVESTMENT HE HAS IN IT. HOW INSANE IS THIS?

I follow three. Community. Game of Thrones (1 Season Behind). And It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. And sometimes I think thats too many. I'll be cutting it down even further. At the end of the day, if Betty doesn't get with Doctor Smith and we find out that Josie's Baby-Daddy is Ricardo and not Sammy, will it make ANY DIFFERENCE at all in our lives?

Nope.

I'm notorious for staying up late. Reddit users, you know what im talking about. However, I have been putting systems into place goto the gym every day at 5am (Notice how I didnt say I was "forcing myself" -- if you have to change your habits through willpower alone, you are fighting a losing battle.), so I'm naturally tired at 9PM

Quicksand Friends. Those people that just "bring you down" when youre around them. Those people where you just feel "tired" after you're away from them because they sucked so much out of you. If a relationship doesn't add value to your life -- that is, if it adds no value or even worse, takes something away from you, it's not worth having. Burn your bridges, I say.

Alrighty, @MJ DeMarco

Woo. Alright. 6 Month Checkin. You won't be disappointed.

TV
I don't own a TV anymore. I sold my 46" LCD flatscreen for $450 bucks -- 50 bucks more than I paid for it. I don't remember the last time I watched a TV show. I will occasionally pop in a vintage episode of Community, or maybe Doctor Who... but I'm three seasons behind Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead... I don't know whats going on in Better Call Saul, and I've never seen a single episode of Gotham, Agents of Shield or Daredevil. When it comes to television, I'm retarded.

GYM
I have been going to the gym 6 days a week for the past 6 months. I've gone from 193 lbs, 19.2% bodyfat to 170 lbs, 11.3% bodyfat, and I've started dating a woman who looks like she has fallen out of a Maxim magazine. She's gorgeous. She goes to the gym with me everyday now, as well.

STAYING UP
I don't stay up late anymore. Screens all go off at 10 PM -- no smartphones or anything with a screen, aside from an eReader, is allowed in my room after 10PM. Wake up between 7-8AM -- this isn't good enough. I'm going to get it to 5-6 AM with bed at 9 in the next 6 months.

QUICKSAND FRIENDS
Quicksand Friends... This is a big one. I have cut all the quicksand friends I have out of my life. I've been leveraging DFW meetups through the Fastlane Forum, and most recently Altucher's "Choose Yourself" Meetups to fill the vacancies with awesome, like minded people who share my passion to innovate and create. It was F*cking scary making that leap -- cutting off those friends completely, and being labeled as a hermit or a weirdo, but I can't have their negativity in my life. I just can't.

COROLLARY EFFECTS
I've given up drinking. Because I don't stay up late anymore, I literally do not have the willpower or fortitude to go out drinking anymore. I am exhausted at 9PM on Friday night, goto bed and am up at the gym 7 AM Saturday morning, along with the other gym rats (making friends with these people is key to motivating myself.)

Because I've given up my dumb friends, I've slashed all social media from my life. All it took was a Google Chrome extension (I'm writing up a blog post on this right now... stay tuned.)

KEYS TO SUCCESS (FOR ME)
Another thing I've noticed is that I have attached hard analytics and record tracking against my goals to make sure I'm trending in the right direction. Something I've noticed is that if I'm having an off day at the gym, that's OK -- all I need to do, to be victorious in my goals, is to have my weight gradually decrease over time, and my bodyfat to gradually decrease over time. This means an off day is to be expected, and you shouldn't beat yourself up over it. However, if the analytics show that you are starting to trend up where you want to trend down, thats when you need to hop on your goals again and reasess what is causing your daily routine to get out of whack.

Now... for the next 6 months. Building up my new product, and finding my first customers. I have more than enough time for that with all the extra shit slashed out of my life.

 

[GuestUser112]

Why is MJ successful? Consistency! I think we all learned something here today. OK here goes:

So I think I'm going to exclude all the things that I regret doing:

1. Hooking up with girls I didn't love
2. Treating people badly
3. Surfing Facebook's news feed
4. Drinking to excess
5. Smoking weed and tobacco
6. Hanging out with the wrong people
7. Trying to impress people
8. Eating bad food
9. Watching porn
10. Sleeping excessively
11. Watching more than 1 movie per day. I watched a series for 11 hours straight once (Stay away from Lost and Prison Break people).
12. Video games (I've pretty much curbed this but I used to be bad for it)
13. Responding to bad problems with physical violence. There's always a better way.

1. Hooking up with girls I didn't love - Check, I'm in a committed relationship. In love, too.
2. Treating people badly - Check, I get my kicks from being kind.
3. Surfing Facebook's news feed - Check, I don't have Facebook anymore.
4. Drinking to excess - Check, I haven't even had a drink since May 20th weekend.
5. Smoking weed and tobacco - Check, I quit both.
6. Hanging out with the wrong people - Check, I have no friends besides GF and family.
7. Trying to impress people - Check, I don't even know what this means anymore.
8. Eating bad food - Not check, I f**king love ice cream and chicken wings @IceCreamKid
9. Watching porn - Check, my GF is gorgeous, watching other people seems like blasphemy
10. Sleeping excessively - Check, I get between 6-8 hours habitually.
11. Watching more than 1 movie per day - Check, more like 1 per week now, if that.
12. Video games - Check...people still play video games? I'm out of touch...
13. Responding to problems with physical violence - Check, though if somebody attacks me I'll drop 'em.

All in all, it seems as though I've made a complete turn-around! Woohoo!! And only 6 months in! I guess I need to make some new goals now... alright here goes:

1. I drink way too much coffee. I'm not sure if I want to stop, though..Let's say, never more than 3 cups per day! (Gotta start somewhere...)

2. I'm fairly chaotic in how I organize my life. Goal 2. More organization, less chaos. Maybe a 'morning routine' would be a good start....

3. I forget to brush my teeth every day. So less forgetting-to-brush-my-teeth is the goal here.

4. Procrastination! I keep doing it! Less procrastination is the goal here!

I can only think of 4. That's funny though - at the beginning of this year, it seemed like I always trying to do a million things at once. Now, I'm much more focused at one thing at a time. So it looks like I've made an additional improvement, in that instead of trying to accomplish 13 negative goals, I'm only focusing on 4. Good for me. I'm glad this assessment went well. This is the first time I've looked at that list since making it, actually. When I got the email notification from MJ's post, I thought: "Oh God, I haven't even LOOKED at those goals; I don't even remember what they were! Better ignore this...no wait, I should at least SEE if I've made SOME small improvement."

Well surprise surprise!! 2015 is a BANNER F*ckIN' YEAR at The Bender Household! (without the 'smoke up, Johnny!''s)

 

[GuestUser112]

3. I forget to brush my teeth every day. So less forgetting-to-brush-my-teeth is the goal here.

Just so people know, I meant that I don't always remember to brush my teeth...not that I forget to brush them every day. I mean, I don't always remember to brush them every single day....I'm not THAT gross. At least, I hope I'm not. I just forget sometimes, OK?

 

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[beatgoezon]

How was my 2015... I really didn't think about it until now, sadly... For the first time ever, I've finally worked up the discipline to create a committed routine since January 2015, it's been a great year so far, although with a few doubts left in the end, but I can see the progress has compounded.


Completed

Learn about the mobile app/game business in general and master the basic theories, concepts, direction ( understand the field thoroughly)

Learn game development, level design, the pushes and pulls of a game, retention, difficulty level, addictiveness

Understand why certain games succeed and others don't and apply it in your own development
Learn art design, themes, and asset creation (Pixelmator)

Learn ASO, ( so far only the basics)

Create your first dollar (not much but it's shown me that if I can make 1 dollar, I can learn to make more)

Build up a network with game developers/marketers in the app business and learn their strategies

Learn the technical aspect of app development(compilation, trailers, ad network SDKs, etc)

Create at least 1 game by June (even if it's crap)

Create a game which gets outstanding feedback from authorities, veteran game marketers, pros( I didn't think I'd hit here until December, so one great thing happened!)

Read every book/course on game development you find, blogs too

Finish the Appreneur Summit videos

Create and follow a productive work schedule( minimize time wasted)

Not give up if you don't make an income in 6 months, ( From what I've learned, the apps/games field takes
longer to find a flow in and reach success, not quite sure though), I'm just glad I didn't give up

To-Do

Create a sustained income flow with mobile games( $500-$xx,xxx)

Get a game published through a publisher

Learn advanced ASO

Create relations with editors and market through review sites

Learn to create attractive pitches

Create a high quality game

Learn and figure out the direction of mobile game marketing (been stuck on this one...)

Apply the marketing and create a successful launch by getting at least #75 in the Top Charts

Possibly create a viral game

Increase retention value, user acquisition, engagement by 25% at least

Become a brand with company by creating fans (I still have to learn this one)

Understand and replicate principles (through applying) that the Appreneur Summit taught

Cut out procrastination, bad days, and increase weekly work efficienty by 50%(more progress of games, more tweaking done with less confusion, debugging less by making less mistakes, marketing through an organized direction/steps)

Final Thoughts on the Half-Year

I've learned a lot, but it feels like I'm only getting started with the actual part of the journey, which is becoming profitable.

The Appreneur Summit (interviews with successful app developers) was absolutely amazing in helping me find direction with what a successful app/game is, and one of the coolest and most epic things I realized was the Fastlane's very own @Rcaraway1989 was an expert in one of the interviews, it blew me away seeing him there, lol Seriously you've been an inspiration from the first day all the way up to know, thanks Rob

The biggest achievement so far has been finally being able to create something that I've gotten great feedback on from an authority in the mobile game business, he gave some great feedback and I'm in the process of launching soon (lets see how that goes)

The 6 month period of 2015 has felt like years now due to all the learning, failing, tweaking, but eventually I've gained something I thought would take years... It's been a learning period these 6 months.

The biggest flaw of this 6 month period was it was only a learning period, I doubt myself a lot these days, like 6 months without profit, is that right, or am I doing something wrong that it's taken so long? it's like MJ said in one of his videos on his YouTube channel about the Desert of Desertion... Damn... I feel like I've been in the desert all this time, it gets so painful sometimes dealing with the circumstances of life and working on this business at the same time... But you hit it spot on @MJ DeMarco, with no feedback, it's like a long desert...

The next 6 months for me are all about tangible achievements and maximizing efficiency.

One final thought I'd leave here, the next 6 months for all of us can be with us immersed in TV, web surfing, wasting time, etc, or it can be the the days we look back and thank ourselves for, so make the next 6 months count guys...

 

[mws87]

Man, 2015 has been killer so far. I've made a LOT of changes so far, but more are still needed. I haven't been here over a year yet, thus never contributed to the NY Goal thread. I'll share some of my realizations and the steps I've taken so far.

My 2015 Realizations:
Before reading TMF (March 2015? Maybe April)
1) Realized I was thinking too much like a consumer
2) Realized I hated having to wear a stupid, "special" polo every Friday and hated being threatened to get canned if I didn't do so
3) Realized I hated having a district manager, nowhere near my market telling me how things worked
4) Realized I had wasted the past 10 years of my life living in repetition working a Just Over Broke
5) Realized I hated battling my anxiety and depression which was brought on by once accepting mediocrity
6) Realizing I had wasted SO MUCH time playing video games and watching TV when I should have been reading and learning

After reading TMF
1) Realized I wasn't the only one who thought the 9-5 life was just another lottery ticket
2) Realized I CAN do something about it
3) Realized I am definitely GLAD I spent hours in my younger years learning html, css, etc.
4) Realized anything is possible by utilizing a proper mindset
5) Realized the importance of PROCESS over EVENT. (I was waiting for that "event" to happen for years)
6) Realized the importance of separating your time from your money
7) Realized (this may sound cheesy) dreams are still possible.
The list can go on forever for my post-TMF realizations, those were some of the most important ones that helped me shift my mindset.

TMF aside, the biggest realization I had? I HAD NOBODY TO BLAME BUT MYSELF. But, I also realized, I had a choice.

The Goals
-Do something different, break the cycle.
-Save up some money to dump my dead-end, toxic job
-After dumping said jump, start something of my own and see it through to the end. ANYTHING. See: Break the cycle.
-Learn as much as I possibly can
-Stop playing video games, watching TV, and wasting money on depreciating consumer items
-Find my vision, then make the smaller goals needed to reach that vision
-Start working my a$$ off, more than I ever have to provide the lifestyle I want

What's Been Done
-Saved up money, dumped job and started my journey down a different path, continuously breaking the cycle. Not only did it work wonders for my sanity, it helped me focus a lot more and clear my mind. I figured I would start with writing. I am not planning on it being fastlane at all, but I had to start SOMEWHERE, just to break that cycle and prove to myself that I can do something. So far I've written and published 5 eBooks, having not outsourced them. Have had a ton of downloads, and some minor sales, but that is a work in progress which will grow larger with proper marketing. I've also made a pledge that I will not write crap - it has to have sufficient content and no fluff.
-Have begun reading more, A LOT more. Learning as much as I possibly can, daily. Within a week I picked up coding again and learned a tremendous amount. I have also started to learn as much as I can about marketing, sales and money in general. As well as studying ways to provide value to people instead of being selfish like I used to be.
-I stopped playing video games, stopped watching TV.
-I have several visions, and am currently trying to find which I am going to focus on the most. I have, however, started taking the needed steps and accomplishing my smaller goals.
-I have been working my a$$ off as much as I possibly can. I have decided to do whatever it takes to get things going. I will have to eventually get another job, but for right now I have some time. My first day of writing, I had never had any experience writing a book, I haven't written anything over 2 pages in years. I had no idea where to start, was trying to figure it out and finally slapped myself and said "JUST START WITH WHAT YOU KNOW". I started writing, knocked out 30 pages in one day. The process was grueling. I felt like I had ran a marathon. I had no idea writing could be so exhausting. But I did it, and I liked it. I liked feeling exhausted doing something other than punching a clock, creating something. Since then, the process has gotten easier and more enjoyable.
-Stopped adopting the reality of others. One of my favorite quotes in TMF "Your reality doesn't change mine"
-I stopped TALKING and started DOING.

Everything I have mentioned is going to be ongoing. I've made a promise to myself that I will not quit and most important - I will endure my failures and learn. Failure = feedback. It's the rematch after getting losing the first fight, the chance to study the footage and see where you went wrong and what needs to be done to WIN.

The hardest part was getting over the fear. Hell, I remember the day I quit my job. I kept looking at my bank account ALL DAY to calm myself down and it wasn't working. I had a pit in my stomach filled with butterflies, thinking "OMG - What Have I done!?". What helped? I thought to myself "Dude, STFU - When it comes time to get a job again, get one. Don't waste your time worrying right now."

It was strange shifting my mindset, I had the weirdest sensations going on, my perception was different, it was one of the most bizarre things I've ever encountered. I think one member on here said it was the "ALL IN" mentality.

THE NEXT STEPS
-Learn to FOCUS more on one goal at a time. I get really anxious at times which causes me to get into a panic.
-Start regaining my health - It has gone to absolute shit from my sales job. Chemical Imbalance for sure.
-Get better at my own time management. I'm a bit of a scatter brain sometimes, I'll jump from task to task and it ultimately works against me, causing me to be less productive than I think I am.
-Keep learning, keep burning and keep it moving. I absolutely refuse to settle.
-Get my mind straight (did I mention Focus more?) - setup some time every day to get outside of the house away from the monitors and screens, away from all the reminders to nourish my mind. Yesterday, I went for a hike through a national park here will my fiance was at work. I hadn't been that physically active in a long time. It hurt, it hurt so f'ng bad. I found a spot near a creek to sit. After my heart rate slowed and I cooled off, I felt amazing. Being outside, away from the noise, away from all the BS. As I looked at all the nature surrounding me, wondering how long it had been there, what it used to look like, etc (insert compulsive thoughts here) I found a reminder: The world won't stop for you. All those trees, the creek, the waterfalls, they don't give a shit about you. Life will continue without you. Don't take that as a grim, depressing, self-loathing thought. It was simple, I had to keep making things happen. I can't slow down. Once you quit, life will pass you by. I've already wasted enough time being a victim, being self-loathing, being the first to the pitty party.
-The final goal: Start helping more people. Whether it be on the forum, or in my daily life. I want to impact people, I want to become more of a contributor. The world can seem like a shitty place, and I've grown to learn that being successful doesn't start with being a selfish douche-bag, it starts with helping others. Find more like minded individuals in my personal life.

THE ULTIMATE GOAL
This is obvious, it's the same goal we all have. Divorce time from money, find my path to providing value and helping others. Within a year, I am determined to find "It" and am dedicating myself to executing. I am not saying I will be retired in a year - I know it takes serious time and dedication. What I am saying is I will narrow my focus and find that missing piece to the puzzle of people's needs.

Sorry, my post may be a bit scattered as I am extremely exhausted at this point in the night. Although I was already in process of making huge changes for myself, TMF really gave me the boost I needed. It gave me the clarity and helped me prioritize and get a more clear picture of what needs to be done.
I can't thank MJ enough for writing it, and I can't thank all you guys/gals on here for your contribution to this gold-mine of knowledge. Even though I don't communicate personally with a lot of you, your insights do have impact on me. I sense an INSIDERS's subscription coming soon.

There were a LOT more things I started changing and making adjustments to, but these were the most relevant ones.

TL;DR
I realized life sucked and it was only up to me to make it un-suck. I started getting shit done.

Goal 10. Start engaging with people instead of being an introvert! I have been engaging, but it feels like I'm wasting time when I do. Usually an two hours a day on different forums.

Oh, jeez. This is me all the time. People have compared my personality to that of Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm. I need to break this cycle too!

 

[FeaRxUnLeAsHeD]

• I'm giving up businesses that haven't gained traction or momentum based on a certain period of time. Now that i'm a bit more enlightened from this forum with the whole "add value" instead of "how can i fund myself X" , i've realized how backwards my thinking was, and that impacted actions i took towards building businesses... which has delayed the process in doing well. So i'm setting deadlines now or giving up the business and moving onto the next one.
• I'm giving up my phone for the most part. I've made it a habit to only check my phone twice a day.. once in the AM, once at lunch time, that's it. I silence everything but the ringer and will only communicate via phone calls aside from AM and lunch. That means only twice i will check facebook, GroupMe, email, twitter, instagram, whatever bullshit that can consume your time and energy and thoughts.

Will reply directly to what I said in January.

• I dumped a business that was fueled by purely money as a motivation. Best decision I've ever made because it cleared a mental fog that was clouding my creativity and producitivty to operate new businesses. I would relate everything I would learn to that business, which is definitely better than not relating it to anything and then forgetting what you learned, but I was also applying it in wantrepreneur ways.. I went out and got the fancy business cards, the fancy website outsourced, and all that flashy shit. I was 'CEO' in my social media networks. But I had virtually no revenue. I dropped all the bullshit there and dumped the business.

It took me a few months until about May to actually see that I was being a wantrepreneur instead of actually making shit happen and adding value. As soon as my head uncleared from the previous failed business, I began taking on opportunities to learn PROCESS, FUNCTION, and ACTUALLY ADDING VALUE. I had logged out for almost an entire year all the problems I ran into on a DAILY basis, then I excel sheeted them and did a weighted average decision matrix and picked one. The one I picked turned out, after about 2-3 weeks of research and taking action, to not have much demand for the PRODUCT, and I realized my idea was only driven based on building a specific brand around a well known product already.. so I decided to drop that as well.

Then, I started pursuing a product business by adding value where I saw the demand, and am actively doing that, and doing it well, in my opinion. I'm waiting on designers and my supplier to piece together some of the last things for my product, and I'll have my product up in less than a month now..

On top of that, as I was pursuing the product business, I saw a serious need for some software, talked to some developers, found how easily / affordable I could create this software to solve a PERSONAL need... Then I did some research, found out there is nothing out there like it, gauged feedback from some friends, and am now pursuing a software licensing business as well, talking to software developers and will have a prototype product within 3 weeks id assume. I plan on adding an installation wizard on the software and licensing it to businesses/schools. For the simplicity of the problem it solves and the simplicity of making it, I think this idea is too good to throw onto the forum here so I will not mention the need i'm solving. The main point to this rant is that once I dropped the bullshit, dumped the failed business, and cleared my mind, I was able to start actually FOCUSING ON needs. At first I couldn't SEE the needs. Now i catch them and ACT..

• The phone thing is always difficult. I'm in school, and everyone navigates their life by crisis.

"WE GOT A MEETING"
"WE HAVE TO MEET NOW"
"WE CHANGED THE MEETING ROOM"
"WHERE IS EVERYONE"
"PRACTICE IS NOW AT 4:00PM "- Sent at 2:45pm

GroupMe, Text, Phone calls, Skype, Email, Facebook, FB Messenger... CONSTANTLY pinging. That's not the life I choose to live. And, I officially ended that shit. I had to wait until the semester was over though honestly.. and THEN i set the STANDARD. I'll explain below:

First, I implemented an app on my computer called StayFocus'd - You can limit how long you can be on 'limited' websites that YOU choose. So i put email and facebook. 15 minutes a day and it blocks me from going on those websites from my PC.

Second, I downloaded RescueTime - An app that runs in the background of my phone and PC and I can monitor time spent on WHAT and WHERE - from websites to apps to software on PC, etc.

This stuff is as of recent :

Third, I set specific times that I will check ALL social media in ONE BATCH - Go through my phone, skype, text, FB messenger etc all in 1 swing, once in the AM, once at lunch time. That's IT.

Fourth, I changed all applications on my phone to not send push notifications / not notify me if someone sends me a message or anything. If I get a text, my text app just has a number above it to say how many i haven't read. I don't get pinged in my status bar. No more FB updates, FB messenger push notifcations, skype, email etc constantly pinging.

Fifth, I SET THE STANDARD - Added an email signature "I check email twice a day, morning and noon, if you require an immediate response, please call X"
I will continue to set that standard to everyone, no matter F*cking WHAT, where, or why. Texting and messenger bullshit is too inefficient. IF YOU NEED TO GET AHOLD OF ME IMMEDIATELY, you can call my phone. I don't answer? Leave a voicemail. Urgent? I'll listen to it and call you back as soon as i can. Not urgent? I'll get back to you in the AM or at lunch. I'll continue to let people know that THAT is the only acceptable way to communicate with me in 'crisis' situations, otherwise it can wait til am or noon.

The only exception to the rules above is if i am using the social network or whatever for business purposes: talking with a supplier, designer, etc. All else is no longer important unless you call me.

The result? Well, I'm still working on it and this is pretty recent, but my productivity has soared. I'm less distracted by my phone. I'm less likely to pick it up and check the screen for a message, and i feel less obligated to quickly read something that comes in because I know i've set the standard that if its important theyll call me.

 

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[Spartan]

Well folks come Monday 2015 will be HALF OVER.

What have you accomplished?
Learned?
Improved upon?

And more so, what have you gotten rid of?

Are you on track of progress? Or back in the mud of mediocrity?

I did a search for "2015 goals" and a lot of stuff came up, most from people who posted and disappeared along with their 2015 goals. Don't be one of them.

I haven't been online much lately, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working towards accomplishing my goals. I think my first goal was getting my stress and anxiety under control, and I can honestly say that I have made some major improvements in my life that have helped me overcome this.

First off, I was really stressed out with my classes at school. I was a mechanical engineering major, and I was doing pretty well for myself in that field. I had already completed two internships working at engineering firms, and I took a job working for one of them part-time during the school year. Though I had an exceptional gpa and this work expereience, I was never really happy with my major. I just couldn't sense any strong purpose for anything I had studied in that field so far. I did a lot of exploration in my free time trying to decide if I should transfer majors or stick it out.

I eventually decided on computer science based on a vast amount of coding I have done at my current part time job - Plus I loved the idea of all the possibilities this degree gave me to really pursue different avenues career wise. This relieved a great amount of my stress almost instantly. Additionally, I can still keep my part-time job at the engineering firm I work at! So that keeps the money coming in!

I think my second goal was to help my brother gain some weight... That's still a work in progress.... I made him a workout guide, but its been hard to get him to go to the gym when I'm living two hours away. Hopefully he will get in gear here pretty soon!

 

[Spartan]

Well folks come Monday 2015 will be HALF OVER.

What have you accomplished?
Learned?
Improved upon?

And more so, what have you gotten rid of?

Are you on track of progress? Or back in the mud of mediocrity?

I did a search for "2015 goals" and a lot of stuff came up, most from people who posted and disappeared along with their 2015 goals. Don't be one of them.

MJ, how did you like the Legion Pulse Pre-workout? You still using it? And did you try any of his other suppliments?

Been pretty impressed with Mike Matthews work so far. I think Legion Supplements is a fantastic example of a Fastlane business that grows by putting the customer before the money. I was listening to a podcast by him yesterday talking about how he doesn't spend any money on advertising. Instead, he puts all the money into raw materials for his suppliments. He relies on people like you and I to market his product for him. Reminded me a lot of how you didn't do a lot of advertising for TMF either. It seems like products that really help people will grow like wildfire without advertising because of how much people love recommending things that make their own live's better.

 

[OscarDeuce]

Well, I didn't post any specific goals, but here's the rundown, and some of this wouldn't have been possible had I not discovered this website...

What have you accomplished?

I wanted to take my sole-practitioner consulting business to the next level. Through an alliance with a member I met on this site, throttleforward, I've signed two contracts with new clients as a result of his marketing efforts. This one's solidly on track, and I'll be posting more about it in a separate thread when time permits.

While not a done deal, I've got two major networks bidding for the TV show I produce and direct. While I've had moderate success selling to the "second tier" international market, my goal was to make a sale to a major network in a major market this year.

Although not a goal at the beginning of the year, I just applied for a patent on a consumer product that is perfect for a true "fastlane" business. Certainly "inspired" by this site.

Learned?

That there are people on this site with the knowledge and expertise to help with those aspects of my business that I don;t have the interest in learning about or doing personally - throttleforward, we'll be talking about the consumer product soon...)

Improved upon?

I've found myself strangely more dedicated to working out since I've been here...

And more so, what have you gotten rid of?

The notion that I'm stuck in the city where I currently live. My wife and I will be moving to our dream house in an area we both prefer about 9 months from now (counting the days).

Are you on track of progress? Or back in the mud of mediocrity?

Squarely on track.

Cheers,
O-2

 

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[Ubermensch]

Well folks come Monday 2015 will be HALF OVER.

What have you accomplished?
Learned?
Improved upon?

And more so, what have you gotten rid of?

Are you on track of progress? Or back in the mud of mediocrity?

I did a search for "2015 goals" and a lot of stuff came up, most from people who posted and disappeared along with their 2015 goals. Don't be one of them.

What have you accomplished?

I got paid on my first commercial energy efficiency project. The first stage was a commercial LED retrofit. My client had over 10,000 fluorescent T8 lights, each which produced 32 watts. The LED lights that we sold to the client use only 18 watts.

Like many cities, the city where my client is located has a major energy efficiency initiative, backed by the mayor himself. Because my client is the first in the city (like many cities in the U.S, all of the buildings have fluorescent lights) to have executed a transaction of this type, we have solidified a marketing partnership with the mayor's office. While this doesn't give us any actual capital, it does give us some major street credibility with local clients.

Learned?

I learned the pain of being the first person to do something. It wasn't easy putting together everything in place to make the above project happen.

First, I needed a lighting manufacturer. While it is easy to find these, it is not easy to find a manufacturer who will play ball with you, regarding pricing. Most lighting manufacturers want to take all of the margin in the deal, and won't leave any left over.

Second, I needed to international sourcing and logistics. Most people don't know, but everything lighting-related is manufactured in China, whether it is for the big names like Cree, GE, or Phillips, or more boutique players. If you're not sourcing overseas, you aren't competitive on pricing. Period.

Third, and this was the most important piece, I needed access to a pool of capital that would allow my commercial customers to purchase LED lighting with no money out of pocket. I have a network now with billions of dollars in capital allocated for these types of projects.

More to come... gotta run for now.

 

[FeaRxUnLeAsHeD]

Well, I didn't post any specific goals, but here's the rundown, and some of this wouldn't have been possible had I not discovered this website...

What have you accomplished?

I wanted to take my sole-practitioner consulting business to the next level. Through an alliance with a member I met on this site, throttleforward, I've signed two contracts with new clients as a result of his marketing efforts. This one's solidly on track, and I'll be posting more about it in a separate thread when time permits.

While not a done deal, I've got two major networks bidding for the TV show I produce and direct. While I've had moderate success selling to the "second tier" international market, my goal was to make a sale to a major network in a major market this year.

Although not a goal at the beginning of the year, I just applied for a patent on a consumer product that is perfect for a true "fastlane" business. Certainly "inspired" by this site.

Learned?

That there are people on this site with the knowledge and expertise to help with those aspects of my business that I don;t have the interest in learning about or doing personally - throttleforward, we'll be talking about the consumer produce soon...)

Improved upon?

I've found myself strangely more dedicated to working out since I've been here...

And more so, what have you gotten rid of?

The notion that I'm stuck in the city where I currently live. My wife and I will be moving to our dream house in an area we both prefer about 9 months from now (counting the days).

Are you on track of progress? Or back in the mud of mediocrity?

Squarely on track.

Cheers,
O-2

What inspired the move? Did you position yourself financially to be able to finally move into your dream house?

Congratulations

 

[OscarDeuce]

What inspired the move? Did you position yourself financially to be able to finally move into your dream house?

Congratulations

Finances are part of it. We're at a point where we can pay cash for exactly what we want. Mostly though it is the realization that I operate all of my businesses out of my home, and the few employees I need work out of their homes as well. Many of them, I've never met face to face. My consulting work does require occasional face-to-face with clients, but they're spread across the country anyway. I'll probably end of traveling a bit more than now because a number of my clients are clustered around the area I currently live in (Washington DC and suburbs) but its a worthwhile trade off for the improvement in quality of life. It should also be a somewhat temporary situation as well, since part of "taking my consulting business to the next level" is passing on some of the customer-facing interaction to other employees. Likewise, the cast and crew for the TV show are literally spread coast to coast and the show itself is shot on location, so I have to fly everyone in for the shoot anyway. So, while I don't yet have the time freedom that a true fastlane business provides, I do have "geographical" freedom! Might as well go where the climate, lifestyle, and taxes are more agreeable.

Cheers,
O-2

 

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[Andy Black]

I will give up my smartphone.

I gave it up for a couple of weeks.

Wow... it was so liberating, and it showed me what an unconcious habit I have of reaching for my pocket when I've "a moment spare" rather than living in the moment.

I went back to the smartphone because I missed the camera, doing Skype calls with my parents, and reading.

But I've turned off the email notifications so I have to physically go into gmail and refresh to get new emails downloaded. I often forget entirely to do this during the day, which is great.

I still battle to stay more in the moment.

I've not looked too hard, but I'd like to just use some features all the time, and have some convoluted way to turn on the ones that I'll keep shutdown because they distract me.

 

[James Thornton]

Quit 9-5 job. Not as comfortable, but surviving and getting a lot done that will payoff later.

Identified Fastlane path and began process of shutting down current business end of year.

Made living plans next year to reduce monthly expenses. Which I don't want to do, but it will short circuit my process.

Threw out business ideas that I would have enjoyed.

Threw out product ideas in progress that didn't have big enough markets. Near completion on the few I kept.

Learned how to identify million dollar markets. Identified specific ones to target.

Designed concepts for those markets, and confirmed the ideas are better than anything current. (still need consumer validation)

Made clear business plan for next year and a half.


So no pay off yet, but it's only a matter of time and execution.

 

[Bila]

In 2015 i will say NO to :

-Distractions ( i will not jump from one article to another while reading on the net, i will spend 15-20 mn on skype with family instead of hours sometimes )
- Trying to help people who are not ready or not willing to help themselves ( this was a big time waster in 2014)

- Relying too much on intuition for decision making ( eventhough, so far my intuition helped a lot ) but need to pay more attention to facts ...so i can be more prepared.

6 months already !!
Goal number one : less distractions and skyping with family ... Check, i talk to them once or twice a week ( instead of every day before )
Goal number 2: trying to help people who are not ready or not willing to help themselves .... Check ... But it's a tough one.
Goal number 3: intuition and not relying on it too much : .... Hmmm ... I would say not there yet. A work in progress.

Goals for the remaining 6 months :
1- Will say no to being caught in the " business" of life and have always the bigger picture in mind
2- Will say no to being afraid of change and taking risks .

 

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[SenGracic]

For the last 4 years I was doing everything wrong so I decided to give up on a lot of things.

I cancelled my TV subscription and only keep internet at home.
I used to game a lot on my ps3 and how I play maybe 30 min every 2 weeks or every month.
I gave up on my usual netflix marathons. I watch it sometimes before bed with my girlfriend.
Deleted facebook. Only keeping instagram,snapchat and linkedin with notifications turned off.
I used to buy a lot of dietary supplements, now I stick with protein,creatine and bcaas and I buy bulk.
Going to the library instead of buying every book I want to read and/or searching the web.

Now I have a few other things to fix :

1. Reduce my carbs and junk food intake ( I eat out a lot )
2. Cutting my cellphone bill from 150$ to 50$ a month ( useless data consumption )
3. Going out 2-3/week for a beer so I can pay off my debts ASAP
4. Buying lunch to my girlfriend/little useless things every week ( sometimes 2-3 times a week)

The last 4 are the hardest but I'm working on them.

Talk to pretty much anyone about their goals or NY's Resolutions and they'll mention some goal or achievement...

I want to lose weight.
I want to bench 315.
I want to get out of debt.
I want to start a business.
I want to write 5 books.

However, if you examine any goal, ultimately, that goal's achievement depends entirely on saying NO, REMOVING something, or excluding some action.

For example, for the person losing weight... they have to give up/remove/say no to CARBS, or SUGAR or MCDONALDS or SOMETHING.

For the "get out debt" person, they have to give up eating out and impulse spending.

For the "write 5 books" guy, they have to give up television, TMZ, or video games.

In other words, achieving goals really is about saying NO and GIVING UP on something.

My question for you is this...

In 2015, what will you be giving up to achieve your goals?

And in December 2015, will you look back on this thread and say "I did it!"? Or "Crap! That lasted 2 weeks!"

The thing is, most goals could be guessed based on what you are giving up.

 

[Bellini]

When I woke up this morning it was 62 degrees outside. It was cool, in September (?)

It startled me into realizing the year is speedily passing by and Fall is already upon us! The end of the year is going to be here before we know it.

This year I had 2 goals that I've done well with so far:

1. To exercise more

2. Read my bible every morning



My main exclusionary goals this year were having to set aside some of the other ideas I wanted to work on. I had pretty much already given up everything else. ha


But since we only have about 3 & 1/2 months left of 2015, I thought 'What can I realistically accomplish by December 31st?'

What I'm hoping to accomplish by the end of the year, is to have a finished product in my hand, and have it sold. I still have many steps to go through to get there.

Even if I sell just one unit by the end of the year and only have a $20 profit, at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve I'm going to wave that $20 in the air and celebrate !

 

[Bellini]

What I'm hoping to accomplish by the end of the year, is to have a finished product in my hand, and have it sold. I still have many steps to go through to get there.

Even if I sell just one unit by the end of the year and only have a $20 profit, at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve I'm going to wave that $20 in the air and celebrate !

Well, I did it! I made my $20 before the end of the year. haha

Actually the profit was a little more than that and it was with a 'practice brand' / low-margin product I was basically experimenting with, not my real brand. I just listed a few recently and woke up to these emails on my phone.
I know it's not much, but it's a start!

 

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[Bila]

Well, I did it! I made my $20 before the end of the year. haha

Actually the profit was a little more than that and it was with a 'practice brand' / low-margin product I was basically experimenting with, not my real brand. I just listed a few recently and woke up to these emails on my phone.
I know it's not much, but it's a start!


View attachment 11204

This made my day, you have no idea congrats !!

 

[DrkSide]

In 2015, what will you be giving up to achieve your goals?

Looking back at the year I really only had one goal. That was to have sales over $100k by the end of the year with a new product line.

I accomplished that on November 6th of this year.

There was only one thing that I really gave up: MY JOB

That gave me the time to dedicate the resources that I had to make my goal.