Quarterly Goals?
Quarterly Goals are the well thought about activities and accomplishments I want to see done within a three month time span. There should be more than what can be accomplished though all and more must be aimed for. At the end of the quarter, a public post is made. What the goals were, their pass / fail state, and what the next quarter brings are all covered. (Nothing like public accountability!)
Author, vlogger, and cyborg Jenna Moreci (link to her Youtube channel) uses this system and is what I'm basing the work on. Her descriptions go in depth on the concept, so should you like to adopt the process, check her out. Follow along here regardless!
What Were My Goals?
For my first partial-quarter (only two months) trying out Quarterly Goals, I kept it loose with eleven parts:
- Sell all my excess books.
- Update my personal schedule.
- Prototype a real-time, text-based dungeon crawler.
- Prototype a Hotline Miami meets DOOM game.
- Outline a larger fan fiction of the Warhammer 40,000 Emperor of Humanity's unknown past.
- Rewrite three separate short stories based on feedback on.
- Rewrite a novella based on feedback of other stories.
- Only binge three meals a week.
- Some background on this: After following Tim Ferriss through a number of his books and studies, I read The 4-Hour Body, his book on health.
- Post a video of myself on social media once a week.
- Upload two projects to GitHub.
- Finish a video game.
To remind myself, these goals were kept on my phone's lock screen so never should I forget:
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| (Image by Raoni Nery) |
So, did I win the past few months? ... Let's say this is a learning experience.
Sell All Books
Failed. Only a single book of two or three dozen was sold (and for a pittance). The failure came from me using only Craigslist vs. Amazon Seller and bundling the books.
Update Schedule
Won. Calendar is clear with minimal additions. Further, a new morning routine is in place to maximize my accomplishments. That includes: Getting up at 6 AM everyday no matter what, writing / contributing to my quarterly goals first thing, then working out before the day job.
Real-Time, Text-Based Prototype
Failed. Not a complete failure, the prototype only has text recognition and some structures defined for code implementation. I know what I want to do - the next steps are to finish something demonstrable.
Hybrid Game Prototype
Failed. Even an attempt was abstained from. I may consider hiring someone in the future to render the prototype to specification later.
Fan Fic Outline
Won. Does an outline count if includes two branching possible narratives for the main character? I'm currently undecided.
Short Story Rewrites
Won. These were longer edits than anticipated. Nevertheless, I'm happy with the results. Any next step would have other folks critique them!
Novella Rewrite
Failed. The short stories took longer than expected, playing on my lack of planning.
Three Meal Binges
Won. I might get away with two in a week. Regardless, three works for me and I'll continue this experiment going forward.
Social Media Videos
Won. Success came merely as a technicality. Yes, videos were uploaded every week, but were they engaging? Provocative? A contribution to the world? I can do better.
GitHub Uploads
Won. Uploaded three older projects to GitHub! They don't reflect my current abilities. Instead, they serve as reminders to me that I can do things.
Finish a Video Game
Failed. Tried my hand at Darkest Dungeon. A very engaging game, but it had a repetitiveness and obvious setting back of playtime if mistakes were made. After attempting to complete it, I decided time was better invested in accomplishing other goals.
Six out of eleven isn't too bad for a first shot, but I'm a +90% kind of guy. A few things at home will be better regulated while I learn to say 'no' more easily.
Thus concludes the last quarter. Since this is long, look for the next post where I go over the goals due by September! (I promise to keep it short!)
