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January 2, 2023

2023 Q1 Goals + Recap

  1. Journal > 75% of the quarter and track habits –  The main goal of Q1 is to get back to the cadence of starting my mornings more leisurely than jumping out of bed and into my phone and work. Each day before I walk into the office I want to know I have done something to better myself and my people via personal development or health
    • I was about 50% compliant with this. I found myself starting off the weeks really strong and by wednesday / thursday not finishing up the journal. Will continue this in Q2
  2. Stealth 250 and walk 100 miles on treadmill – I want to ensure i’m not just exercising but staying active all through the day at the standing desk where I can not be sedentary
    • Hit the 250 on stealth, will carry over to Q2. My core feels much stronger so I want to continue this habit. I had some foot problems so the treadmill one did not materialize
  3. Explore Broader EY – I have enjoyed my nearly two years in my corner of the firm and want to peek up at the larger organization especially from an innovation context to see what else I can get involved in.
    • Did this by exploring the Enterpreneur of the Year program as well as starting to have conversations with folks in the internal innovation functions. As a mentor told me big companies like this are huge candy stores and I want to explore more.
  4. Plan the next trip–  Nothing on the calendar as of yet, and that should change ASAP
    • Yes! Scheduled a trip to vegas which was a delight
  5. Track all my trackable food– I fell off this at EOY and want to get back on the horse of targeting and tracking what I put in my body
    • Good not great with this
  6. Pay taxes in Q1 – dont want to deal with extensions and having it looming over me.
    • Did this a month ahead of tax time. Woohoo

2023 Q1 Highlights

  • Wound down a challenging engagement and spent some time on the bench and got the opportunity to go back to a prior client who I enjoyed working with
  • Promotion at work to Manager became official
  • Had a memorable new years with some friends and their parents near central park
  • Surprised my girlfriend with her parents coming into town for her birthday
  • Sur la table and hudson table cooking class  
  • Guest on my sister’s first podcast episode
  • Started going to Physical therapy to strengthen my hip and feet
  •  
November 8, 2022

2022 Q4 Goals

Intro

Goals

150 Stealth attempts

I bought this workout toy a year or two ago and haven’t been using it as much as I should and it is taking up space. If I don’t do 150 stealth attempts which is less than 2 a day I’m going to throw the item out.

  • Did this, doing 250+ Q1
50+ Gympass Workout Classes or Trainiac Self Directed Sessions
  • Yes!
Publish “What I learned in EMS” Blog post

Content has not been a priority for me for a while. I just hired someone to help me push out a few blog posts that are on my queu

  • Nope, working writing into my schedule more in 23
Social Media Lifesavers

Content has not been a priority for me for a while. I just hired someone to help me push out a few blog posts that are on my queue

  • Good but not great. Keep going

Highlights

  • time in NC for holiday break
  • learning a bunch on my new work engagement
  • Securing promotion
July 9, 2022

2022 Q3 Goals + Recap

Plan a big trip. – Ideally, International with bonus points for figuring out how to work at a new location.

We planned a big trip but it got interrupted by a funeral. But have already rescheduled a mini trip

100 stealth attempts – my core is stronger and I joined Nick Gray’s ab group

Didn’t do this but committed to do this next quarter

Social media 3x per day – I’m giving myself three lifesavers to start the day and if I don’t have enough time for a life saver I don’t have enough time for social media

Did this for a couple of days but fell off

Finish half of productivity planner journal

Did this!

Make meat a treat – I’m eating too much meat unnecessarily and want to have more of a plant based diet. It shouldn’t be an everyday thing

Good not great in this department

Scout real estate investments

started to

Hype house progress – something I’m not yet public with but want to discuss with a friend.

Tried it and decided it was low priority vs lift to get it working

File taxes – before deadlines

Nearly complete

Streaming sales review

Work in progress

May 22, 2022

Nick’s 2-Hour Cocktail Party

Introduction

Nick Gray and I worked together in NYC.  If you don’t know Nick, you should. Nick was described as a “modern day Emily Post” and that only scratches the surface. Nick is a twice-exited entrepreneur and investor who spends most of his time running a small family office and writing a weekly newsletter which I think is one of the most interesting things on the internet.  was his personal Chief-of-Staff during some of the big growth years of Museum Hack. Nick had just handed over the reins as CEO to the extraordinary Tasia Duske and was figuring out what the next professional chapter of his life would look like. We worked together to look at investments, supercharge bringing value to his network (a big priority if you know Nick at all) and most of all plan cool parties with awesome people. Everything from small cocktail parties to a large birthday party at Lincoln Center, of course with nametags. 
Nick is also very much stuck in my head thanks to the quote below 

Nick Gray and Cocktail Parties

Nick has a VERY specific way of hosting a party. I’ve seen it, dozens of times. There are name tags, and icebreakers, and party reminder messages, and lots more. My favorite part about the parties was always how many new connections were made. My job was to help run all of the logistics to make them seamless. At our height, we were hosting one party per week.

The 2-Hour Cocktail Party

This is a new book from Nick that will launch on June 14, 2022. He sent me an advance copy, and I’ve read various versions of the book over the past few years. I know it will be great.

How to Host a Party

This is a whole site that Nick made about how to host a party, with various tips, tricks, techniques, shopping lists, etc. See more at www.party.pro, and here are links to some of my favorite articles there:

 

How to Make New Friends

Nick says that the best way to make new friends or build your network is to learn how to host a happy hour or a cocktail party. The book talks a lot about that. It is an extremely tactical book.

Conclusion

I’m super happy for Nick to finally get his book out. I learned so much from working with him and a good chunk of my networking game is inspired by the way Nick operates. I hope others can benefit from his unique way of hosting. It can be easy!  But of course, it also helps if you have a great Chief-of-Staff named Mike. 😄
Let me know if you buy the book, would love to hear what you’ve learned.
May 7, 2022

2022 Q2 Goals + Recap

Goals

Move

I’m moving to Jersey City in June and couldn’t be more excited. We are way ahead of the game having signed a lease three months in advance, bought a couch, and secured movers but there is still alot of work to be done. I need to purge/donate/giveaway much of the stuff that won’t be coming into the new apt.

  • Recap – Crushed this. Moving was a tremendous amount of work. We used SvenMoving.com for the second time and couldn’t recommend them more highly. Packing took up most of May and unpacking we were done with about two weeks in. About one month in we are fully unpacked and starting to feel like we live in our new city.
Diet Coke reduction

I’m driving probably a minimum of 7 or so glasses a day and want to reduce this as I know it is not healthy and likely impacting my overall fitness goals. Replacing with more seltzer from my sodastream as well as coconut water and lemon juice. Aiming for 3-4 glasses a week. Writing this on April 10th so going to keep a log that lets me do 40x a month.

  • Recap – Didn’t track but did well. Have been drinking way more ginger ale and seltzer which is a good step down. Working on drinking more water.
250 Stealth attempts

I failed on this last quarter and need a lower hurdle to crush. 5x a day is 400.

  • Recap – didn’t track but I would say i did about 100. Now that it is in my second bedroom it will be easier to stay on top of. Also joined a 1 minute plank per day whatsapp group.
Target consulting specialization

I’m at the point of my consulting career where I need to develop a view on what I want to specialize so i avoid becoming a generalist and am able to take more leadership roles moving forward. Project Management is a strong skill of mine but needs to be paired with something more narrow. We are growing our merger integration and transition practice so I will dive deeper in this area.  Also by summer I expect my engagement to end so i will need to find a new project

  • Recap – Made some headway on this. Had a great chat with my counselor about this about being more focused on a skillset and less about an industry which will give me a broader toolbelt of skills to pull from for different engagements.
Draft and publish EMS Post

Already have the outline just need to put to paper, get copy edited and then publish through my various social channels

  • Recap – Drafted but didn’t publish
Redirect social media effort to LinkedIn by limiting Instagram and Twitter
  • Recap – good not great.

Habits to work on

  1. Stop emailing myself – if it is important it goes on the calendar
  2. Use sent folder as homebox not inbox – i find myself getting distracted by my inbox and being reactive instead of proactive
  3. Hit 150g+ protein – I am not losing weight becaus I’m working out a ton and not getting enough protein.

Recap – did all the above want to double down

Highlights

  1. Double wedding weekend
  2. Moving to JC
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