Update: 2022 Goals Q1

This is a recap of the first quarter of 2022.

In my 2022 planning post I said:

I’m focused on building my audience, career, and relationships for Q1 of 2022. This is probably an indication they’re going to be the focus for the year.

This quarter I reached the blog traffic goal. I missed on the newsletter and Twitter goals.

For the second quarter, here’s what I’ll tackle and the order of priority:

(High) Build processes to write and engage on Twitter and LinkedIn daily
(Med) SEO optimization for 3-5 blog articles; write at least 1-2 SEO articles
(Low) Define the value proposition of the newsletter; reposition opt-ins

Let’s dig into how things went. Plus, plans for next quarter.

(How did you do this quarter? Would love to read or hear about your retro!)

parenting

The 1000 Hours Outside Challenge: What, Why and Tips to Succeed

My first thought when hearing about the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge? Sounds great, but that’s impossible for us.

Both Amy and I worked — a lot. Our kids spent the entire day in creche (daycare). We lived in an apartment in a city. There was no backyard we could chuck the kids into to leave to their own devices.

But moving to Dublin, Ireland had an unintended consequence: more time outside. We had no choice. With no car, we either walked or took public transportation. Instead of driving everywhere like we did in Albany:

We walked 2km to get groceries at SuperValu
Rode bikes into the city center to catch a movie
Spent hours at playgrounds in Phoenix Park, Inchicore, and Malahide

At the end of 2021, Amy started talking about the 1000 Hours Outside Challenge. Despite my initial skepticism (1,000 hours?! 3 hours a day?) we started tracking our time outside. We realized with existing habits, we were already tracking close to that goal.

And we loved the lifestyle.

systems

Goals are guardrails

Should you set goals?

The problems with goals are well-documented.

Goals end. When they do, people feel empty. Then they revert to their previous state. Land your dream job? A week later you’re back on LinkedIn. Lose 30 pounds and celebrate with pancakes. Accumulate a million in the bank, and wonder why you’re still not satisfied.
Goals delay happiness. By setting goals you’re saying, “when I reach that milestone, then I’ll be happy.” Happiness is a state only the future you deserve. The current you? Back to the grindstone.
Goals incentivize short-term thinking. Goals lead to tunnel vision. You’re tempted to hit that goal – no matter what. So you start cutting corners and juking stats.

There’s a popular line of thinking: instead of goals, we should focus on habits and systems. Habits and systems are better because when done well, they happen automatically. Little or no will power required! Work the system and the system will work for you.

productivity

The myth of consistency over intensity

There’s a great Jerry Seinfeld story. It goes like this:

A young, up-and-coming comic name Brad Issac asked Seinfeld for advice.

Seinfeld told him to be a better comic, he needed to create better jokes. The way to create better jokes was to write every day.

“He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day.

“‘After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day,’ Seinfeld said. ‘You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job is to not break the chain.’”

Consistency over intensity

The message: Consistency wins! Consistency over intensity! Don’t burn out, don’t overextend. Keep showing up every day.

career

The Best Tech Jobs With No Experience Required (and How To Get Them)

Friends have asked: “How did you get a tech job with no experience in tech?” Usually, they have a younger sibling or cousin looking to make the jump into IT or tech. I made the career switch in my 30s. If I can do it, anyone can.

personal development

Fall to the level of your systems

I had a different email planned, but last week I tested positive for Covid which threw that off schedule. Fortunately, my symptoms were mild, and after self-isolation ended, I re-joined Amy in the not-so-delicate juggle of childcare and working from home. It was a flashback to April 2020, our first foray into lockdown life.

Despite having both Oliver and Annabel this time (AND one-third of the living space we had in Albany), everything felt… easier.

Part of this is attributable to greater certainty around Covid:

You can expect mild symptoms (if you’re reasonably healthy)
You can expect lockdown to end (eventually)
You can expect access to essentials (remember when finding toilet paper was like a Banksy sighting?)

None of this was true 18 months ago. As difficult as it is, we’ve made progress. It’ll continue to get better.

finances

Lessons from my second real estate investment

If you only have a minute, here are the takeaways:

Investing is emotional. I made my second real estate investment. It was more of an emotional decision than a numbers-driven one. In my opinion, this is OK (even normal) but don’t fool yourself thinking otherwise.
Upstate New York and self-funded. The investment is an apartment community in upstate New York. I funded it with the money after selling my house and from savings. Ideally, this investment adds a revenue stream that funds my Business system target.
Play your advantages. Most retail investors do not have an analytical competitive advantage. But you can have a behavioral competitive advantage. Counterintuitively, this usually means doing less, e.g. less trading, less complexity, etc.
How to increase your behavioral advantage? Understand your asset allocation, automate your saving & investing, have a long time horizon, and protect your downside.
Survival. The cornerstone of any strategy. You have to stay in the game long enough to win it.
What game are you playing? The game of money is fascinating, but the real game we’re playing is the happiness game. And happiness not having everything you want, but wanting everything you have.

I made my second real estate investment at the end of 2022. Once I started to document my thought process, I realized how much my investing was an emotional and intuitive decision, not a math-based decision.

career

10 Remote Jobs With No Experience Required (and How to Land Them)

Remote work is here for good.

When you’re not bound by geography or time zone, you have functionally an unlimited number of job opportunities. But if you’ve never worked for a remote company:

Where do you start?
What jobs are good?
Which ones pay well?
Which ones are scams?
Where do you find these jobs?
How do you stand out when you’re competing with anyone with Internet access?

In the last 10 years, I worked 4 different jobs in different industries (Hollywood, online education, technology). These jobs had two things in common:

They were all remote
I had no experience in any of the roles

But along the way, I met other ambitious people who followed this alternative career trajectory. They made remote work a critical component of their careers. They started with little to no experience. And many were also breaking into the tech industry for the first time.

Remote jobs with no experience required

Reflecting on our combined experiences, I realized: there are great remote jobs with no experience required out there. You just need to know what they are, where to find them, and how to stand out when applying. That’s what we’ll cover in this post.

First, we’ll talk about remote jobs to avoid.

Next, we’ll dig into 10 remote jobs with no experience required.

Finally, you’ll also learn principles to stand out when applying for ANY remote job.

the connection

The psychological landmines of building an audience

And I see everyone gettin’ all the things I want

And I’m happy for them, but then again, I’m not

Just cool vintage clothes and vacation photos

I can’t stand it, oh, God, I sound crazy

Their win is not my loss

I know it’s true

But I can’t help gettin’ caught up in it all

– jealousy, jealousy by Olivia Rodrigo

There are many paths to hit your financial independence numbers. In Connection 95 – Your Starting Point, I said I was currently focused on my career, consulting, and building an audience.

Today let’s talk about the psychological landmines of building an audience.

finances

Your Starting Point

In the last newsletter, What Is Rich, we talked about the power of having specific financial independence targets, and how to calculate these targets for yourself.

These targets are your “Business system target” and “Money system target.” My targets are $75,000 MRR (monthly recurring revenue) and $6,000,000, respectively.

(There’s also a third target, which I call the “Perfect Tuesday target” and will explain more later.)

I share my targets as a reference point for discussion. There is a formula, so technically you and I could arrive at similar targets. But defining what you want, when you want it, and why you want it is infinitely more complex than can be derived by a pivot table, financial advisor, or Twitter thread.

Chris Ming

Consistency over intensity

Remote jobs with no experience required