This is my annual goal setting blog post where I share my biggest goals for the coming year. This annual review process is inspired by Chris Guillebeau who has been publishing his annual reviews for several years.

Previous Post: 2015 Year In Review

I like to give a general theme to each year – something I learned from Ramit Sethi. I’m calling 2016 The Year Of Living Boldly. This is the year I want to find my voice on the podcast and on stage, wear even more bold colors, ask for what I want, tell more stories, and start leading the Art of Adventure tribe towards the future!

This is the fourth year I have published my annual review and goals for the upcoming year.  If you are curious about how I have honed the process, here are the yearly reviews for 2013 and 2014 and the goals setting posts for 2013, 2014, and 2015. This annual review process is inspired by Chris Guillebeau who has been publishing his annual reviews for several years and has a free spreadsheet for you to download and do you own review.

I try to find goals in all different areas of life and not just focus on the work or financial goals. Stolen directly from Tony Robbins, those areas are: physical, emotional, relationships, time, financial, work, and spirituality

There are different types of goals and new years resolutions. One is the project goal or finite achievement goal compared to habit goals. There are short, medium, and long term goals. Your yearly goals should fit in to your five year, ten year, and life goals. Some goals are easily measurable, and other are more subjective. All of the goals I am including are directly measurable or have measurable components (and may result in other unmeasurable benefits).

This year I will be incorporating a few specific values, as well as the standardized, measurable goals. The values are: Living Boldly, Freedom, Inspiration, Acceptance, Completion, and Self Expression.

It might be risky to share goals publicly.  Some folks say that if you share your goals publicly then you risk humiliation when you do not achieve them, thereby forcing you to complete them.  On the other hand, in his TED talk, Derek Sivers says you are more likely to achieve your goals if you keep them to yourself! So because I am sharing these with you, I need you to get on my case if I am not working my butt off towards these!

1. Read 120 Books. I’ve been ramping up my reading and comprehension speed, thanks to the Become a SuperLearner Udemy course from my friend Jonathan Levi, I’ve just completed 100 books in 2015, and the Art of Adventure Reading Newsletter has been a big hit. I have started to really enjoy novels again, so I’ll shoot for around 10% fiction.
2. Raise over $1000 for charity.  Each year I want to increase my total charitable donations. In 2015 I raised over $600 hundred dollars, largely through events surrounding my birthday, this year I will try to make many of my dinners, parties, and events throughout the year for charity. This year is off to a great start as we raised about $220 USD during our New Years Eve Party!
3. Publish the Art of Adventure Book and ecourse. The book will inform the material for the online course, and give me credibility as a paid speaker. I am exploring finding a book agent and a publisher but will likely self publish the book and then expand and re-purpose the book into the video course. I’m excited to take all the collective wisdom from all my guests and myself and put out a great guide for curious explorers to take themselves on an epic quest to change themselves.
4. Learn Indonesian well enough to have a conversation.  I have just renewed my visa to live in Bali for one more year, it is time for me to become conversational in this easy to learn language that over 250 million people speak.  I’ll be using the Fluent Forever method to maximize retention rates and free daily language podcasts to learn the vocabulary. Once I learn the language, I would love to interview locals about their businesses.
5. Host A Big Event. One of the major learnings from 2015 was the marketing required to fill a live event.  Whether that is a digital nomad’s conference in Bali an adventure retreat or an online summit (as featured in AOA episode 86 ), I will need a long lead time (six months) for this. People keep asking for an event from AOA, and I am a proponent of listening to what people are asking to pay you for!
6. Tell More Stories. How much is more? Here are the specifics: Revamp my website to tell the AOA story. Improve my on-air personality and video skills by taking voice lessons, creating 52+ videos, and taking a videography course. Improve my live storytelling ability by perfecting a repertoire of 15 adventure stories of with examples to use in podcast interviews and speaking gigs. Improve my Instagram photos by using a nicer camera and tripod, and writing more with each photo. I will write 25+ blog posts for large publications (such as the Good Men Project) and appear as a guest on 52+ podcasts.  I will also publish 100 more episodes of the Art of Adventure podcast.
7. Grow The AOA Email list to 3,000+ Subscribers.  This will provide give me a bigger platform to promote the Podcast and Book, as well as help other entrepreneurs sell their courses, which will provide a solid source of income.  Taking a page out of Navid Moazzes‘ book, a list this size should be worth $10K + /month. I plan to help one friend each month promote their work and online offerings. I will also learn about segmenting my email list for different interests and in general being more helpful to the people that are part of the AOA tribe.
8. Play in an Ultimate Frisbee Tournament. Because of the wild success of our weekly mens frisbee game here in Ubud, I have gotten addicted to Ultimate frisbee and plan to spend more time perfecting my skills in 2016. I will learn the forehand flick throw and travel to a hat tournament. To be fit for this sport I will be training in the gym, doing yoga, and dancing, as well as playing multiple weekly practice Ultimate games.
9. Explore Personal Spirituality. There are several components to spirituality for me. Spend more time walking and meditating in the forest – which is where I find my greatest spiritual connection.Take other people for walks in the woods. Go on my own version of a vision quest.  Do a long water fast.  Learn from a variety of yoga and spiritual teachers here in Bali. Spend more time dancing. Read books from all the spiritual traditions. Experiment with new kinds of meditation.
10. Be Boldly Masculine.  This means living bigger and embodying the king archetype.  This means taking responsibility for my own feelings.  This means learning how to communicate and ask for what I want and set boundaries in relationships.  This means not waiting around for permission from anyone to start something.  This means finding the right mentors and asking for the help I need. This means not being afraid to by myself on stage or on video or in the podcast. This means growing my hair long and a beard if I want to.

Thank you for being a part of this! This year you will see more sharing from my life in writing and in the podcast. To find the latest photos and videos from my adventures, follow along on Instagram and Facebook. I’m excited to find more ways to engage with listeners and reader of AOA and really give this tribe some rocket fuel! So no matter how your last year was, 2016 is going to be full of amazing things happening, I can’t wait to share it with you. Stay Adventurous!