Notable Trends
It's interesting to look at the overall pattern of my goal-setting attempts.
2007-2008were really optimistic.2009-2015were inspired thrashing.2016-2019were hardcore commitment to systems2020-2024were a shift to emotion-first
It's also interesting to compare to the so-called Epochs of Sri:
1994-2004
gamedev/interactive design
2004-2014
interactive design/blogging/product dev/econmerce
2014-2024
community management/software development
2024-????
something new?
Personal Development Effects
By writing these reports every month for years, I eventually developed a detailed model of "what make me me" and what makes me "happy" and "fulfilled" as well as the darkness surrounding my challenges, fears, and anxieties.
Yearly Patterns
Many of the years follow this pattern, which I identified in March 2023. I suspect others might have similar experiences when they are working on their goals in a vacuum.
- February - Excitement! First two weeks are extremely focused. Third and fourth weeks less so, but carry on the momentum of the first two weeks.
- March - I have to look up what my goals were because they've faded from memory. I start to fall into sidetracks, feeling they are justifiably related to GHDR...but I don't look it up.
- April-June - As work and life ticks by, it becomes more of a struggle remember "what the point" was. Demands on my time pull my attention away from GHDR-related projects. Feelings of resentment toward work begin to grow.
- July - I'm feeling fed up, and declare a reset. GHDR goals are refactored based on issues from April-June. Lagging motivation and energy levels are often a problem. I feel starved for something new. Interesting new insights about myself are uncovered. The refactored goals set a new trajectory.
- August-October - I descend into depression/boredom as the hard things are hard to push forward, even with all the mitigating insights I have applied. Strategy shifts toward managing depression, trying crazier ideas that challenge notions of "good" and "normal". Often I reject old beliefs and form new ones based on a refined understanding of their origin.
- November - The feeling of having a lot of responsibilities in addition to my own starts to frustrate me. Irritatability grows as each unwanted responsibility and inconvience is thrust upon me, and I am left lamenting poor design, documentation, communication.
- December - Although I think that nothing great happened, I am surprised to see how many consolation insights have been collected that are applicable for the coming year. There is always something tangible and g
This is the collection of every Groundhog Day Yearly Kickoff Report. Most of these pages have indexes to all the GHDR-related posts for the year with short summaries.
All Groundhog Day Kickoffs
Starting business goals: Commit to Deriving Income from Writing and Making Stuff, Build Sustainable Social Networks, Sell a Product
Added personal goals: Improve writing reputation, Acquire financial resources, Develop chutzpah, Play an instrument, Compose a song, Do illustration, Master a sport, Add Physical Regimen
Recognized prior year's failures. Realize that there are fears, lack of clarity in goal setting, environmental factors that holds me back.
Reviewed common patterns from 2007-2010. Set new goals of "Leadership" and making a "Financial vehicle". Developed first list of "personal operational principles".
Note mindfulness-inducing qualities of monthly review being a win. Identify tendency to think in "broad strokes" rather than defined goals, and that this is a work-in-progress. Add "Life balance" and "Meaningful work" as adjacent needs. Note existence of "Cycles of Productivity" that occur. Wrote detailed outline of "World Domination" considerations.
Noted progress in paying down debt and promise of using passive income level as a metric to drive business activities. Hypothesized additional RPG mechanics and metrics to maintain interest,as income-generating activity does not motivate me. Noted that I need incoming energy as well as outlets to share what I make to feel motivated, and a "machine" might be created to improve efficiency.
Reviewed trends from previous 6 years of GHDR. Provided list of activity that I strongly resonated with, and presumably were more aligned with my personalities. Committed to "30 products in 30 days" challenge.
Depressed at lack of progress over previous 7 years. Noted that I ran out of energy and motivation quickly. Boredom and frustration ensued. Small improvements in revenue. Added new mitigations: "More first steps, less planning" and "Develop writing, software skills, share interests with others, create better marketing content for existing products".
Detailed review of 2014 problems: "Negative attitude toward time", "Energy sapping possessions and responsibilities". Noted that "Stationery business" seemed to be working, and was good base to develop. Noted advancing age and needing to pay attention to health. Identified need to "find the will to create and share", as I had been feeling beaten down by negative feedback.
Noted insight from 2015 that "speed is a poor metric", and "good work takes a lot of time" that I need to allow myself. Rewards, however, are on "the other side of time and uncertainty". Declared three goals of "Neat Side Business", "Make Progress on 2024 Goals" (first referenced in 2008), and "Sharing What I Love". Added a "Thing a Day" challenge and experiment in setting "Monthly Themes" for each of of the 2024 Goals to help with focus. Acknowledged that I had limits, and that even tiny steps had value. A rudimentary GHDR 2016 Summary Page was used to consolidate progress.
Goals carried over from 2016 and identified "directives" that could be used to build a "mindblowing productive synergy system". A renewed emphasis on personal truths and principles were listed also, like the idea of "pursuing mastery", "de-emotionalizing emotional triggers", "daring to be me", etc. Developed alternative productivity metrics (e.g. "Gathering-style Productivity"). A multi-tabbed GHDR 2017 Challenge Page used for summarizing posts and decisions.
Upcycled "directives" into "Strategic Initiatives" that expressed stable personal truths about myself that were expressed in concepts like "The Way of Dave", "Happy Bubble Time", and continued commitment to the coworking community (est. 2016). Lots of pictures and diagrams. Multi-tabbed GHDR 2018 Challenge Page carried over similar to 2017.
Continued "Strategic Initiatives" system, adding "Disciplined Core Goals" and "Emergent Automatic Goals". The disciplined goals that bring benefit were "Software Mastery", "Functional Stationery Business", and making "Tools, Seeds, and Primers". The multi-tabbed GHDR 2019 Challenge Page continues!
After three years of methodical strategic initiatives tracking, decided to NOT do any kind of tracking to test several theories: (1) What have I internalized from 13 years of GHDR? (2) What productive habits and critical personal insights have made my life more fulfilling and less stressful? (3) Can I worry less by lowering the quantity of simulatenous goals and not thinking this was a failure? (4) Is learning how to include others in my cycle of goal setting and fulfillment a way to escape my discontent with the pursuit of my alleged goals? A simplified GHDR 2020 Not-A-Challenge Page documents what happened during the year despite the lack of tracking and planning.
Review of previous 15 years of GHDR. Noted lessons learned from the year of no tracking in 2020. Identified concerns _What am I doing with my life? and _How will I find fulfillment, meaning, and purpose in what I'm doing? Distilled these questions into a set of patterns I labeled "state of being", "character flaws", "focus". Proposed that I had limited "disciplined energy", and perhaps I needed to take that into account. Proposed "Tomes" that would embody important personal themes: Habits, Demons, Grace & Humlity, and Sri. Major new theme of "Transition" comprised of "Gender Identity", "Professional Development", "Expressing Inner World"
First switch to dsriseah.com site, which fulfilled a 2021 goal! Identified insights from 2021 worth keeping: "Singular focus", "Curiosity", "Being Done as Harmful", "Conceptual Modeling is my Heart", and "Sri-ness". General directive set "Maintaining Well-being and Joy". A number of additional activities, platform development, and personal development goals were itemized. There are too many to itemize here, so visit the kickoff page. Additionally, goals from previous years such as "Software Mastery" were continued.
New report format. Introduction of PDF system summary page. Recap of 2022 takeaways such as "two-slot+aux" productivity modeling (monotasking+deep work), ADHD/Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Level 1 diagnosis. Noted how the ADHD/ASD traits explained both my productivity challenges and the mitigations I had come up with, long-suspected but not confirmed until now. Noted that all years of GHDR were about "striving to achieve creative independence and also to find people to create with me". Proposed new system design called "Strategic Horizons" as points to steer toward: (1) The Colony, a public space for co-creation, (2) Defining and Articulating "Sri-ness", and (3) Doctrinal commitment to using software to create all new productivity designs as well as continuing to devote lots of time to the DSCAFE Coworking Community.
Noted progress toward each so-called "Strategic Horizon". Recognized that my "neurodivergent traits" were actually quite dominant and required constant mitigation, but this was just how it was. Noted improvements in "Software Mastery" and "Gender Transition" but that "emotional regulation" was a newly-identified factor. Took the time to dedicate 12 days to planning activities for the year, largely organized around articulating The Colony.
The summaries above are for just the kickoff posts. See each year's index of reports for a more detailed breakdown.