Planning for 2024

// How it’s always been.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve set myself New Years resolutions - in 2022 I set myself a list of ‘goals’ but the reality was, I only actually hit one of them (Number 7 on the list if you’re interested).

Then at the end of 2022 (and heading into 2023) - I tried a ‘100kg in 100 days’ challenge where I wanted to lose weight to finish the year off and whilst I finished the year strong (losing 11kg in 100 days) - I again, failed to keep up with anything and I’ve put the weight back on continued to bumble on through.

What is even stranger is that I’ve written about ‘setting goals’ or learning things about the previous year for many, many years - when I think back, setting goals and reflecting on my year has been a constant content theme across my socials and guess what folks, this year is no different!

Here is my 2020 post on LinkedIn.

Here is my 2019 post on LinkedIn.

What I find interesting (might be just me who thinks this) is that when I read these articles, I can see someone who wants to create regular written content but never does, like a pinball on a pinball machine, I can see myself bouncing around different areas and bouncing off different ideas looking for something that hits the jackpot and as with everything - the metaphorical pinball machine has the exit point at the bottom and that’s where quitting is.

I can never win this ‘make believe’ game of pinball unless I stick with the one ball and try and make something work - make it hit the jackpot.

// The Jackpot?

To keep that analogy going would be foolish of me but I intend to stick with it to force the point home.

This blog that has now been going for 5 months and whilst I haven’t hit the jackpot yet (still getting that pinball reference in), the ball is still in play and I can see things starting to appear across different parts of my life.

Whether it’s the discipline to write every week about something or purely the commitment to show up each week, something is forming around my habits and my behaviours which is causing me to think differently.

I’m not saying that the blog writing has helped me become more disciplined but I am saying that it’s helped me form better habits.

According to James Clear (Atomic Habits), it takes two months to form a new habit (read that article here) and the stand out part of building these new habits according to James is that ‘building better habits is not an all-or-nothing process.’

This is what I’m finding - whilst the push has been to deliver one piece of written content a week and then publish that into a weekly email, there are other non-negotiable habits which have formed around that - the content research, the idea generation, the ‘finding things’ element and of course, the writing.

But what does that say about 2024?

// 2024 is the year.

My headspace is a strange one at the moment as I feel like I’m entering a new/different phase of my life - one which I am in control of.

As you may/may not know from the weekly email - I have gone sober. The benefits of stopping my alcohol consumption have started to add up and I’m sleeping better, my mood has improved and I can feel my creativity returning.

The problem I have had with all the previous years that I have written about my goals in my content is that in all those years (except for January in 2023) I have continued to drink alcohol and then try to achieve something but I always end up absolutely knackered.

Now, I don’t to turn this blog into an evangelical preach about the benefits of not drinking alcohol but I do believe that it’s a fundamental reason why I haven’t stuck to my goals in previous years and I intend on changing that.

I’ll write more about my sobriety in coming weeks but for now - let’s stick to the three pillars/things I want to achieve across 2024 and begin to become a little more accountable.

// Content.

Content is the first pillar of my plan for 2024 - the mainstay being the blog and the newsletter.

Good things have come from my writing this year, I can feel myself ‘becoming’ a better writer and the habit is allowing me to find ways to use this platform and deliver something which I have struggled to do in previous years and that’s to be consistent.

So if I use ‘content’ as a pillar and I want to remain consistent (which I have been for 5 months now) then I need to think about topics or the actual ‘content’ of the content I want to deliver and that’s been the fun part.

I had a chat with my friend Julio about this the other day and it struck me that I could use a structure to plan my content whilst also remaining ‘topical’ - what do I mean by that? Well, in January, I want to complete the MyTime Young Carers ‘Dip Every Day in January’ challenge but I could use this experience and then write about it in a way, similar to how Matt D’Avella creates videos on Youtube.

So for the next 12 months, I would like to try something ‘new’ each month - doing something for 30 days straight and then use this blog to communicate what I’ve learned.

To fill in around the gaps of this - I will then use my writing to chat about the things I like to chat about and go from there - does that make sense? I don’t want to commit to a specific topic or a specific ‘niche’ (although, who know - that might change!).

// Fitness.

One of the key points I can see looking back at all of my ‘end of year’ posts is that fitness and ‘getting fit’ are all general themes and whilst I am only 43, I can feel Father Time knocking on my door and there won’t be many summers left where I can genuinely feel young and athletic.

I recently played in an 11aside football game and for some reason, I thought I was going to be great. It was humbling to realise (again) that at 19 stone (120kgs for the new folk) - I can’t be Cristiano Ronaldo, even if I want to be.

But what I can be is fit. Functionally fit.

What do I mean by that? I don’t want to be out of breath putting my socks on when I reach 50 and I want to be able to play 90 minutes of football and not feel like I’ve spent the afternoon in a full sized tumble dryer being bashed about for 90 minutes. I want to be able to run and enjoy my life and not feel like I’m pulling around a full sized Santa sack with me (I’m talking about my belly for all you filthy animals out there).

So to help me plan for this eventual ‘fit Matt’ - I have already set a plan in motion to keep me accountable and that starts on the very first day of January 2024.

1st January 2024 - I’ve signed up for and will be running the Broadstone Quarter Marathon race and (whilst I have a hamstring injury right now) I am enjoying training for it.

In February and March, I have two more charity football matches to play and then we’re into April where I am yet to discover the fitness thing that I want to focus on but towards the end of 2024, I’ve already entered the Great South Run in Portsmouth and the Bournemouth Half Marathon.

I’ve always wondered what it would be like to run an Iron Man race but maybe that waits for 2025?

// Personal.

There are no grand goals for 2024 - no ‘I want to learn to skateboard’, there’s no ‘I’m going to grow a beard’. I just have two things I want to achieve.

Firstly, I will remain sober. That’s it. I am seeing so many benefits of being sober - the biggest thing I can see already is that my tiredness, exhaustion and general apathy for creating is subsiding and I have way more energy to commit to things. I want to meet most of my 2024 goals and the one thing that has got in my way over recent years is my love of beer.

I travel an awful lot for work and the opportunities to vlog are always there (as I have said in previous blogs) but the energy after a few beers is so low that I never get round to editing them and then during the day, I want to head off to the bar to relax after working and again, one beer turns into 10.

I know that being sober is going to be tough personally because it’s been a part of my identity for so long and it will also be tough on those around me because I am always a part of the party and staying late.

Secondly, I want to have experiences in 2024 - I want to do things. Yes, that’s going to roll in the fitness element but it’s also going to be tied to my content because by the end of 2024, I want to have been on stage more - presenting, delivering my own talk about something and I want to lead something for The Clique.

The Clique has to lead somewhere - whilst I don’t want to suddenly monetise and create a paid element, there must be something that I can do to generate revenue.

We’re going to be a part of the You Are the Media Creator Day in April and I want to use that as a catalyst to develop something incredible for this nice little brand I’m trying to build.

As I’ve said before - I don’t know where this is going but I want to build it all out in the open and find ways to bring you along on the journey.

What are your plans for 2024?