life is a numbers game

I just got back from a long overdue, extended period of time visiting different family members.  I spent close to two weeks visiting my Mom and Step Father, 5 days visiting my Brother and his wife and nine days with my Dad and Step Mother.  This was the first time I've seen my Brother and Father in several years and the first extended visit I've had with my Mom since the pandemic started.

It felt like really great to visit with the Family and it gave me a lot of time to recharge my batteries and think about 2022 and my goals and plans for the year.  As much as I enjoyed my family time, the more I started contemplating the New Year and all the things I want to do this year, the more I started itching to get back into the swing of things and start what very much feels like a new Chapter of Life.

2021 was in many ways a challenging year for me personally.  Without going into too much detail, there were several things I went through in my personal life that made 2021 probably even more challenging than 2020, albeit in different ways.  2021 was very much a transitional year for me as I found myself making some pretty big changes in several areas of my life.  These changes were both difficult and ultimately rewarding.

As I look ahead to the rest of 2022, I find myself feeling excited and enthused more than anything, and eager to dive head first into my plans for the year. Most of the issues I was dealing with last year have been resolved and are firmly in the rear view mirror at this point. Sometimes in life we have to go through difficult situations to grow, expand and ultimately gain more clarity about our lives and how we want to show up in the world.  2021 was one of those years for me.

One of my main take aways from 2021, is that life in many ways is simply what we make of it.  Not exactly profound I know.  Most of my biggest life realizations and insights over the years have been remarkably simple.  Not happy where you're living?  Move.  Not satisfied in your relationship?  Work to make it better or end it.  Not happy where you are in your career?  Work harder.  You don't like your job?  Find a new one.  And so on.  Of course, we have to sometimes work through nuanced details and evaluate the pros and cons of our choices, but in the end, most of life really is this simple.

Most of the time, the answer or solution to what is holding us back in life is quite  straightforward.  It's simply doing what we know we need to do and taking decisive action that is the hard part for many of us.  Humans tend to resist change and it's all to easy to simply take the path of least resistance and coast through life, not terribly satisfied or excited, but also not terribly stressed or worried.  Sometimes we're just going through the motions, stuck in a safe, but not particularly rewarding "comfort zone".  Not a very inspiring way to go through life in my opinion.

I've been reflecting on my own my life and some of the choices I've made over the years. Although I'm proud of so much that I've accomplished and the own growth I've made over the last few years, if I'm honest with myself I know that I still have a lot of unrealized potential.   This isn't a depressing realization per se. In fact, this awareness makes me really excited to start making positive changes. More than anything, it's simply motivation to step up my game in a few different areas.

But because I know myself so well and have such a high degree of self awareness, I know that making real and lasting change in the areas I want to grow in is going to take more than simply writing down a list of New Year's resolutions in a journal.  Like many of us, I'm a creature of habit and as much as I consider myself an ambitious and relatively successful person, I also know that I sometimes have a tendency to procrastinate and become complacent.  

Like most of us, I have a comfort zone I like to stay in. But as Tony Robbins accurately states, "All growth starts at the end of your comfort zone".  My plan for 2022 is to push myself to expand and grow in new areas that are a little outside my comfort zone both in terms of how much I'm effort I'm willing to put in, and in terms of taking new chances and pushing myself to grow in several different areas.

Since I really want to hold myself accountable and make a very tangible step forward, I've decided to go public with my plans and goals for the year, and also to invite you to go on a similar journey with me, if you choose.  I've come up with a list of key areas I'm going to be taking action in this year, and I've decided to be very deliberate about my goals and the actions I plan to take to reach them. It's easy to simply write down a list of goals or "resolutions" going into a New Year.  It's much harder to actually come up with a specific game plan and execute it.

I'm all about planning and strategizing as you work your way towards goals.  It's one of the key things I stress when I'm coaching clients for HTLYM Premium. For example, it's not enough to just decide you want to license your music in 2022.  That's a great starting point.  But what specific actions and steps are you going to take to get there? It's not enough to just decide you're tired of being single and want to find a partner this year, that's great too, but what are you going to do to change your situation and put yourself out there?  It's not enough to want to simply "get in better shape", but what are you going to do change your health and achieve your fitness goals?

I think you get the idea.  For any goal, in any area of your life, there are most likely a list of things you could do each day to get you closer to where you want to be. Don't just set broad, vague, far off in the future goals.  Come up with a specific plan that you can execute as you work towards your goals.  You don't necessarily need to know every detail of how your plan will unfold.  It's impossible to know exactly how the future will unfold.  But you can come up with a list of things you can take action on that will move you closer to your goals.  

To give you an idea, here's a list of things I'll be doing daily, weekly and monthly in 2022, to move forward in areas important to me. These are just a few initial ideas I came up with.  I'll likely be adding to this list and modifying things as I go forward. I encourage you to come up with your own list and own goals that you can work towards this year.

Here's my list so far:

1) Submit my music to 5 Sync Companies Daily 
2) Reach out to five music supervisors each day
3) Make 5 Youtube Videos weekly 
4) Workout 5 times each week
5) Release 5 podcasts per month
6) Attend three social/networking events weekly

For some reason I gravitated to the number five for most of my goals, but you can pick any number and frequency you think you can stick to.  Make sure you don't overdo it with your goals.  Make sure you push yourself to move forward, but at a pace you can maintain.  

It's amazing how much you can accomplish by taking this "numbers game" approach to your goals and life.  For example, if you simply pitch your music to five companies a day, every day for a year, at the end of the year you'll have made 1,825 pitches. Do you think if you pitched your music to that many places you'd have better odds of making something happen as opposed to simply pitching your music here and there?  I estimate this will take me less than an hour a day.  If you attend three networking events each week, at the end of a year, you'll have had 156 opportunities to meet and connect with new, interesting people.  Of course, these numbers don't have to be set in stone, but pick numbers that you think you can commit to for the most part.

I'm creating a forum and newsletter specifically for this project.  it's free to join and I have nothing to sell you. I'll be posting my own progress and updates, as well as a few motivational emails here and there, to hopefully keep you motivated and inspired. I'm also creating a forum where you can post your own goals and your own results as well.

​If you'd like to join me on this journey of growth and progress in 2022, sign up for free here: