Goals Met: ~70%

Song Of The Month (listen while reading!): Pink Pony Club - Chappell Roan - Pop

Last month I was a bit too ambitious in my goal setting. I spent the last week of the month on holiday in the US, so I was unable to work on anything productive there.

Before I left, I ended up being pretty busy as well.

How did I do with last month’s goals?

Music - Solo Project | Band Project

Put together a 3 song set to film with SE.CORP

  • Result: A+ Put together 3 songs and played them for a mates little web show thing.

I kinda just played one instrument through all three of them though, with some sequencing. I would like to do a bit more live loop recording (or play with someone).

Finish 1 SE.CORP song (unmastered)

  • Result: F Didn’t really get time to do this, but I’m close to finishing a few songs. I also was inspired to make and almost finish another new song.

Side Projects

Choose my next startup side project

  • Result: C Did some research on the Content Moderation API. It seems like the idea can work, but I think distribution is still a tough issue.

Part of me wants to explore something with more virality potential.

Finish what is possible with SkinTheory liquidation

  • Result: A+ A tax account is necessary for a corporation. I made mistakes here, scared the shit outta myself with the potential penalties, and my tax guy fixed it ❤️

Personal

Book Christmas in Ireland

  • Result: B+ Booked the main part of this but still need to sort out some bits.

Book a snowboarding holiday

  • Result: F Incomplete.

Spend 2 hrs trying to get Chlorine on playlists or on local played stuff

  • Result: F Didn’t do.

What else got done last month?

  • Halloween Gig (Sludgefest 5) with CORP., always fun & debaucherous
  • My friend, Austin, was in Berlin for a weekend so got to catch up with him
  • Good bit of work to get a release (Multi Org Users) out for Formly out
  • Overdub vox for CORP. album
  • Filmed my 3 song set with Conall, Bean, & Josh
  • Bought a Gaming PC (yay!), haven’t bought one since 2014
  • Got my US license again
  • Big USA trip
    • Hang with Mom in PA
    • Thanksgiving in NJ
    • NYC for the weekend, saw a Rangers game in MSG
    • Florida with the pops
  • NYC Move
    • I was a bit on the edge if I liked NYC after my visit. The more I think about it though, the more I think NY is filled with big opportunities. There’s so much going on and you need to be hustling to live there. The MSCHF podcast (below) also influenced my thoughts here. My god is it expensive though.
    • NYC also makes me feel like Berlin is a bit of a back water. Like there’s an amazing quality of life here, but I don’t think I’ll get incredible career or music opportunities here. The outside world doesn’t look at Berlin much.

Lessons Learned?

  • My immediate life goals don’t include my fulltime work

    • I think most people don’t like their jobs… or atleast its on a gaussian curve, which would still put my somewhere to the right. I like my work. The thing is I never have personal goals associated with it. Work is just how I get paid and progress the engineering career incase my own side projects don’t work out.

    I always have a Work section in my Retrospective template, and usually I remove it due to no new goals. I’m curious if I can work for someone else in a way that also personally actualizes me. A job that makes me want to complete goals in a way that also completes my personal goals.

    Recently I listened to a podcast on a company called MSCHF. Their mix of art and programming, combined with their purpose really spoke to me. That could be self-actualizing.

  • Corporations require tax help and are worth the price.

  • Costco is an amazing business from a consumer and supplier side. Not really a lesson, but the Acquired podcast’s Costco episode is amazing.

  • It’s not easy to do focused work on a vacation with my brothers around.

  • You can still fly round to the US for $500.

  • Waking up around 7 am adds so much time to the day.

  • ‘There is Ego in everything’ from art to science to business.

  • The cultural readymade, Marcel Duchamp, taking something people know and distorting it is very profound to people.

What are my goals for next month?

I’ll try to be more realistic this month, because 10 days are already gone and I only have 1 weekend free before Ireland.

  • Finish booking Ireland
  • Plan (Marketing / Performance) for Berghain release show
  • Finish 1 SE.Corp song
  • Book a snowboarding holiday

You can’t connect the dots going forward, only back.

Steve Jobs

Make sure these goals trend the dots towards my goal, being in front of the right people, focusing time where it matters, etc.

What are my 2024 (year) goals?

  1. 🟢 Kill SkinTheory or get it off my mind completely.
  2. 🔴 Build 3 startup projects, and get faster and more publicity with each. Get atleast 1 to €100 MRR.
  3. 🟢 Support myself with a cool job or through freelancing.
  4. 🟡 Keep myself networked in the startup/engineering scene.
  5. 🔴 Get to the next level with CORP. Get on a label or manager that supports bigger bands or gets more publicity.

What are my lifetime goals?

  1. Run my own business that allows me to: support myself, be relaxed, be innovative, love my work, travel.
  2. Backpack for 6 months through Asia.
  3. Have 100,000 fans of my music.
  4. Be relaxed and be excited to wake up to my life every day.