035 | ⚓️ What's your anchor?

December 07, 2021

Ahoy,

I watched Shang-Chi on Sunday - great film - and one of the characters gave a timely reminder:

If you aim at nothing, you hit nothing.

The reason I really noticed this quote was because I was actually planning today's email about this very subject - goals.

Throughout life we are told to set goals, aim for them and achieve them.

Without goals, what are we really working towards?

The thing is - life is hard. Goals can be hard.

Sometimes we reach them, sometimes we fail.

Why?

⚓️ What's the anchor?

A goal is usually quite arbitrary.

Save up £1000. Lose 5 lbs of body fat. Finish a project by Sunday.

These are goals - best achieved through consistency and positive habits.

But, sometimes a goal isn't enough.

We've all woken up on January 1st with plenty of goals for the year, some of which fall by the wayside.

Often, there's a simple thing missing.

There's no clear anchor that drives us to reach the goal.

So what's an anchor?

Reading 20 books is a relatively achievable goal for most people across the year.

But it's only a goal.

I'm set to read 24 books this year, and my goal was 24 (1 every 2 weeks).

I haven't managed this because of the goal I set, but from the accountability I've given myself.

If I didn't read about the things I'm interested in, what would I write about? What would I share?

There's only so much original wisdom in this brain...

By writing a weekly email about self-improvement and how to enjoy life, I need to read widely so that I have something worthwhile to share.

This email is my anchor to encourage me to keep reading.

Another example is my recent trip to Ibiza in September, where I was in pretty much the best shape I've been in.

All of the running, the gym workouts, the healthy eating - everything was done with Ibiza in mind.

It wasn't due to an arbitrary goal of 'get to X % bodyfat' on it's own.

Instead, it was 'get to X bodyfat' (the goal) because I wanted to feel good on holiday (the anchor).

☝🏻 Upgrading goal setting

So the takeaway is pretty simple.

Goals are fine. It sets out what you want to achieve and encourages you to work towards it.

But a goal with an anchor - e.g. an event, accountability from friends, an exam - makes achieving the goal much more focused and, in the long run, easier.

Gary Vaynerchuk always says that everything he does is to buy the New York Jets.

That's his 'North Star'.

He also says, however, that when he does, it'll be the worst day of his life.

Why?

He'll have nothing to aim for. See you next week!

Thanks! 😎

If you found this interesting and useful, feel free to subscribe. I send emails like this every Tuesday - see you next week 👍🏼

Photo of the week 📸

This Week’s Recommendation 🔝

I've recommended this podcast several times but it never really ceases to be excellent. I recently listened to both of Joe Wick's (Wicks's? Wickses?) appearances on the show in September 2019 and then December 2020.

Joe is a ridiculously genuine, driven person who absolutely has earned everything he's achieved. I found his viewpoints on his relationships, his work ethic and his amazing ability to be utterly focused and driven to be absolutely inspirational. It's a great listen.

This Week I’m: ⬇️

This Week’s Quote 💬

Be kind. You should do it simply to be decent, but do it even if you’re a ruthless mercenary because you have no idea where people will end up in 10 years. The balance of power is always shifting. People will surprise you. — James Clear

There we have it!

Looking forward to catching up next week.

In the meantime, find me on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, and have a look at what I’m reading on Goodreads. Ciao!