Hello friends,

Greetings from Utrecht!

It's my last newsletter for the year, in which I'm sharing my annual review.

This year is the first time since I started setting goals and doing reviews that I actually failed to hit most of my goals.

This is unfortunate of course, but read on to find out why I'm not too fussed about it, and what lessons I'm taking into 2024.

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Today at a glance:

• Essay - Annual Review 2023
• Annual review template
• How will you measure your life?
• Gamesindustry.biz 2023 in numbers

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Annual Review 2023

This year was supposed to be all about consistency and accountability.

Instead, I was humbled by the absolute truth in of my favorite quotes:

"You don't rise to the level of your ambitions. You fall to the level of your systems."

I set out a handful of ambitious goals, and hit almost none of them.

Not that I had a bad year, mind you.

I just ended up spending my time completely differently than I had imagined at the start of the year.

Let's look at my goals first.

Reflection on 2022 Goals

❌ Read 24 Books

Nope, I ended up clocking in at 20. A lot of my reading last year happened during office hours, and I simply didn't have as much free time this year.

✅ Help 10 Clients

Yes! This goal was here to keep my core business on track, and I'm happy to say it did its job. Moreover, all of those clients have indicated that they were very happy with my services, so I can check off both quantity AND quality.

❌ Fully Update Better Book Notes

The advent of GPTs pretty much obliterated the use for a paid, curated reading list. It made absolutely no sense to use my limited time to painstakingly update this list, when a quick ChatGPT will give you most of the same info. So I sunset the product.

❌ Launch Video Course

This one stings the most. I still think this could be one of the most valuable uses of my time, but I hardly made any progress on this at all.

However, I did create FIRM, a management framework and template specifically for indies, and gave two talks about it at events. So, partial win?

❌ Work out 80 times

I figured a loose commitment to working out twice a week would be enough to get me to about 80 workouts this year. I was so, so wrong.

This (together with meditating, below) was the first to get bumped off my to-do list whenever things got busier, and it got bumped A LOT. I decided to switch from tracking resistance training workouts to simply tracking exercise, which could also be daily stretching/strenghtening. Still didn't hit the goal, but I did exercise a bunch more than previous years.

❌ Meditate 200 times

All this would have taken was to sit down for 10 minutes per work day on most days. And I didn't manage to do that even half the time. Why is this so hard?

✅ Invest in family

This was the most important non-work goal, and I feel like I made enough progress here to count it as a win.

We did a lot of things together as a family, including a beautiful vacation to South Africa, and managed to carve out a bit more time to connect as a couple as well. Can't believe it took us this long to find a babysitter...

There's still room for improvement, but we're definitely heading in the right direction.

So what happened?

So... 2-out-of-7 isn't exactly a great score. In fact, I tell my clients they should be reliably hitting 80% of the goals they set. I missed that mark by a bunch.

Looking back on the year, I've identified three reasons for how I got so far off track.

The main reason is that I visited a bunch of events. This was always the plan, but I severely underestimated the time and focus these things take away from my regular work. And this goes doubly for the events where I gave talks.

The second reason is that I also spent more time with clients—which is good! But for lack of better systems and habits, I let my time management approach for almost everything else slide back into master procrastinator mode. Foiled once again by the instant gratification monkey.

The final reason is that I'm spending way too much time on content - linkedin posts and newsletters. I haven't found the right system for this yet, and as a result I'm usually scrambling to get something on paper at the last moment. And because I also want to do it right (hello, imposter syndrome!) I then spend way too much time getting it to a place I feel is good enough to share.

So in order of magnitude, that is roughly how my time sapped away this year: big chunks eaten up by events, poor time management in general, and letting content take up most of what was left.

I fell to the level of my systems, and my systems were mostly shit.

And as a result, I didn't hit my goals.

And I'm fine with that.

This is something I stress with my clients as well.

Yes, you should be aiming to hit at least 80% of your goals. But whenever you miss, by far the most important thing is to learn from it, and to use those learnings to be better the next time around.

I don't plan to visit fewer events, as they were by far one of the most valuable things I did last year. But I can definitely be more conscious about how I spend my time. Additionally, I really need to rethink how I write content so I don't have to rely on last-minute, deadline-driven panic.

Doing these things should give me lot of my time back, that I can then use to finally start making meaningful progress towards the other goals I've set for myself.

Things I loved in 2023

Last week I published a list of my favorite books, games, movies, shows and songs of 2023. Check it out here: https://bwb.martijnvanzwieten.com/posts/bwb-61-my-favorite-things-of-2023​

Goals for 2024

I'm making the theme for this year the same as last year: consistency and accountability. Specifically, by way of better systems and habits.

Here are my goals:

💼 Work with 12 clients

The core business goal. Last year I worked with 10 clients, this year I'm aiming for twelve. Growing this number steadily will allow me to give each client the attention they deserve.

🗣️ Visit 5 events, speak at 2

Attending, but especially speaking at, events has been an incredibly valuable activity for me this year. Making this an explicit goal will ensure that I keep an eye on the things that move the needle.

✨ Realize V2 of my brand identity

I've been tinkering away at my visual identity and positioning for two years. Right now, it feels like I need to realign some of the parts to become a whole that feels right, that's consistent and recognizable, and that I can stop second guessing (for a while at least).

📈 Create a better process for my content

I want to document and streamline my process towards two outcomes. I want creating and sharing content to take less time; and I want to be able to create and share more consistently and predictably. Turning this into a documented process forces me to be explicit about what I'm doing. And when done, it will be a system to fall back on when my motivation falters.

📽️ Launch 1+ video course

I currently have two video courses in the pipeline, both of which I'm very excited about. I want to get at least one out into the world this year, with the launch of the second one depending on launch timing and required aftercare of the first one.

🏓 Revamp 1-on-1 coaching

I took the first steps towards a revamped 1-on-1 business coaching service this year. Next year, I want to create a full v1 that leads to results as reliably and consistently as my team coaching.

If you are interested, I still have 2 slots available at a 25% discount, in exchange for helping me iron out the kinks.

👨‍👩‍👧 Invest in family

This one stays on, I like the reminder it gives me throughout the year to not lose sight of the people that mean the most to me. I don't have a specific outcome in mind, but this is one way to remind myself to set new goals for spending time with my family each quarter.

🧘‍♂️ Exercise/meditate 200 times

I'm combining my health goals from last year into one. I want to do each 200 times, and doing so will require making both a part of my regular, daily routine.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get a head start and try to sit very still for 10 minutes.

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The Best Bits

​The Ultimate Annual Review: If you want to get started on your own annual review, this is an excellent starting point. Steve Schlafman has put together a list of topics and questions that will help you get "a holistic perspective on where you've been and where you want to go".

​How will you measure your life?: Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator's Dilemma, discusses the three key questions he asks his students to get them to think about their life's purpose. It's one of my favorite pieces of writing, and there's no better time to revisit it than at the threshold of a new year.

​The games industry in numbers 2023: Gamesindustry.biz has released their yearly infographic of what happened in the games industry. It's brief by design, but a nice enough overview if you want the highlights.

See you in two weeks!

Martijn

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