Q3 2020 Review
This is my third quarterly review. It's a reflection on my goals for the third quarter of 2020. I plan to conduct these quarterly reviews to track my progress on my ten year plan, which I published at the end of 2019 and suggest you read to get the most out of this article.
I'm posting this publicly as a way to hold myself accountable and so others have a framework to follow if they so choose.
Complete Successes
These are the goals I nailed.
One investment program analysis
On July 10th, my business partner and I closed on the sale of all our rental properties. This deal had been in the works for more than a year. It was an enormous relief and an enormous (for me) influx of cash, which prompted some rethinking of my investments.
Like last quarter, I increased my bi-weekly contributions into VTSAX and VEMAX - this time by about 60%. I also decided to move a large chunk of my house sale profits into the market. In addition to the dollar cost averaging mentioned above, I took the quarter to build up a portfolio of 14 companies I want to hold for the long term. Throughout the quarter, I added money to these positions. My plan is to hold them indefinitely and add to them at opportune times - as I have extra money or as they dip. Those companies are AAPL, BOMN, NFLX, SPOT, FSLY, SE, SHOP, TTD, TDOC, DIS, MELI, SQ, AMZN, BAC.
I'm watching a few other companies that I may add, but I'm pretty comfortable with where I am right now. I'm still holding the airline stocks I bought in March. Again, I think I'll make money long term, but I'm also contemplating selling them at year end to offset gains and invest that money in Bitcoin. I'm still holding all 26 small cap companies I mentioned in my Q2 update. I view that investment as its own fund. I'll be deploying another round of capital across all those companies in November. The "fund" remains volatile, but it is up about 37% since inception in late May.
Finally, I continued to add to my small Bitcoin position, which remains at less than 1% of my net worth. I'm becoming much more bullish on Bitcoin and plan to have about 3% of my net worth in it by year end.
One workout program analysis
I finally got back into a gym in late July for the first time since early March, due to COVID. I picked up where I left off with my weight training program, lifting three days a week. I supplement my lifting with an additional three days of running each week. Four months out of the gym caused a major loss in strength, but I've made progress quickly, and I'm nearly back to where I was with two months of consistent hard work.
My gym workouts consist of one push day, one pull day, and one leg day. My running workouts typically consist of two medium distance runs (3-4 miles) and one day of speed work.
As I mentioned in my Q2 review, I'm still interested in joining a BJJ gym and may do that this quarter, pending how busy I am with work.
Send 13 newsletters
This one is pretty straight forward. I sent 13 issues of The Lake Street Journal - one each week.
My list grew by about 6.5% during the quarter. I'm not happy with this number because I didn't put in the necessary work. I'm hoping for better growth in Q4 as I write and publish podcasts more consistently.
One afternoon volunteering
As I mentioned in my Q2 review, I had something scheduled for Q3, and I followed through on it. I joined the Big Brothers mentoring program and was assigned a "little" - a 13 year old boy from a neighboring town. We were matched in September and have been doing weekly Facetime calls to get to know each other.
Several hours before writing this, we met up for the first time in person to go for a hike. I'm proud of this success for a few reasons. First, I had failed on it for two quarters in a row, and I changed that. Second, I firmly believe that collective improvement is made at the individual level, and I'm finally acting on my belief. Third, it's easier to make a point than it is to make a difference. If everyone making a point on social media took some time to make a difference in the real world, we would all benefit from sharing a better society.
Who knows how much difference I'll actually make, but I'm going to do my best, and my time commitment will significantly exceed the initial goal I set in my Vision for the Next Decade.
Publish one curation piece
I exceeded this goal by publishing two curation pieces during Q3.
The first was an introduction to social psychology and Jonathan Haidt's work. Reading Haidt's books and papers, and watching his lectures helped me to understand the division and polarization in America. It also helped me form some of the arguments in my essay on compulsory national service.
Understanding basic social psychology is helpful in many ways. This curation is the result of dozens of hours of reading, studying, and note taking. If you're interested in social psychology, it will give you some great resources. If you're not sure, it will help you find out without spending a lot of time.
My second curation piece was more of a summary of Walter Isaacson's best articles. I love Walter Isaacson's biographies, and I envy his storytelling ability. After reading his book, American Sketches, I summarized my favorite pieces from the book - which is essentially a collection of his more popular articles. If you're looking for some interesting people to learn about, this piece is a good place to start.
Add one interesting person to my contacts (who I speak with 1-2 times per month)
I'm finding this goal difficult to measure. In Q2 it really clicked. The people I added are literally in my contacts on my phone and I message with them at least a couple times per month.
This quarter, I started interacting with a couple interesting new people, but it was mostly via email or Twitter. It remains to be seen if these will become longer term relationships. That said, I'm marking this as a success because I think the value is in the practice of making new connections, regardless of if all of them ultimately stick.
Partial Successes
These are the goals I didn't quite nail but I didn't strike out on either.
ROMWOD every day
ROMWOD is a daily stretching routine with video instruction. I highly recommend it.
Although I didn't accomplish this 100%, I'm happy with the result. I only missed six days during the quarter. Four of my misses had to do with travel, the other two were full days where I simply ran out of time.
At this point, I've done a ~20 minute stretching routine on 172 of the last 183 days, which I'm very happy about. Stretching has become a habit at this point, and I plan to continue doing it forever.
In September, I also added a program called The Ready State. It's more focused on mobility and is a good complement to ROMWOD. I'll continue using both on the days I have enough time.
Journal every day (at least two sentences)
I wrote 43 journal entries in the 92 days of Q3. July was very consistent - I only missed a few days. August was sparse, and in September, I only wrote a few entries.
My work time commitment increased significantly in August, so it looks like journaling was one of the first things I cut. That said, I'm happy with my progress. Most of my entries were a lot longer than two sentences - I wrote 12,500 words total - and I gave myself a decent record of what happened during the quarter.
I think consistency is better than frequency, so I'm adjusting my Q4 goal to be at least two journal entries per week. This will be fewer total entries, but they will be more consistently spaced over the quarter, so I'll have a better picture of what my life was like over the quarter.
I haven't gone back and read through all my Q3 entries yet, but if I can remain consistent with this practice, I'm sure I'll be very happy to look back years from now and read my reflections on my life. My journal entries will be a good complement to my annual photo albums.
Failures
These are the goals I didn't accomplish. They serve as good lessons and points of reflection.
Publish six articles
I dropped the ball big time on this one. Aside from my Q2 Quarterly Review, I didn't publish a single article in Q3.
About half way through the quarter, I finally formed a blurry picture of what I wanted to focus on with my writing. I decided I wanted to read about the most interesting people in the world, find their common characteristics, and then talk about those characteristics by telling their stories. I decided starting in Q4 I would publish two articles per month around this topic. You can read my first one here.
So while I wasn't publishing in Q3, I spent a lot of time reading, taking notes, and writing drafts to support the execution of my plan in Q4.
Even though I didn't publish anything in Q3, I think I'll look back on this time as a turning point in my writing because I finally developed a concrete plan. This is a good example of how perceived failures can actually be very productive.
One podcast appearance
As I wasn't very active publishing writing, podcasts, or tweets, it's not surprising that I didn't appear on any podcasts. Now that I have my content scheduled defined and focused, I'll be publishing more regularly, which I think will lead to more podcast appearances. More importantly, because I'm writing consistently about one topic - teaching self improvement through stories - I'll have more intelligent insights to offer when I am on another podcast.
Conclusions
Writing these reviews is one of my favorite things to do during the quarter. While I didn't achieve everything, I'm very happy with my progress. I'm happy that I began to add a new habit - journaling - and I corrected a failure from Q2 - volunteering. I'm also happy that I maintained many of my successes - most notably my weekly email which I love writing.
I'm excited knowing that my failures from this quarter are well on their way to becoming my successes next quarter. It's also fun to see how I've changed my outlook and adapted my goals over three quarters. It will be very interesting to watch my views and focuses change when I read back over 40 quarterly reviews.
I'm currently reading Morgan Housel's book, The Psychology of Money. One of the recurring themes is the importance of consistency and staying in the game. If you can minimize catastrophic failures and stay in the game long enough, you are guaranteed to have success. He's talking in the context of investing, but that same idea applies to nearly everything - fitness, nutrition, learning a new skill, etc.
These quarterly reviews are keeping me accountable and keeping me in the game. If I remain consistent, success is inevitable.
Q4 2020 Goals
One workout program analysis.
One investment program analysis.
Send 13 newsletters.
One afternoon volunteering.
One podcast appearance.
Publish one curation piece.
Publish six articles.
Publish six podcasts.
ROMWOD and/or The Ready State every day.
Journal at least twice per week.
Add one interesting person to my contacts who I speak with at least 1-2 times per month.
