This will capture H2 planning from September to EOY December. We missed a few months so this will be a 4 month half.

Theme

Lay the Foundation with Consistency and Stability.

Rationale

Based on 2020H1 we found our routine, habits and behaviors are fragile. In 2020H2 we will work to building rigid systems and find ways for us to stay on track.

Further, we need to lay the foundation to continually be improving, learning etc. The area of important and not urgent was neglected.

This theme will be used when planning our work. An example would be we will choose consistency over impulse with our planning.

Mission

Start Climbing Whilst Still Growing

Rationale

A pretty cryptic mission if I say so myself.

The overall long term goal is to build something that will improve the lives of everyone. This is the peak of the mountain we will climb. However, to get there we need to be prepare ourselves. We need to grow and get stronger. We need to know which routes will work and which will not. We cannot see which path leads to the peak thus we need to try and fail. We can see some paths are rather difficult which we may not be able to overcome yet.

In 2019H2 & 2020H1 we had a focus on learning. It was to build the knowledge and skills so we can begin climbing. Of course, we have not learned enough to start tackling every path to the top. Some paths are still out of our reach.

That said we need to start somewhere, thus 2020H2 will begin the journey of trying a path whilst still focusing on learning skills and growing as an individual. If we train forever and then choose a path the path may be wrong. If we pick a path without training we may reach a breaking point which we cannot overcome. Thus, for the time being we need to balance the two approaches.

2020H2 will be applying the skills we've gathered whilst still growing and learning.

Events

In order to plan accurately we need to look at what our environment will look like.

Assumptions:

• Likely staying in San Mateo apartment for until November
• May go back to Australia in November
• San Mateo looks like it's going to stay at Tier 1 for a while (that is no gyms for the time being, should also not go out and meet people)

Objective 1: Personal Improvement

This area was neglected in 2020H1 and is going to be our number one priority. Build the foundations to ensure we are continually improving and investing in ourselves.

[P0] Key Result 1: Mindless Project Development

• Develop the project such that we use it daily and have friends finding it useful.
  • That is in four months we need to have a product we are happy using.

[P0] Key Result 2: Mindless Project Consistency

• Blog post about progress updates and plans every two weeks
  • This will keep us in the theme of consistency and keep us accountable

[P1] Key Result 3: Reading

• Read and review a book a month.

[P2] Key Result 4: Writing

• Write about a topic that's on your mind every two weeks.

[P2] Key Result 5: Learn something new

• Pick up a new concept that is equivalent difficulty to a University Course
  • E.g. you can do an actual university course, learn guitar etc.

Notes:

• Regardless where we are we should be able to accomplish the above OKRs. That is this can be done in Australia or in the US.
• Focus a lot on blogging since writing is a key skill we want to develop and doing it publicly keeps us accountable.

Objective 2: Health

This area is extremely important in the new circumstances of living alone. It is very easy to fall into traps of eating unhealthy and forgoing exercise in this new environment. This target area focuses on consistency as opposed to ambitious goals.

[P0] Key Result 1: Exercise

• Exercise three times a week
  • The type of exercise is kept intentionally vague due to the volatility of what exercise is available.
  • This should not be difficult to accomplish but is critical to include and measure.

[P1] Key Result 2: Food

• Reduce unhealthy eating habits by 50%
  • This can be things like ordering less takeout, cutting out energy drinks etc.
  • Kept intentionally vague but specific goals will be determined during planning.

[P1] Key Result 3: Reflecting (Mental Health)

• Journal 3 times a week
  • We cut this down from daily as an attempt to target consistency over ambition.
• Reflect on goals monthly

[P1] Key Result 4: Relationships

• Weekly VC with friends/family
  • It's easy to neglect relationships during these times but they're more important than ever. Commit to at least weekly sync ups.

[P2] Key Result 5: Stretch

• Focus on core and flexibility such that the gym is painless

Notes:

• Risks to achieving this are traveling. Be wary of when you do travel back to Australia these health habits are maintained from day 1.

Objective 3: Habits

[P0] Key Result 1: Develop a consistent sleeping pattern

• Determine a consistent sleeping pattern which is defined by waking up within 1 hour of a specified time 6 out of 7 days. Achieve this for at least the last month.
  • Whether or not we decide to do morning wake-ups or shift it later is up to us. The exit criteria is to develop a good pattern and we intentionally leave this only to the last month to give us time to experiment.

[P1] Key Result 2: Morning and Night Routines

• Execute on a no-technology routine for at least 30 minutes after waking up and 30 minutes before going to bed night.
  • We already have a routine in place we just need to execute on it.
  • Furthermore, success criteria is less than what the ideal goal is due to the theme of being consistent as opposed to intense in these areas.

[P2] Key Result 3: Accurate Measurements

• Keep calendar up to date with what we're working on and use mindless application
  • Track more accurately what we're doing for improved retrospection.

Notes:

• Huge risks here when traveling or when the environment changes. Be aware that this is happening and re-adjust.

Objective 4: Work

Despite work being Objective 4 it is probably one of the most important objectives. However, it is always on my mind so I weight it relatively less important.

[P0] Key Result 1: Execute on Critical Features

• Execute on the most important features at work
  • There are specific things I have in this list but will omit due to not leaking things :P
  • Focus your energy on what is important versus the most interesting thing at the time.

[P1] Key Result 2: Ruthlessly Prioritize

• Restrict the time spent working by prioritizing
  • Measure this using the mindless app
  • This is almost a requirement of Objective 1. If we want to achieve Objective 1 we need to reduce the time spent at work and thus focus on what is important.
  • This is a P1 so "Execute on important features" comes ahead of this meaning if we are falling behind on KR1 we will spend more time if needed.

[P2] Key Result 3: Learn Technologies Outside Your Area Of Expertise

• Spend time learning about other areas in the project

Objective 5: MISC

[P1] Key Result 1: Get Money In Order

• Figure out where my investments are going, debt, plans, etc.

[P2] Key Result 1: Cook

• Actually learn to cook instead of ordering meal delivery plans :)
  • We put this as a P2 since we are actively going to sacrifice this area to achieve our other goals. One day I'll learn how to cook...

Appendix

Priority scale

Objectives are ordered by most important to least important. However, that is mostly just the themes. The key results themselves are more useful ordering.

100% P0's must be achieved. There has to be a good reason they were missed. 50-100% P1's should be achieved. We should be able to execute on most of these but one or two may drop out. 0-50% P2's may be achieved. These are mostly themed stretch goals depending on how bandwidth limited we are (hint likely won't achieve any of these).