I’m often a bit cynical. Because of that, I’ve often looked down upon New Year’s resolutions. “Why”, I scoffed, “would the passing of an arbitrary date make you change your life?” Well, I’m a changed man.
I’ve come to realize that anything that can help motivate someone to improve can be a positive force. Also, what am I doing bothering with how someone else runs their life? Point being, this year I decided to make some resolutions for myself and to suggest some for streamers. Hopefully some of my ideas help you with coming up with your own goals or resolutions.
My resolutions
There are SO MANY things that I could and should improve. However, I firmly believe that you’re most likely to achieve your goals if you’re realistic. There may be some people who can jump start a business, eat better and exercise, be kinder, and more in one year. I doubt I’m one of them.
Therefore, I am going to make an effort to make reasonable resolutions with trackable progress. Without both parts I think it’s too easy to drift off course.
Resolution 1: Clean around the house for at least 5 minutes each day
I want to do this because it’s important to my wife and it makes her happy. That, in turn, makes me happy. Plus, I usually find that when I start something I don’t stop at 5 minutes.
This one should be easy to track. I can just set up a phone reminder or something on Habitica… which I haven’t used in a while but should start again.
Resolution 2: Be better about sales.
Guys, I really suck at sales and I need to improve. I desperately hate cold emailing people. However, my business lives and dies based on my sales efforts. I need to step it up, bite the bullet, and any other idiom you can think of that means actually do it.
I actually really like in person networking stuff. I think that’s a blast; I just like talking to people. However, I’m no good at the cold stuff and when you’re starting out you need to do some of that.
I’m going to track this one using a tool I got from my business coach. It’s part time tracker, part sales effort tracker. I’ll use it every day to monitor what I’m actually doing and make sure my efforts are appropriately applied.
To make this actionable and trackable, I’ll define “better” as improving over time with the start of the year as a baseline.
Resolution 3: Be better about time tracking
I lose a lot of time to feeling kind of meh because business isn’t exactly where I want it. I also lose a decent amount of time to YouTube and Twitter that I don’t need to spend. Hopefully, tracking my time will give me the data I need to make smart decisions.
Today I am going through the time tracker I mentioned earlier to make sure it works for this as well. If it does, I’ll use it as a tool. If not, then I’ll look around for something else or make my own.
To make this actionable and trackable, I’ll define “better” as improving over time with the start of the year as a baseline.
Resolution 4: Read 30 minutes each day
I absolutely adore reading. I get completely lost in books and don’t notice the world around me. Yet for some reason, I don’t read anywhere near as much as I’d expect. Some of that is gaming, some of that is Twitch, and some of that is YouTube. Regardless, I need to improve.
I think they key here will be establishing a ritual where I read. I have the time; I’m self-employed and not overloaded with client work (if only I were!). There are a million books I should read for self-improvement and plenty I want to read for fun.
I’ll track it using whatever system I ultimately used for the 5 minutes of cleaning. If I can turn my lunch breaks where I watch YouTube videos into reading or cleaning time, at least for a part of it, I’ll have those two resolutions nailed.
Resolution 5: Spend 30 minutes a day practicing Spanish
I don’t know if many of you know this, but Spanish was my first language. Or at least I was bilingual as a kid. Both of my parents speak decent Spanish and my mom’s family has a ton of Spanish speakers. Also, I live in Southern California, Spanish would be an incredibly valuable skill! It’s pretty sad that I’ve lost my Spanish.
Again, I want to start small. I think something like Duolingo might help. Really, the goal is to get me using it again at any level. I still understand it decently well but I’m bad at speaking it. Both need dramatic improvement. It’s time to work on that!
I’ll track it using the same method I decide upon for reading and cleaning.
Ideas for streamers
No one likes being told how they should improve. It’s kind of a dick move. Therefore, I’ll suggest only some broad themes. Well, that and link my article on the top mistakes I see streamers making with their business and personal finances. You can draw your own conclusions from that one.
Again, you want your specific resolutions to be reasonable and actionable. These themes will necessarily be more broad.
Theme 1: Improve business hygiene
If you follow me at all you’ve heard this phrase before. Good business hygiene means treating your business like a business. Tracking things, planning for the future, separating business from personal. You can do it!
Theme 2: Don’t be afraid of selling
Twitch chat has a tendency to be pretty negative when it comes to overt selling efforts. However, that’s how you run your business! Whether it’s encouraging subs or tips, an affiliate link in your panels, or a sponsorship deal with a company you’re selling. Remember, your community won’t get the benefit of having you around if you aren’t selling in some form. Good selling means matching people with things they actually need and want.
Conclusion
Resolutions can be pretty helpful if you approach them in a manageable way. I’ve outlined my 5 major resolutions for 2018 and offered some broad themes that streamers could consider when making their resolutions. Let this be the year you really improve something!
You don’t have to figure this out alone. This is what we do- help streamers and young professionals make great money decisions. If that’s something that sounds interesting to you reach out me or schedule some time for a free consult. You can check out what I do here.
