My Annual Goals and Plan for 2023 (Bootcamp Ideas and Personal)

This year I’m throwing out the kinds of goals I usually lay down for the year.

Every January I almost always plan 1,443 new projects for the year and then proceed to drown in overwhelm.

This year I’m taking a different approach, instead of focusing on specific projects I’m focusing on creating aligned opportunities and that means I’ll need to focus on…

…doing the Work.

The Work is anything you do to create more self-awareness and self-control in your life. It’s involves pushing your comfort zone and as such is often quite uncomfortable.

Some people do the Work by meditating, working with a coach, having a mastermind group or seeing a therapist. I’m focusing on using Human Design, The Tools (see my last post for more about that) and physically moving my body (after all, we all know how powerful that can be).

So that will be the backbone of my efforts next year and I’ll see what projects arise from that.

Now let’s kick off with how this is all going to happen by looking at the goals I have set and resuming Productive Flourishing’s annual reflection worksheet:

If you missed Part 1 of this reflection, where I covered the good, bad and ugly of 2022, you can go back and read it here.

What are your Top 3 goals for next year?

Personal

My personal goals for 2023 are:

1. Training – Keep working out pain-free and improve my recovery with more aerobic and anerobic training.
2. Screen-free downtime – I’d like to find a project that involves making something with my hands.
3. Quality family time – More mini-adventures and projects to do together.

Business

And my goals for Bootcamp Ideas and my work life are:

1. The New Bootcamp Ideas – Continue the reimagining of Bootcamp Ideas, starting with a new course on email newsletters.
2. Human Design Coaching – I’d love to regularly help other business owners incorporate Human Design into the way they work.
3. Better Systems – I would like to identify what is needing a system in my business and to start creating them.

What needs to change for you to achieve these goals?

Personal

I don’t know about the other parents out there who are reading this, but I find it really challenging to change gears from being a parent to working on my business.

Something that needs to change is working out ways to create that delineation. For example some days I grab my laptop and head into town to work out of a cafe. The short walk or bike ride is a great way to help me change head space.

Some other things that could change are keeping a book handy to read instead of my phone (I find this so relaxing, even with kids climbing on me) and allocating some time each week to non-screen projects. I guess I’ll start by using that time to work out what the project will be.

Business

One big thing that needs to change is my approach to content. I haven’t been consistent (emailing every week) so I’d like to get back to that. I also need to get to know my readers better once more which is why I’m taking the time to interview a dozen of you over the next couple of weeks (thanks to those who said yes!).

Getting into a ‘batching’ mindset will help with planning my time more efficiently too which in turn will help me stay consistent and help keep my time with family high.

Speaking of mindset changes, another one is belief in myself and that people want to support me. I want to find the appropriate places to add paywalls so the business is supported while still being able to support the trainers that read this.

Also, if I want to do more work with Human Design I’ll need to make sure that I’m putting aside a little time each week to focus on it.

What sprints, strategic projects, or experiments could you run to help you achieve those goals?

A little explanation on this question: It’s asking about what smaller short-term projects you could do in order to work towards the larger goals you have in mind.

Personal

Something that would be nice to try out (although the ‘how’ of it is beyond me right now) is to make sure that my partner and I both get some time to be alone, some one on one time with a kid, some one on one time with each other and some good quality family time.

As my 4 year old starts developing her own interests I’d love to come up with some collaborative projects we can do together. Maybe starting with small things and then working up to bigger projects.

Business

Bizcations – I experimented with these in 2021 and loved them but then didn’t make time and/or put aside money to continue them in 2022. A Bizcation, as I call it, is where I go away for 2-3 days by myself so I can do the deep thinking about big picture business stuff that can only happen without distractions. It involves reading, brainstorming, scheming, solitude, coffee, wine and too much food. It’s a vacation mixed with work. I’d love to work out a way to do it cheaper, so I could do it more often (perhaps by renting a friends holiday house instead of going through Airbnb).

Content Batching – My old system of writing and creating content week to week just doesn’t work anymore. I need a new way so I’d like to experiment with either some content creation days each month or perhaps even a whole week where I focus on writing, recording and creating free content for readers. Then I can either just schedule it out or grab a pre-prepared piece of content to post each week when it seems relevant.

Systems for everything (and documented) – I’m pretty good with systems but this year I found that there are some cracks. I can work on this with some time each month spent building out a system or by following the mantra of ‘every time you do something in your business automate one step of it’. At the moment I’ve started the year by working on automating a big chunk of my marketing.

Permission to Chill – I want to show up fully for my business when I can, but also honour those moments when I just need to chill. Bizcations, batching and systems will all help give me more flexibility around this.

No Big Projects – As I feel like that’s often what I do at the start of the year and then I have a huge todo list coming into the new year. This year I want it to be more about my daily actions and habits (at least for the first half) and trust that that will allow me to see and act on opportunities accordingly.

Who might be able to support you with those sprints, projects, or experiments?

Personal

My wife and I both need to get better at asking for help from friends with play dates. While we’re happy to take other people’s kids, we feel bad asking for help.

For projects to do with my oldest, perhaps I can get some inspiration from online. (Anyone know any good websites?)

Business

I’ll definitely need support from Zoe if I’m heading away on any Bizcations. But having spoken to her about it before, I know she’s keen to support me.

I’d also like to seek out some experts and get their input on things. I’ve been in touch with a woman who mentors community creators, I’d love her input and guidance on continuing to create an awesome community here at Bootcamp Ideas.

For my Human Design learning and coaching I’ve set up a regular call with 4 others who are either Human Design coaches or are using Human Design in some way in their business. This ‘mastermind’ will help keep me accountable.

Finally, I’ll need my community too (that’s you!). I’ve already set up several calls with readers over the next couple of weeks so that I can better understand what you’re going through and how I can help you.

When will you reach out to those people?

• My wife – chat next week when we get some time alone
• Friends – bring up playdate swapping next time I see them
• Bootcamp Ideas readers – already reached out to and I’ll be calling them over the next couple of weeks
• Mastermind group – already reached out to and setting up a first meet up for next week
• Community mentor/coach – follow up this week to set up a time

Final Reflections

This has been such a good process to go through, particularly the part where I had to identify WHO would help me.

So often as solo business owners we try to do everything ourselves, but it can be so much easier when we ask for help.

2022 involved a lot of struggle and a lot of learning, all which led to me growing as a person and business owner. I’m looking forward to flexing some of the growth this year and continuing to learn and teach.

I hope by following along with my process it’s inspired you to do your own or, at the very least, it’s gotten you to think about your own lessons from last year and goals for this year.

If you had any of these ‘aha’ moments reading this, please leave a comment for me below. I’d love to read what clicked for you!

Kyle Wood

Kyle Wood created Bootcamp Ideas in 2010 when he was hunting around on the internet for workout ideas. He ran a successful bootcamp in Victoria, Australia and spends his spare time managing this site, adventuring (or lazying) with his wife and find new ways to make bootcamps even better.