This is my fourth year writing reviews. It’s one of the best things I do in December and January, giving me space to think about the year. What went right, what I missed, what I’m proud of and where I facepalm.
What stands out to me the most about 2018 is that it was a year of doing. My wife and I were talking about the year recently, and we remembered the trips we took, races run, events attended, and of course the birth of our second child just a couple weeks ago!
For me, it was all of that and more. I’ve been journaling and thinking on 2018 for weeks now, because looking back it really has been an amazing year. Family, personal, physical, and professional milestones were all reached, and it feels really good.
What sticks out to me about 2018 though is I didn’t enter the year with a defined goal for any of these things. In fact my primary goal at the start of the year was to improve my personal habits and systems. By focusing on the input of daily/weekly habits, I was able to make a lot more progress in every area of life.
Past reviews have skewed a little heavy to work, and I’m happy to say I’m beginning my 4th year at ConvertKit! We continue to grow and learn how to face the new challenges that come with success (and some failures). More on that further down the review.
YouTube Growth
The biggest change for me this year is my YouTube channel freaking took off. In my 2017 review I also talked about YouTube, and at the time I had 740 subscribers. All that started to change when I published my 2018 planning video. In a week I was over 1,000 subscribers and kept adding about 1,000 per month throughout the year. On Christmas Eve I reached 20,000 subscribers, a number I couldn’t have imagined a year ago.
If you want to know more about that, I made a video about getting to 10,000 subscribers – but the tl;dr is that I found a niche in bullet journaling and productivity habits.
There are lots of Bullet Journal channels and the space is fairly competitive. But competition is not always a bad thing. In fact it shows market interest and viability. What I’ve done is differentiate my channel within the space and doubled down hard.
For example, there are tons of bullet journal channels, but not many run by a guy. Also most BuJo channels only do overhead shots of the journal, not many talking head clips. Finally I noticed that most channels were only doing layouts without advice or strategies to be more productive and mindful. So I took the traffic and differentiated my channel by:
- Being a guy in gal’s niche
- More talking head clips
- Advice and strategies in addition to layouts
I have good momentum and lots of ideas for 2019 for the channel. My number for the year is to try and get to 50,000 subscribers. It’s a stretch, and to be honest not one I’ll focus on specifically. Because what will help me get to that number is consistently improving at the things I’m already doing now. The system is to create 3-4 videos a month and let those do the work.
Becoming an Athlete (again)
This was the most physically active year I’ve had since I don’t know when. I’ve always been active and found challenges to apply myself, but 2018 was exceptional. I competed in five major races – most years I’ve been in one or two. Here’s the list!
- Black Mountain Marathon (in the winter)
- Ragnar Tennessee (team relay from Chattanooga to Nashville)
- Spartan Super Asheville (9 miles)
- Spartan Beast Breckenridge (13 miles)
- Spartan Sprint Nashville (4 miles)
Going back to habits and systems, to prepare for these events I did CrossFit workouts 3 days a week. The marathon added more running, but mostly it was a 5-7 mile run during the week and a long run during the weekend. It wasn’t having a specific routine or running plan (more on that in a sec) – but the regular commitment of “I’m going to move on these days”.
The goal was to compete in all of these races, but the habit of showing up to workouts and the trailhead was the system that allowed me to build towards competition. I didn’t have to worry about the actual race at all, just apply myself to the system.
One habit routine that helped a lot was setting out my workout clothes the night before. I’d also set water out and everything I needed for coffee. This removed friction from the morning when motivation can be low. An important component of this is what I call the “moment of no return”. If I can get to this moment, I’ll complete the workout. For me it’s just getting in the car. If I get in the car, I’ll go to the gym or the trail. So I reframe the entire habit around simply getting in the car. The rest happens automatically.
Note: James Clear talks about this extensively in chapter 13 of his book Atomic Habits. He calls them Decisive Moments and shows how they’re like the on-ramp for bigger habits and goals in life. This book is one of my favorites from this year, I’ll share the full list later in the review.
Movement is a keystone habit for me. Without regular exercise my days and weeks really go off the rails. Workouts are the boost my body and brain need to do my best work and be energized around my family. It’s odd to think, but waking up an hour earlier to exercise in some way totally makes up for the “lost” hour of sleep.
The final takeaway on exercise this year for me is this is the first year in a long time where I had other people keeping me accountable for showing up. I’m a part of a fantastic group that meets at 5:00 AM on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday to throw some weight around. Knowing there are people who expect me to show up and will call me out if I don’t is a huge motivator.
ConvertKit
This was my 3rd year at ConvertKit and held a lot of change. I’m still working on the customer success side of the company, but have started to work more with the product and marketing teams as well, which I really enjoy.
We launched a new education product in 2018 called Creator Pass. It’s focused on helping new creators have the time and teaching they need to build their business in a year. The entire company pitched in and made it a reality, and in 2018 we had 600 people sign up! It also includes a year of access to ConvertKit, so creators have great teaching and the right tool to help them grow an audience online.
Another thing I’m proud of from this year are the opportunities to learn and develop my professional skills. I went through the Reforge Activation and Retention fall class and learned a ton about the customer lifecycle. If you’re in Tech and work on customer growth and retention I highly recommend any of their programs.
One thing I didn’t accomplish much of was improving my technical capacity. I made marginal gains, but really need to make a jump in 2019 to continue growing in my career. I’m starting with learning SQL and Python to better understand the data needed to make decisions about the product.
Another thing I didn’t do as well in the latter half of the year was pace myself. I worked a lot this year – not complaining about it, I enjoy my work and the projects I get to figure out.
One thing I noticed in the months I worked hours over the “standard 40” is I became much worse at prioritizing my tasks. Instead of making decisions about what mattered most, I would just delay one thing until later in the week. I told myself that if everything was getting done, it didn’t matter in which order.
But that’s not true. The important tasks need my clearest thinking, and thus still need to be prioritized. Human nature leans towards the easier tasks anyway, and even if they “need” to be done, important work still needs to come first. I didn’t do that as much as I needed to at times this year.
Family
The biggest news for our family is the latest news… on December 8th our second son was born, Benson Fletcher! The names are from both of my grandfathers, plus my dad and one of my brothers also have the middle name Fletcher. He’s a great little guy and everyone is doing well.
Canaan is 3 and doing so much. Their age difference is serving us well right now, he’s pretty independent and will talk about what’s bugging him. Makes the drastic change of not being a solo kid a little easier for us all to work on.
One of my themes for 2019 is to have a clearer focus on my marriage. Anyone who’s a parent knows that it can be easier to be a parent than a spouse, at least it is for me. Kids will get in your face and tell you what they want! In the moment kids will (almost) always win, so focusing on being attentive to my wife is really important now that we have two kids!
August marked our 5th year in Nashville, a number that still surprises me. We came here so Morgan could go through nursing school at Belmont, and honestly at the time we thought that would be it. Back to Asheville or further out west. Nashville was a pit stop, then it wasn’t. Without intending to Nashville felt like home really fast.
First were our friends and church. Scott and Stephanie, Ryan and Cam, Matt and Ansley, Troy and Kline, all of them helped us more than they know. We found a church in 4 months after not finding one in Asheville after 4 years, and Midtown 12 South has been a huge piece of our life.
Morgan’s mom and sister moved to town a year later. More friends moved in and we made new ones too. My brother Mark and his wife Carolyn moved from Florida. We (Morgan) had Canaan just before year 2 and bought a house in year 3. We found great food, coffee, and places to hike (still no Asheville but can’t have it all).
Despite all of that, we kept looking for reasons to leave. Whether it was mountains, jobs, or something else we looked at Zillow too much the past two years. We even took a travel nurse assignment to see how we felt leaving for a while. We missed Nashville, it was becoming our city. But every year since we arrived we’ve talked about leaving.
This summer we were talking to another family and how they felt called to move back to Nashville. What struck me about that is Morgan and I feel like we’ve been called to stay, like God isn’t quite done with us being here. So we’re going to stop looking for a while and see what truly committing to Nashville is like.
Here’s a big reason. Community is hard when you always think you might be leaving soon, and we don’t want that to be part of our story here. We want to get in the trenches with our community.
I still don’t know where we’ll be for the long-long term, but we’re happy in Nashville and the ways God has provided for us throughout the years. Even as we’ve made our little plans and kingdoms of dirt.
Travel
2018 was the most I’ve ever traveled in a year, and I really enjoyed it. The miles were somewhat intentional, I know with a young baby there will be less travel in 2019 so I jammed some extra trips in. Here’s a quick list:
- Florida to see family (twice)
- Asheville to see family and race (twice)
- Boise to visit friends (April)
- Boise for Craft + Commerce
- Boise for ConvertKit summer retreat
- Colorado for Spartan Beast in Breckenridge
- San Diego for ConvertKit winter retreat
- Banff & Colorado for family vacation
- San Francisco for a work conference
Of those trips, 8 were flights – a personal record for the year. I know lots of people fly way more than that (hi Alexis) but it’s always nice to hit a new high score. I enjoy flying, airports (within reason), and of course new cities. Watch my (only) two travel vlogs this year below!
Books
Reading has always been an important part of my life. The first set of books I bought with my “own” money was in 1993. I was 9 years old and at small town 4th of July parade. We went in a thrift store and I saw a box set of the Chronicles of Narnia for 25 cents each. I dug out the $1.75 and started reading on the curbside. I still have that set on my bookshelf.
After not reading as much in 2017 I was able to create more of a habit around it this year. I would read a little in the morning and before bed at night. Another little trick I attempted to practice was reading a page instead of scrolling through my phone – even if it was the Kindle app on my phone!
Without further ado, here are my books from 2018…
- Atomic Habits – James Clear
- Thinking in Bets – Annie Duke
- Off the Clock – Laura Vanderkam
- Radical Candor – Kim Scott
- City of Thieves – David Benioff
- Richest Man in Babylon – George Clason
- Good Strategy, Bad Strategy – Richard Rumelt
- It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work – Jason Fried & DHH
- How to Fight a Hydra – Josh Kaufman
- It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want To Be – Paul Arden
- Conspiracy – Ryan Holiday
- 12 Rules for Life – Jordan Peterson
- Hacking Growth – Sean Ellis
- Measure What Matters – John Doerr
- 12 Week Year – Brian Moran
- Sleep – Nick Littlehales
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck – Mark Manson
- The Score Takes Care of Itself – Bill Walsh
- 33 Strategies of War – Robert Greene
- One Small Step Can Change Your Life – Robert Maurer
- Personality Types – Riso & Hudson
- The Sacred Enneagram – Christopher Huertz
- Every Good Endeavor – Timothy Keller
- This is Marketing – Seth Godin
- Bullet Journal Method – Ryder Carroll
- Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World – Jack Weatherford
These 26 books are the most I’ve read in a year since I started tracking in 2015. One thing I want to do more of in 2019 is not necessarily to read more, but to take better notes of the books and lessons therein.
I’m a big fan of Ryan Holiday and Robert Greene’s notecard method and have used it for a couple books this year. If I was to have a “goal” it would be to still read 20+ books and thoroughly review one each month. Not every book needs a full review, and some are less note-worthy than others. Then I could share a “best of” at the end of 2019 too!
One drawback is audiobooks are much more difficult to take notes in. I’m normally listening as I do something else, making it difficult for notes or highlights. I only listened to 7 books this year (less than past years) and a few of them were fiction, which I tend to take little-to-no notes in.
If you’re interested in a listen instead of a read, you can actually grab a 30 day trial of Audible with 2 FREE audiobooks. Many of these books are excellent audiobooks, especially if you struggle to find the time to sit and read. It’s one of the ways I’ve been able to increase my book “reading” the past few years.
If you want to see more about my reading habits, book recommendations, and note-taking, watch the video below and read everything here.
Looking Ahead: 2019 Themes & Goals
I already mentioned marriage and technical competency as themes for 2019, the other is to create and ship more products. This applies to my work at ConvertKit and with productivity content. For matters of this post and blog I’ll refer more to the bullet journal and productivity content since it’s something I control.
I’m fortunate to have momentum with the YouTube channel and my email list. After taking years to gain 1,000 email subscribers (albeit in less focused and consistent writing) I added 6,000 subscribers in 2018. I created a 30 day time tracking program for nearly 1,000 people.
In 2019 I want to do more with courses and membership features for the “True Fans” of my content. I’m almost done with the first iteration of a productivity course and am hoping to have 50 people go through Beta. I really admire what Shane Parrish does with Farnam Street and Shawn Blanc with The Focus Course. I’d like to have similar offerings at a point in the next couple years and the groundwork for that starts now.
If you want to see more about how I define my themes for the year and set goals, watch my 2019 Productivity Planning video below. If you’re looking for a way to align your themes, goals, and systems for the new year, that’s exactly what you’ll learn!
I’m really looking forward to 2019. I know that it will require a different version of me than 2018 Matt, and that’s a good thing! I’ve already mentioned my themes for the year, but to hone in on a few characteristics, I hope to be more focused, attentive, and balanced.
I’d love to hear what your thoughts on 2018 were and what you’d like to do more or less of going in to 2019! Let me know in the comments here or the YouTube video linked just above.
Thank you for reading, and if you’re interested in my past reviews here are 2017, 2016, and 2015. Happy New Year!
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