New Year's Resolutions & 2018 Goals
Posted by Phil Galfond
Posted by
Phil Galfond
posted in
Poker Journals
New Year's Resolutions & 2018 Goals
Hey, all.
As you've likely seen, we've begun a limited-time New Year's Resolution Sale. This was a really popular promo last year, and we've made it an even better deal this time around. I won't spam you with more details here - you can check out the offer page for that.
In the spirit of the New Year's, I thought it would be cool to set and share some goals for 2018, both poker and non-poker.
I'll go first.
This year has been unique for me. I did more traveling than I've ever done, and my work to poker ratio was 5-10x higher than it's ever been. I've been struggling with feeling like I don't have time for anything, which means I've lost balance - neglected my health and my relationships. Balancing poker and life, I've had a lot of practice at. Work and life, not so much.
With that in mind, in 2018 I'd like to:
- Take short (10+ min) breaks twice a day to remind myself that I can
- Wake up by 9am most days (exceptions for poker)
- No work after 2pm on Sundays (poker doesn't count as work)
- Stereotypical, but - get back into an exercise routine (details TBD)
I'd also like to:
- Get more creative with my RIO videos
- Read 1 book a month (don't laugh, but that is A LOT for me)
- Play more poker than I did in 2017
How about you guys?
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If you want to ease your way back into fiction reading, check out City of Thieves by David Benioff. It's a super quick and easy read, but also thrilling and hilarious.
Thanks! I wasn't planning on reading fiction, but it's probably a good idea to throw some in to see how I like it.
Cory Mikesell
Why would you want to learn spanish? I'm a native spanish speaker and I don't really see the point of learning a language that is so fucking hard and not that useful.
Not to shit talk your resolution. Just curious. GL!
I'm going to be moving to the southwestern US so spanish will be more useful there. I also just believe that in order to consider myself a true citizen of the world, it's important that I learn an additional language. I just have the most experience with spanish.
I have been thinking about this topic lately as many do this time of year. I plan to accomplish the following:
-Finish 4 books each month
-Become more consistent with daily meditation
-Continue to exercise most days, but become more strict with the schedule
-Improve efficiency regarding poker volume
-Become more consistent with daily journal entries, which I never thought I would find myself doing, but I find it helps me focus on each day and live more in the present all while appreciating certain aspects of my life more
A few good book recommendations I can give are the following:
-"Tools Of Titans" by Tim Ferriss
-"Show Your Work" by Austin Kleon
-"The Personal MBA" by Josh Kaufman
-"A History of The World in 6 Glasses" by Tom Standage
I don't read a lot of fiction, but am willing to read literally anything. Good idea for a post Phil!
Not sure what kind of journaling you do, but I tried bullet journaling for several months and found it really helpful. We use a productivity tool company-wide, and I find it good enough for keeping track of my tasks, so I haven't gone back.
Had to show me up :)
You and I share very similar goals, Nick.
- 2017 was the start of a more consistent mediation practice for myself, but I have room for improvement.
- Incorporate at least 2 days of yoga a week
- Read a book a month (I just finished "Open" by Andre Agassi and it was a nice read)
- I do very well with routines and love to wake up early to get adequate "me" time, the problem here is consistency and I'm going to treat that time as more valuable time than I currently do. In the first two hours of my day, I'd like to continue my meditation practice, stay consistent with journaling and get my workout in (or yoga session).
- Take a hiking trip to the Dolomites for landscape photography
Thanks for the book recommends, I'll have to look up some of the titles I'm not familiar with.
Always nice to see New year's resolution sale, but I'd like to help me to buy it to know what will be New year's resolution on RIO site? we don't hear too much from you & RIO staff about what will be the futur of the site, something new coming up? new ideas? thanks
Happy New Year, Arnaud!
I can't speak with certainty to what you can expect from other pros because we give our pros creative freedom (within reason) for the content they produce. That said, here are some things you are extremely likely to see from our pros:
Here are some goals we have within the company that we hope to achieve in 2018:
I recall from your frequent feedback over the last several years that you prefer to watch theory videos - specifically MTT theory videos. I know that you would prefer it if 90% of our videos were just that. While I want to increase our % of structured content as well, it's important to consider that there's also someone out there who wishes our library was made up of 90% high stakes PLO live play videos. We have to cater to the wide audience that we have here at RIO, and I think we've done a pretty good job over the years (there is room for improvement and I think we'll be heading in the right direction).
We release over 550 hours of poker training a year and have a library that's approaching 4,000 videos. This is far more than any other poker training resource that I'm aware of and far more than I expect any member to watch. We do this so that we can make enough of every content type to cater to members with different preferences. I'd encourage you not to focus so much on the percentage of our content that is precisely what you'd prefer - nobody is supposed to watch half of our library. There should still be many hours of what you want, along with many hours of videos that aren't perfect for you but will still be quite valuable in helping you continue to improve.
As we focus more on data analysis this year, we will make attempts to shape our library to our findings on member preferences. I encourage you all to 'like' and comment on videos that you enjoy, as those are additional metrics we'll use on top of basic viewing numbers.
2017 was an especially busy year for us here at RIO, and I personally was more focused on other projects than on RIO Training. As of very recently, I've had more time to focus on the improvement of RIO Training, along with several others in the company. While we certainly didn't neglect our training content, we have been a bit stagnant the last little while, and you can expect to see more changes than you have over the past couple of years. When those changes will take effect and what exactly they are, I can't make promises about, but I promise that we are focused on adapting and improving.
While my time will continue to be split across projects, I'm now playing less poker (only during high volume poker months) and working over 60hrs a week on the business otherwise, and much of that time will go towards improving and innovating here.
As for my personal goals with regards to my training content, I mentioned above that I'd like to get more creative with my RIO videos, and this is something I can certainly control. This includes:
I'm excited about where we're heading next year, and I hope you will be too!
Happy new year Phil and RIO staff, thanks very much for this detailled answer!! really appreciate
Happy new year all!
Hey guys!! i like to see this kind of topicts wich makes poker and pokerlife much intersenting!! i want to add some experience of my self and i want to try to expres in the best way posible as i can do beacouse my english it is not so good!! Poker it is not all about money and im realising that we can try to be the best in order to win money or gain respect from oders or maybe put us in a better mental position than others bye playing better strategies!! or just the only reason it is to win the most money as we can win!! So as every task in life... poker have a lot of things we can learn from the game and challengin as to learn from our selfs in some way. Beacouse depends in hour mental position we can see the same thing in diferents ways!! day bye day... Im in macau right now playing live poker and this is one of the worst place ill never visit bye propously!! a mean i like the nature and the good wheter and it is dificult to find it here beacose most of the things are constructly bye human arms!! iv been 4 times here and always get me of just in a few days. Beacouse in some way i left my confort zone and also im just been easly and quckly capture for the materia (money) Just thinking about how much im wining or loosing... And many times i forget about the most important wich is for me to be in peace whit my spirit or my source. in my past i just compleined about this place but now i want to take a new step of this place and where ever ill go in the future. And it is very challengin but at the same time it is very good beacouse i reallised it that where evere we go, we are hour house!! and when i said that we have the choise to choose our present very hellfull for us or we can make it our worst enemy.. So im learning about what things making my best place where ever ill go!! im going to put some golas for now and for 2018
1- Meditation as priority task in order to observe my self, my energi, my mental stage at that time, my feelings about me and people,!! Clean every thing every day i can And go ahead whit my self free of doubts
2- YOGa: to exercise yoga every time i can in order to keep balancing all my body and tryng to have a good posture (as you know poker cause the oposit, to many hours seating and playing)
3- Study: 1 hour per day at least
4- Play: Play consistenly in the best present way posible
5- TRYNG TO BE PRESENT (consciusly and not uncounsciusly)
6- Read interesting things i can lear from others!! Recomended: who steel my cheese?
Any way it is my first time writing here and i hope this can make sense for you guys!! see you next time
looks like you guys can organize book club : ) Seriously why everyone into reading ? for knowledge or spending time in airplanes/
Apologies for off topick
For me my goals:
1. keep improving and grinding
2. travel to Korea, Japan, Honk-Kong
3. think less day to day ( I'm way too stressful and like to overthink things )
4. Find something which I will be passionate about and perfection it
Good luck to everyone and don't be lazy :)
I read for knowledge and for fun Jeff. It for sure helps to be on an airplane trapped where I can't be distracted too haha. Good luck to you too!
My goals for 2018 are:
I seriously hope I could do these.
No specific goals. I prefer to focus on habits I would like to develope. I usually pick one new habit to work on every month or so. So I have a list of habits I'd like to work on this year but will just pick a new one each month. I am going on a low media diet in Jan so much less time in poker forums/facebook/youtube..... for a month.
Happy New Year
In my opinion, setting a bunch of random goals is pointless.
Us humans are creative, intuitive beings that function best while living in the moment, so why put restrictions on yourself and turn yourself into a robot.Unless it's something you "have" to do, just don't force yourself to do it b/c it will only make you miserable.
I believe it's wrong to set goals like - read every day - unless you love reading.Reading is amazing, don't get me wrong.It will broaden your horizons, take you different places and improve your vocabulary.But if you don't enjoy it, it's pointless to do it.
It's much better to develop valuable habits as Mike put it, that will improve your well being and your overall quality of life.But it's better to choose to do something then set it as a rule and force it on yourself.
Ex :
I choose to get up earlier every morning because my days last longer.I have more time for work and i get to spend more time with my friends and family.I also feel more energized and happier throughout the day.
This life is so short and we should spend it doing the things we love to do and only do the ones we "have" to SO we can do the ones we love to.
Anyway best of luck to all good people in the new year and may you be happy and successful in whatever you do.
Definately agree with this post, although, I believe people tend to create this “goals” to feel somehow more motivated for achieving them, but it has to exist an interest for the things you wanna achieve this way in the first place, other than that, as you said, it’s just going to be useless to do so.
In my case: I really enjoy reading but lately I didn’t have enough time to do it, so my goal is more about finding time for doing it rather than forcing myself to do it because “it’s good for me”
Yeah, I understand what you are saying here. I think people should follow their interests and then immerse themselves in passions. Goals can be tied to this and I don't think there is obviously a one way path to success regarding a lot of what has been discussed in this thread. Best of luck to you too!
This is a great post, but I don’t know that it’s practical for everyone.
I believe we’re all different in how we learn, how we motivate ourselves, how we make changes in our lives, and many other things along those lines.
Personally, I struggle to make short term sacrifices for the sake of long term success (aka willpower) unless I’ve set up a structure with clear goals and/or rules. With goals and a plan, I can have extraordinary discipline.
This may just be semantics, but for example, I’m happier and more productive when I wake up early, but if I don’t give myself a rule, I will usually wake up to my alarm, turn it off, and go back to sleep. So “because it will make me happier and more productive” may not be enough motivation for me on its own.
It’s true for many people that goals and rules open the door to “failure” which can cause one to lose motivation. It’s also true that goals and rules tend to not do as well with forming super long-term habits, but I usually get the benefits for quite a while.
I might be better off working to improve my willpower rather than working around my strengths and weaknesses, but that’s no small task and I feel I’ve consistently improved over the years as I learn what works best to motivate me.
I think goal setting is great - if PG is doing it, I doubt it's pointless! Noone's goals here are random; maybe some are better than others, but if you use goals well it will help you develop self-accountability that will pay off in all areas of your life.
People who hate reading are probably the people with the shortest attention spans - exactly the people who'd benefit the most from reading. I absolutely think those people should set achievable goals to introduce reading - particularly doing it outside in nature, it'll drop cortisol, reduce anxiety, increase creativity etc etc. in many of the same ways that meditation does. I feel it's pretty short-sighted and limiting to only do what you want to do or things that are necessities. Don't do things that make you miserable sure, but embrace discomfort because pushing our boundaries is how we grow and start to love who we are.
With that said, my 2018 goals mainly focus around relationships. Having spent my adult life with health challenges that meant dealing with severe anxiety, the last several years the goals have just been about resolving those. Having at times had an incredibly specific diet and a need to avoid alcohol, coupled with anxiety, meant I avoided (and didn't instigate) many possible social occasions. And the less practice you get, the less you're able to be good company in the absence of social lubricants... so you feel lousy about yourself, avoid more social occasions, etc. Now I'm at a place where my health looks like the bitcoin graph, I've got to push myself to make up for lost time.
Tons of ways to improve this but one thing I identified is that I need to make everyday menial interactions a positive experience. I've always lit up when talking to a positive, vibrant person, but struggled around low energy people because I haven't had the social skills to bring out a spark in them. Since maybe 5% of people are really vibrant these days, that means 95% of interactions with new people end up being unenjoyable... I'd like to get myself into the 5% who can allow people like old me to light up and get that 95 down to a much lower number.
So, heaps of social goals, but I think the most important is:
- except for the absolute worst days, I'll avoid self-checkout and find ways to make interesting conversation with check-out staff. Practise active listening and other conversational skills in those brief interactions. Since this makes up a vast % of interactions, I reckon it'll pay off big time. Ironically I see this as the current area where I can most impactfully increase my EV at live poker. Self-confidence and relaxation at the tables have always been the two biggest catalysts for success for me... so this is also my "poker study" :).
Also type less in posts and emails. This one feels much less achievable :\
Happy new year guys.
Great stuff, James.
Though your circumstances leading up to now are rare, I know many online poker players have dealt with long periods of isolation, eroding (or perceived eroding) of social skills and the anxiety that comes with that. I certainly have and still do.
I think your goals are perfect. Firstly, I assume cashiers often go through their day having superficial conversations with people who speak to them because it’s polite. So, in addition to working on yourself, you’ll be making people’s days slightly better.
You’ve got a captive audience, and you won’t be as concerned about what they think of you as you would normally, but you have a big challenge in creating meaningful conversations out of these short interactions.
Easy (easier) to try yet challenging to succeed.
You’re an extremely intelligent and well spoken guy with interesting things to say. I suspect you’re further along than you think and will progress faster than you expect to. Once you’re regularly having interesting conversations you’ll have proven that to yourself.
Also, really glad to hear your health has improved so much!!
Happy New Year
Just to clarify, it wasn't my intention to make setting goals per se seem like a pointless thing all together.It's one of the great ways for all of us who want to better ourselves to hold ourselves accountable and stay on the right track so i'm all for it.I certainly wasn't trying to look down on anyone else's goals b/c seeing people trying to improve in different ways and have different interests inspires me as well.
I was trying to offer a different perspective and point out that setting a lot of "unnecessary goals" or w/e we call them, might actually shift ones mind away from what's really important and end up hurting them more then helping them in the long run.
A lot of us when we start looking for ways to improve often start by looking outwards instead of inwards and copy/paste the things we see others who are successful and whom we admire are doing trying to emulate them.Therefore i suggested that looking inwards and creating goals and habits in a more conscious way, might be a better way to go.
Like Phil said, we are all different and what might work for someone might not work for the next guy and and vice versa, so the only things we can safely rely on in the end are our own character, nature and sensibility.
While picking up ideas, skills and tricks from others can be extremely valuable as well, instead of blindly following their path, i believe that choosing them so they fit our own aspirations, dreams and desires will ultimately give us much greater joy and sense of achievement.
Phil, I'll have to look into the bullet journal technique a little more because to be honest I feel like I could use maybe a little more structure with how I'm doing it. It has for sure helped to just basically sit down and start writing about the day and what I'm looking to accomplish and/or how I am feeling. I guess it could work fine as is, but I always look for other methods to keep everything fresh and possibly improve. Ha, yeah 4 books is a bunch, but I really enjoy reading and learning about all kinds of stuff, so it doesn't ever feel like a chore or anything to me.
Talk about a very interesting Thread. The ideas and goals people are having and suggesting is amazing and all with great Feed back.
James Obst - i am in the same boat as you in regards to the socializing with other people. I find difficult to have a good conversation with people i just met or barely know, This is especially true when it comes to women for me. I have spent to much time being single and doing nothing but playing poker and working full time that i dont socialize with many people outside of work and i believe it is hurting me mentally. We live in such a connected..but disconnected world today with the increase in social media and technology, that alot of people have a hard time forming deep meaningful relationships or even just talk to one another. Just look around at coffee shops or the next time ur waiting at the doctors office, Most people who have to wait longer than 2 mins - may it be there coffee or waiting for a table at a restaurant, they instantly pull there phones out and start scrolling through Facebook or Instagram or w/e. Where lets be honest, 90% of the stuff on their is mind numbing junk. I have been prone to this in the past but have been working hard for the last 6 months on paying less attention to my phone - especially at work, ive got myself now to a point where i leave my phone turned off (no not on silent) All day and only turn it on at lunch time when im eating for my 30 mins and when im leaving at the end of the day. I found that my focus has increased while at work along with being much more productive.
To Mr.Galfond i am looking forward to the upcoming improvements to this site. The coaches on this site are Top tier and respond very well to feed back. I think alot of people dont really realize how many videos there are on this site and how long some of the coaches have been around. The amount of knowledge just from the videos let alone the great community on the forums is outstanding.
I also am looking to read at least 1 book a month as i feel i dont read as much as i should. My problem is not that i get distracted when im reading but i become instantly very tired, regardless of the book or topic.... 2, 3 pages in and im falling asleep with the book in hand lol.
One book i recently read tho that i do recommend as a Non-Fiction Book is
The Subtle Art Of Not Giving a F*ck
It is a very good book and gives a different look at things in life rather than the constant spamming of think positive and always be happy 100% of the time jargon that has infected a big portion of a generation.
Anyway look forward to 2018 and whats to come from RIO.. Keep up the great work Phil Galfond and all of the RIO team.
Thanks for sharing this, Phil. It is so nice to hear from you and a little glimpse of what's going on in your world. I will share soon. I am spending a lot of tome to deeply reflect on 2017 and develop a plan for 2018. Once I get more clarity I will play along.
From past experiences, I have learned, for me, the more clear I get on my goals the better. The more specific the better. There seems to be a repeating pattern of me (eventually) getting what I want. However, what I wanted or thought I wanted was often times NOT what I wanted. Instead, it was what I "should do" or "should want" or what I thought I was capable of.
To say it another way: I held myself back.
Some ways I did that include but are not limited to...fear of rejection, self-doubt, caring what others think of me, seeking approval, perfectionism (leading to procrastination), fear success, fear of failure, expectations...
Doing some review of 2017 tonight I came across an e-mail I sent to a mentor of mine. Some excerpts from that e-mail...
If one person learns one thing from me sharing it will make my day :)
And if not, I also know the process of sharing is in itself better for me and others.
That Email*
Subject: I feel compelled to share this creative burst that came out today...
I had a dose of reality doing some introspection. I have identified some massive root cause crimps that are holding me back: The fear of rejection, (fear of success too?), and unworthiness of love unless I am achieving and pleasing others.
When I stacked with my top needs: growth and contribution, followed by connection — the output, story, or pattern seems clear and obvious.
The fear of rejection prevents me to execute on my vision, mission, and goals. If I never execute I never have to be judged. The fear of rejection and lack of execution of what matters in the business leads me to spend a lot of my time in the knowledge stage of mastery in business. My knowledge has grown, I have upgraded myself, my network of friends has grown, along with many other great things -- and yet it appear to be very clear now that the fear of rejection and desire to please others is killing my execution of the essential things it takes to grow and sustain a business. I allow myself to hide my procrastination of the essential staying busy with tasks that shield me from the fear and reality needed to live dream...
...Yet I am not achieving my vision, my dream, and mission...mostly because of the fear of rejection with it’s close cousin desire to please the people I love, respect, and care about stacked with feeling unworthy of love if I am not achieving.
...This current way of living allows me to fulfill my needs i.e. growth, contribution, connection are full — well at least, until I have to trade contribution and connection hours for poker hours. It allows me to feel worth of love because I am achieving something and pleasing the people I love, respect and care for. It allows me to hide from the pain and fear of rejection. It prevents me from living my dream, completing my mission, and accomplishing my vision while forcing me to constantly achieve and please to feel worth of love. It takes freedom away from me and forces me to lose out on magical experiences with those same people I love, respect and care about — causing me to lose growth, lose connection, loss out on the contribute to their lives and my life. I lose some fun. It causes me to lose some of the juice of life. It causes me to lose out on the full experience. It will foster stress, frustration, anger, and suffering which not only will I have to sit with but I will also share those things with the world. This old way of living is worse for me and it is worse for the world.
...Questions for myself:
What is the cost of my desire to please the people I respect, love and care about? How high have I set the bar in order to feel worthy of their love and approval?
How much growth is enough?
How much contribution is enough?
How much connection is enough?
How much growth is too much?
How much contribution is too much?
How much connection is too much?
Thank you*
It used to be really hard for me to share things like this publicly. Thank you Phil, everyone at RIO and the community for providing a safe space for me to start blogging a couple years ago -- looking back that was a big piece of the puzzle for me.
Much love to everyone <3 Wishing you all the best in 2018 and beyond.
Great post. Thank you for sharing!
Sounds like we're very similar. About 90% of this applies to me.
Happy New Year! Hope 2018 is a great one for you.
My top goals for 2018 are:
As they say, go big or go home. :)
Happy new year everybody!
Hope you will be successful mainly at fulfilling the 3rd goal ^^
Hi Phil,
I think one of your 2018 resolutions should be to update the learning paths material. Most of the videos are years old, some 5 years - you know full well the game has evolved and changed drastically in this time so the material isn't all that relevant or useful. People pay a decent amount of money for their subscription so deserve access to up-to-date relevant tutorials. I know you have pros with regular updates, but these are commonly in the form of session reviews, not concepts, and the learning paths feature is, I'm sure, a key component for many people subscribing in the aim of improving their skills.
Thanks and good luck for 2018!
I agree with this statement but also disagree slightly. Yes the learning paths could use an update - as to what or how to change it im not to sure.
Yes there are videos 5 years old and yes in cases the game has evolved and changed but saying that all the information for 5 years ago is outdated and not useful is a little far fetched. I still believe there is a ton of information regardless of how old the video may be that can be still useful in today's game of poker.
Hey chaps - thanks for your feedback always appreciated.
So this is kind of a spoiler but we actually have worked quite a bit on exactly that matter as we felt the need for an update just as you did. Over the last couple weeks we've steadily added slightly over 100 videos affecting almost all Learning Paths categories. Another 50ish will follow in the next few days. We've also used this adding cycle to pull the trigger on creating a new category we had in mind for some time already - one that as so often was inspired by the community.
We are aware that it's not easy to distinguish new videos from old ones in the Learning Paths section. On the creation of the Paths this was of course not an issue but yeah - the longer RIO exists the more might it make sense to think of a way to distinguish the production date in a way easily observable. So I guess this is something we will discuss and for sure have in mind while expanding the Lerning Paths further.
For now - we are liking the idea of supporting the recent update with a post that will feature an overview of new adds that have been done in the newest cycle. Then we can update this post whenever the next bunch of videos has been added. As a quick solution we hope that this already improves the benefits of Learning Paths for all of you.
Surely this is also the place to throw a sorry for being lazy with the Learning Paths updates and we sure want to update this on a regular basis in the future.
Nice thread! I really enjoyed reading all of your posts.
My overall goals for 2018:
- Spend more time at the university, go to most lectures and work more together with the other students.
- Wake up before 8 am on weekdays and start working on my goals.
- Set around 3 daily and monthly/weekly goals.
- Start using the gym again. Because I enjoy it, it makes me happier and I just function better when I do it regularly.
- Develop good routines for playing poker, reviewing hands and improving.
- Move up stakes and become much better at HU MTTs (new ones on stars), turbo HUSNGs and 6max zoom.
New stars HU MTT's?
Yes, they launched them some time in the fall. I have been focused on 6max lately so I haven't started to play them regularly yet. The format is HU zoom with knockout bonus aka bounty. On Sundays the structure is deep stacked starting with around 200bb and on the other days it's similar to a typical regular SNG structure. You can find them in the scheduled tab in the lobby.
Hey guys, wanted to get in here and join in on the New Year's resolution stuff:
I'll break mine down into a few categories:
Online poker:
Cashes > 1M: I did ~1.5M last year so I think this plenty achievable. It's tough to make goals for mtt results because of the variance in tourneys but this feels both like a number that is simultaneously achievable and guarantees me having a comfortable winning year.
Off the table work: Continue improving at mtts, NL cash and 8 game. I'm not terribly comfortable at 8 game yet but I really enjoy it and mtts/NL cash are my bread and butter. It's hard to make this a quantitative goal but I've been pretty happy with my efforts over the past year or two so i'll just set a mental goal to keep up the pace.
Live Poker:
Live cashes >1M. I cashed for about 800k last year. Of all my goals this is the one I'm not terribly attached to. It feels like I need to make some sort of goal in this area but realistically I could go on a sick heater and cash for 4-5M or I could brick off 25 mtts and cash for < 100k. Once again, a milly feels like the number that comfortably locks up a win for me, so I figure I'll go with that. I plan on playing PCA and one or both of the Barcelona stops and maybe the WSOP main. I can't play the rest of the WSOP because of how taxes work w/ Canadians which means I'm going to play < 40 mtts this year I assume.
Live cash: Since I can't play many live mtts in vegas I'll need something to do. Since I've enjoyed mixed games online so much I figure I'll try and set a goal to become proficient at 4 additional games (beyond the standard 8 game mix online). Once again this is a bit hand wavy and hard to measure but I'll more or less know if I've done it.
Coaching:
RIO: To continue to deliver high quality videos on time with good content that people want to watch and to continue to make an effort to respond to comments on recent videos.
BITB: To be on time and organized when it comes to both 1 on 1 and group sessions for Pads' stable.
Looking forward to hearing more goals guys, best of luck in 2018!
I appreciate the length and thoroughness of all the replies. I'm going to keep mine short and simple.
Go to the gym more often
Eat healthier/ Order less delivery food
Dedicate more time to RIO/PIO on days when I'm not playing poker
Improve my focus while playing, particularly during long sessions
Take more days off to focus on my personal life and mental/physical well being
Happy New Year
Let's have a great 2018
Nice thread,
Tbh i haven't set any specific goals. But here are some things i want to work on:
-Be more active with sports,
-Make a nice place out of the house i bought (building in progress),
-Read more,
-Study poker,
-Playing more focussed,
-Play more tournaments online,
-Make more different types of videos for RIO,
These are just things out the top of my head so i'll be adding more goals as the year passes.
Gl to you all in 2018 and beyond!
Hey all,
Saw this thread and wanted to add my two cents.
I am really not one for yearly resolutions, I try to better my person all the time, be it physically, mentally or just with interactions with others.
I will say though, I give myself weekly/monthly goals, I guess my yearly goal is basically to follow my weekly/monthly goals as best as I can.
This year I will be setting up my weeks/months into more precise hour blocks, so I guess my yearly goal is to follow as best as I can these weekly/monthly goals.
In this schedule, I am fitting in, Poker Playing (live and online), Poker study (new concepts, reviews, videos etc), Personal growth (reading, documentary watching etc), Physical activities (Gym, sports etc), Work ventures outside of poker and Free personal time/activities.
I think writing all these things out on an hourly basis and following my schedule is key to having a healthy balanced work/life.
Playing poker and setting up your own schedule and having the discipline to follow it can be really hard so this is my yearly goal, follow these weekly/monthly schedules to a tee!!
GL to everyone at the tables and in life!
I think that's a good way to go about it Serge. I like to write down what I want to get done each day and for the current week and I think that helps me stay on track for the month and hopefully the year. GL to you too!
Hey guys! Love setting goals and would be glad to share mines for 2018. Still not sure about some „deals” for 2018, but 80% of the goals can be already planned and the rest remains flexible.
1) Poker
a. At least 12 hours volume per week
b. Pre-session routine before at least 90% of my sessions
c. At least 30% of my volume in 2018 I would play at High Stakes
d. At least 4 hours per week working on my game
e. Go to at least 1 poker trip (probably to Rozvadov)
2) Publishing my book „The Mental Edge” together with RIO and doing all the work related with that (especially promotion)
3) Coaching - doing my best in working with my current clients (poker players and organizations) [This actually is my main focus]
a. Mastering coaching process by constant analysis and supervision
b. Completing 3 full training for coaches in 2018
c. Improving my knowledge from personality psychology
d. Making 5-6 really good mental-game videos for Run It Once
4) Time Management
a. Better organization of coaching hours
b. Not taking any new clients in 2018
c. Having all weekend off
d. Cutting the time spend with my mobile
e. Meditating 10 minutes everyday after the dinner with Headspace
f. Organizing my work so that I can finish it at 20:30 at the latest
5) Health
a. Using a catering diet at least 4 times a week
b. Exercising 3 times a week (2 times with PT and 1 time alone)
c. Sleeping at least 8 hours per day
d. Regular taking supplements
6) Relations
a. Always having time for my wife
b. Making time for regular meetings with my closest friends and family
7) Holidays and hobbies
a. Going for cruise at Mediterranean Sea
b. Sightseeing Sicily
c. At least 1 more holiday trip probably to Polish mountains
d. Exploring my scuba diving interests
8) Others
a. Choosing and buying house nearby Warsaw
b. Completing investment course
c. Performing 4 lectures for students in the biggest Polish cities
9) Book to read for the first half of the year:
a. Nudge – Richard Thaler
b. The Personality Self-Portrait – John Oldham
c. Cognitive psychology - Necka, Szymura, Orzechowski
d. Psychology and life – P.Zimbardo
e. Flourish – M.Seligman
f. The disciplined trader – M.Douglas
g. The Daily trading coach – B.Steenbanger
h. Applications of No-Limit Holdem – M.Janda
i. Leading with the heart – M.Krzyzewski
j. Eleven rings – Phil Jackson
Last but not least – in terms of job the most important thing for me is to be still combining passion, fulfilment, development with satisfying salary. The plan is just my way to achieve that :-)
@Leszek Badurowicz Love this! Excited to see someone else with similar intensity of goal setting!!
2017 was a rough one for me. As one who's dealt with depression and anxiety for the majority of his life, 2017 was the year of periodic breakdowns along with trial and errors with medications to eventually finding something more suitable for my needs. For some people, medicine is like the oil to grease the mechanical components within the brain to keep it running smoothly.
For 2018, really it's just to get back on track. I plan on getting healthier inside and out through better nutrition, consuming less junk food, getting back into a daily workout routine that I can keep up with and also focus on trying not being too hard on myself if I slip up here and there. It doesn't make things any better so it's best to ease up on that. Other than the health aspect, look for another job that's more financially benefiting and one that offers great benefits as well. Devote more time to poker: Playing, studying and taking part on RIO. My overall long-term goal has always been to work a worth-while job full-time and play poker part-time as a side income. I will get there eventually but it's one step at a time.
Last but not least, I want 2018 to be the year for me to strengthen my self-discipline. To not give into unhealthy cravings, to not waste money, to fold in situations I know I should. There will be slip ups along the way because I do know myself but I do know what I'm aware of that can have a negative effect on me so that's winning half the battle already. The rest is capitalizing on the advantage.
Best of luck to all in 2018 and make it a year to remember.
Really nice goals. I especially appreciate you drawing attention to forgiving yourself for slip-ups, as that's the opposite of what most people think about for their goals/resolutions. For me (and it sounds like for you too), that's something that can stop me dead in my tracks on my otherwise clear path towards reaching the goals I've set for myself.
I'm really sorry to hear 2017 didn't treat you well. Once again, we're in the same boat. Here's to a much improved 2018 for both of us!
Hey guys,
Awesome thread. I haven't been setting many poker goals in the last couple of years as the poker environment has been changing way too fast, so it didn't make sense for me to set specific $ or even volume goals. Having read through some of the thread I see a lot of people posting non-poker goals, as well as a lot of study goals, which has led me to start thinking of my own.
I made some loose goals at the beginning of the year which I just mentally noted, but reading through this thread made me realize that I am way more likely to accomplish them if I write everything out in concise form, rather than having loose mental commitments. I'm currently busy at PCA, but this thread has also got me thinking about setting some additional goals which I have jotted down. I'll post back here soon with the final product!
Abusing Nick Howard in his own thread --> allowed
EXPOSING MALTA FOR STEALING PLAYER'S MONEY ->> FLAGGED & DELETED
Good job RIO, you are now culpable by setting up your site in a country which steals poker player's money and then deleting comments exposing it.
http://www.runitonce.com/chatter/malta-stole-our-poker-money/
Hey,
I've just reached out to you in a private message explaining why your comment has been flagged. Even though it was encased as a New Year's Goal it was hurting the positive discussion evolving and "inappropriate" therefore at this place.
I hope you understand that and this has nothing to do with your case presented in your link and even fewer with our position on that matter.
320 playing full schedule days
8% body fat
I see a lot of goals here that are way too vague and I don't think that sums up anything. The more objective you are the more your process will be oriented towards the goal.
I agree. Clarity, from my experience, shortens the lag time from dream to reality.
My goals in 2018
- Travel to 5 new countries
- Workout 8 times per month minimum
- Learn more about MTT and play a couple of live events.
- Hang out with friends more ( 2017 a very busy year!)
HNY all!
This has been a fascinating read, diving deep inside all of you via the external expression of written goals. There is so much to learn about what's on the inside, from external expressions like these. The word choice, formatting or lack of, how many goals, what's the feeling or essence. . . .
I am not rushing my goals, hoping to join in soon -- rushing has been something I have done most of my life, and I have recently learned that rushing was way for me to avoid feeling my emotions. A way to avoid what is most real.
I can see the true cost of this rushing now that I have finally slowed down.
One goal for 2018 fir me is to BE the tortoise and not the hare.
Who do you want to BE this year?
Hey guys,
2017 was i tough year for me, i made some goals but didn't go as i planned and by the time december came i was more burnout than any car at fast and furious, but the good thing is that i learned so much from that year, even though it wasn't that good, i made some new friends, played MTT's that would never ever thought i would play, started meditate, worked on my mental side, started coaching some friends and other small stakes player, i went to participate on a crossfit tournament just for kicks and and other cool stuff.. so even though i didn't make some results on my tournaments, i feel like i made some very good results on my life, and now i'm excited to begin 2018 with the right mindset.
To this year i have some goals basically the same as the year before but with some changes, so here we go:
Poker related:
Put more effort on study so i can be a good coach to my students
Play with more focus and less tables (i liked to play around 14/16 tables now i'm only playing 8/10)
Watch more videos here
Make at least 10k games by the end of the year
Make 100k profit including all sites that i play
Study at least 10hours/month
Coach more students since i like to be there for other people and see they grow
Off-Poker related:
Meditate more minutes and everyday, since last year i meditate less and somedays i didn't do anything
Do more running to gain more stamina for my grind
Move out from my parents house to have a place for my own
Travel with my girlfriend
Be more positive, last year swings put me on an awfull mindset
Learn from every situation in my life
Read one book/month
Listen to more podcasts about off-poker stuff
I think that's about it, pretty sure as the year goes by i'll make more goals for myself but for now i think it's ok.
Good Luck to all guys here, hope everyone acomplish every goals their made, and like we say here in Brazil: "VAMOOO GUYS, TAMO JUNTO".
Regards
VAMOOOOOOOOOOOO
gl in your goals mate, looks great
Doh I am too late, it seems I have missed this year, again, OK, next year then...for real!:P:)
A wizard is never late. . . . ;)
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