Life Can Turnaround in Just One Sprint
If you’ve been following this newsletter, then you’ll know that I run my life in 2-week sprints. They’re essentially time blocked periods of hyper focus on a few specific objectives. Usually they’re straight forward and a matter of banging out to-do’s.
This was not one of those.
I had set out to get ahead of my content backlog with a few articles and newsletters and make headway into revamping Mind Map Nation.
Instead, I took my creative path in a completely different direction, rebranded my whole YouTube channel (first time in 4 years) and moved out of Houston to El Salvador - while, for the most part, stopping work by 5pm and keeping my weekends free. All part of my Burnout Recovery Plan of pursuing “want-to’s” over “have-to’s”.
A lot can happen in a single sprint, and sometimes plans change just three days into a sprint…like jumping on a one-way flight to the rainforest.
Now that the dust is settled and I’m in full remote work mode, it’s time to do the Retrospective. This is an often skipped step after an intense bout of action, but it's key to our growth. Reflecting is the best way to learn.
Below is an excerpt of my Retrospective that’ll give you a sense of how I celebrate wins, analyze challenges, and use the insights to improve my progress over time.
🥳 What went well?
(RE)Alignment to purpose: Found new direction in video creation (I’m dubbing it Content 3.0) that’s most aligned with who I am and what I want to say. I was inspired by another creator Riza who proves that you don’t have to be loud to succeed in the hyper competitive and extroverted content space. My first cinematic video will be released this Sunday 🤞🏻. So far Olivia and I have shot over 200 clips across two countries. I’m exited to put it all together!
We’re Mobile! Moved out of our Houston apartment, closing a stressful chapter of our lives. Jumped on a one-way flight to El Salvador and playing it by ear 🙂
All you need in life is a fresh coconut :)
Awesome Gurus workshop: Yohan Sohn’s session was the PERFECT way to close out the year. We had a brilliant conversation on how to break down our dreams, vision, and mission into actionable projects using mind mapping. If you’re a MMN member, you can watch the workshop here!
If you don’t have a Dream then you’ll always be misaligned and get swept away into other people’s Dreams. And if you don’t have a system to convert Dreams into actionable projects, then you’ll never live up to your potential.
😥 What didn’t go well?
I obviously didn’t complete any of the original Creation objectives of publishing four newsletters and two videos 😅. Nor did I anticipate how long cinematic filming would take, even with advanced planning. Mad respect for every YouTube creator who takes this approach!
Moving out of our Houston apartment and traveling between hotels in El Salvador proved to be jarring for my productivity. Luckily we’re now settled at a beautiful beach town for the next week to settle into a routine.
🤔 What can be improved?
Regularly review values maps: Mostly I’m very proud of my progress and how much I achieved within 2 weeks. The pre-sprint me seemed very different than who I am now. Yet only time will tell if this is the right path. I’m glad I made the Content 3.0 Philosophy & Values map to review during future sprints when I feel doubt and noise seeping in.
Every new initiative should begin with values and philosophy. These guiding principles makes downstream decisions and execution way easier.
Get better at cinematography: I’m learning a lot about cinematic filming and am excited to do more. That said, it’s extremely time consuming. I can be more efficient in planning/shooting, but at the end of the day, I’ve got to love doing this. This means finding my own style and the right balance of fun, work, and polish.
It’s extremely difficult to get footage like this. You need timing, creativity, and most of all patience. Luckily my rockstar camera woman is none other than Olivia who’s become excellent with our Fuji X-S20 in just 3 days.
Improve Spanish if I continue to travel: My Spanish is nonexistent, which is difficult in El Salvador - definitely feel like the dumbest person in the room who can’t even order food 😅 I need to find a practical language course! Any recommendations?
🚀 What do I want to focus on next Sprint?
Squarely focused pushing out the new Content 3.0 video, the Dec/Jan personal development articles, and film the next video!
🙅 What do I want to stop?
Nothing. I’m on a roll and want to ride the momentum!
As you can see, the final three questions are future-looking to direct our attention to improving our process so that we can make faster progress. If I didn’t stop to reflect on everything that happened, everything would’ve gone by in a blur.
Besides missing a valuable learning opportunity, I wouldn’t be doing my experiences justice by always gunning ahead. We all live storyworthy lives - if we only stopped to appreciate those memories.
By the way, I ran this sprint together with 10 other Mind Map Nation members who all made amazing progress on both the personal and professional front. If you want in on the next one, be sure to join MMN 👇.
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