Who holds you accountable?

John Jantsch from Duct Tape Marketing just posted a really wonderful article about how to acheive your small-business goals called Who Holds you Accountable

I read through it, thinking that he hit me dead-on. I spend a lot of time in the evenings working on "Higher Ground Games" things, but never seem to get as much done as I need to.

Here are a couple of his suggestions:

• Start a mastermind group - Choose a select group of business owners from your local network of strategic partners or even industry peers and set-up a structure to share objectives and goals, critique marketing plans and materials and suggest ways to get better. Hold quarterly sessions as a group.
• [this could work for me with people like keebler/aba, itar, and the other Hirst Arts Liscensees... however, it may be a lot of work to set up and get running. I don't doubt the high level of accountability to a group like this, but wonder what other value there is in getting close to your partners/peers/competitors.]
  

• Track your time - Create time sheets and note how you spend your time each day. Assign a category of work, such as marketing, administrative, or sales. Then spend a minute or two at the end of the day and assign a value to that work - in other words what you would pay someone else to do it. You may be shocked at how unaccountable you are for the way you spend your day.
• [this one is a biggie for me... I know that I need to be at the casting table each and every hour, but I always seem to find one other painting/sorting/building/etc project that pushes that to 90 minutes or longer... then, before I know it I'm too tired to wait for one more round and I just go to bed with less done.]
  

I post here, in an obvious tie in to the fact that I could improve my uneasy feelings by simply recording data about what I do each night... simply put, better living through data!

Pozzy Putting Game

Pozzy's Putting Game:
(from www.dgcoursereview.com, of which I am a proud new member...)

First, you need 10 putters, preferably identical to your every day putter. Having less means you have to keep picking them up, which gets boring. Throwing 10 in a row keeps it fun and lets you work on the muscle memory. [I'm planning to use 5 that I already own, and walk twice per round --Ben]

Mark out 5 spots in a straight line from the pole hole, at 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 feet. If 10 footers are a complete joke, then move it to 15, as we did after a couple months of playing. That in itself was proof of how well the game worked, as when we started, it was hard to get all 10 in from 10 feet, and after a while it was impossible to miss one. [I have marked a clothesline for 10-50 feet, and now carry it in the trunk of my car]

So once you have your game set up, bring the 10 putters to the 10-foot line. I'd suggest putting a chair or table beside you, so you can quickly grab them without bending down to the ground every time.

You shoot all 10 from 10 feet. Since there is no excuse for missing a 10 footer EVER, the only way you score is by getting all 10 in. If you get all 10, then you get 10 points. But if you miss, you LOSE 10 points for every one you miss. Harsh, because there is no excuse for ever missing a 10 footer.

This next part involves what to do when you miss. The same rules apply to putts missed from all distances:

Take all of your misses to whichever miss was farthest from the pin. If you missed more than 1, you're going to pay by shooting the longest possible putts. When you shoot these back, you have to get them all in. If you get them all in, you don't get any more points. Why would you get rewarded for saving a putt you should have made in the first place? But if you MISS your comeback putts? You get screwed, and screwed hard, because missing a comeback putt is about as bad as it gets. So for every one you miss, you lose DOUBLE what that putt was originally worth. And if you then miss any of those putts, you lose DOUBLE what it just was.

In other words, don't miss those recovery putts, ever!

So all your discs are in. Now take all 10 to the 20' mark. These are all worth 1 point each. If you miss any of these (or any from longer distances) you don't LOSE any points, because you're no longer in the absolute ‘gimme’ range. However, we still want to reward consistency, so if you hit all 10 of them, you get double points. So you get 9 points for 9, or 20 points for 10. As with the others, take all the misses to the farthest point and shoot them back. If you miss any, you lose 2 points for each miss. You then take those all to the farthest miss, and lose 4 points if you miss any. If you miss a 3rd time, just give up disc golf.

Now shoot 10 from 30 feet. These are worth 2 points each, so you could get 40 if you hit all 10. All the other rules are the same.

Then 10 from 40', worth 5 points each.

Then 10 from 50', worth 10 points each.

Count up your score, and let us know in the comments where you're at! Rumor has it that the average score is about 25, but that it is really easy to come in negative!

I'll be posting my scores over time as the data builds up... I'm hoping for consistent and measurable improvement. Hooray for better living through data!

Disc Golf Putting Diagram

I've picked up Disc Golf again this winter, and thanks to my lovely wife's patience and the local club. I have found myself on the course more this winter than I have been in years.

However, one of the first things I noticed when starting up again was that I am a terribly inconsistent putter. I have been frustrated especially due to hitting the front of the basket *way* too often.

That said I didn't really have any data to prove to myself that this was happening more than the rest of my missed putts... perhaps it was simply the most frustrating and memorable. I put together (and attached) this "putting diagram" that I'm going to print a set of for each round.


Has anyone else used something like this to good effect when practicing or playing disc golf or any other sport? If so, post in the comments.

County Counters

Well, I did it.

I jumped in and made a user name over at mob-rule.com/counties and have updated the counties I've been to recently. Now, I know... I'm kindof cheating the fact that this isn't really in sync with my new year's resolution due to the fact that the two family trips that netted me *% of my counties happened over Christmas and not in 2009, but I'm going to let that slide for the simple fact that I needed something to put into the database to track. :)

Here's the link to my map: http://www.mob-rule.com/counties/user-gifs/bmeyaard.gif
(once I figure out how, it will be perma-linked on the right of this blog)