I want to tell you about a fabulous community for working on goals! For the past year I have been working with an accountability and productivity community based in Slack and Notion called https://www.puddlepod.com/. Puddle Pod is the creation of entrepreneur Michael Batko. When I signed up for the Australian group in 2023, it was primarily a productivity course, but a course on AI has been added as well. Per the website, “5-week virtual productivity course to simplify your life, spend time on what’s important and make you more effective at work.” I am based in the United States and found out about the group from an off hand mention by a business coach. Puddle Pod Even though I was in the United States and Puddle Pod is based a world away in Australia, I was still able to participate in the community to a good degree. I was able to participate in some group meetings and meet people primarily in Sydney and Melbourne. The group meetings were called Pods. We went through the productivity information on Notion and tried to apply these concepts and we met in our pod groups once a week to talk over our progress and homework. I found these meetings to be particularly helpful. I tried to choose a group time at noon or in the morning Sydney time because I am in the Eastern standard time zone. I learned a lot from others in the group and I learned a lot from the Notion education materials. Everyone was friendly to me and I was very happy to be part of the group. Another aspect of the group that I particularly liked was Habit Pod. When I participated, Habit Pod was a Slack channel that you could post your habit goals in. Then in this channel, you could update your progress on your habit goals daily. There was another Puddle Pod classmate who posted daily so I was able to see how the Habit Pod worked. When you posted in the Habit Pod, you were supposed to post your goal and then a picture as sort of proof you had done that action. Others might be able to support your habit progress through posting emojis for encouragement. Using Habit Pod was particularly addictive for me because I had always wanted to work on my goals and I really enjoyed the accountability and the community. I initially posted inconsistently in Habit Pod, but sometime in the summer of 2023, I started posting my goals and habit progress regularly. The goals changed over time, but I posted everyday for about 1 year. What I noticed when I posted my goals in an accountability group was that I was very dedicated to completing them or at least getting them partially done. There were times when I would have to post that I had done nothing on my goal or that I was taking a break that day, but for the most part I felt very engaged in Habit Pod. I also could do Habit Pod more easily because I am in a different time zone than many of the others. Many people were really kind and put an encouraging emoji next to my progress. I found it joyful to help others and encourage them in the goals as well. The accountability group helped me and consistently posting my goals allowed me to reevaluate what my goals were. It was like an evolution of goals! I learned my values more clearly by doing this. I decided to change my goals after reading Celeste Headlee’s book entitled, “Do Nothing” to be goals that were more forgiving, self-compassionate, and more open. For example, Instead of reading 20 pages of a book, my goal might be to “Learn Something New." That allowed for more creative expression and I ended up learning more. I posted everyday for about 1 year. In the process, I learned a lot about myself because I took detours, changed goals and even failed a lot. I had the opportunity to visit Australia and meet Puddle Pod Founder Michael Batko during my experiences. This Puddle Pod experience was tremendous for me and I want to ensure you know about it. It can really help with your goal setting success! The next pod sign up is May 2024, but if that time does not work for you, they have a new start every quarter. Puddle Pod is recognized as a school on Linkedin.com so that means that your educational allowance from your workplace might cover it. Puddle Pod and its offerings are continually changing so I might not have the most up to date information. What I do know is that it's a tremendous educational experience. You will get out what you put in and maybe even a ton more. Since I stopped posting in Habit Pod, I found an accountability solution in the United States, I am still consistently posting my habits and working on them! I found out something I did not know about myself and I feel I have been changed by the experience of meeting others in Puddle Pod and learning about myself through working on my goals.
