The 42% rule (and my Q2 list)

Writing it down is half the work. Here’s everything I’m calling in for the next 90 days, written down so we can both come back in July and see what showed up.

There’s a study by Dr. Gail Matthews at Dominican University of California that I find really interesting. She took nearly 300 people and split them into groups. Some thought about their goals. Others wrote them down. Another group wrote them down and sent weekly progress notes to a friend.

The group that wrote their goals down was 42% more likely to actually achieve them than the group that just thought about them. That’s a huge jump for something that takes 10 minutes.

I think there’s a reason for that. When you write a goal down, you’re committing to it. When you just think about it, it lives in the abstract. No timeline, no pressure... no real need to succeed. Writing creates the pressure, and pressure is the whole point.

In the manifestation world, there’s a practice called scripting. The idea is simple — you write about a future day as if it’s already happened. In vivid detail.

So you don’t say “I want a $100k month.”

You say: “It’s the last day of June. I just closed the books. We officially crossed $100k. I’m sitting at my desk, popping open a bottle of champagne for a goal I’ve been working toward for five years. I sent the team each a $500 bonus so they can go out to a fancy dinner on the business tonight. We all worked so hard for this, and it’s important to celebrate these milestones. I’m so glad we did it.”

You trick your mind into living inside a world where the thing already happened. Which makes it easier to take the actions that create the reality. Our brains are plastic and susceptible to manipulation. Use the manipulation for good.

Dr. Laura King at the University of Missouri ran a study where people wrote about their “best possible self” (what their life looked like in the future, in detail) for 20 minutes a day, four days in a row.

That’s it. Just writing.

She measured increases in wellbeing, mood, and even physical health. Same mechanism as scripting, just in a lab coat.

Your brain has a filter called the reticular activating system. It decides what you notice and what you ignore. When you write down what you want in real detail, you’re literally training that filter to scan your environment for it. You start seeing opportunities that were always there. You start moving toward them without thinking about it.

The pen isn’t what’s magical here. Your brain is.

So, here’s my list...

A $100k month.

By June 30, I want us to have had one calendar month with $100,000 in revenue between client commissions, content work, and the products we’ve got queued up. We’re closer than we’ve ever been.

This isn’t a stretch goal. It’s a math problem I need to solve.

And the reason it matters isn’t the number. It’s what the number lets us do. Pay my team the way I want to pay them. Reward them with bonuses for the work they’ve been putting in. Invest in the Q3 projects we have planned without squeezing resources or putting pressure on the team.

Three micro goals — all of which require the $100k month above.

1. A physical space in New York. I want us to put in an offer on one this quarter. I’ve got a lot of ideas for what I want to do with it. I’m not going to share more yet, just know it’s a top priority for Q2 going into Q3.

2. Another full-time team member in New York. We do a lot of events, shoots, and in-person activations that need me on site. I want to train someone who can eventually be my proxy on those.

3. 10,000 followers on the new Lucky Girl account. Not because the number itself does anything, but because hitting it tells me the content is landing. I have big plans for this content engine. Getting there puts us on the path to actually running them.

Something I’ve been working on: putting myself first. Not as a guilty pleasure, as a business decision.

For the past few years, I’ve made a lot of personal sacrifices for the business. I get sick. I throw out my back (like I did last week). I’m exhausted, so I’m not showing up in meetings the way I want to. All of which affects the business more than taking care of myself would have.

Three things:

1. Seven hours of sleep, every single night. No exceptions. Right now I’m at 6–6.5. Time to it up.

2. The gym four days a week. Physically moving my body is one of the best things I can do for my brain and my work. It has to be in a gym, not at home. I used to be great at this. It fell off in the last six months.

3. A vacation booked for Q3. Not “planning a vacation.” Booked. Flight confirmed, hotel booked, dates blocked.

Me first.

I know how that sounds. But the math works: if I take care of me — sleep, gym, time off, all the things above — I’m a better leader. A better strategist. A better friend. A better partner to every client we work with.

Put your own oxygen mask on first. They tell you that on every flight for a reason.

Q2 is the quarter I stop treating “me first” like a guilty pleasure and start treating it like a business decision.

A lucky girl doesn’t wait for the universe to deliver. She tells it where to send the package.

Reply with one thing you’re manifesting for Q2. Or hit the heart so the universe knows you’re paying attention.

Cheers,

Audrey