Cameron King on growing a non-profit while hitting a 500-day yoga streak (and more!)

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At GoalsWon we provide daily accountability to some exceptional founders, and today the spotlight is on long-time client Cameron King.

Can you intro yourself and the initiatives you've helped start?

Hi my name is Cameron and I’m from London, I am the Co-founder and Ops lead of Animal Advocacy Africa, an organisation empowering advocates and organisations in African countries. 

It is vital to me that we prioritise Lower Middle Income Countries (LMICs), understanding that animal suffering is a global problem, and do everything we can to help set the groundwork and infrastructure for animal advocacy in these areas.

I also co-lead Impactful Animal Advocacy - a new project started to create a platform to discuss animal advocacy, network, socialise, collaborate and co-ordinate within the movement. I’m passionate about solving co-ordination problems like this and believe positive sum thinking to be an antidote to many problems we are facing today beyond just animal advocacy - it’s one of the things I most enjoy about the Charity/Effective Altruism world.

The project also feeds into LMIC’s as mentioned above, enabling a global movement and advocates across the world to feel connected and part of a thriving community.

Overall I am passionate about entrepreneurship and impact and firmly believe in being action-orientated and being the change you want to see in the world, that aside I enjoy reading, meditation, yoga, optimisation and psychology!

A lot of exciting projects on your plate! What attracted you to try accountability coaching and what's been the impact?

Last year I burned out drastically and realised I needed to have more balance in my life

I also had many different projects, hobbies and tasks I wanted to work on more often and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to make some headway on these goals.

I’m also a big fan of systematizing, setting reminders and leveraging technology to optimise and improve and Goalswon hits home on all 4 of these aspects. 

Impact wise Goalswon has improved my wellbeing and happiness, I’ve managed to achieve more of my goals and develop a stronger sense of self accountability and achievement. Goalswon has really pushed me to reflect, plan and take action in my life, it’s my go to daily app!

That’s great! So can you tell us about your core wellness routines on a typical day?

The three things I prioritise are eating well, mental health and exercise, I think if you get these three down you’ve setup the day for success.

For me this looks like planning my meals once a week, drinking Huel once a day, Supplements,  Meditation and Yoga batched daily and 1 or 2 runs (sometimes I run for my commute to the office) 

Beyond that I read 30 minutes a day and often longer, I think one way to read more is to abandon and give up on books that you aren’t interested in or aren’t motivated to read more easily and to find subjects that really do interest you. I also often do Audio at 2x speed.

Speaking of double speed, do you find it hard to keep it up when rushing for deadlines or traveling?

It can certainly be a challenge but I have setup routines and systems to combat this, for example I have shorter meditations I use if I am in a rush or I have a sitting yoga if am stuck sat somewhere, though I have definitely stood up and done yoga on a plane before, did get some weird looks from that one!

We’re glad you weren’t arrested! Now, you recently hit an incredible milestone of a 500-day yoga / meditation streak - any secrets to share with the community?

Thank you, yes for me the key to keeping up any habit new or old is to make it as simple as possible, it’s something I learned from the book "Atomic Habits", remove any barriers that might stop you from doing the tasks and add anything that may make it easier.

For me the “Waking Up” app has been incredible. It sends me daily reminders as well as plenty of options from longer and shorter meditations as well as a variety of different styles (there’s hundreds), so that would be an addition that makes it easier. But there are plenty of things like that, I strongly believe in shaping and creating a conducive environment and incentivising/disincentivizing yourself

Sage advice. So what are you excited about for the rest of the year, and how can people keep in touch with you and your projects?

There’s three things I’m currently excited about this year:

1. Continuing to be a life long learner through reading, courses and other individuals as well as giving back as much value as I can to others

2. The continued growth, development and impact of the projects I am working on as well as exploring new opportunities and collaborations 

3. Biking around London in the summer time

You can check out https://www.animaladvocacyafrica.org/ and https://www.impactfulanimaladvocacy.org/! 

You can also email me at cameronkingbusiness@gmail.com I’m currently looking for collaborators in the for profit space so if you’re interested in that do email me!