‘Just Put Some Shit Out’

Writing publicly has been something I’ve been wanting to do for years now, and it’s finally the time to get started.  As Gary Vaynerchuk, @garyvee on Instagram, so eloquently stated in an Instagram post “Just put some shit out……there is so much good that never sees the day of light” See it here..

This website will morph into what it’s meant to be over time, for now it’s a forum for thoughts, ideas and experiments I’ve been wanting to get out of me.  My hope is that it will inspire others to do the same, just as many others have done for me, see my Virtual Best Friends page and explanation.

2017 all in all was a solid year.  Started working with a new company and made amazing strides with personal relationships and my awesome wife, frankly because we had the most difficult and intense conversations ever. Developed some great friendships, hiked the Grand Canyon R2R2R, and most importantly really started to figure out who I was, and what is important in life.

Two friends, who were my age or younger, passed away this year.  This is an entirely different article, but it had a profound impact on my view of things, and my intention is to keep this feeling as long as possible.  Far to often, we grieve the passing of a loved one or friend, act really alive for a day or if we’re lucky a week, then we go back to normal.  More on that later…

This figuring out who I was part had a lot to do with my recognizing that I was putting entirely too much stock on what others thought, or what I thought others would think, and frankly now I just don’t care.  Let’s just get it out there and see what happens.  It’s better to try and fail than to not try at all, and that’s what 2018 is going to be about.

In Principals by Ray Dalio, he made two points that also really hit home for my last few years, that will guide me in setting goals for 2018.

1. Brutal self-reflection
2. Are you willing to endure the amount of discomfort you must in order to achieve your goals.

While dwelling on #2, what seemed like a mild state of depression set in as my mind found every way I had slowed up in training, racing, work, projects when things got tough…you name it, I came to the realization that finishing strong is not my strong suit.  But there have been times where I’ve put out spectacular projects, assignments, and races.   While dwelling on what the common thread to these were I came to the conclusion that, when I’m trained well and highly competent in a task, if the  something is for a team, my family or a cause I really care about I’ll run through walls.  If not, my will power is just not enough.

So, with that in mind I’ll set up my 2018 goals to make sure I’m highly trained in what I’m doing, and that they are group oriented or framed in a way that they are for a higher calling than just myself.  There’s no sense fighting it, it’s the art of acquiescence.

Over the next few days the goals will be laid out, no they don’t have to start on Jan 1.  My goals will revolve around:

•        Family/Relationships
•        Health/Fitness
•        Career/Business
•        Spiritual/Giving

Those are going to be the big picture goals which I’ll review daily, but the second part is tracking the daily habits that lead me to success. Tracking details has been my downfall for years, well details in general I’m bad with.  For 90 days, we’ll get into the 90 days reasoning in another post as well, I’ll be tracking on a 1-10 scale or Y/N for each of the below.

•        Eating (Overall eating for the day)
•        Planning (Set plan in AM or Night before)
•        Execution (How well the plan was executed)
•        Fitness/Working out
•        Relationships (Wife, Kids, Family/Friends)
•        Overall Feeling
•        Journal at Night
•        Journal in AM

I’ve found that when I have good days on each of these aspects, things tend to go well.

What are your goals, and how can you track them?  Comment with any questions or suggestions!

Now what’s the one thing you’ve been holding off on doing, or what’s really been holding you back from achieving that nagging goal of yours… Think about it overnight, journal on it in the AM, and see if you can’t come up with a different solution to the same problem.