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This is the fifth year I have published my annual review and goals for the upcoming year. If you are curious about how I have honed the process, here are the yearly reviews for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and the goals setting posts for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016. This annual review process is inspired by Chris Guillebeau who has been publishing his annual reviews for several years and has a free spreadsheet for you to download and do you own review. This year I am also using Orian Marx’ Lifecrafting Annual Review.
Because I am largely an optimistic person by nature, I tend to look back at most things as having been successful. And of this positive bias, this process is valuable because it enables me to take a brutally honest look at what did not go well, so that I can keep learning and improving. If you are someone who sometimes feels you have not gotten much done this year, you might actually be surprised once you go through this review process as we tend to overestimate what we can do in a day and underestimate what we can achieve in a year.
This post will look at what went well and what did not for 2017. My hope for sharing this is to both inspire you to conduct your own annual review, and to give some insight into how I structure the process and reflect upon my year.
Other posts in the 2017 Annual Review Series:
- Surpassed 6 figure annual net income for the first time (including $41K in one week)
- Filled coaching practice
- Signed book deal for SuperConductors
- 30+ speaking engagements to a total audience of 3,000
- Wrote and filmed first online course about the Heroes Journey
- Surpassed 10K Instagram followers
- Surpassed 150K podcast downloads
- Hosted first fully paid AdventureQuest business + adventure retreat
- Bought first AirBnb investment property
- Perfected a morning routine
- Launched 100 Coaches’ book project
- Taking Axel to meet his great grandparents in Appalachia
- Giving the Braveheart ‘Battle of Stirling’ speech to hundreds at Freedom X Fest in Budapest
- Cycling to a different country in one day (Slovakia from Budapest)
- Doing a backflip off a cliff into the Adriatic Sea
- Featured on Croatian National TV and Newspapers
- Soaking at the famous Rudas bath in Budapest with friends
- Wearing a suit of armor at a friend’s castle in Slovenia
- Cycling with my dad in Croatia
- Getting podcast fan mail for changing peoples lives
- Throwing a charity dance for Heidi’s birthday
- Writing a book in the Gorgeous Budapest central library
- Axel’s croatian grandmother
- Meeting up with a high school friend randomly in Slovenia for a morning run
- Driving to Italy for a pizza dinner
- Meeting “the keeper of the cave” in Croatia
- Exploring a secret canyon with an adventure photographer in Baja, Mexico
- Traveled with a bicycle in Europe for 5 months – ~3,000 miles of riding, including 100 mile ride in Croatia and an 80 mile ride from Budapest to Slovakia
- Daily one mile swim in the Mediterranean
- Raced a few Cyclocross races in St. Louis
- Advanced Open Water and Cavern Diving SCUBA certifications
- 8 day water fast. For many weeks I had been feeling like I needed to cut caffeine and alcohol from my diet, and after I did that I still needed more so I undertook my longest fast ever. Starting with two days of juice and then 5 days of water and ending with a day of juice.
- Experienced my first Lucid dreams
Financial
- 6 figure income
- Donated $3100 to charity
- Supported dozens of friend’s causes and products
- Purchased AirBnb investment property in St. Louis
Creative
- Wrote 35+ articles about fatherhood for The Good Men Project
- Wrote 60,000 words for SuperConductors
- Began weekly solo episode for Art of Adventure podcast
Stuff
- Got a tattoo from Mau the tattoo shaman in my own home
- Bought professional grade travel camera (Sony Alpha 6500) to keep growing Instagram
- Traveling with my favorite luggage ever, the Eagle Creek Load Warrior Duffel
Relationships
- I spend one to three hours each day with my son Axel giving him undivided attention
- My relationship with Heidi is better than ever, thanks to constant learning around communication
- I started meeting several of my online adventure buddies in real life (Traveling Jackie, Ladan Jiracek of Travel Wisdom, Chase Boehringer of The Bucket List Lifestyle)
- Met hundreds of entrepreneurs and digital nomads at events around Europe
- Hosted numerous parties and gathering in Croatia for friends there
Bucket List Items Achieved
- Attend Oktoberfest, Munich
- Cave Diving
- Surpass 100,000 podcast downloads
- Sleep in Castle (Grad Otocec, Slovenia)
- Make an Adventure Documentary (Baja road trip)
What Did Not Go Well/Goals Not Achieved:
- Did not give a TED talk (I made the final interview round for TEDx Zagreb, but ultimately was not accepted)
- Did not read the Bible or Koran
- Did not undertake Yoga teacher training
- Did not live in Africa or South America
- Did not secure sponsorship (pitched many companies and organization)
Lessons Learned:
- Commit to doing less and do those things well
- Leave room in the schedule for spontaneity
- Do not waste time on lower value activities, even if they generate a few hundred dollars
- Invest in skills and teams for the future
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