reflections Archives

personal development

2024 Goals And 2023 Recap

Last updated on April 25th, 2024 at 06:47 am

Intro

This is a review of my 2023 and a public sharing of 2024 goals.

Why document it? Two reasons

First, the Bill Gates quote sums it up:

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”

We’re capable of great things. They just take time.

Second, doing this each year is joyful. The act of reminiscing fills my cup.

Chris Bailey wrote

“To gain greater enjoyment from your experiences, try practicing anticipation and reminiscence. Both are forms of savoring—ways to convert positive experiences into positive emotions.

“We can also savor an experience after it happens—a savoring style called reminiscence. We reminisce by reliving an experience in our mind, looking back through photos of an experience, or talking about it with a friend or a loved one.

reflections

Talking Dog (Deefer’s 9th Birthday Letter)

Last updated on September 22nd, 2023 at 04:11 pm

“Why do you pretend to talk like Deefer?” Oliver asked.

Turns out ventriloquating (a technical term) for your dog is very common. Linguist Deborah Tannen calls it “talking dog.”

We think of it as translating the thoughts you’re having, Deef. Adding color to the commentary we see running in that head of yours:

reflections

The Mayor of Clancy Quay (Oliver’s 5th Birthday Letter)

Last updated on September 22nd, 2023 at 04:14 pm

In July 2022, we visited Bray. You come out of the DART station, follow the little alleys with a Chinese, a coffee shop, a casino. Suddenly, the alley opens up, and you’re there on the Strand. Three big planters and wooden benches sit in front of Bray’s aquarium. Finbees coffee house tucked in next to it, separating you from the ocean.

It has a Manhattan Beach vibe (we’ll go there someday), but replace the volleyball nets with little huts selling 99’s with all the toppings.

reflections

Love Hard

Part I

Once, we were out at lunch and Uncle Paul was sitting down. A couple walked in and they stood at the host’s stand, waiting to be seated. I watched him get up, shuffle over to them, grab menus, and show them to an open table.

personal development

2023 Goals And 2022 Recap

This is a review of my 2022 and a public sharing of 2023 goals.

Why document it? The Bill Gates quote sums it up:

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”

We’re capable of great things. They just take time.

Are you doing a yearly review? Would love to read yours!

My process:

personal development

2022 Goals and 2021 Recap

Last updated on December 13th, 2022 at 05:50 am

This post is a review of my 2021 goals and a public sharing of 2022 goals.

Why bother with this exercise? The Bill Gates quote sums it up:

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”

In other words, we’re capable of great things. They just take longer than we think.

The best way to stay on that 10-year road? Break it down into years. Then break those years into months, months to weeks, weeks to days…

personal development

Everything Is Offense or Defense

“For parents, this is a Shackleton moment.”

This according to Tim Armstrong, CEO of the DTX Company (I’m paraphrasing).

“Your family is frozen in time. You have to spend more time with each other. During this time, I’ve gotten to know my kids 25% better.”

His interviewer, Scott Galloway added:

“You’re going to look back at this time as historic. You hope your kids and family look back on it positively.”

What Tim and Scott are saying is: play offense. Everything we do, we can frame as either offense or defense:

reflections

Leadership and COVID-19

What a week: six-hour bottlenecks at airports, toilet paper outages, billions of dollars erased in the markets, and over 6,500 lives lost around the world.

Let’s talk about one trait that’s crucial during these times: leadership.

During times of crisis, we look for guidance. We want a steady hand to navigate choppy waters. Leadership isn’t about winning an election or job titles. Leadership is about your behavior.

Some behaviors of good leadership:

career

What Will You Accomplish This Year? A 2019 Recap

Last updated on November 3rd, 2021 at 02:58 am

At the end of 2018, I decided there was a large “skill-gap” that I wanted to bridge. Some skills I wanted to improve were more technical:

Excel
SEO
SQL

Other skills were softer, but equally important to me:

Email automation
Food photography
Instagram marketing

I didn’t see a way to work on these skills without making certain sacrifices. So I made a decision: I’d give up blogging for a year.¹

career

2019: The Year of Becoming a Practitioner

Last updated on November 3rd, 2021 at 07:56 am

My every career opportunity came because of my writing habit.

I wrote my way into my first Hollywood internship, covering entire book manuscripts in a day — that’d take others a week. I wrote a cold email that landed my job with Dennis. An article on how to get health insurance opened the door to working with Ramit for 2 years.

The quality of that writing fluctuated over the last 10 years, but the work ethic never wavered.

Until now.