Just like that, another year in the books.
2015 has been one of my favorite years to date.
Lots of wins, several losses, and many lessons learned.
Overall, so much to be grateful for with lots of room for improvement.
I’m going to share it all with you right here, right now as part of my annual year in review.
2015 Year In Review
This is officially my second annual year in review.
I completed my first one last year.
It was such a great learning experience, taking the time to reflect back on the year and everything that went well and not so well, that I decided to complete another review this year.
It’s fun sharing and talking about what went well, not so much about what didn’t go so well.
I choose to share this publicly with you guys because it’s important that’s I’m as open and honest with you about everything I do as I can be.
It’s real life, no sugar coating anything.
It also allows me to be honest with myself, to take a look at what worked, what didn’t, what lessons I learned, and what adjustments and changes I will make to keep moving forward.
If you’ve never completed your very own year in review, I highly encourage it.
There’s no better way to plan for the future you want than to look back at where you’ve been, how it’s gotten you to where you are now, and what’s necessary to get you to where you want to be tomorrow.
I’ve been inspired to create this #AnnualReview by Chris Guillebeau who’s been completing one every year and sharing it publicly with his community since 2008.
Breaking It Down
This year, I’ve broken down my annual review into 7 categories that are my primary focus throughout the year.
The 7 different categories are:
The Wellness Bucket
Friends & Family
Finances
Personal Development
Health & Fitness
Service
Relationship
For each category, I’ll share anywhere between 3 to 5 wins, things I felt went really well and also 3 to 5 losses, things I feel didn’t go so well and that need improvement going forward.
Regardless of how many wins and losses there were per category, I decided to focus on the highlights – the major wins, losses, and lessons learned.
Throughout the year, I keep track of all that went on (good and bad) in a journal so that come annual review time, I don’t have to worry about remembering all that went well and not so well to share with you guys… especially the not so well stuff that I rather forget about sometimes.
Something new that I decided to do this year is share one of my goals in each category for 2016.
No better way to make it real and hold myself accountable than sharing these goals publicly.
Feel free to ask me about them throughout the new year too and hold me accountable – it’s a two way street here at The Wellness Bucket you know.
Alright, here goes nothing…
Let’s do this!
Things That Didn’t Go Well For Me In 2015
The Wellness Bucket
Besides my weekly blog posts, Motivational Monday Message videos, and Friday newsletter, I haven’t worked towards creating any new or additional tools and resources.
I began creating a free 7 day self-guided video series course to help people create daily health & fitness habits that I never finished.
While I’ve done a better job at tracking my website traffic and analytics to understand what’s resonating with my community and readers, I haven’t acted on the data that I’ve gathered.
The Weight Loss Workshop I created at the beginning of the year was good, but I know it can be better. Although I know this, I have not yet revamped it to be what I know it can be.
The Wellness Bucket welcome video I created, in my opinion, sucks. I’m too stiff and robotic just reading words. I need to redo it so that I come across as more me, more real.
Friends & Family
I use to call my mom and 91 year old grandma every Sunday to catch up and just hear their voices.
I have not been consistent with calling them which upsets me since I know my grandma isn’t getting any younger and every conversation I have with her I value and is important to me.
I haven’t proactively reached out to friends as much I would like and schedule times to meet up either for dinner, a run, wine tasting, whatever it may be.
I’ve let The Wellness Bucket and being “busy” consume me more than I’d like to admit.
I don’t feel like I have connected and supported my sisters as much as I could have this last year.
I love them and want the best for them although I think I need to chill with my “tough love” mentality and exercise more of a balance between empathy, support, and motivation.
Finances
The good news is I have a monthly budget that guides me. The bad news is that I was consistently over my monthly budget every week.
Because of my efforts to pay off and get rid of all debt, I have not contributed regularly into my savings account or allocated funds to other financial investments.
In my efforts to stick to my budget, I was cheap with my financial gifts to family and friends during birthdays, holidays, and other special occasions.
I’m all for budgeting, I just don’t like feeling like I’m being cheap. That’s never how my dad rolled and that’s not how I want to roll.
Personal Development
I set out to read 20 books this year and only read 12 books instead.
I had planned on attending either a Tony Robbins event or The Landmark Forum this year but never made it to either one of them.
I did not listen to or take advantage of all the free content, video’s, and webinars that are available for free online as much as I could have to help me continue to learn and grow as much as possible.
I did not continue going to Toastmasters after completing all 10 speeches in my Competent Communicator Workbook. There’s tons of advanced manuals I can complete to keep getting better.
Health & Fitness
After training and competing in my very first men’s physique competition, I stopped weight training and began to focus on just doing HIIT workouts (High Intensity Interval Training).
While HIIT workouts are great, I feel best when I am weight training and like the results it gets me too.
After the men’s physique competition, I definitely slowed down a bit and didn’t continue to push myself physically and mentally with other challenges.
I didn’t make any progress on my pull up goal for the year which was to be able to do 20 straight unassisted pull ups.
I didn’t run another marathon (or half marathon for that matter) as I intended to do.
My daily water intake continues to be a struggle for me where more often than not I am not getting the full 64 ounces of water or more per day.
Service
My plan was to volunteer or give back in some way, whether it was giving blood, lending a hand in the local soup kitchen, or helping to build homes in Mexico, at least once per quarter which I did not do.
I did not (in my opinion) create enough tools and resources for The Wellness Bucket community to use and take advantage of to better their health, happiness, and life overall.
I found myself constantly focusing on the urgent stuff and putting off the important stuff.
I definitely need to up my game when it comes to performing random acts of kindness. These can happen anywhere at any time so no excuse whatsoever for not doing more of it.
Going back to what I mentioned a bit earlier, I feel I can definitely help more and be of service just by listening and being empathetic to others and not always feeling like I have to respond or “fix it“.
Relationship
Let me just start by saying right out the gate I feel like I completed sucked in this category this year.
My goal to cook Kristen dinner, buy her flowers, and plan one surprise once per month was not met.
I could blame travel, our jobs, my intense focus on The Wellness Bucket, our strict budget – all excuses.
It’s not like I was a regular jerk or anything (at least I hope not).
I’m just not cool with settling for the status quo because I firmly believe that average efforts yield average results.
I’m not looking for an average relationship, I’m looking for an awesome relationship and I know it starts with me.
While I am passionate about The Wellness Bucket and could work on it for days at a time, I need to do a better job at making sure Kristen knows she comes first, she’s the priority. I didn’t do a good job of that.
And there it is… all the things I sucked at in 2015.
I Will Keep Getting Better & Moving Forward
As much as it bothers me to see all the areas where I know I didn’t do a good job, I know that admitting to it and taking responsibility for my shortcomings is the only way to get better.
It’s not enough for me or any of us to just identify where we could have been better.
What matters is that we make a plan and conscious effort to get better going forward.
Now that you know where I fell short and why I feel I wasn’t my best, let’s switch gears and focus on the wins, the things I feel good about and am happy with the progress that was made.
Things That Went Well For Me In 2015
The Wellness Bucket
2015 was a great year for The Wellness Bucket.
January 15th marked its one year anniversary and Kristen not only helped me celebrate, but she also made it a very special day for me.
We’re now over 500 “Likes” on Facebook which is very cool and our member base continues to increase by the day.
The year started off great with the very first workshop I have ever created and offered at The Wellness Bucket: Lose 10 Pounds in 30 Days Workshop
Plans to create an even better workshop, version 2.0, will definitely happen in 2016.
The 30 Day Wellness Challenge was once again a global success when it was offered in May.
An even bigger success with the 30 Day Wellness Challenge was that two different companies (this one and this one) decided to host their own corporate wellness challenge for their employees this year and used our format as their guide to deliver it.
I had the pleasure of being interviewed on 5 different podcasts this year. Here’s all the podcasts and interviews in no particular order:
In addition to attending World Domination Summit once again this year, I also hosted the first ever WDS Fitcamp for attendees and got over 100 registrations. It was awesome!
One of the things I am most proud of this year was launching my Wellness Coaching Service.
I just launched it in June and the results I’m seeing so far from my clients have blown me away.
Friends & Family
While living in Boston, I took every opportunity I got to spend time with my dad’s side of the family which for whatever reason I grew apart from over the years.
Kristen and I took full advantage of our drive across country during our move back to San Diego by stopping in Maryland to spend a month with my family and then a month with her family in Oklahoma.
We also took a long weekend trip down to Clearwater, FL to surprise her good friend for her 30th birthday party. Great time, great people, great beaches.
Being back in San Diego gave us the chance to once again reunite with good friends of ours for the San Diego Wine & Food Festival. Nothing like sharing some good laughs with great friends over wine.
Finances
The Wellness Bucket had a great year in regards to financial revenue, largely due to the start of my Wellness Coaching Service and the weight loss successes it continues to deliver.
While I didn’t do such a great job sticking to my financial budget, that doesn’t mean I didn’t make progress.
Between Kristen’s student loans and mine, business debt from past failures (all me), and past financial decisions that perhaps weren’t the best, we were able to pay of $35,000 in debt.
Amazing what having a good financial plan and budget in place can do.
Another big success that helped contribute to paying off this huge amount of debt was a 52 week money challenge we titled “screw debt, where we saved additional money to help pay off debt even quicker.
Personal Development
Although I didn’t read 20 books as I had planned, the 12 books I did read I deliberated chose and they all made a big impact on how I think and do things.
I was able to complete all 10 of my Toastmasters speeches in less than a year. I’m happy to say my fear of public speaking is not nearly what it use to be, in fact, I rather enjoy it now. 🙂
For a second year in a row, I attended World Domination Summit hosted by Chris Guillebeau in Portland, OR.
(I don’t think this qualifies as personal development although I did personally develop my palate for great Pinot Noir wines as a result of my very first visit to Willamette Valley)
I completed an incredible 10 months journey, World Changers Blueprint, offered by my good friends Leah and Naz of RYPL that served as a mastermind/accountability group that was a huge catalyst for getting The Wellness Bucket to where it is today.
I got see and support Matt Kepnes (otherwise known as Nomadic Matt) during his book signing tour and learned tons about travel hacking which has led to countless free flights and hotel nights for Kristen and I due to his incredible knowledge and advice.
I also got to once again meet Lewis Howes from The School of Greatness Podcast during his recent book signing tour in San Diego.
His commitment to being his best self inspires me to say the least.
Health & Fitness
I began the year off with a 7 Day Master Cleanse. It was my first time ever doing one and while it kicked my ass the first few days, I felt incredible after completing it.
I finally got to check off “Compete in a men’s physique competition” from my bucket this. What a wild, tough, and rewarding experience this was.
Never thought I’d say this but I can definitely see myself doing another one in the future.
I’ve managed to maintain a consistent exercise routine (four or more days per week) throughout the entire year regardless of travel, moves, other commitments, etc.
I had a great time running in 3 different 5K runs this year, including the tradition Thanksgiving Day Turkey Trot that Kristen and I both ran this year in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Service
I always make it a point (and will continue to do so) to respond to every email I get asking for advice, suggestions, and recommendations on all sorts of fitness goals, races, equipment, etc.
I was introduced to so many great campaigns this year that I wanted to help fund.
While I can’t support and contribute to all of them, I did support several of them like this one and this one, two amazing campaigns out to make a positive difference in the world.
Kristen and I were determined to help give back in some way for the holidays this year. We ended up volunteering our time packing boxes with canned goods and gifts for families in need.
In addition, we also decided to go through a local church and directly adopt a family for the holidays. It was a family of 7 and I have to say it was one of the most rewarding experiences for me to date.
Relationship
It’s been one heck of a year for Kristen and I.
We experienced the most snow fall ever in Boston, we drive across country together back San Diego, spent months living with family and friends during our transition, all the while giving my all to The Wellness Bucket. The one thing has gotten us through it all…
Lots of communication… and wine 🙂 There you have it, full disclosure.
I’m grateful for the communication. Now that doesn’t mean I always like what I hear but I’m grateful she’s comfortable bringing things up with me that needs to be addressed and talked about.
As much as I may not have always wanted to hear and discuss things, I made it a point to always listen and consider whatever it was we were discussing.
It’s communication that got us to both agree that moving back to San Diego is what we both wanted.
As busy as our days may have gotten, nothing got in the way of us having our daily morning coffee together and toasting each other for another day and opportunity to live life.
Even on the days Kristen had to be up hours earlier than I did because of her schedule – I got up too.
This is one coffee date I am forever committed to making.
And There You Have It
All the things I feel didn’t go so well for me this year and all the things I’m happy about and feel that did go well.
In addition to all I’ve shared, here are some other notable mentions in no particular order:
1) I landing my very first paid writing gig with Conceive Hospital, The UAE’s first ever Fitness for Fertility Blog, writing for their B Method Blog.
2) I had the opportunity to work and collaborate with Olympic Goal Medalist Joe Jacobi for his flagship 5 With Joe coaching program.
3) I was quoted by Keith Ferrazzi, author of New York Times Best Selling Book “Never Eat Alone“… such an honor to have someone like Keith quoting ME – crazy awesome!
4) I got the opportunity to meet up with John Lee Dumas, host of the wildly popular podcast “Entrepreneur on Fire” for an early morning workout on the San Diego Bay. An absolute class act.
Goals For 2016
Here are 7 goals that I am publicly committing to for 2016.
The Wellness Bucket
() Create a newly improved Lose 10 Pounds in 30 Days Workshop version 2.0
Family & Friends
() Call mom and grams every Sunday and connect with friends over dinner at least once per month.
Finances
() Double The Wellness Bucket’s 2015 financial revenue.
Personal Development
() Attend either a Tony Robbins event or The Landmark Forum.
Health & Fitness
() Complete 3000 burpees in one month (that’s 100 burpees per day).
Service
() Make monthly contributions to campaigns and organizations I believe in.
Relationship
() Surprise Kristen with something fun at least once per month.
Onward
I feel blessed and fortunate that I get to wake up every day with an opportunity to better myself, help and serve others, and contribute to making the world a little bit better because I’m here.
I truly believe by bettering myself, I better the world around me.
And it’s not about being perfect either.
Perfection is a myth, it doesn’t exist.
It’s about being the best I can be and always giving my all with whatever it is I’m doing.
I think I say this every year but I really do feel like next year is going to be my best year yet.
Let’s continue to learn from yesterday, but not dwell there for too long.
Let’s live for today and enjoy every moment while we’re here.
Let’s look with faith towards tomorrow and believe in all we can and will be.
Thanks so much for being here.
Here’s to a happy & healthy new year ahead.
You’re awesome…
Cheers!
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