Journal #1 Embracing Growth and Goals: A Year Storytelling, and Self-Improvement

So , if you are not subscribed to the show , go ahead and hit that subscribe button If you're on Apple podcast or wherever you get podcast , so you can make sure that you see this episode in all future episodes as soon as they drop . So let's start with our podcasting goals .

So just a update for those who have not seen my latest Instagram post my word of the year is consistency . So with the podcast it's , I want to be consistent . I started this podcasting journey going on a little over three years ago now , and one thing that I've lacked is consistency . My goal is to make 100 episodes in 2024 .

So that's almost two episodes a week . We're looking to publish every Thursday and then I'm going to try to get that second episode in on Tuesday . So we've got a lot of guests lined up . So I'm excited to share these experiences with you guys . So you guys are my accountability partners .

If I miss a Tuesday or a Thursday , don't hesitate to call me out on social media . So yeah , 100 episodes . It's a daunting task , but it's something that I am committing to and I'm going to see it through . Another thing that I've started in 2024 is the website . The website is up , the clever anglecom . It will be in the show notes for the direct link .

You know , I just wanted to get it out there . It's not perfect . It's forever evolving . It's not something that I've been the most skilled at as far as websites go , but it's something that I wanted to make progress on and I will refine it as we go along .

So the website is up , which kind of leads me into my next goal , which is 52 blogs , so 100 episodes .

Every other episode I'm going to be releasing a blog post , and who knows if I ended up , if I end up liking the blog , maybe I'll do it for every episode , but I'm going to set the goal at one blog a week and that will be available on my website as well . The next goal is going to be to upgrade my microphones .

Now I am very happy with the sound quality that I get from the Samsung Q2U that I've been using since I started , but I really want to go all in on the audio and the sound of the podcast .

So my goal is to upgrade to one of the Sure mics I'm not sure which one that I will be upgrading to , but I will be upgrading my mic for the remote podcast and for my mobile setup to one of the microphones in the Sure line .

So be on the the the lookout for that , and whenever I mark one of these goals off , I'm going to share it on social media , moving around along with the podcast and goal . The next goal that I have for 2024 is to consistently put up a video portion of the podcast . I want to grow my brand . I want to grow this podcast , too , on social media .

So adding video is the next aspect of that . I don't know exactly when I'll add video . I'm actually breaking a video editor on in the next few weeks . You'll probably hear it in two weeks . I will be interviewing him on Monday . So I'm going to get all the tips and tricks for a simple video setup and some tips and tricks on how to get started in that .

So I really want to use it for YouTube , youtube Shorts , instagram , tiktok X wherever we can put out video content is where I want to improve on . So that's another one of my goals to kind of get the basic understanding of video editing and how I can be more consistent online .

Staying on the social media aspect of my goals , I wanna get at least a thousand followers on Instagram . So I'm gonna be posting my updates on where we're at each month at the end of each month . I'll be logging where we're at and I'm just trying to fall in love with the process and get this podcast out to as many people as possible .

I wanna be a better speaker and delivering my message on the podcast . It's another one of my goals and it's just doing the work . Consistency and just doing the work goes back to just my overall word for 2024 . So I wanna grow on social media and 1000 followers on Instagram and really all of the platforms is the goal .

So this next one it relates to the podcast , but it really is more just personal development . I wanna read 25 books . So a quick backstory I don't think I have successfully read an entire book not an audio book , not some kind of YouTube book or a Kindle like a physical paper book in probably 10 years .

So I am on the verge of finishing my first book in probably a decade and it feels good . It's a self help book called Essentialism and I recommend everybody read it . It's the pursuit of less but better . And one thing that reading has really opened my eyes to is that you start to think differently when you're exposed to different thoughts .

I know that sounds kind of self-explanatory , but I never realized how many days in a row I would go thinking about the same things , and then it just kind of gives you ideas and opens up your mind to things that you might necessarily have thought of if you weren't consuming that content .

So just being very particular about the content that I consume is another one of my things that are on my list . So reading is definitely gonna help with that , and I want it to be a mix of fiction and nonfiction . One of my favorite book series when I was a kid was the Maximum Ride Books by James Patterson .

I just remember being so immersed in the fantasy aspects of that book . So if you have any recommendations for books that are fiction , drop them in the comments on Instagram or TikTok or wherever you guys follow me , and I would love to knock out some of those books this year . So 25 books is on my list and I'm almost done with one .

I've got about five or six other books that I am reading slash listening to , so I really I'm still a fan of Audible , but I wanna mix it up . So that's 25 books total as far as reading and listening to books . So I wanted to do like at least 15 paper books , another 10 to 15 on Audible . So send your recommendations .

Moving on to some personal goals of mine , I want to learn how to cook more . Quick backstory everybody in my family knows how to cook extremely well my brother , both my sisters , my dad , my mom , my twin brother they can all throw it out in the kitchen . So one of my intentional goals is to be a better cook . I want to perfect chicken steak and breakfast .

Those are the things that I'm gonna focus on Chicken steak and breakfast and once I get those down I'll start moving into some other recipes of different things . But yeah , I wanna be able to cook more . I want to get less processed food in my diet and cooking more is a surefire way to be able to do that .

Health goals I just wanna maintain kinda the weight that I'm at . Last summer I was about 40 pounds heavier than I am now . So I'm at a healthy weight that I really want to maintain and that starts with diet .

Coming from a health promotion background , diet really is the main thing that is going to drive your health and fitness goals and I noticed immediately , once I started getting large amounts of protein in my diet , really being particular about the things that I enter into my system , I started to see a huge difference with , honestly , not really that much added

exercise , but exercise wise . I wanna get better at tennis . I started a tennis journey about a year and a half ago and me and my brother were able to move up in the rankings . For those of you that are listening that are tennis fans , we went from a 2.5 to a 3.0 , so that was really exciting .

We actually won our local league in 2.5 men's , so we ended up going to state and winning state in Arkansas , so we were super excited about that . We had the opportunity to go to sectionals for the adult league , but it didn't line up with all of our schedules so we didn't end up doing that . But I've had a blast playing tennis .

My brother plays tennis , my wife plays tennis and it's just been a bonding thing that I'm looking forward to getting better , getting that exercise in and doing something that's fun . I want more fun in my life in 2024 . This next one is something that I didn't really ever think would be on my list , but I want to spend more time outside .

Me and my brother talk all the time about the good old days when we were kids .

I've officially entered that error when I referred to my childhood , as I sound kind of like that old adult hit 30 , and now you are just all of a sudden in this middle ground of there's so many people that are younger than you that you're around , whether that's at work or in social gatherings . 10 , 12 years difference could be on either side .

I've got a lot of people that are friends with through tennis that are older than me , and then I've got people that are friends with through tennis that are quite a bit younger than me . So I'm kind of in that middle ground and I want to spend more time outside .

Some of the best memories that I have is being outside , and I want that to be part of the daily routine with me and my family Once it gets a little bit warmer more walks outside , more outside activities , more going to the park with the dogs . I want that to be a part of 2024 .

Decluttering is the next thing that is on the list . I need desperately to have time to declutter my house . You watch these episodes of hoarders and you're like man . I cannot believe somebody would live like that . And then all of a sudden , after a Christmas , after a birthday , you get something sentimental from your family , you get something from work .

Things just start to pile up and you turn around and you don't even realize where all this stuff has come from . And it's so hard to part with things that we have owned for a long time .

But intentionally trying to find the things in my life , in my house , that spark joy in getting everything else out of here , I've desperately got to do that and my wife , luckily , is on board with that . We actually spent quite a bit of time going through our closet this past weekend and it's looking better . It's looking better .

We got some stuff in the donate pile to take to Goodwill and now the next step is just actually getting it out of here . So , baby steps , this is good for us . You know , just start one area of the house and move on to the next area of the house until we've simplified our lives .

So decluttering is definitely on the list , more time with friends and family . So , reading this book , essentialism it's basically about cutting out the things in your life that are trivial and not essential . One thing that I have found in my life to be essential in this stage of my life is having a good support system .

So I cherish the time that I get to spend with my friends and family so much more now than I ever did when I was a teenager or in my 20s .

You know , when you're in your 20s and you've got three or four roommates and you guys get to see each other every day , and or you're growing up in a house with your parents and they're there every day , you don't realize that there's gonna come a time when those things aren't gonna be so often all the time .

This past year I took a trip to New Orleans with some of my best friends . All of them were in my wedding .

It was a couple's trip , so my brother's my best friend , so my brother was there and his fiance , my buddy TJ , and his girlfriend and my other buddy granted his wife for all there and it was one of the best times that I can recall in the last five years was just this trip with this group of people and we did a lot of fun things there .

We ate probably the best steak and eggs that I've ever had in my entire life . We went and did an escape room , which was really cool . We went on a swamp tour . We experienced some of the Cajun food and the nightlife and some of the art .

But some of the moments that I remember the most were just the quiet moments , getting to hang out with my friends again , kind of like we were in junior high and high school . We sat at this Airbnb and there was a Super Nintendo there and it was a Super Nintendo emulator .

So it had a lot of Super Nintendo games on it , but it wasn't like a full Super Nintendo because it didn't really have a memory card . But anyway , they had Super Mario 3 , which for those of you who grew up in the 80s and 90s know that Super Mario 3 on the Super Nintendo was a classic game . So we found this game .

We were there for three nights , I believe . Every morning we would get up and before the girls would get up , before we were hitting the first thing on our itinerary , we would try to completely beat this game , and we knew that we were never gonna have enough time to be able to beat it .

But just sitting around in a living room , each of us taking turns playing this Mario game , bonding , really engaged with one another , was one of the best moments , friendship wise , I had in 2023 . And I need more of that . I need more intentional time with the people that I wanna spend time with .

So more time with friends and family is on the list as one of the essential things . Listening more and judging less . So doing a podcast . I get to listen to so many different stories from people from all different types of walks of life , but I find the hardest time in my personal life listening before I react .

So , whether that be an argument , whether this is just me talking to somebody in a casual conversation , it's like I get so excited about my response that I'm not listening to what the other person is saying . So definitely have to get better with that within my marriage listening more and then actually taking that information in .

You know , making space for somebody else to be heard . So anyone that is married knows that communication is a struggle over , no matter how long you've been married . So one of my goals is definitely to be a better communicator and to give that to my wife and the people that are around me .

So I want to listen more and I want to judge less on things that I might not necessarily agree with . Being more romantic so this is something that my wife intentionally asked of me , tevin , I need more romantic gestures and , for those of you that know me in real life , I'm a very logical , practical person .

The things that I want and the things that I enjoy are very practical . I am going to be overjoyed that if you go and get me a gift , it's like a gas card or something that I can use like man . This is going to make a practical impact . So it's good in some areas . But being romantic is not always my first thought .

So I want to be more romantic , be more intentional , focus on the relationship with my wife . More is something that I am focusing on in 2024 . So I guess you'll have to be the judge of that , but that is something that I am intentionally trying to work on is being more romantic .

And the last thing , but not the least important thing , probably the most important thing actually I want to have more quiet time . I want to have more meditation , more prayer , more time reading the word .

I have a great church community here in Arkansas and me and my wife have been attending for going on eight years now , but I really want to make that one of the focuses of taking that time to slow down , to be grateful , to have that connection with the Lord and to learn and grow in my spiritual journey .

So this has been another episode of the Clever Angle podcast . If you liked this episode , give me a five star review on Apple podcast . Another one of my goals is to have at least 10 solo episodes , so this is one .

I hope you enjoy this journal style episode that I put out , and I appreciate everybody who listens , no matter if it's for one second or one hour . So until next time , peace .