Gearing up for some serious reflection and target setting Solo-cast

And we're about 11 days away from my birthday , which is the day that I do my goal setting and like major reflection and I'm kind of on the fence of replaying a very powerful reflection that has completely led me to where I am today , which is in a very amazing place , meaning I'm experiencing tremendous fulfillment and I'm also learning and growing at like a

radically crazy pace . And so that goes all the way back to I want to say it was 2019 , for clarity , I don't do my goal setting on the New Year because I still kind of think the world revolves around me .

So I do my major reflections and goal setting on my birthday , and that usually takes several days , sometimes weeks , just depending on how heavy things have been and how big my dreams are in front of me . But back in 2019 , I was listening to a podcast by my buddy , adam . If I can find the link , I will put it in the show notes Adam Gates .

He's an architect here in San Antonio . He's got his own podcast out there and he had posed this question and it was we're upon a new decade . How about , instead of just reflecting over one year and making goals for the next year .

How about you reflect on the previous 10 years and what are the big nuggets , the big takeaways that you can pull out of that and apply that to the next 10 years ? And that idea hooked me . At first I was all spun around the axle in that what are the measurable things ?

And all the typical standard , thinking about what I should be reflecting on and counting on my achievements and accomplishments and all of these things , and so I stewed on that . I got to say it was at least a week of like man , what did I experience ? What did I learn Not accomplish , what did I learn ?

What did I experience over the last 10 years that I can take and apply to the next 10 years ? And so that led me down a path of okay , at that point in time I had just .

I was kind of in the middle of a gigantic career change that logically made no sense in that I didn't have a ton of credentials , I didn't have any kind of like really super formal training , but I was in an amazing position , earning good money , traveling the country , helping people doing super cool , lean , nerdy stuff , and the one thing that , like bubbled to

the surface was well , the previous 10 years . What I've been doing is like covertly , where nobody could see me , is studying and learning these weird nerdy things that people would make fun of me about , right , like when people knew that I was . I remember we used to .

We had a job in San Marcos and we had a company van where a whole bunch of us would we'd all meet at the off-air at the shop and drive up to San Marcos .

You know our drive , whatever it was , save wear and tear on our vehicles and I would be the one in the seat reading a book , reading studying something some there's probably some kind of leadership book or something and at lunchtime guess what ? I pull out my book .

This was before I discovered audio books and podcasts , and so there was , like it was that experience , right , it was those little kind of awkward things that I would pursue and study , and I would do it behind closed doors , like I just I don't know , I didn't want people to know anything about it .

Maybe I didn't want people giving me a hard time because you know those subjects , you know I was studying .

I was learning about lean , I was learning about continuous improvement , I was learning about leadership , I was learning about communication and all of those things are kind of attached to really big dreams , big ideas , big goals , and so I don't think people necessarily were picking on me because I was reading a book .

I think maybe they were more kind of jabbing me about like come on , bro , like you're doing all this studying and reading all these big fancy books , but you're still a knockoff . Because I was , I was still a knockoff , so maybe it was a little bit of out of alignment from what they were used to experiencing from me . So that was one thing .

That was the big thing in those previous 10 years pursuing my curiosities . I said , okay , that's an interesting thing , because had I not done that ?

Or rather , through pursuing my curiosities and learning about lean construction and learning about leadership , learning about relationships and communication and these sorts of things , all of that knowledge equipped me for the next step or for the opportunities that were laid in front of me . I said , okay , we're going to write that one down pursue curiosity .

The other thing , if you don't know , I've had a pretty intimate relationship with the law and no , I'm not a lawyer but violating the law and getting arrested and the costs that come with my alcohol abuse and substance abuse .

I spent a whole bunch of money keeping my pretty self out of jail , and when I say a whole bunch of money , I'm talking nearing six figures . Now I'm a very frugal person in that I don't like spending money on much of anything unless it's like shoes or hair product .

And there were many , many purchases , lots of trips , lots of vacations , lots of things I never did because I didn't have you know in my head or I would tell myself I don't have money for that , that's too expensive . But when I reflected back on the previous 10 years I did the math real quick .

It's pretty rough math but I'm like , oh , my goodness , here I am super tight with the purse strings , but I was able to come up with nearly $100,000 , of course , spread over 10 years .

It wasn't all at one shot to stay out of jail , to pay for attorney's fees and ankle monitors and all these wonderful things that come with breaking the law and getting caught , and I was still able to afford doing life the way I did life . And I was like , well , that really sucks .

But what if I budgeted $10 grand a year because clearly I could spend like , I got the money I can afford to spend it . But instead of spending it on like nonproductive costs , I could start investing it in myself , and so those were the two big takeaways from like that previous decade . One of the very first things I did was signed up for an improv class .

Like a comedy , instant comedy . Improv class , which was Was uncomfortable . It was way more challenging than I expected it to be . Not being silly and being up on the stage , but releasing control and going with the flow that was my challenge . But it helped me grow and I did one of the techniques I learned in that improv class as part of my training .

Now that we have a ton of fun Doing it when we're planning a party , if you know . You know . Another big investment I made was I signed up for a coaching pod . There was a bunch of continuous improvement experts from across the country and I was like the scrub right , like I'm the only construction guy in there and I .

What I did it for was to kind of benchmark and get a feel for where I was in terms of like , do I got game or not ? Is this just a construction fluke or or what is it ? Where do I stand if I were to expand my wings beyond the construction industry and what I discovered is like , yes , I do have game and in someone itself .

There were a bunch of other things since then I can't even count them now of where I've invested that kind of money into expanding my skills and 100% spending that $10,000 a year , investing it in the curiosities , in the random interest that I have , I have 100% brought me to where I am today .

I never envisioned myself writing books Got a couple books out there . Never envisioned myself having a podcast and guess what ? You're listening to me on a podcast never , ever thought I'd have my own business . Guess what . I've got a thriving business and I get to work with some amazing leaders that are doing things to leave this world better than they found it .

So my birthday is coming up and I'm like , should I do the 10-year reflection ? Or maybe like a three-year Reflection ? What did I learn over the past three years ? What are the big rocks , the big lessons , the big nuggets that have contributed to where I am today , and what would it look like if I applied them over the next three year ?

Or maybe what if I squinch it down to not the next three years , just the next 12 months ? I'm not sure I'm still on defense about it , but for the LNM family members out there , that kind of do , the big reflection and the , the goal setting , the what do you call them ? The darn new year's resolutions what I want to do is plan a seed in your head .

Start reflecting right now . You got a whole month ahead of you . Start reflecting about what you've learned over this year . What were the impactful , defining moments over the past year ? What did you learn from them and what would the world look like if you applied them going forward next year ?

And if you're feeling extra froggy , go ahead and reflect on the past three years or five years . I'm telling you it is Absolutely worth it . You get a chance . Hit up the website , sign up for the email list . We got the monthly vid letters coming out with updates and celebrations and resources of amazing people out there in the industry and 2024 .

I'm just gonna let you warn you right now I plan on sending out a weekly hug with some links to some inspirational stuff , some blogs for information and also links to resources , because Fortunately , I've been able to grow a network of some superstars out there that are doing big things and serve the community in Deep and meaningful ways , and I'd love for you

guys to connect with them . So be cool and we'll talk at you next time , peace .