FIND THREE HOBBIES YOU LOVE:
ONE TO MAKE YOU MONEY,
ONE TO KEEP YOU IN SHAPE,
AND ONE TO BE CREATIVE.
Ok, so it’s that time of the year when some of us like to reflect on the year that is about to end. Magazines have “Year in Review” issues, TV shows have their own “Year in Review” programs, and of course, all major corporations have their own “year in review” performance reports. So I thought, what the heck, I’m going to have my own Year in Review too.
The truth is that I constantly review my days, my weeks, my months, and very much everything I do, but this is the first time that I recap some highlights of my entire year into a single article. I tried to organize the activites by categories although most of the items below are just part of my daily routine depending on the time of the day. I hope you enjoy it, but if you don’t, no worries. I’ve never claimed to have a very exciting life, but for the most part, I do live the way I like to live. So, here we go!
- 300+ Miles Mountain Biking. FYI, I’m not great at it and I’ve had some epic crashes, but who hasn’t?
- 250+ Miles Running, not all at once 🙂
- 400+ Hours Working Out, Including…
- 50 Hours Jumping Rope, 5,000 Pull-ups, 8,000 Abs, thousands of reps lifting weights, and dozen of hours hanging upside down from custom-made monkey bars.
- Zero Pounds of Weight Gained or Lost. For better or worse, I always weigh the same. Seriously, since the ’80s.
Fueling my Passion (Literally, See the Fourth Bullet)
- 50+ Hours Racing or Practicing with Shifter Karts. Can’t get enough of that!
- 10+ Hours Auto Racing and Testing. The need for speed…
- 100+ Race Tires Consumed (Kart and Car) as a Result of the above. The cost of speed…
- 200+ Gallons of Race Fuel (I Refuse to Post the Cost)
- 150+ Hours Working on Racecars and Go Karts. And a few busted knuckles in the process.
Just for Fun
- 300+ Hours Hanging Out with my Friends (in person, not on Facebook)
- 240 Hours of Meditation. 20 minutes, twice a day. It’s like defragmenting my brain. It clears my mind.
- 50+ Grande Lattes at Starbucks (where I meet with some friends too). I used to own the stock… should have kept it.
- 22 Years Happily Married and Counting…
- 10% Less Time Arguing with my Teenager Son (I made that up, we do argue all the time but we get along very well)
Time Management
- Zero Hours Spent on Social Media. The result: I found a lot of free time that allowed me to do more of the above.
- No New Friends added or requested on Facebook. Several new friends made in Real Life, which I find much more fulfilling.
- Zero Check-Ins, Re-Tweets, or Instagram Pics. I Love my Privacy
- Zero Times at “Happy Hour” (no need for that one “hour” when I’m already happy all other hours)
- Very selective TV viewing. I couldn’t tell you which show runs when. Most of the stuff I watch is on demand.
Productivity and Learning
- 100+ Blog Articles written. Some of them you may have actually read. Was it you then?
- 800+ Podcasts Listened to (Business, Investing, Self Improvement, Behavioral Economics, Sports, among others). I can share with you my favorite ones if you’re interested.
- 14 Audio Books completed (Business, Biographies, Management, and lately, Artificial Inteligence). Can’t leave home without my earphones!
- 20 Books Read (Business, Biographies, Sports), thank you Kindle for making it so easy! By the way, one of those books was Jeff Bezos’ biography which describes the “birth” of the Kindle.
…and Of Course, Running MGR’s Businesses
- Hundreds of Hours (mostly at night) Thinking About How We Can Improve as an Agency
- Thousands of Hours Enjoying Working on all Projects with Our MGR Team!
- Dozens of new Clients joining our MGR Lifestyle as I like to call it.
- 25% Business Growth YOY
- You can see our MGR Year in Review Here >
In sum, it’s been a great year and I can’t wait to start enjoying one more lap around the sun in 2017! It will be another 365-day lap but I’m sure it will go as fast as the one we’re about to finish in just a few days.
Finally, some thoughts that I want to keep in mind as I get ready for 2017.
- Don’t wish it was easier. Wish you were better. (me, in this case)
- No matter how long I’ve been doing what I’m doing, I’m not entitled to anything and I certainly don’t feel like I’m owed anything by anyone. Everyday I need to earn my living.
- …And speaking of living, everyday is a gift. I always keep that in mind.
- I’m always more focused on efficiency than longevity. I don’t expect things to last forever. All I want is things to run efficiently while they last.
- Given the choice, I prefer to learn from other people’s mistakes, however…
- I’m as proud of my success as I am of my failures. You can’t succeed without failing unless you don’t try hard enough.
- You can’t succeed in life by doing what everyone is already doing. And that applies to all facets of life.
If you’re still with me, thank you very much for taking the time to know me a little better.
When you’re happy and healthy you can’t really ask for more in life. You can’t force happiness and you can’t buy health. Happy New Year and Lots of Health, Happiness and Success for all of you in 2017!