Ok, so let’s try this again… I certainly recognize how tough this year has been on so many people and see how much devastation it’s caused, I’ve watched people close to me lose family and friends, and felt the effects of losing 3 years worth of work at irevu.com, blood, sweat, and tears. I have so much compassion for those still suffering through it and those that lost so much more. That’s in the past for me now, there’s nothing to hold on to and just another expensive life lesson about diversification. The way I see it, I’ve been more than fortunate this year, and to say “I’m blessed” would be an understatement. But I also have to say that it’s not luck, I have to give myself some credit because I worked through every challenge put in my path, and did it with a smile on my face. I thrived during the crashes of 2001 & 2008. I put my head down, got up earlier, took on more responsibility, and had some of the most profitable years of my life, and this year has been no different. When 2020 showed its cards, I called it, met the challenge head-on, hit most of my 2020 goals, and enjoyed myself along the way. To me, that’s what setting goals is all about, having a nagging reminder of what I set out to achieve and more importantly “why”, a map towards my vision and something to hold me accountable to.

So what did I do this year? I made some major life changes ✅ challenged myself to quit drinking for a year ✅ lived in St Barths for a month ✅ grew designed.co ✅ met some amazing people who I believe will be lifelong friends (you know who you are) ✅ learned some new jams 🎸✅ spent more time meditating and working on my personal growth ✅ The list goes on, but this isn’t about what I’ve achieved, its more about what’s next.

So what’s in store for me this year? It’s my last year in my 30s, which I hear is supposed to be some defining moment in my life, but is it? I think I’m supposed to buy a midlife crisis mobile, which is on my agenda anyway 😂 I guess it just doesn’t seem like it’s any different and I don’t want to get distracted by the number, but rather how I feel, and where I see myself (this time next year). Don’t get me wrong, I am planning an epic 40th birthday party, which is still TBD… The 10-month countdown has begun so keep your Rocktober calendar clear in 2021 because I don’t celebrate the day, I celebrate the month. But my birthday will not define my year, I have a totally new vision for where I am headed, and 2020 gifted me insights on what is really important to me.

As I was writing this I was thinking about the risks I had taken to get where I am at today, and it’s obvious that the rewards were greater when I took bigger chances. Maybe I have just gotten too comfortable, too laxed, and spent way too many days at the beach. Not that I got lazy, I may have just gotten complacent with where I am at in life. So I wrote a note to myself; “To achieve big dreams, you have to take big swings.” which I fully intend to make the title of chapter 21’

So in that spirit, I decided to snap out of it and get back to work on some new goals and visions for 2021, and publish them for my own posterity.

Physical & health

• I will be in the best physical shape of my life before 10.02.2021. I will invest in the right people to help me not only achieve this goal but blow past all expectations. It’s not about weight loss or a six-pack, this is about how I see my self naturally, and how I feel daily.
• I also want to add in new recreational sports, I’ve always wanted to learn to surf or wake surf, learn Flowrider, and want to get out on the water more with an electric board or something fun.
• Biohacking 101. For those of you that don’t know, I know a lot about natural medicine, alternative health modalities and spent some time in the natural health industry. I have some crazy ideas around blood work to a diet that I will be actively working on in 21. I also want to step up my quarterly juice fasting and add in NAD+ IVs which I just learned about recently. I will be doing some spot Cryo and I really need to find a local ice bath for some real WimHoff training.

Emotional & spiritual

• This will be the year of investment in counseling, guidance, coaching, and education. Clarity and vision sometimes requires a different perspective, so I want to see more from the outside in. This will be my biggest investment in all areas of focus.
• Removing judgment. I naturally see the positive in nearly every situation, but I have been too judgmental, and most times of my own self. I let too many things bother me and need to just let this go. Judgment Detox was a great read a couple of years back so I may just need a reboot.
• Meditation daily, adding in TM and Yoga. Over the last couple of years, I went from not being able to shut my mind off for 20 seconds to easily doing 20min meditations. Now I want to expand that horizon and practice some new meditation techniques to see if I can go deeper. This will likely include breathwork, yoga, and maybe a shaman or two.

Intellectual

• Not to sound like a broken record, but I wanted to invest in a mentor last year, no excuses but I just didn’t get it done. So I’ll kick off the year on the hunt for the right one and will likely attend some kind of mastermind group when people can be around people again.
• I used to “read” (listening to books on Audible) about 3-4 books a month, then I just stopped. So I’m going to pick up that filthy habit again and read 1 book a month.
• This past year, I picked up the guitar again and got back to my musician roots. I put in a bit of a weak goal to learn 4 songs which I did on the first day. Now I have some new song targets and I’m targeting to record some of my originals this year 🎸
• I will start a 5-year fluency class with a private tutor for a foreign language (Target is 2026 for the first language) but my long term goal is to learn Spanish, French and Italian before I retire, which I have a feeling will play a big role on where I will retire. So I’m open to any recommendations on where I should start, I really want to learn Italian first but people keep nudging me to learn Spanish first then Italian.

Social

• I have been pretty distanced from family most of my adult life, which is a long story for another post. This year has taught me a really valuable lesson about what is important to me and I know that I need to invest more time in family. Besides my direct family, I have some really amazing families that have “adopted” me over the years and I need to make more time and effort to be a part of that.
• One of the main things that I have struggled with over the years has been my sacrifice of social life to chase my dreams. Being an entrepreneur and focusing on your career is a lonely journey, but it doesn’t have to be. Last year I made a commitment to putting more effort into being more social, which was hard during COVID but it’s going to be a major target for 21’. My new friendships are so much more meaningful and have really made where I live, feel so much more like home.
• I will make time this year to give back more to my community and I have some great ideas around volunteer programs I will be involved in this year. I tried volunteering at the dog shelter right around the time they ran out of dogs, true story. So I will shift my focus again to volunteer programs where I can make a difference. I had hoped to get my own charity idea off the ground, but I realize now it’s not in the cards for 2021.
• One thing I recognized is that I have not really surrounded myself with other entrepreneurs, startup founders, and other crazy visionary idea people like me. With the hope of vaccinations by mid-year, I will set my sights on joining and attending more entrepreneurial focused events.

Environmental

• This is the year I will invest in a new home in Miami (likely the beach). I’ve been on autopilot for too long and should have done this a couple of years ago, but now I know what I want and have my eyes on a couple of locations for both investment as well as living. My goal is to have this done before our lease is up so we can be ahead of the curve on our year-end vacations and my 40th bday extravaganza…
• New vacation locations… If you follow me on any kind of social media, you know that I’ve been a creature of habit for the last couple of years. Blue water, white sand beaches, and island vibes… So I wanted to introduce some new, COVID dependent, travel ideas but I can’t completely give up my “beachy” trips. So here are some bucket list options; Montenegro, Necker Island, Scandinavia, Seychelles, Laucala, Gstaad, Denpasar, Lake Como, Maldives & Singapore. I had originally targeted to spend 1 – 3 months in Italy during the 21’ hurricane season but given our need to move in August that may be a 2022 bucket list item. Never say never…

Occupational

• I will be a more thoughtful leader this year. I have been too invested in the day-to-day work and forgot about leading, inspiring, and empowering the team. I have so much more to give and I will make it my top priority in my business life.
• My number one priority for the year is to 10X Designed.co I will be launching our new website on Jan. 15th, we are making huge investments and brought on some amazing new people. I am also firing up my own podcast (The Drawing Board) to interview more entrepreneurs, founders, nerds, artists which I feel like I was born to do. I love talking business and thought this would be a fun addition to my life.
• I will be working on a turnkey acquisition strategy for irevu.com and we start to market the company in Q2 of 21’
• 21’ will be the year I finalize a reusable prototype for minimosa.co so I can start a roadshow for my planned capital raise in 22’

I could go into more detail because this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms 2021 goals, but I think this is a great highlight of what I’ll be focused on starting tonight. Today doesn’t represent anything special, it’s just another day and I’m of the opinion that we shouldn’t wait for an excuse or procrastinate getting started on goals, visions, and dreams. But for me, like I have done the last couple of years, while everyone else is in vacation mode I’ve taken time to reflect, recalibrate, and reenergize my goals. So here’s to the season finale of 2020 and the year of the Ox.