Quick note: I’m sorry it’s September when this is coming out, but I had intended to finish the Story of Peru before publishing this, so it sat on the shelf. In any case, thanks for being here and reading. I hope this brings you some great info (towards the bottom), and some of my reflections from last year bring some good to you.
Just like last year: What a year. Ups and downs. I’m sure we all had them.
In order to not dwell on the past, this quick one is meant to share some stories and learnings from this past year’s history, some of the best things I came across, and to hopefully relay some joy, love, and enrichment.
Daggon, my thoughts from last year are still what I want to say today:
From starting different groups, exploring new places, and genuinely trying to be good I was able to build a lot of new and meaningful relationships. That being said, there were many challenges with relationships all around me; from family and close friends to personal and political. This will almost always be the case for everyone IMO, but using the experiences that you go through, or seeing the situations around you, to better your future relationships, and to help others, is the best thing we can get out of them. Using others’ and your own experiences to learn is invaluable.
Now, onto the new stuff.
Learning from the good and bad, and appreciating both of them, are struggles for me, so I practice them consistently. Another important principle from the great Ray Dalio is:
Pain + Reflection = Progress.
I started 2018 with intentions to do more toward my mission of relaying joy, love, and enrichment. I worked to the best of my ability to do that; focusing on productivity, intelligible prioritized decision making, and sheer effort/will. Sounds great. It was, for most of the year. Or so I thought. More on that later. In 2017 I was asked to manage the back-end sales for my $15mil/yr employer then build a system to replace my position. Then in 2018, I was asked to become the training manager and main-trainer. This job was significantly more simple, even though we beat our sales goal by 199%, and it allowed me the time and space to focus on building things that were meaningful to me. Namely, KleinHaus Gym, KleinHaus Studio, Hockey for Covington (CSHL), and KleanMeals. While the first two projects were solo-run, there were many people involved with the latter two. The relationships and experiences gained from these projects are invaluable to me, and I’m completely grateful for them.
As mentioned earlier on the blog, the ending of 2017 was rough for me in that I was recovering poorly from a very extended period of little sleep. That coupled with a sprinkling of depression and an addictive personality, I drank more alcohol and spent more money at bars than at any other time in my life – all while building these projects. This lasted from January to August or September when I quit cigarettes with two of my brothers. Quitting the smokes, and a personal reason, helped me avoid the bars, think clearly, prioritize, and reinforce certain areas that I felt needed to be focused on.
Even though in the latter part of the year I was thinking more clearly and intelligibly than ever before, I was spread too thin. Close people around me were misunderstanding my reasoning for not ‘being able to’ do certain activities as complaining, and me getting resentful for their words and reactions, I found it most valuable to remove myself from certain leadership roles. The main one being stepping down from ownership of Hockey for Covington (CSHL). I felt confident in stepping down due to the leadership team that was in place, and my effort (described above) for 35-50hrs/wk for most of the year to set up a mission, vision, systems, processes, relationships with partners, leaders, and city officials, and culture. In short, I was confident that I put everything I had, for as long as I could, and as productively as I knew how to help create an organization that would do good and was sustainable. It was more important to me to maintain meaningful relationships than work on (or own/lead) the organization at that point.
Legitimizing and delegitimizing KleanMeals
Also a great experience. We took it from a few people and companies, cooking out of our kitchens, to state and federal recognition and cooking out of an incubator kitchen. We learned and executed the ins and outs of the food industry regulations and business, saw that our timing was off (due to higher commitments to other organizations), that Amazon is working on a similar business model (we don’t want to compete with them), and we got out. We could have done more, and better, had we put more concentration toward it, however, I see it as a valuable experience that positively affected many people (our goal), and the opportunity to get back into it remains.
Every time I think I’m out… They drag me back in
It’s been well over 5 years since working in the service industry. That’s changed since Thanksgiving as I decided it’s better to make money at the bar than spend it at this time in my life; I’ve started barbacking at 16Bit. I’ve found it nice to be back, everyone has been super friendly, and it’s freeing to work at one of the busiest bars in the city while not ‘feeling like I HAVE’ to work there. Cheers to the couple of buddies who put in a good word for me there!
Some personal notes
With some, now obvious, glaring blind spots removed, I found some faults of mine that I can now work on. Namely:
-Communicating with some very close people to me only when I want something. So, I’ll be working on spending quality time, rather than productive time, with more people.
-Using alcohol to stay present with people when my empathy reserves run out. Also, using alcohol to not address root-cause issues. So, I’ll be drinking way less (for other reasons as well) and continuing to practice presence all the time.
Now onto some of the heavy-positive-impactors for 2018:
Root Car Insurance – reduced my car insurance from Geico by more than %50.
Arcadia Power – reduced my electric bill quite a lot and it’s all green-source.
Brawl Stars – a fun cartoon/shooter game for mobile.
The new Onnit Total Human – This is the reintroduction (with some added stuff) that I’ve promoted for a long time. It’s magic.
Jordan Peterson – He’s blown up in the past couple of years. His message resonates with me due to my religious upbringing, interest in the philosophy of Truth and meaning, and very high-level thinking and communicating.
Quitting cigarettes
I was very fortunate to read, and listen to, a lot of books this year. Here’s a list of the most impactful ones for me this year and I ask everyone read/listen to them (please) (I may start doing book reviews – does that interest you? LMK):
(Again) Principles: Life and Work – R. Dalio
(Again) Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win – L. Babin, J. Willink
Crushing It!: How Great Entrepreneurs Build Their Business and Influence-and How You Can, Too – G. Vaynerchuk
The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance – J. Waitzkin
The Lessons of History – W. and A. Durant, details the cycles of socio-politics and religion through history, how they are linked and interact, and how they repeat (cycles).
The Hero with a Thousand Faces – J. Cambell, details the religious and mystic heroes through history and where they come from.
The Productivity Project: Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy – C. Bailey
Endurance: Shackleton’s Incredible Voyage– A. Lansing, the story of one of the first journeys to the south-pole and the ‘endurance’ and leadership needed to survive through extraordinary circumstances.
The Power of Habit – Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business – C. Douhigg,
The Daily Stoic – R. Holiday, provides a daily passage from a stoic-great and food for thought.
I Don’t Want to Talk About It: Overcoming the Secret Legacy of Male Depression – T. Real
How to Win Friends & Influence People – D. Carnegie, the classic.
Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders – D. Marquet
The 49th Mystic (Beyond the Circle) – T. Dekker, My favorite book I’ve ever listened to. It was like watching a movie in my mind. Science, philosophy, futurism, religion, heroes… it had it all.
Six Simple Rules: How to Manage Complexity without Getting Complicated – P. Tollman
The Black Swan: Second Edition: The Impact of the Highly Improbable – N. N. Taleb
Gates of Fire: An Epic Novel of the Battle of Thermopylae – S. Pressfield
-Side note – I went through so many books that I’m limiting the number of new ones in 2019 and revisiting most of the above again this year.
Again, this year, I was fortunate to travel a lot for work and such. Here are a couple spots I highly recommend to check out during the winter for spectacular ocular pleasure ?
Salt Lake City
NYC in the snow
Thanks a lot for reading and sharing your attention! Happy new year, and let’s make this the best year yet!!
If you have any questions or want to talk, please reach out any time.
Best,
Jase
In fact no matter if someone doesn’t understand then its up to other visitors that they
will assist, so here it happens.
This paragraph will assist the internet viewers for setting up new website or even a weblog from start to end.
new ed treatments buy generic ed drugs ed drugs list
get propecia no prescription: propecia sale – propecia for sale
Paxlovid buy online Paxlovid over the counter Paxlovid buy online
pharmaceutical online ordering
Right here is the perfect web site for everyone who really wants to find out about this topic.
You realize so much its almost hard to argue with you (not that I personally would want to…HaHa).
You certainly put a brand new spin on a subject that has been discussed for years.
Excellent stuff, just wonderful!
valacyclovir no prescription
This post provides clear idea designed for the new visitors of blogging,
that truly how to do running a blog.
plavix in canada online
paxlovid price: paxlovid for sale – paxlovid price
zoloft online
What i don’t understood is actually how you’re no longer actually a lot more well-liked than you
may be right now. You’re so intelligent. You know thus significantly with
regards to this subject, produced me personally believe it from so many varied angles.
Its like men and women aren’t involved until it is one thing to accomplish with Woman gaga!
Your individual stuffs nice. At all times take care of it up!
Hello there! This is kind of off topic but I need some guidance from an established blog.
Is it tough to set up your own blog? I’m not very techincal but I can figure things out pretty quick.
I’m thinking about setting up my own but I’m not sure where
to begin. Do you have any ideas or suggestions?
Many thanks
I used to be suggested this web site via my cousin. I am
now not positive whether or not this put up is written by way of
him as nobody else recognize such specified about
my difficulty. You’re incredible! Thank you!
Hi there i am kavin, its my first time to commenting anywhere, when i read this paragraph i thought i could also create
comment due to this sensible post.
Hi there! This blog post couldn’t be written much better!
Reading through this post reminds me of my previous roommate!
He continually kept talking about this. I am going to
send this post to him. Fairly certain he will have a great read.
Many thanks for sharing!
It’s going to be finish of mine day, except before end I am reading this great article to improve my know-how.
Hello! Do you use Twitter? I’d like to follow you if that would be
okay. I’m absolutely enjoying your blog and look forward
to new updates.
I do not even know the way I stopped up here, but I assumed this publish was great.
I don’t recognize who you might be however certainly you are going to
a well-known blogger if you are not already. Cheers!
You ought to be a part of a contest for one of the highest quality websites on the
web. I’m going to highly recommend this web site!
Fantastic website. A lot of helpful information here.
I’m sending it to several pals ans also sharing in delicious.
And obviously, thank you to your sweat!
Hello to all, the contents present at this site
are truly remarkable for people experience, well, keep up the good work fellows.
Have a look at my web blog :: Buy Ozempic Online
Nicely put, Regards.
cba oin kedalam websitee judi pkv games dengan bandar domino serya bandarq online terbaik sepanjang masa yang sudah terseddia
pada tahun 2023 iini denga akun ?ro jackpot terbaik yang dapat kalian dapatkan dengan menerapkan beberapa akun yang kalian daftarkan ?i dalam sini dan kalian juga bisa mempunyai kemungkinan untuk menerima semua profit
dari metode pengisian deposit lewat pulsa yang tidak bisa kalian peroleh ddi
laman web judi pkv games, bandarqq ataupun pokerqq online yang lainnya yang ada ?i dunia
maya dikala ini.
My wweb site – qq
Very soon this website will be famous among all blogging visitors, due to it’s pleasant
posts
accutane 30 mg coupon generic accutane
buy cheap propecia for sale: cheap propecia – cheap propecia without insurance
http://cytotec.ink/# cytotec pills buy online
cymbalta 30 mg price
Hey I know this is off topic but I was wondering if you knew of any widgets I could add to my blog that automatically tweet my newest twitter updates.
I’ve been looking for a plug-in like this for quite some time
and was hoping maybe you would have some experience with something like this.
Please let me know if you run into anything. I truly enjoy reading your blog and I look forward to
your new updates.
cost augmentin
Hi! This is my first comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout
out and say I really enjoy reading through your blog posts.
Can you suggest any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same topics?
Thank you so much!
Remarkable issues here. I’m very glad to look your article.
Thank you so much and I am looking forward to contact
you. Will you kindly drop me a e-mail??????
I am regular visitor, how are you everybody? This paragraph posted
at this website is really pleasant.
If some one wants to be updated with most up-to-date technologies therefore he must be
go to see this site and be up to date all the time.
order generic propecia pill: buy propecia – rx propecia
plaquenil osteoarthritis
I’m really enjoying the design and layout of your website. It’s a very easy on the eyes which makes it much
more enjoyable for me to come here and visit more often. Did you hire out a designer to create
your theme? Superb work!
plaquenil 200
paxlovid for sale: paxlovid for sale – buy paxlovid online
Greetings from Los angeles! I’m bored to death at work so I decided to check out your
site on my iphone during lunch break. I love the knowledge you provide here and
can’t wait to take a look when I get home. I’m amazed at
how quick your blog loaded on my cell phone ..
I’m not even using WIFI, just 3G .. Anyways, amazing site!
online pharmacy ed
It’s perfect time to make some plans for the long run and it is time to be happy.
I’ve learn this publish and if I may I wish to counsel you some fascinating things or suggestions.
Maybe you can write subsequent articles relating to this article.
I want to learn even more issues about it!
Write more, thats all I have to say. Literally,
it seems as though you relied on the video to make your point.
You clearly know what youre talking about, why throw away your intelligence on just
posting videos to your weblog when you could be giving us something informative to read?
best pills for ed: best ed pills at gnc – ed treatment review
no prescription required pharmacy
I really like your blog.. very nice colors & theme.
Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to
do it for you? Plz answer back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to
find out where u got this from. thank you
Pretty! This was a really wonderful article. Many thanks for providing these details.
albuterol buying