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

What is going on? Lnm Family coming at you with a 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.