2023 Year in review

6 years of writing

I can’t believe this blog is now 6 years old. I haven’t written much in the past year, but that’s ok it’s still really fun to reflect

2023 Recap

I’ve been writing this blog for 6 years now. I didn’t write very much n the past year but it’s still really fun to reflect on thoughts and images as they pass. 

Investments: I bought no new real estate this year. While interest rates and prices are high it just doesn’t seem very appealing. The whole point of investing was to find and purchased underpriced assets, not things that just happen to be popular. Thankfully all the properties I do own are thriving which is very encouraging.

I did give some money to a friend of ours as a capital partner for a flip, not sure how that is going to go yet but I don’t have much confidence at the present moment. I definitely won’t do that again. I was too casual with my money and was trying to take bets on other people when I should have been betting and investing on myself instead.

Books: I read about ~15 books this year which is my lightest year yet but I’m trying to pick that back up. The real problem isn’t the lack of reading but the lack of writing. There is something that writing about books does to coalesce ideas in ways that reading alone just can’t match. I aim to fix this in 2024

Fitness: I turned 40 this year and while I’m certainly not in the same shape I was at 28 I still feel GREAT which is starting to really make me glad I spent so many years in the gym because I know many 40 year olds who don’t great and the gap is widening. 20 years ago I knew the gym would be a good investment and now I’m starting to realize how right I really was. 

Travel: This year I went to Colombia, Spain, and probably a dozen US cities with the BetterLife podcast. It was wonderful

My year of Aloha

In December of 2022 I had a word of the year picked out for 2023, the word was HOMESTEAD and my goal was to spend all of 2023 building local relationships in Charlotte NC so I could plant roots and build a thriving business over the next decade. 

That plan was obliterated on December 17th when I got the very unexpected opportunity to come work for Brandon Turner in Maui as his creative director. 

Thankfully Miss Kate was on board so by early February we packed up everything we owned in a few suitcases and a single pallet, sold everything else, converted our house to a rental and shipped our belongings to the most isolated island on earth and started our newly engaged life together in paradise

I’m glad I was able to say yes to this incredible opportunity

This crazy podcast!

My main goal coming out to Maui was to create the best looking podcast on the internet. 

I’m not sure I’ve quite done that, but I’ve gotten close and for only having been doing it for ~9 months as of this writing, I’m quite pleased. 

I also go to meet some incredible guests along the way

Listen here if you haven’t already: 

Additionally, here are some pics I snagged along the way

Exercises in gratitude

Not writing as much this year allowed me to realize that this blog isn’t for you, and it’s not for me, it’s for US

Every time I write my thoughts I feel like a burden has been lifted and my brain can move onto something new, and every time I list all the things I’m fortunate to experience I’m able to stop being an ungrateful piece of shit who is constantly unhappy with where I am in life and really be proud and in awe of the life I’m able to live. It’s also (sometimes) been very effective in helping other people who aren’t the type to vocalize or write these thoughts even though many share them.

In addition to writing this year I started expressing my gratitude out loud every night at dinner and it has made a dramatic difference in my life. For anyone who says grace daily at dinner this is not a new phenomenon, but for a heathen like me, it’s been profound and I’ll give you a very specific example:

Every night at dinner Miss Kate asks me “What are three things you’re grateful for” and I think about this and respond. Within the first week I noticed something I didn’t like:

all the things I said I’m grateful for are were about me

This was a disappointing realization but at least I could fix it. So now I get to much more time thinking about family, friends, and other people: their health, their relationships, their opportunities, and more

This is why “Say it out loud” has become one of my core values / life lessons

There is immense power in saying things out loud, it’s one thing to admit shortcomings to yourself it’s a whole other to say them to people you love or strangers. Our loud is  far more vulnerable, out loud gives your words far more weight, and out loud allows people to judge what you say against what you do.

Highly recommend this practice 

Maui is dope

Somehow I was allowed to spend the year in paradise, want to see some pics of it?

It's time to level up

When I first started this financial journey I was BROKE AS FUCK and I was stuck in jobs I hated and I really wanted my freedom. I worked really hard at fixing this, I stopping being the problem and started to become the solution. Over the last decade I bought good chunk of real estate and then over the last 2 years I was fortunate enough to spent a lot of traveling with my camera and doing gig work along the way. 

Now I’m in a bit of a weird spot. 

I’m too valuable and too capable to make much longer of my life simply bouncing around with a camera, but I also really don’t like the day to day monotony of a singular day job.

So I’m I need to sit down and get back to creating abundant resources, solving harder problems, and doing it with people I really enjoy. I want to find a blend of stability and periodical fun stress-filled excursions. 

Time to get to work

Going forward

I made a lot of mistakes this year, and I did a lot of really big new things this year. 

One of the big mistakes I made this year is not writing more and here is why it’s such a big mistake: When I don’t write out and document my thoughts I don’t appreciate what I’ve accomplished and I don’t set my goals clear enough. So writing isn’t just something I enjoy, it’s how I best keep my brain organized and structured and I definitely need to do more of it.

I’m also probably going to move back to mainland here pretty soon. Maui has been a gift but I don’t make for a very good employee nor am I particularly good at island life.

I want to share more thoughts than I can in this single post, which just means I get to post more.