And we’re off! The first full week of the year begins on Day Two of the year, and I like it.
I feel ready for a year full of possibility.
Not resolution. Resolutions get a bad rep because they are mostly broken and forgotten before January ends.
We’re talking about real long-range goal setting and planning here.
What are you going to remember the beginning of 2022 for, years later?
I remember the beginning of 2017 because it was the year I discussed with my wife, and decided to get back into playing music semi-pro.
I am no longer in any of the bands I started or joined that year, BUT…
…a band-mate gave us our start in what is now Owings LLC when I suggested he was losing a bunch of write-offs for the gear, studio time, and distribution costs he was racking up getting his extended play CD made.
To put it extremely briefly, it was a good year.
I genuinely feel 2022 can be a year of epic changes as well.
I was full of high hopes, half-joking about how odd-numbered years are lucky for me a year ago as 2020 came to a close.
I was hopeful COVID was going to come to a close as well. With the year now elapsed at least, if nothing else, at least we‘re one year closer to herd immunity.
We are making another major shift in the business. Moving forward, our role in the business lives of our future clients is going to evolve into what I have been envisioning for over a year now. More of an advisor and coaching role, as well as all the usual filings and books things.
We are so excited to be ramping up this newest level of service – we’re going to shape the business lives of so many talented and hard-working entrepreneurs.
Also, this will be the year that I once and for all take full responsibility for the food I eat, without exception.
We older fellas need to watch that a little more closely if we want to keep enjoying life, and I most definitely do!
I will always be able to say that 1/1/22 is the point at which my firm commitment began.
Hell, I already know how, it just got easy to eat the way I wanted with all that was going on around here.
But I’m no good to Barb, my kids, my granddaughter and my family if I am not accountable to myself to be the best possible physical version of myself.
This is not a resolve; it is a lifetime commitment. A lifetime that I am certain is far from over.
I’ve already been working up a bold plan. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, time to just come out and say it.
Every five years a runner ages the qualification time for the Boston Marathon increases. The year I will be 65 on Patriot’s Day in April, the day of the race, is 2024. For age 65 the qualifying time increases from 3:50 to 4:05.
I will enter that race that year. I’m making a bet with myself. Here’s the bet:
There are two ways to enter the Boston Marathon. Register with a qualifying time, or pay $5,000 for a charity entry.
My bet is that if I fail to qualify physically based on time by the fall of 2023 I will give the charity of my choice, St. Jude’s Childrens Hospital, the $5,000 entry fee.
OK, the die is cast. I said it, and I by God mean it.
Hell, I have almost two years to condition for it! There are two different races I can run in 2023 to qualify, one in Missoula, Montana in June and another in September right here in Colorado Springs.
2022 is for holistic mind/body conditioning, and returning to the level of fitness I had in 2017.
2023 is training for the full marathon. I’ll be running on a training schedule by February, I expect.
I loved that I made that time for myself when I was doing it, and my business goal is to enjoy a level of success that allows time for training as well as family, music, and enjoying life.
Make no mistake: if you are making a bunch of money because you figured out your business, but you have little time for your marriage or family, you’re just short of true success.
Pro tip: true business growth occurs when you spend more time working on your business than in it.
Warren Buffett gets the same 168 hours a week I do, and you do too.
May you all find your success, balance and happiness in this fantastic New Year.
It will be fantastic. I insist on it.
Let’s commit to lead our best lives, together, shall we?
Right now.
See you on the running trails!