Here are the previous annual review posts: 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020.
2021, as the second calendar year of COVID was tough. There were many lessons and learnings.
This year we continued tuning into church online, but were very sporadic with it.
I created a challenge for my brothers and their families called The Proposition. To get healthy.
Every two weeks, we reported our measurements (bodyweight, BF %), and had a call to keep each other accountable. It was a great way for me to keep things top of mind.
To start the year off, I had over 100 days straight of some form of exercise, but after our trip in May where I got sick, I fell off the wagon bad.
My weekly schedule was like this:
Monday: Upper Lift
Tuesday: Lower Lift & Cardio
Wednesday: Yoga
THURSDAY: UPPER LIFT
Friday: Lower Lift
Saturday: Cardio
Sunday: Restoration Yoga
This year was really rewarding as we connected with our family over video every two weeks.
Additionally, it was a blessing to watch Violet and Olive grow up so much in one year.
Violet went to school for the first time, and Olive started talking, running, and started to really show her own personality.
We were able to take a family vacation in May to Florida with my brother, his family, and my Mother-in-law and my Dad. We rented a place in a resort and that was a great time.
At Headway, things continued to grow and evolve. We started investing more in folks joining the sales and admin teams to help create better and more predictable processes and results.
With our passion being startups, we really leaned hard into early-stage, but struggled to find our stride in sales as it’s hard to find someone with an idea and money who isn’t already on the internet somewhere.
We’ve since started focusing on more well-funded startups in Series A and beyond because we are really passionate about the, the craft of product teams and how they work together, and using our skillset to make a big impact with real users.
With Kris and the folks contributing to Kinetic (joinkinetic.com), it was a great year of growth and repositioning.
What started off as purely B2C was pivoted into a B2B platform for communities to actually make progress together.
We started writing small angel checks into startups and founders we believe are going to make big dents in their respective industries.
It’s a brand new space that can be intimidating but our thesis right now is to back convicted founders that can figure it out.
Our bet is always going to be on people.
My wife, Lauren, and I have had a growing dream for the last handful of years about owning a cabin retreat to share with our friends, family, and others.
We finally found the cabin of our dreams that could accommodate our big extended families, in an amazing location, with almost 5 acres.
We’ve been making renovations and updates over the last few months as we look to open it up our friends and family, and ultimately list it as a short-term rental for others to enjoy.
We named the retreat Good Heart Haven after our last name’s sake: bon coeur means Good Heart in French, and we want it to be a haven, place of peace and retreat for everyone who stays.
If you want to get updates when it’s available, or learn more, you can find it at GoodHeartHaven.com.
In 2021, I continued reading, listening, and consuming the best thinking I could find.
As we’ve grown Headway, I’m finding my books continue to transition from design to much more business/leadership/culture.
My word of the year, Intent.
There can be so many things going on in life, where things are moving fast and you let things blur out and fade into the background.
This year already, I’ve started to be more intentional about decision-making, my time, and being ruthless about being organized: with tasks, time, and at home.
Control the things you can control. Let God handle the rest.
