2020 Lernings for Make Benefit Glorious Year of 2021

My family and I are straight-up blessed with how we've fared this year, and I'm incredibly thankful for the myriad of people and things - but whichever way you cut it, 2020 was a dense and challenging year and not one I’d rush to repeat.

That said, crisis and externality are powerful teachers and I genuinely believe that 2020 was trying to teach us all a few things at the same time, for both our individual and collective good.

2020's positives and lessons are a powerful platform for 2021.

Maybe that's my own attempt to project purpose into an unusually difficult and draining year, but at the very least, here are a few things I'm going to work to take away from 2020:

• Sincere gratitude is the force multiplier.
• You can only hold so many things tightly. Choose them wisely, and hold the rest loosely.
• Family are worth a thousand friends, and a good friend is worth a thousand acquaintances.
• Adrenaline is a powerful partner and a terrible diet.
• Guard your sleep, guard your health, keep moving, and get your ass outside.
• Allow people to challenge your convictions, principles, and beliefs. If they survive the challenge, be ruthless about your right to hold them.
• It's hard to go wrong paying it forward and helping others kick ass.
• The only certainty is in your ability to make your next decision. Outside of this control, for the better part, is an illusion.
• There is more purpose, learning, and joy in mastering the mundane than you think.

I'll add to these as I think of them and dig them out of my journals through the year - The main themes are relationship, priorities, and control.

Here's to making the most of 2021!