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.

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!