Warning - I don't have 21 lessons I learned from 2021 for you!
Let me start by saying how psyched I am for New Years Eve. To me as I get older, its the most underrated night and holiday of the year. As my own family has grown, its a night to stay in, cook a great meal, have a few celebratory drinks, watch college football and catch up on the past years pop-culture. It’s more guilty pleasure than anything else and I absolutely love it. See you soon Seacrest!
On a more serious note, as I reflect back on 2021 and all that has happened, I’m truly grateful and thankful to all the friends, family and colleagues who have helped get me to where I am today. For me, 2021 will always be remembered as a year of massive transition - we uprooted our family from NY to Boston, changed career trajectories, and took chances I never thought were possible. All of this has built tremendous momentum heading into 2022.
The past week or so has been filled with everyone's “21 Lessons I learned this year” or the “Top 10 learning moments from 2021.” We can all learn a lot from others, so I don't want to dismiss the benefits of sharing your own life lessons. (Although if we're being honest, I don't need a mental model or framework for every decision in my life) It’s great to learn from other peoples experiences or from their mistakes, but at a certain point we also need to start living and learning from our own experiences.
Steve Jobs famously said:
"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something - your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life."
Now maybe its a bad time to quote Steve Jobs as I talk about limiting trying to learn from everyone else. But this isn't so much a lesson and more of a mindset moving forward. When I think aboutthis quote, I'm reminded of the fact that you just need to go out and "DO" as opposed to spending all your time strategizing or learning from others. James Clear talks about the difference in Atomic Habits as "the difference between being in motion and taking action."
While its a small difference, being in motion is all about learning, planning and strategizing. Again I don't want to dismiss this (after all my job title is literally Financial Planner), but sometimes I think we get caught up in the nuances of planning and strategizing and less time focusing on doing and taking action.
Whether we're worried about not putting our best work out there so we continue to agonize over every last detail, or we spend time trying 50 different self-help tricks, getting caught up in the motion prevents us from doing what really matters - and that's taking action. Action is what matters. Action is what gets results.
So my key word for 2022 is Action. I’ve written about Atomic Habits in the past , and as we close out 2021, this new year is all about action for me. I’ve skipped everyone else’s lessons (sorry!) and my focus is on building what’s next. Taking action and doing, rather than spinning the wheels planning and strategizing, is my total focus for 2022.
So what action am I looking to take? Well most importantly, I’m starting an amazing new RIA business that I’ll be announcing soon. I can’t tell you how excited I am to come to market with what we’re doing. Stay tuned.
I’m taking action to be more present with the time I spend with my family (especially with the limited time available when starting a new business). I’m also taking more action to focus on friends and relationships, even more so as we near two-years living in a Covid world.
Stay tuned for more info on the new RIA - I can’t wait to share what we’re starting. Best wishes to you and yours and have a great kickoff to 2022!!
Written by: Ryan Bouchey