2013 in Review

So far I’ve shared with you the best lessons I learned in 2013 along with the best of 2013. Today I want to share most of my results from my Year End Review. This is the first time I have ever shared my goals publicly. I plan on posting my 2014 goals tomorrow. In this review, you’ll find themes that God intertwined throughout my year, my goal assessment, highlights from my year, bucket list items that I accomplished, books that I read, things I need to work on, things I need to cut back on, and things I need to start and stop doing!

If you have not taken time to review and reflect on your 2013, I would really encourage you to set aside time right now to do so! It’s an extremely valuable exercise! Hopefully this post will give you some ideas on what you can review and reflect on as you prepare for 2014! Thanks for being a part of my journey! It’s my prayer that my posts encourage and equip you to become the person God’s called you to be!

Overall, 2013 was a fantastic year. It was definitely one of the best years of my life. It had some ups and downs, but overall, it was amazing! I grew in ways I never knew I needed to grow in. God opened up doors to have some great experiences and to meet some incredible people. Laura and I had the time of our lives together! We accomplished a lot together! We can’t wait to see what God does in 2014!

Themes Throughout the Year: Every year, God seems to put certain themes on my heart for the year. This years main theme was “deep growth”. I grew in areas I’ve never grown in before. I needed to confront some “deep issues” in my life. I had the courage to confront them and God gave me the grace to walk through them. The main areas of growth were:

• Growing up into adulthood – Making my own decisions and being able to interact with authority figures in my life as an adult.
• Growing in confidence of who I am and what I am called to do
• Building a solid foundation for our marriage
• Seeing myself as a leader at home, at work, and everywhere I go
• Recognizing God as my source and my promotion

Goal Assessment: I’ve never shared my goals publicly before! I plan on doing this in 2014. I believe for me that if I make my goals public, I’m more likely to be held accountable for them. If I’m more accountable, I’ll have a greater likelihood to accomplish them. Here is a review of most of my goals in 2013:

• Debt Free by December 31^st, 2013 – COMPLETE! This was a HUGE focus in 2013 with Laura and I! We did it! I wrote a post about how here.

• Develop a Consistent Prayer life (fail) – While I did develop a more consistent prayer life, it still is not where I’d like it to be. I have a plan to become more consistent in 2014!

• Tough Mudder, Body Beast, and the Pittsburgh Marathon – COMPLETE! These were 3 of my big physical goals for 2013. I completed Body Beast, which I loved. I set a personal record in the Pittsburgh Marathon. I completed the Tough Mudder with 16 other guys! It was awesome!

• 25 Speaking Engagements  – I had 21 speaking engagements this year outside of speaking for Light of Life. I wouldn’t consider that a failure. I am glad God opened up doors to speak and I pray that He continues to do so!

• 12 L2L Podcasts (Complete) – I did record and publish 12 Learning to Lead Interviews!

• 12 Personal podcasts (fail) – I recorded 3/12 personal leadership podcasts. I had more to record, but didn’t do a great job scheduling time to do it. If I’m honest, I let fear hold me back a little in this area. I wont let that happen in 2014!

• 3 Blog Posts/Week (fail) – I did blog consistently throughout the year, I just didn’t hit the 3 times a week goal. However, I don’t think that is a bad thing. God did a lot in me this year. I needed to take a step back from a lot of things to focus on Him. I did and I don’t regret it.

• Write and publish and e-book/book – FAIL – This one is my biggest failures this year. If you want me to be honest, this has been a goal of mine for the past 3-5 years! Seriously! I did make a lot of progress with this in 2013, I believe I have most of it written. Now it’s time for the discipline of editing! It’s a journey! One day at a time!

• Hawaii Vacation with Laura in 2014 – COMPLETE (NAPA) – It was a goal to schedule and book a vacation alone with Laura in 2014. We aren’t going to Hawaii. A friend of ours is getting married in Napa Valley and so we are going to take a 10-day trip to explore Northern California! We’re excited! 

• Raise $100,000 more MD’s – COMPLETE – This is one of my major goals at work. In fact, it’s my primary goal! God’s good!

• Run a half marathon with Laura – COMPLETE – Laura ran her first half marathon this year.

• Give more money away this year than we did last year (complete) – I heard John Maxwell say that when he first got married, he and his wife Margaret dreamed of giving away $1 million in their lifetime. They’ve done that and more since! That inspired me! I want to give away more than $1 million in my lifetime! We did better this year than we did last year! I’m believing God that we’ll be able to do that again in 2014!

Things I need to Work On:

• Interacting with everyone as an adult
• Saying no
• Saying what I think and seeing what I see
• Confronting when I don’t agree
• Thinking through my expectations of a situation up-front
• Thinking through my criticisms of something . . . have a Why!
• Interacting with authority figures in my life!

Things I need to Stop Doing or Cut Back on:

• Spending money on Starbucks everyday
• E-mail at work
• Interruptions at work
• Social Media
• Spending on desires/impulse buys
• Reading blogs
• Special occasion cheat meals!
• Double Dates/Coffee Dates
• Sugars and Breads

Things I need to Start Doing:

• Tracking calories everyday
• Take pictures weekly
• 1 cheat meal every week
• Write everyday
• Podcast 2 times a month
• Journal and stretch at night
• Read the Word and pray
• Make wise spending choices
• Connect with people everyday
• 10 calls and 5 notecards/day
• Network daily
• 365 Days of Adding Value – JOURNAL IT
• 365 Days of Loving My WIFE!
• More structured 1 on 1’s

 Highlights: 

• Becoming Debt Free
• Madison and Carter being born!
• Finishing Serving Leaders
• Finishing the Pittsburgh Marathon in 3:48:50
• Raised over $25,000 with the Marathon team, Personally raising over $2,500
• Lead the Tour with Tunch
• Laura moving into sales at work!
• Going to the For Men Only and Man-Up Event with my Dad
• Raising $83,000 through the Day of Giving
• Going through the Carnegie Bosch Institute’s Leadership as a Daily Challenge Program
• Vacation in Salt Lake, Jackson Hole, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Cody, Sheridan, Black Hills, Mt. Rushmore, and the Badlands
• Finishing the Tough Mudder
• Celebrating one year of marriage with Laura
• Speaking at Discovery’s youth retreat with Laura
• Galas: PKF, Light of Life, Young Life, ADA
• Getting to speak at chapel at Light of Life consistently
• Being able to collect a $10,000 check from Creflo Dollar Ministries to Light of Life
• God opening up doors for Laura to speak!
• Thanksgiving at Light of Life – Providing over 270 baskets to families in need!
• Recorded 12 Learning to Lead Podcasts
• Thanksgiving and Christmas with my family
• My 10 year High School reunion
• Being able to work on the Capital Campaign at work

Bucket List Items Complete: 

• Go an on annual vacation
• Had another year of marriage!
• Pay off college loans within 5 years
• Ran another marathon (5 out of 10 complete)
• Finish the Tough Mudder
• Become debt free
• Earn over $X a year
• Go to the U.S. Open
• Go to Quebec
• Go to Yellowstone National Park
• Go to Grand Teton National Park
• Go to Badlands National Park

Books Read:

1. Vertical Church
2. Changes that Heal
3. Integrity
4. The Coaching Leader
5. Start
6. Unbroken
7. How People Grow
8. Boundaries for Leaders
9. Draw the Circle
10. Awake the Giant Within
11. Codependent No More
12. The Catalyst Leader
13. The Reason for God
14. Generous Justice
15. Radical
16. Sifted
17. Necessary Endings
18. On Becoming a Leader
19. Managing the Nonprofit Organization
20. Spiritual Leadership
21. Mere Christianity
22. Vegabonding
23. David and Goliath
24. The 21 Qualities of a Leader
25. Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Learn
26. The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness
27. Safe People
28. The Four Hour Chef
29. God of the Underdogs
30. Counterfeit Gods

As I reflected on 2013, I couldn’t help but thank God for everything He has done. He’s been so good to us. Looking back, I’ll recognize 2013 as a huge year of growth. A year that God made me work on some things that were difficult to work on, but were necessary for me to continue to grow to my maximum potential. I am grateful for 2013.

Every year starts with a blank page! 2013 has been written. I am looking forward to writing 2014!

What about your 2013? What were some of your main themes for the year? Your highlights? How did you do with what you set out to do in 2013? What do you need to start doing in 2014? What do you need to stop doing? Comment below and let me know about your year!

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