2024 in Review: Happening to Life

One day my son woke up from a nap and told his preschool teacher he was very sweaty. He wasn’t sweaty. He just peed on himself - a lot.

2024 went unplanned but no sweat. We still happened to life.

Let’s dive in.

Adventure

Las Vegas, NV

The Chiefs won Super Bowl LVlll and we were in Las Vegas to experience it with fans and celebs without kids.

It was the parental debrief we needed. Besides sleeping in, we enjoyed adulting in the sin city.

NFL Experience had a bunch of cool history, former and active NFL players hanging out, and bushels of NFL fans competing in some columbine-style activities. We got an exclusive tickets to a Shaq aka DJ Diesel and were surrounded by celebs, including Keagan-Michael Key and his wife. I tried taking the photo but Keagan-Michael said, “Let me do it, my arm is much longer.”

Boston, MA

I normally don’t document work trips but the office I worked out of had a nice view of MIT. Also, the food, the views, and conversations were pretty awesome. Good job.

Kansas City, KS

We celebrated Tamara’s grandmother who was 90-something before going home. The sad part is she lived a few years after her husband past, and life on earth just wasn’t the same for her. Although she was physically incapable to get around, her mind was sharp. Something that I wish for when age gets the best of me. RIP grandma.

Since we drove to KC from Denver, we got to eat pancakes with my old man, visit with my great uncle in rural Kansas, and check out an art museum. Oh, and eat an insane amount of carbs and BBQ.

Los Cabos, Mexico

Every year we randomly go somewhere unexpectedly. Los Cabos was supposed to be that trip, but we had a once in a year chance to see Portugal. Note that we behaved like it was a once in a lifetime thing lol.

Los Cabos was good to us. There was no shortage of vitamin D and everyone was all smiles. The pool at our hotel was where we started the 7 day stay. Food was served and ate in the pool and so were drinks. Just chill vibes all around.

Todos Santos, Mexico

Todos Santos is about a hour away from Los Cabos and we didn’t want to miss this gem of a small town. I’m glad we visited.

Todos Santos is a vibe. It’s like a small town compressed with crafty eats, boutique shops, and amazing coffee and ice cream spots. It’s like the Boulder, Colorado of Mexico.

Lisbon, Portugal

A week after our time in Mexico, my daughter, sister, mom, and I visited Portugal. Shout out to fam letting us stay at their Portugal pad.

Lisbon history is so rich. Being the first country to scale slavery, they were also the first to end slavery. With that came a culture diverse in skin tones as well as food. The country is well ran and there’s a reason why it’s becoming a top place for US expats.

The health insurance costs are reasonable. The weather is amazing. There’s an island not far from Lisbon that has equivalent vibes as Maui. Cost of living is way cheaper than in America. You get all the benefits of a European lifestyle without the expensive costs.

Madrid, Spain

Every Euro trip deserves a detour and Madrid, Spain was that for us. What made this detour shitty is the temperature. Note to self. Never go to Madrid early August. You will burn. Unless you join locals at night, when the city comes to life during the hotter months.

Boulder, CO

Boulder might as well be my second home, but two things happened that made it feel like an vacation.

My frat brothers came out and I took them on a hike before going to the CU Boulder vs K-State football game (Go Wildcats!). Most had never went on a hike. I took them on one of my favorites, Mt Sonitas.

Fort Worth, TX

My best friend lives in Fort Worth with his wife. The last time I came out was during their wedding 3 years ago. So, it was time.

Texas is interesting. There’s like clusters of amazing food spots and just a bunch of buildings spread across as if land is free.

Glenwood Springs, CO

We ended the year with a trip on the road to Glenwood Springs. We’ve been to Glenwood several times. This time we did it for the first time as a family of five. Good trip to end 2024.

Wealth

Wealth to me is learning, making things, and sometimes getting paid for the things I make. Here are highlights and lowlights on that front.

Highlights

A big highlight is going zero to one on a new product aimed at helping companies schedule support teams with insights. It’s been fun digging into workforce management industry, identifying opportunities to stay competitive, and finding opportunities to help companies in the mid-market.

My consulting gig is pure product executive work, but I still enjoy coding. So, I spent 2024 exploring ideas I could develop and make money from. I started going deep on helping instructional designers produce their best work. The project is LearnGlue.com and it’s been fun to take feedback, code, and eventually turn it into money.

Lowlights

Bootstrapping a software product on the side as an exec, hubby, and dad is tough. It’s tough because the progress made on the coding, marketing, and all the things is much slower than I’d like it to be. And not sleeping to complete a feature or piece of work has proved diminishing, especially after back to back nights with no rest.

This made me realize how important it is to forgive myself for moving slower than when I had no kids and all the time in the world.

That said, decreasing time between idea and execution changes everything. Being creative on finding ways to get things done was the ultimate fix, and that meant not trying to do all the things on my own. So, increasing my delegation rate and just simply spending money (but not too much) is a tactic I’m iterating on in 2025.

And simply reminding myself that money loves speed. Poverty loves indecision.

Wellbeing

Highlights

I’m happy where I ended 2024. 18% body fat was the goal in 2024. I got super close, but I brought +3% body fat (21% body fat) with me in 2025. This is is good considering I started 2024 at 29% body fat I started with in 2024. The highlight is that what needs done is clear. Increase my intensity in strength, cardio, and calorie consumptions systems.

Low lights

The older I get, the more I realize I have a party that is broken inside. 2025 is the beginning of halftime for me, age wise. Approaching a fresh decade of life has impacted me more than I’d like to admit. As I think about what the next decade brings I’d like to continue fueling positive emotions into myself and others. Reconciling my definition of content. And finding ways to invest in activities that keep my mental health in check.

What’s happening in 2025

In 2025, there’s three outcomes that work towards my mission to better myself.

• Look great naked
• Build something people want
• Do something unordinary

To accomplish these goals, I wrote some principles that will serve me well this year and for the next 10+ years.

3 Principles:

1. Do fewer things
2. Work at a natural pace
3. Obsess over quality

Doing fewer things means more gets done. Less things means I can use time wisely and work at a natural pace. If I do these two things, I can obsess over quality.

Inspired by Cal Newport’s recent book, these three principles will help me accomplish slow productivity, a term from Cal Newports book.

Alright. Here goes 2025. At my signal, unleash hell.

• 2024