Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the sale of our business.
Reflecting back on the past year, there are three things I’m happy I did and two practices I recently implemented as we begin 2024.
Dabbling. This year I followed my curiosity and spent time on areas that I was drawn toward, things like investing in domain names and writing this newsletter.
Health. It’s common for people who sell their business to start focusing on their health – it’s the project that’s right in front of us and was often neglected when we were busy. Tracking calories and macros was a game-changer that helped me drop a third of my body-fat while adding muscle.
Helping. I enjoyed helping some friends with their businesses, using my experience in branding, domain name acquisition, and finance. I also found myself answering people’s business and e-commerce questions on Reddit just for fun.
Outside of my diet and exercise routine, there hasn’t been a lot of structure in my life over the past year.
That was intentional, but as my focus narrows for 2024, I’ve implemented two practices to help provide momentum for my goals.
One Thing. We’ve all got our to-do lists, but each day I ask myself, “What is the one thing that really matters today?” and that goes at the top. If my one thing gets done and nothing else, it was a good day. If everything gets done except for my one thing, it wasn’t a good day.
YNAB stands for You Need a Budget. It’s a program to create a family budget and track progress toward your goals. The concept is that every dollar has a job and if you overspend in one area, you have to choose where that money is coming from (vacation fund, restaurant budget, etc).
Sarah and I used YNAB a decade ago to get out of debt when we were sick of paying interest on credit cards. We just started using it again to help us stay on track with our goals of buying a business and remodeling our home.
Running an e-commerce business for 19 years was a roller coaster filled with incredible, fast-paced highs and challenging, frightening lows.
Stepping off that ride, I’ve spent this year finding balance and feel like I’ve regained my equilibrium.
Now I’m looking for the next ride to get on.
