2019 in Review

If you don’t plan and schedule your goals, they won’t happen. But if you do, they happen. This is a big lesson for 2019 for me. The things I planned and made time on my calendar for, actually happened. The intentions I set but never planned, didn’t happen. It was a great year!

Highs and Accomplishments of 2019:

• The thing I’m most proud of is probably that I started in January and learned to play the cello from scratch. I definitely have a little music background (played the clarinet from 7th to 9th grade and sang in A Capella groups off and on over the last 18 years), but the cello is a complex instrument so I had to refresh my knowledge of music altogether, learn all kinds of new skills with my hands and body and it was totally worth it. I loved it. There were a lot of days where I thought that I was horrible and that it wasn’t worth it. But that’s normal when learning something new. Now I can play a lot of music that I love and I am getting better every time I pick up the instrument.
• Grandma Martha’s 100th birthday
• I significantly decreased my anxiety levels
• Nearly weekly Podcast published where I interviewed amazing people 23 interviews published
• Took a leap from Nu Skin steady job into steady but more aligned job with Pando
• Bought a house for the first time
• Finding a great renter for our basement apt
• I got an electric longboard and scooter working with a cool e-board startup
• Getting my Certificate in Applied Positive Psychology
• I had more moments where I was connected to my inner wisdom
• I read more books than I ever have in one year (see list)
• Engaging in therapy and a coaching to move closer to my best self

Specific Goals set and reached

• Learn to play cello
• Buy a house
• improve my relationship with food
• Finish the CAPP program

Best memories and most memorable moments

• Looking for houses with Stacie and dreaming of a new life
• 1000 Words with Ashley, Stuart and Mike.
• Presenting to the North Star and being surprised at a standing room only
• CAPP Graduation
• Being a part of TEDxBYU and coaching amazing TEDx speakers like Amy Blankson and Brian Kershisnik
• Skiing with my shirt off
• Signing to buy my first house
• Deciding on Vineyard (at Vineyard Beach)
• Walking into Disneyland - full circle
• Going up the elevator in Riyadh Saudi Arabia
• The Saudi Arabia trip
• TEDx Salt Lake City was amazing
• Harry Potter party!!!!
• Going to Arizona and hiking and exploring
• Christmas dinner with the Sharon Gurr bunch at Lucas and Jessica’s new house
• Singing at Grandma’s funeral.
• Doing the 360 video of grandma’s house
• Scooter and longboard rides to the lake with Em, Alex and Cassidy, Nicole and Graham, Michaela, Jeff Harry, Julie and Bryson
• Free hugs on kindagious quest
• Flying kites and blowing bubbles with Stacie at Rock Canyon park and running like a 10 year old to get it to fly

Above all the accomplishments, the most prized are the moments I shared with friends, coworkers and family. Here is a list of people I felt the closest to and when (I know I’m forgetting a lot here):

• Stacie during CAPP relationships weekend, at Disneyland, hanging out with grandma, on all our dates, spending time with her family, Christmas with Gma and Gpa K, music together, all the little moments each day that add up.
• The Unicks during our hike and drive through AF canyon and all our spontaneous game nights.
• Adam Rallison making Harry Potter signs, celebrating our friendiversary, watching movies and just chatting.
• Josh Searle at the friends day for CAPP and at the airport in LA talking about marriage.
• Jana Spangler talking about my faith.
• Justin Allen when we went to Pando together and shared our stories with each other.
• CAPP friends (Jenna, Jeff, Jenn Jines, Juan Carlos, Louis, Roxanne, Lani)
• Stuart when taking about life at his apartment.
• Briana Johnson in my interview and at breakfast.
• Lunch with Amy and Bobo Blankson and Andrew Webb at Taste.
• Bryan skiing and having dinners.
• Roxanne and Evan at Disneyland.
• Interviewing Scott Porter, Richard Eyre, Baya Voce, Doug Cartwright, Em Capito, Nir Eyal, Rose Stanek, Louis Alloro, Bob Dalton, Craig Case, Don Rheem, Lori Lee, Allie Gardner, Jeff Harry, Sam Inch, Seth Adam Smith, Kylie Chen, Briana Johnson, William Pullen.
• Seth Adam Smith in his garage after midnight.
• Playing cello with Grant on guitar.
• Playing cello with my Mom on guitar.
• Playing cello for Grandma on her 100th birthday
• Crying with Tina and Truman when they were moving out
• Hanging out with Bethany and Kylee at Vineyard fair
• Picnic with Alex and Cassidy in Sundance.
• Grandma dinners and playing cello.
• Practice with cello buddies in the orchestra.
• 4th is July with Lucas and Jessica in the new house
• Hanging out with Julie and Bryson during their visit (kayaking and escape room).
• Alicia and Chris dinner and games, tacos and movie night
• Ryan Vasso visit to Nu skin
• Company Christmas party at kiln and Star Wars
• Chats and men's groups with Alan Downing
• Goodbye lunch with Nu Skin social team (Thanks Kathy!)

Here is the list of books I “read” in 2019:
I tried a different way to read Books in 2019. I used an app that summarizes books for you so I could read more and decide which ones to read in full. I realized at the end of 2018 that I purchased a lot of books and only read the chapters I’m most interested in. So I wanted to try this. I really liked it. I got through a lot more content and it was fulfilling to be familiar with so many great titles that I can now choose from to read in full.

• Indistractable
• Made to stick
• The dragonfly effect
• How to win friends and influence people
• The 5 am club
• Just listen
• Digital minimalism
• Designing your life
• Happy money
• The war of art
• Tools of Titans
• The art of happiness
• The blue zones
• How will you measure your life
• Contagious
• Resisting happiness
• The E-Myth Revisited
• The subtle art of not giving a F
• The science of getting rich
• Eat that frog
• The upside of your dark side
• Outer order, inner calm
• Solve for happy
• The One thing
• Flourish
• The wandering mind
• The power of meaning
• Happiness of Pursuit
• Man’s search for meaning
• The power of moments
• Atomic habits
• The 12 week year
• The life changing magic of tidying up
• Building a story brand
• Thinking fast and slow
• Cosmos
• 7 Habits
• Influencer
• Buddha’s brain
• Happiness by design
• As a man thinketh
• Lost connections
• Social intelligence
• The speed of trust
• The success principles
• Peak
• Start with why
• Give and take
• Abundance
• Beyond culture
• Progress
• Outliers
• Blink
• Antifragile
• Two awesome hours
• Should we eat meat?
• Ungifted: intelligence redefined
• When
• I will teach you to be rich
• Finding your element
• Brief answers to big questions
• The element
• Tribe
• The sleep revolution
• The happiness track
• Algorithms to live by
• The happiness project (Gretchen Rubin)
• Maybe you should talk to someone (Lori Gottlieb)
• Radical Candor (Kim Scott)
• The Power of Starting Something Stupid (Richie Norton)
• Elderhood (Louise Aronson)
• Seven Principles of Making Marriage Work (Gottman)
• 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t do (Amy Morin)
• The Robots are Coming! (Andres Oppenheimer)
• Leadership and Self Deception (Arbinger Institute)
• The Power of Now. (Eckhart Tolle)
• 30 Ways to Reboot your body (Ben Greenfield)
• The Hidden Life of Trees (Peter Wohlleben)
• The Magic of Thinking Big (David Schwartz)
• Never Eat Alone (Keith Ferrazzi)
• Find Your WHY (Simon Sinek)
• Spark

Biggest Lessons Learned or Reminders

• Goals you schedule (and value) happen.
• Setting intentions is powerful (I set an intention to create a bridge into positive psychology as a career and the door opened in a matter of days)
• Reading and applying great books can lead to a better life (more confidence, better health, improved relationships), but reading books alone is not life changing.
• Navigating transitions well is one of the most important things one can learn to do well in life because transition is constant.