At the end of each year, I like to reflect on my own personal year in review. There was a lot of crazy stuff that happened this year around the world, but it’s always best to understand that you and I are just living in the context of that stuff. It’s up to us to decide how we choose to live within that context.
In recent years, I try to avoid most news programs all together – and to as much degree as I can, even the political situation. For the past 3+ years, I get my daily news each morning from a weekly (weekday) podcast called The World and Everything in It. They give me the highlights in about 30 minutes. If I really want to dive deeper into current events, I can go find news stories or perhaps firsthand sources. But other than that, I recommend staying away from most news coverage these days. It’s too toxic – and a waste of our time.
I also enjoy listening (weekly) to Mike Rowe’s podcast, The Way I Heard It, where I get to hear from an array of voices on all sorts of subjects. It’s how I’ve learned of many people I previously did not know about, including authors like Jack Carr and Michaeal Easter. Now I devour their books.
And then there is the daily The Catechism in a Year podcast with Father Mike Schmitz. I listened almost religiously (pun intended) every day this year. And now, at the end of this year, I can say I have completed listening to the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church (with Father Mike’s commentary) “on time.” It was great spiritual nourishment – the kind of nourishment I have come to believe we should be most interested in. News comes and goes. Ours souls last forever.
My goal at this time of my life is to put the right things in my head each morning and tune everything else out. Control what I can control and live each day with the intention to learn, explore, and get something new and fulfilling out of the experience of each day.
Travel certainly helps with that – and I’ve had the privilege to be able to do the type of work where I can travel frequently and work from almost anywhere throughout most times of the year.
Before I dive much deeper, I have listed here below some of the highlights of my 2023:
- Spent 100 nights in Latin America – 57 in Guatemala, 20 in Argentina, 16 in Colombia, and 7 in Uruguay.
- I also spent about 29 nights in various domestic locations outside of my home base of South Florida, including DC, Orlando, Cocoa Beach, New Smyrna Beach, St. Petersburg, St. Augustine, and Tallahassee; plus: Colorado, Iowa, and Pennsylvania. I’ll be spending the very last night of 2023 in the Florida Keys – in a city called Marathon, which I suppose is emblematic of this marathon of a year!
- Published a book, The American Dream is a Terrible Thing to Waste: 100 Agents of Innovation Share Their Fearless Journeys in Today’s Economy (Volume 1)
- Did book events in St. Petersburg, Orlando, Tallahassee, and Denver and spoke to students at the University of Miami, SailFuture Academy, at the 1517 Space Coast Summit in Cocoa Beach, and to a business group in West Palm Beach.
- Spoke at the Volcano Summit in Guatemala
- Became Executive Director of The Economic Club of Miami
- Continue to lead the Fearless Journeys community
- Led a 3-part group trip to Uruguay & Argentina in March & April
- Led a group trip to Medellin, Colombia (with an “unofficial” side trip to Bogota) in October
- Visited my 48th state – Iowa – and went to the Iowa State Fair, in August. During that time, I was also able to see the band For King & Country live in concert for the first time as well as visit the Iowa State Capitol building, definitely a top 3 capitol I have been to.
- Taught two economics courses at two South Florida prisons (four courses total) at the South Bay Correctional Facility and the Moore Haven Correctional Facility. About 100 inmates took my 12-session economics course this year.
- American Enterprise Institute published my article, “Rehabilitating Prisoners with an Economics Course,” in their book, The Morality of Markets: Arguments for the Free-Market System (my article starts on page 86)
- Finally knocked John Mayer off my concert bucket list
- Released 18 new episodes of the Agents of Innovation podcast (136 in total now!)
- Reached my highest altitude on land: scaling Mount Quandary at 14,271 feet – with my brother Tony in August
- Went to the Rock by the Sea weekend event in St. Augustine in November, seeing The Currys, Steve Everett, and some new-to-me music as well.
- South Florida concerts I attended included Candlebox, on their 30-year anniversary tour; and my friends Matt Stone (as Elvis), Matt Brown, JD Eicher, and Matthew Fowler.
- Completed 22 books in 2023. Check out my post about them here.
- Took 2 weeks of 1-on-1 Spanish instruction in Guatemala in December; after spending so much time in Latin America this year and the past few years, plus the daily instruction near the end of this year, I am speaking (and understanding) Spanish better than ever!
Looking ahead to 2024, here are some things on the agenda:
- Taking a one-week trip to Cuba (for the first time ever) on my birthday, January 13, with one of my favorite bands, my friends, The Currys. While I like to lead group trips, I signed up and paid to go on someone else’s group trip to start 2024.
- Along with the board members of The Economic Club of Miami, I am leading the charge for the organization’s first ever day-long event, The Miami Economic Forum, taking place on Friday, February 2. We have more than 25 speakers and panelists confirmed, including a former President of Bolivia.
- Going on the Jay & Silent Bob cruise with my friend Shoshanna in late February. There will be comedians, music, and time in the Bahamas
- Doing speaking events at the Mitch McConnell Center at the University of Louisville on February 27 and with the Georgia Public Policy in Atlanta on March 13. i9
- Leading a 3-part Fearless Journeys group trip to Argentina, where we will be visiting Buenos Aires (April 9-14), the Mendoza wine country (April 14-18), and Bariloche in the Patagonia country (April 18-22).
- Hoping to get to Rock by the Sea in Pensacola May 1-5, especially to see my friend Sam Thacker back on stage!
- Will be releasing Volume 2 of my book series on the American Dream & entrepreneurship
- Will be offering a Fearless Journeys group trip to Peru, likely in November (stay tuned!)
- Fearless Journeys will be offering weekly live online sessions with innovators from across the world – opportunities for our members to learn, grow, and build a world class network – maybe you want to join us? If so, get started here.
- The first two books on the list for the Fearless Journeys book club are: Bet on Yourself with MLS star Chris Mueller (January/February) and the forthcoming book, Riches in Progress (March/April) with Body Details co-founder & CEO Claudio Sorrentino. Both will be joining us for live online sessions to discuss their books!
- And I’m more than confident I will once again be spending more time in Guatemala in 2024, with plans to offer another group trip there and perhaps go deeper on my own exploration of the country. There is always so much more to see in Guatemala!
There is also always so much more to see in this world. It has been over 6 years since I’ve been to Europe. I have no concrete plans to be there, but I’d like to finally visit Belgium and the Netherlands, and possibly Norway and Switzerland. I would also enjoy getting back to Spain. By the summer of 2024, it will be 20 years since I last visited there!
Time flies. The lesson I take away is not to let it just go by. Be intentional with every day. Don’t be a sponge of what other people want to feed you. There’s a lot going on in the world and information is flying at us faster and faster. We need time to digest it and not have to react to it when the world wants us to react to it.
That’s why I like cigars. It gives me some time to slow the day down.
That’s why I like books. They take me to other places, help me learn from others experiences, and ultimately adds wisdom to help me grow.
That’s why I like exercise. It not only keeps me healthy both physically and mentally, but it re-energizes me. Most of my days begin with 15 minutes of stretching and a 30-40 minute walk each morning. Then I add at least either one or two more walks by day’s end or a workout at the gym. Bodies are meant to move.
That’s why I like travel. When we experience new things and new places, it seems to expand our perception of time. It also opens up our mind to new perspectives. And we bump into more people – and each person has a story. I love encountering more stories.
Time is what we each have so little of. So, we should do our very best to make the most of it and live a life of no regrets.
I like to take the time to reflect on how I spent my time in the past 365 days – what I’ve learned and the experiences I should be grateful for – not to mention the gratitude that I made it to the end of another year. I encourage you to do this too.
Of course, we can’t live in the past, we can only learn from it and appreciate it.
We always have to be looking forward and moving forward. And that’s another reason to pause at the end of each year – to reflect not just about the past, but also about what we can look forward to in the future ahead of us. And then put our dreams into action.
May you and yours find many blessings in 2024!