Verum Insights...

I am Successful because I Live with a purpose I am disciplined in all areas of my Life this does not mean I don't ever suffer or setbacks

My Mantra

Never Complain Never Explain

Last year, one of my most significant accomplishments was to stop complaining. I have been working on this for some time, and it is much more difficult than you might imagine. When something triggers me, even if my mind presents me with a complaint, I say nothing. Before, I would have vocalized my sensation of dissatisfaction. You might not even recognize how much of what you think—and say—is just a complaint. I can report that the quality of your life immeasurably improves when you stop griping.

I began this project after doing a little math. Using eighty years as the span of life, you get just 29,200 days, with some of us getting a bit more days, while others receive fewer. If that number strikes you as many days, do the math necessary to figure out how many you have left. A long life isn't necessarily a better life, so quantity isn't the only factor one must consider. You must also look at the quality of your life, something we need to explore a bit here on each year's final Sunday Newsletter.

I trained myself not to complain because I believe it expresses an ingratitude for the day given to me. Small inconveniences don't outweigh the gift of a day, a week, a month, or a year, even one that includes a pandemic. Each one is precious, as someday, the last grain of sand will find its way to the bottom half of the hourglass.

The Past Year Will Change You

Time Magazine made Joe Biden and Kamala Harris the Person of the Year. My choice would have been the Coronavirus. I believe we have yet to process this event, but I am confident that, by the end, it is going to change us more than we can imagine, much like the Great Depression changed the people who lived through it.

My grandmother raised five children by herself on a secretary's salary. She poured the bacon grease into a jar to become salad dressing in the future. A ham's remains were thrown into a large pot until all the meat fell off the bone and could be used to make bean soup. Waste not, want not.

We might be halfway across the river right now, and so far, the journey hasn't been easy, and the current has taken us off our course. We now have to keep going, even though we are tired and uncomfortable. When we look back, we will experience greater clarity about what's essential in life and, if we are lucky, to show a greater appreciation for our real gifts.

I miss the road. I miss airplanes and hotels and getting together with a smart group of people to work on better results. But the largest part of this year at home with my family was unbelievably valuable, something that wouldn't have happened had there not been a pandemic, but something that will continue in the future.

There is no hot without cold, no good without evil, and no up without down. Your experience of life is how you frame the events.

What To Do with a Year

In less than a week, we will reach the starting line of the New Year, making this the perfect time to reflect on your past year and plan your next year. It's a good idea to draft a plan that covers years and decades, but a year is the perfect length of time to make significant progress and, if necessary, change your trajectory.

Here is the process that I use for my annual review.

The Balance Sheet: A balance sheet two lists, your assets (positive) and your liabilities (negatives).

Start with Assets:

• What did you accomplish in 2025?

• Which of your goals did you achieve or exceed?

• What were the positive events that created the meaningful memories you will carry forward?

• What did you do in 2024 that puts you in a better place going into 2021?

Take account of everything good in 20205 There were many more positives than negatives for most of us, and recalling and writing them down will help you recognize all the things for which you should be grateful. How will you reinvent yourself in 2025?

Look at Liabilities:

• What did you fail to accomplish in 2020?

• What changes did you intend to make that didn't get enough of your attention?

• What habits prevented you from the better results you were capable of creating?

• What causes you to waste time that might have been better used to work on your asset column?

You want to do this accounting of the past year before you work on your plan for the next year because it helps you write your 2021 Balance Sheet before the year even starts.What do you want your asset column to include at the end of the year? You have a whole year to work on building that asset column, provided you use your time to bring your goals and ambitions to life.

You may not know what your liabilities will be at the end of the next year, but you know what you don't want to show up there. Which of this year's liabilities are you going to eliminate to prevent you from stacking up wins in your asset columns?

The balance sheet presents both the positives and the negatives, not just what's good, and not just what's not good. Any year will have its share of both.