2024 Year In Review

Through sickness and health

Welcome to my fourth annual review. You can check out my past reviews here: 2021 Year in Review, 2022 Year in Review, 2023 Year in Review.

The purpose of these reviews is twofold:

1. Reflect on the past year

2. Share what what I’m targeting in the year ahead

This review is broken into five sections:

1. Milestones: Greatest moments and accomplishments of 2024

2. Experiences: Experiences I look back on most fondly in 2024

3. Lessons: Biggest lessons I learned in 2024

4. Quote of the year: Favorite quote of 2024

5. What’s ahead: Experiences I hope to live out in 2025

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Milestones

💍 Married my best friend

🏡 Bought our first house together (and moved to a new state)

💰 Became a landlord

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Experiences

In 2024, instead of focusing on the goals I wanted to achieve — as I had in 2022 and 2023 — I focused on the experiences I wanted to have.

The result? The most fulfilling and epic year of my life.

Here are some of my most memorable experiences from last year.

1. 💰 Money & Career: Buying and furnishing a new house with Rachael, becoming an angel investor, selling all of our things via Facebook Marketplace and a garage sale, becoming a landlord, and buying a truck.

   

   

   

2. 💪 Health & Fitness: Completing 75 Hard, running the Gasparillo Half Marathon, competing in 2024 CrossFit Open with my dad, running the Asbury Park Half Marathon, completing Murph (RX) with my Dad, completing my first Ironman 70.3, playing in Belmar Beach Volleyball league, rehabbing a torn rotator cuff without surgery, and finding a local farm to buy meat and vegetables from.

   

   

   

3. 🧠 Education: Passing the CISSP exam, building an information capture system, learning how to plan an epic wedding (this was mostly Rachael), learning to delegate things (hiring a cleaning lady + grocery delivery), learning how to manage a house renovation (painting interior, replacing exterior doors, installing deck), and learning about how coffee is grown and processed.

   

   

4. 🤝 Relationships: Getting married

   

   

   

5. 🌎 Travel: Wine tasting in Napa, CA, coffee date in Half Moon Bay, CA, redwoods in Felton, CA, paintballing and golfing in Lake Harmony, PA, flying in a private jet from San Jose → Quepos, ATVing and ziplining in Manuel Antonio, cliff jumping at Nauyaca Waterfall, yoga under the Arenal Volcano, catching a 10 foot sailfish in Guanacaste, road tripping (and moving) from NJ → FL, and fishing in Key West, FL.

   

   

   

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Lessons

1. Happiness is a lack of desire. If you want to be happy, desire less. Be grateful for what you have and take one thing at a time.

2. Time moves more slowly when you’re locked in. 75 Hard seemed like an eternity. Studying for the CISSP felt like a lifetime. Marathon and Ironman training seemed like it would never end. Wedding planning was like running on a treadmill that would never stop. 2024 felt like the longest year in a while because of all of the projects and different things I was working on.

3. You can do anything you put your mind to, but you can’t do everything. I’m a firm believer you can do anything you put your mind to, but this year I realized you can’t do it all. You can’t train for an Ironman, while working full time, while maintaining a side hustle, while prioritizing time for friends and family — something always has to give.

4. Your wedding will go by as fast as everyone tells you it will. Leading up to our wedding, everyone was telling Rachael and I how quickly the day would go. We listened to them, but didn’t realize how fast the day would actually fly by. It goes SO fast. If you’re getting married in 2025, savor every second of that day.

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Quote of the year

Once you decide to do something hard, you aren't in charge anymore. The people in charge are your former self and your future self.

When it gets really hard and life's awful, just remember, your former self decided to do this. Your future self wants you to finish. Let those two be the guides.

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What’s up in 2025?

1. 😄 Join church ministry

2. 💰 Hire an virtual assistant

3. 📚 AWS Solutions Architect

4. 🏃🏻‍♂️ Complete a 3 day water fast

5. 🏃🏻‍♂️ Shoot 85 in in golf consistently

6. 🏃🏻‍♂️ Compete in 2025 Crossfit Open

7. 📚 Learn how to make sourdough bread

8. 💰 Write a book about founder-led content

   1. 🏃🏻‍♂️ 180 lbs 10% body fat

9. 💰 Scale Arena Studios to $25K / month revenue

   1. 💰 Earn $10K / month as a health coach

10. 📚 Complete Category Newsletter Creator course

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Until next year,

Austin