<aside> <img src="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/1fc960ce-e2e0-4562-990d-fce19e9ab7d4/56731cb6-ce03-49fe-985e-b85345322a5c/info-light.svg" alt="https://prod-files-secure.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/1fc960ce-e2e0-4562-990d-fce19e9ab7d4/56731cb6-ce03-49fe-985e-b85345322a5c/info-light.svg" width="40px" /> About Retrospectives

As part of my commitment to growth and belief in the importance of self-reflection, I added a new element to my year.

The purpose of the retrospective is pulled directly from Agile Methodology. As stated in the Principles from the Agile Manifesto:

At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

I’m adopting the retrospective to look back on what worked, what didn’t, and collect some thoughts on future actions.

While this post is primarily an exercise for me, I’m also committed to working in public and I hope that seeing the process will inspire you to reflect on who you were this year, and get you thinking about who you want to be next year.

Every year my first post will be My Three Words and my last post of the year will be the Retrospective.

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Here is my look back on 2023:

What went well

This year, I finally felt like I was back in a rhythm, professionally.

The company I co-founded with Sarah Ohanesian, Super Productive, had a stellar year. This is far and away the most capable and well run company I’ve ever been a part of. The secret sauce is no mystery to anyone: my business partner. Sarah and I are a force to be reckoned with whereas on my own, I am a lot of potential and a lot of missed opportunities. This third year working together has solidified, for me, that she and I should continue working together for most, if not all, of the rest of my career.

I also got back to professional speaking. In addition to my own Keynote, The Way of The Lovable Leader, I created a tag-team keynote with Sarah that people are clamoring for. It’s called Brains @ Work, and it’s about the invisible power of Neurodiversity at work. We show how important it is and how valuable it can be to create an environment for different types of brains to thrive.

From a content perspective, I feel proud of the following:

• I released the audiobook version of The Lovable Leader.
• I launched a new podcast called The Post Pod Show with my friend, and fellow podcaster, Lou Diamond. It’s a show giving a behind-the-scenes look at producing and hosting a podcast, from the perspective of two seasoned podcasters.
• I also tinkered around with an idea called The Friday Afternoon Nap Time Show, which was intended to be a Linkedin Live turned podcast that I created during my son’s nap time on Fridays. I created 9 episodes that I’m happy with.

Personally, I’m very proud of some of the steps I’ve taken with regard to my health.

• I’ve been working out 2-4 days per week for almost 5 months now.
• I’ve been practicing intermittent fasting along with eating better and avoiding many of my trigger foods that cause my weight to steadily climb.
• I started wearing invisible braces called Candid™ back in September and, in 12-months, I will once again have beautifully straight teeth. And yes, this time, I do plan to actually wear my retainers after that.

Lastly, I’m grateful that I’ve been able to continue taking Fridays off to spend with my son. The time spent with him is priceless and I will never look back in regret for taking that time to be with him instead of working an extra day each week.

What didn’t go well

The year was definitely filled with a lot of things I wish I could’ve done better. I’ll talk about many of these in my review of my three words for 2023. But I’ll start here…

I didn’t write as much as I would’ve liked. I didn’t record as many episodes of my podcast as I would’ve liked. I didn’t complete as many projects as I would’ve liked.