Here's a quick summary of what went down in my life in 2019. These events are roughly in chronological order.
I briefly worked for a consulting start-up.
I hated it. I got fired. I would have fired me too. I wish them well.
I broke up with my now ex-girlfriend.
We were together for about 2 years. It was for the better of the both of us.
I got a lot more English tutoring clients.
Within a few months after being fired from the aforementioned consulting start-up, I filled my schedule with English clients. The vast majority of my income now comes from tutoring.
I started living in my car.
I wanted to start saving more money and I was planning on moving back to the USA, so I started living in my car. It's not as bad as it sounds. I shower at the gym and shopping malls have free WiFi and work areas. I've been documenting everything. I'll put out a video about #carlife in the near future.
I was 90% ready to move to Los Angeles and start working to become a real estate agent.
I bought the required courses and completed 2/3 of them online. I was waiting for my dad to pay me back some money I lent him, and I planned to use it to buy a flight to LA before the year was through.
I met a girl. All plans to move were thrown out the window.
Enter: Wera. Wera is my heart and soul. Wera just started college here in Poland. I'm not going anywhere without her.
Reflection on 2019 and Outlook for 2020
I'm not into year's resolutions. I believe you should be constantly making, changing, testing, adjusting and most importantly: EXECUTING plans for the short, medium and long term — not only once a year and not at any special time.
That said, now's a good time to share my current plans and state of mind.
Personal Audit
Looking back on how I spent every minute of every day in 2019 (as best as I can), I want to briefly think about what I did well and what I need to improve on moving forward. I'm going to answer the following questions (which were shamelessly stolen from Ryan Serhant's newsletter — Ryan is a top-ranking real estate broker in NYC).
Time Audit: What shouldn’t you be spending time on?
- In 2019 I definitely spent too much time aimlessly watching YouTube and scrolling through Facebook and Instagram. I feel that YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. are great tools that will help me build a personal brand (and probably other brands) in the near future, but I used them too much in non-productive ways, especially YouTube.
- I way over-thunk what little content I did put out across all social media platforms. I have literally — more than once — spent half an hour drafting an Instagram post... only not to post it at all. I also have a crap-ton of content planned, but I have yet to actually create most of it.
- I also over-thunk a lot of my correspondence with clients. That sometimes made me respond or follow up much later than I would have liked to or in rare instances: not at all. I hate responding late or outright not responding to people.
What did you do wrong in 2019 that you need to change for 2020?
- I didn't put out enough content. Tying to how I said I over-thunk what little content I did put out and my post about how perfection is poison, I just need to shut up and post more.
- And again tying to what I spent too much time on: I responded too late to too many of my clients and potential clients. I need to make quicker decisions, be much more efficient about writing responses, and at the same time put just as much heart into all of them.
What went well in 2019 that you want to go even better in 2020?
- I spent more time than ever actively doing things that I like. I LOVED buying and selling used cameras and equipment. I also LOVED acquiring new English students. Fulfilling orders, following through on commitments, and the continued teaching of students is also a blast, but acquiring new clients, negotiating, closing, and hunting for good deals are by far superior. I want to do even more of these things in the coming months, perhaps even years and decades.
- I am absolutely NAILING it with my calendar. Sometime around June I started adding everything that I have to do and all my appointments into my Google Calendar, and I started taking that calendar very seriously. I don't remember inadvertently missing a single appointment since then, I'm rarely late, and I LOVE having my days planned out down to the minute. I'm also very efficient about organizing my calendar, I don't over-think anything or waste any time in doing so. I seriously could not be happier about how I'm absolutely, totally KILLING IT with my calendar! 💪 And I'm still going to get way better and more efficient with it (or whatever better calendar tool may exist in the future) every day.
- In the beginning of September I started going to the gym every. single. day. Okay, not every single day. About 5 days a week, but regardless: I am SUPER happy about that. I feel strong, I have more energy — I feeling f---king great! 💪 I really want to keep this up, get to squatting way more than 80 kg, deadlifting more than 90 kg, benching more than 55 kg, and rowing 500 meteres much faster than 1:56.2 (my current records).
- I spent a lot of quality time with Wera. Nothing beats lying down with Wera and watching Netflix, spontaneously going on a jungle adventure (at the local greenhouse), or taking a random weekend trip to Brussels "just because". Doing this stuff is very important to me, and I want to keep this a strong point and a top priority as both mine and her professional lives advance.
What’s the first thing you’re doing in 2020 to move yourself forward?
Taking a serious look at how much time I spend traveling to/from and tutoring students. I'm going to decide whether and/or how much I need to adjust my rates/hours so that I can make enough money to live and dedicate more time to side hustles that I would like to slowly transition to.
So that's that! Thanks for reading about my life, folks! Have a terrific-ass day, you look fantastic! 😉👍 Feeling frisky? Drop a reflection from 2019 or plan for 2020 that you're totally PUMPED about in the comments below!
