My 2022 Annual Review
How am I different from a year ago?
I'm a dad now. When people say life changes, holy smokes, it changes!
Being a parent brings so much motivation to life.
She brings me joy every time I get to see her and kiss her chubby cheeks. I love being a dad to her & it brings me a sense of pride.
It also has challenged me to remain focused on building my house. I want to build a life living in the mountains where she can enjoy having access to the outdoors.
I grew up in a small town and I don't want my daughter growing up in the city. I want her to have quick access to the great outdoors.
My main driver in life is to take Fridays off when she gets in school. No matter what I'm doing with business, I want to do outdoor activities with Berkleigh & my future kids on Fridays.
What were my top milestones and memories of the year?
Jan - Sold Green Spaces Denver
Feb - Read, exercised, and focused on diet
March - Rode White Rim 100 Mile Mountain Bike Ride
April - Read, exercised, & focused on diet
May - Started excavation for mountain house
June - Completed foundation & slab on grade work for mountain house
July - Sold The Perk Coffee Co.
August - Started Bear Claw Land Services
Sept - Daughter was born
Oct - Completed framing, siding, & roofing for mountain house
November - Started Colorado Hot Tub & completed rough plumbing on mountain house
December - Landed first 36 Colorado Hot Tub accounts & secured partnership w/ operating partner
What did I do this year that made me proud of myself?
Started building my mountain house
Dried in mountain house before winter set in (dried in = walls framed, roof on, decking & siding on)
What habits & behaviors do I want to start, stop and continue
Habits I Want To Continue
Accountability
I hired a personal coach. He's training to be a Green Beret & he's bad ass.
That has been one of the best investments I've made in myself.
I paid for a year upfront so I only had to make the decision once
He calls me out on my BS and keeps me on track with my goals while challenging me to prioritize my health & sanity while working like a mad man
Exercise
Lift weights 2x per week
Cardio 2x per week
Habits I want to put in check
Alcohol
I drank more frequently this year. Something about doing construction work makes me want to have a beer or two at the end of the day. Not get drunk. Just catch a buzz
I want to put this in check so I'm doing dry January & Feb for the 5th year in a row
What relationships will I be prioritizing?
My wife & daughter. Life is busy enough while building a house & another business
I'm going to work from home on Mondays & Fridays in Q1 to help my wife out & spend time with Berkleigh in the afternoons
What area’s in my life did I experience the most growth?
Business this year. I'm guilty of having hundreds of ideas, starting things, and then not following through.
Case & point. Starting Colorado Hot Tub in the off season of Bear Claw Land Services.
I know I grew in this area because I made the decision to take a passive role in this company instead of thinking I can build two local service startups.
Chase two rabbits & catch neither.
Let one go & chase one and at least you have a flying chance.
What new things did I experience this year?
My faith in a higher power was reignited on my 100 mile bike ride
I cramped up 40 miles in the ride in the middle of the desert. Legs completely locked up on a backcountry ride with no help.
Either had to stop and spend the night in the desert with no sleeping gear or figure out a way to get back to the truck
For the first time in the last decade, I started asking God for some supernatural help if he/she is a real thing
8 hrs later I was 89 miles in feeling great and my riding partner Adam was meeting me with the truck on the dirt road we started on.
(we made the decision that he would ride ahead to complete the ride and get the truck in case I was locked up and couldn't ride)
I didn't technically finish the full ride as it was 10pm and Adam had bonked and was in a bad mental head space. I chalked the day up to a win & promised myself I'd be back next year to complete the ride
What was the most difficult challenge I faced this year and how did I grow from it?
Right up there with the bike ride, having a newborn is a tough challenge when both parents are used to working every day
Not getting sleep for the 1st month was tough.
But I realized that the mind & body can do crazy things when put under situations
I also starting praying to God asking for supernatural help more during this time
Even though I wouldn't consider myself a traditional Christian by today's standards, I've realized that I do believe there is a higher power. And I believe that higher power (God) can and will help us in time of high stress
I tapped into something bigger than myself. And ultimately, I know and trust that I can rely on this higher power when I am in tough situations
I'm saying this as someone who grew up as a Bible thumping Christian who has struggled & doubted with "my faith" for the better part of the last decade
I still question the baseline fact that modern day Christians believe that "accepting Jesus into your heart is the one and only way to get to heaven" but I'm open to some of the takeaways & teachings from the Bible
I've recently had a curious spark for the significance & teachings within the Bible and how that relates to other world religions
I do believe there is one "God" , but i'm not convinced Christianity is the only way to get there
At the end of the day, the most important lesson I learned this year was that Austin is limited by Austin's physical body. But when Austin lets go of Austin's ego & asks God for some help, Austin receives.
Maybe this is inherently selfish, but I have experienced some power in just asking God for some help at the beginning of a hard day.
My spiritual time still consists of daily meditation. But I'm beginning to incorporate some prayer in my quiet time as well. And some mornings (definitely not all) I've spent reading the Bible from the lens of, "What's the significance in all these stories?"
For those of you reading this who think I'm going to go all evangelical Christian on you... I've been fascinated recently with the Netflix documentary "Ancient Apocalypse"
I'm currently convinced that science, evolution, & God can all exist together. (if you're a Christian and doubt this, my question for you is,
"Could the big bang have been part of the creation story in the Bible?" Most Christians will say, "We don't know how long the 7 day creation story was in literal time."
The 7 day creation story could be a summary of the early writer's best understanding of how the world came into existence before we had modern day science.
7 days could be 7 billion years. Or however many years you want to insert.
Ultimately, I've come to the conclusion that I won't ever have all the answers in this lifetime. And I'm ok with that right now. I'm just choosing to believe that there is a higher power as an architect behind all of this. And I believe this higher power wants "good" for us in this life.
I'm choosing to refer to this higher power as "God" and I've now experienced that "God" can and will help me if I put my ego aside and ask for help.
Looking back, what am I most grateful for about this year?
I'm MOST grateful for my healthy daughter, Berkleigh, coming into this world. She's the light of my life and I will do absolutely everything I can to provide & protect her during her life on this earth.