Happy New Year!!

I hope you are having a great start to the new year!! We rang in 2025 in Jamaica for what I believe will be our last warm weather New Year's Eve for a while; Roman will be in high school next year, and his basketball schedule will inevitably prevent us from escaping to the warmth for the end of the year.

Our end-of-the-year trip is my favorite trip because I can fully enjoy the warm weather, being in the sun, the sounds of the ocean, and being present with Ang and the boys since that last week of the year is relatively quiet in my business, and while I'm bummed to see it pause for a while, I made sure to enjoy this year's trip even more than usual.

And now we're looking at 6 inches of snow or more in the next day--hard to believe, just a few days ago, I was walking in white sands, and tomorrow it'll be white snow.

I head into 2025 with tons of excitement for what the year has in store for me, and as you'll see in one of this week's Notes, the Universe confirmed my excitement and direction.

Daily Notes come to the LifeDesign+ podcast

One new thing I'm excited about for this year is bringing the Daily Note to the LifeDesign+ podcast each morning. Thanks to the suggestion and encouragement of a good friend, I've started providing more context to each day's Note in a short podcast. I'm still feeling my way through the new show and how I want it to sound, but so far, it's been fun to share more about the Note.

I will be playing around with the formal and would love any feedback you have---for example, I haven't read a Note in an episode, but I'm thinking of starting each episode by reading the Note and then going into the additional breakdown.

Be sure to subscribe to LifeDesign+ on Apple, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player.

the Keep Pursuing Series returns---dates announced

For those locals or those willing to travel to Fishers for a visit, the dates for the Keep Pursuing Series '25 have been released, and tickets for each are now available on Eventbrite---tickets are free and limited to 20 per talk.

As of right now, I'm hosting all talks in the conference room of the building my office is in; I'm still hoping to find some coffee shops or other local venues to use, but I didn't want not to host these talks because I couldn't find a venue--so I went with what I know I have available and still fits the vibe of the talks.

​You can secure your ticket here.​

Alright, let's get to this week's Daily Notes...

📝 this week's Daily Notes

12.28.24 #728 how you react impacts the outcome​

12.29.24 #729 things could have gone south quickly​

12.30.24 #730 two years of Daily Notes​

12.31.24 #731 "love you"​

1.01.24 #732 two words​

1.03.24 #733 everything is going to be alright​

1.04.24 #734 now of never​

🎧 The Resilient Mind Podcast: Jocko Willink "You Are More Powerful Than Your Excuses"

I intentionally put this episode on today as I drove Roman to morning basketball training, hoping he would pick up on Jocko's message; Roman is at that age where accountability is difficult and blaming others is much easier. I understand how powerful it can be to take ownership of everything that happens to me and find what role I played in it, especially if it isn't "good" and I want Roman to understand that earlier than he would on his own.

As I listened to Jocko talk about how excuses play a role in allowing us to feel better about an outcome, but don't actually help us get better I couldn't help but make the connection to the Pursuit of living an authentic life.

This is a snippet from what sounds like his appearance on Diary of a CEO and is only about 17 minutes long---it's worth the listen, especially if you fall back on excuses to provide comfort in your life.

​Listen here.​

📺 Piece by Piece

Pharrell Williams is one of my favorite creative and business minds. I've been a fan of his music since I first heard The Clipse in college, and I appreciate his ability to transcend genres and business. I'm always drawn to individuals who can do multiple things and follow their passions.

We bought Pharrell's Lego Movie, Piece by Piece, over the holiday break, and I've watched it a few times this weekend. It's such a great movie and an inspiring story---and, of course, the music throughout it is phenomenal. I learned a few things about Pharrell and the Neptunes and recognized songs I didn't know he produced, like Mase's "Looking At Me."

I highly recommend checking Piece By Piece out.

🗣️ "authentic life"-- the first talk in the Keep Pursuing Series

See you next week (or tomorrow) and keep pursuing,

JC