Typically at the end of the year, I’ll write a post about my goals, both looking back and planning forward. Like most people, I have a checkered track record. That fact, however, has yet to discourage me.

One of my big pushes this year was to read 24 books, or an average of two per month. I flamed out early, and then got to work in earnest over the summer. I didn’t end up reading 24 books; I read 30.

My first book for this year is *Best Year Ever* by Michael Hyatt. He’s had this program for a few years, and at the start of 2018 released a book version of his course. I planned on reading it early this year, but balked at buying it. I concluded, wrongly, that it was going to be too abstract.

Perhaps the best lesson that I took away from the book was finishing your past. We have negative experiences, many from years ago, that continue to shape and impact our thinking and decision making today. Failures from years ago dog us, weighing on our forward progress. In the book, Hyatt lays out an After Action Report that helps to process those events.

In thinking about my overall mindset, I realized just how many of those negative thoughts were bouncing around in my head. I used the process to purge them. Now I’m ready to take on a new year with a fresh perspective.

So much of our lives and our wellness are entirely within our control. Not the events that play out, but rather how we react and respond to them. I’m not going to be changed at the stroke of midnight on the 31st, but I will be closer to my goals at that moment than I am now.

Tags: Manliness Wellness