My 10 2024 Lessons & How to Review Your Year

Acceleration is. Did I set myself up this year to accelerate next year? Because in some way, every year you have a vision, you're executing the vision, but you are also playing a chess game for next year. You're trying to set things up for future success, right? Just like if you invest money in something, you're hoping that investment grows in value over time. Well, I feel like everything that we do is like that. So did I set myself up for acceleration next year? All year long? Was I consciously playing the long game so that my life, my opportunities, my business, my wealth would accelerate, not just stagnate, not just survive, but grow? Get ready for a mega framework today on the 10A's of how I review my year. Now, I know it might feel a little early to do that in this holiday season, but I'm somebody who enters December very conscious, very thoughtful, almost reflective. I don't know if you know this, but Decembers are my favorite time to actually write. It's my favorite time. I'm always working on my next book. It's always a time that I'm deeply reflective about what worked, what didn't work.

But I would say I have a.

Little bit more framework than most people when I consider the year.

Most people just, they're like, hey, did I like this year? Did I not like this year?

Did I get ahead? Did I get things done? I look at it through a different lens. So get ready to take some notes. Open up your journal in growth day so you can capture these 10 A's with me and maybe you can ponder them now with me or later on when you do your full year. Reflection of this year. Just some ways to think about your year. First and foremost, if you've never heard.

Me talk about how I look at.

The year, I tend to begin in.

Two very tactical ways.

And then I broaden out more philosophically. The tactical ways are very simple. Number one, I start by looking back to my entire year of photos on my phone. I go into the photo app and.

I just go back, literally all the.

Way back to January 1st and I just start scrolling through all the way till today. And I know that is a ton, like a ton of things to go through. But I like to do it because it's a visual and experiential and emotional way to tour through the year before. I try to get in my head about it and I always find so many pictures I didn't even know I took. So many memories I completely forgot already. And I take a lot of photos and I really enjoy doing that. And it just brings back so many great memories and I find so many favorite moments and I favorite so many of the photos. Or I end up sending so many of them and texting them to friends and family as I'm going through them, just saying, hey, look at this, look what we did in July. Look what we have did in March. I just love that second. I go back through my entire Google calendar and I look back through my calendar and I look at all the major efforts or blocks of time throughout the year and just ask a few simple questions.

Did I like that?

Did I not like that? Would I do it again should that come on or off the calendar for next year? And I'm just very tactical about how I spent my time and what efforts were worthwhile and what ones I want to continue with or stop. I would say that's. Those are the very tactical things you could do. Open your phone, look through your photos, open your calendar, look through it, identify things you liked and you didn't like. It's pretty basic. And then I go into these 10 A's and they're just very simple journaling activities. So again, I invite you to open up your journal. So here are the ones. For me, the first thing I do in contemplating the year is, is I think about appreciation. Just after going through the photos, the calendar, just capturing what did I appreciate this year. But not just what did I appreciate. I'm actually measuring my level of appreciation. When I experienced this year, as I went through the day to day, did I appreciate life? On a scale of 1 to 10, what level of appreciation did I live in this year? Level one, not much. 10. I was like in awe of appreciation, deep gratitude, and I just start measuring myself. Every one of these 10 things I'm going to reveal to you. These 10 A's, I just score myself on a scale of one to 10 and it just kind of reminds me.

Because I want to be an appreciative.

Person, but I bet you do too. And some days we live like that and some days we don't. On whole this year, do you feel like you were present enough, aware enough to feel the appreciation of life, appreciation of your opportunities, your health, your family, your friends, the things around you? Number two, attitude. Did I have a good attitude this year? Scale of 1 to 10?

1. I was a grumpy jerk. 10.

I was happy, I was buoyant, I was energized, I was enthusiastic, I was optimistic, I was hopeful, I was faithful, I was happy, I was ready, I was willing. Where am I? 1 to 10. My attitude this year, going through a lot of things, was really, really good, I have to say. It was a very busy year, a very hard year.

I worked really hard to keep a good attitude.

Number three, ambition. On a scale of one to ten, was my ambition appropriate for my actual desires and results? So did I have enough ambition this year? Did I play small or did I dream big? Be honest. One to ten, ambition. Number four, alignment. Was I in alignment with my calling? Did I align my life with that I could have the experiences that I want, the people that I want, the opportunities that I want? I believe that we have to live in alignment with our sense of inner nature. Live in alignment with our calling, Live in alignment with the best of who we are. Alignment is a sense of congruence internally with our character. But alignment is also just setting up the chessboard so you can win. Aligning things, organizing things in your life so that you can get ahead. One to ten on alignment, where were you? Number five, assertiveness. Oh, my Ultra members heard me talk about this all year long.

You gotta be assertive.

You have to assert yourself into this world. You have to take command, you have to take control. You have to be in charge of yourself. You have to be self reliant, you have to self regulate and you have to communicate with clarity to other people. You have to have that forward lean in life, that honest, candid communication with others, but also that assertive energy internally. Not aggressive, but assertive, proactive, taking step. You're a person. When you're assertive, you have high initiative, clear communication. You take on the day one to ten. How'd you do in assertiveness? Number six, achievements. I love this one. Achievements. Often I'll go to my journal, just like what achievements come to my mind from the year just right off the bat. And sometimes, here's the truth, not a lot. I don't have a great memory for many of them. That's why I have that calendar exercise I told you about earlier. And I start with that because if I just go, what are my achievements? I just sit there scratching my head. But when I go back through my calendar, when I go back through my photos, oh, there's that night. Me and my wife were out celebrating that thing I did. Oh, here's me with the team celebrating this thing we accomplished. Or there's me with you guys on the stage. Or here's me with my private client. Oh yeah.

Oh, cool.

And I almost don't remember all of my achievements. I don't give myself like enough Memory storage, power for all the little things I celebrated throughout the year. And they felt like achievements at the time. I just forget them by the end of the year. That's why I go through the calendar and the photos, by the way.

So did I have a level of.

Achievements that I desired? 1 to 10? Next, number seven.

Affection.

Affection. Did I demonstrate affection, care, love, good energy to the people around me? Was I emotionally available? Was I empathetic to them? Did I show them that I cared for them? Was I a person who had heart? To me, all that is the stuff of affection. I want to be a person who's affectionate.

I want to.

When I see people, I like to give them a hug. Some people would say that's overly affectionate. Couldn't you just give me double high five?

I don't know. I'm a hugger. I hug everybody.

I just love people. I'm an affectionate person in my real life. Like, I love when people tell me nice things. I love when people are emotional and heart driven with me. I love when my wife flirts with me. I just like affection. I'm like that. So did I give affection to the people around me? Did I adore them? Did I give them good energy? Did I demonstrate emotion and care and heart? 1 to 10 on affection. Number eight is altruism. Was I altruistic? Was I giving? Was I generous? Was I philanthropic? Was I thoughtful in a way in which I was really caring about giving and being generous and contributing to others? I'm always thinking about that. Being generous, being altruistic. It's not a word a lot of people use anymore. I just think it's so important to measure ourselves on that. Were you generous, caring, giving?

Altruistic?

Score of one to ten. Number nine, acceleration. Now, when I use this, I use it very specifically. Acceleration is. Did I set myself up this year to accelerate next year? Because in some way, every year you have a vision. You're executing the vision, but you are also playing a chess game for next year. You're trying to set things up for future success, right? Just like if you invest money in something, you're hoping that investment grows in value over time. Well, I feel like our. Everything that we do is like that. So did I set myself up for acceleration next year? All year long, Was I consciously playing the long game so that my life, my opportunities, my business, my wealth would accelerate, not just stagnate, not just survive, but grow? I'm always thinking about that. Number 10, awakening. Did I become more conscious, more aware, more wise? I Use the word awakening for that in general, but also because it makes all of these things I just tell you align with alliteration. They all started with an A. Awakened awakening. Did I achieve another level of thoughtfulness, consciousness, enlightenment, self awareness, whatever you want to call it? Was that wisdom activated? Did I open and learn more this year? Did I have aha moments that awakened me to another level of being? I really think about that one to 10. For me, it was a great year of awakening. I felt like I had a higher connection with my faith. I was truly awed by a lot of things that I read about the cosmos and the universe. This last year I really got into studying how incredibly impossible it is that we all even get to experience life on Earth, let alone the fact that this particular galaxy was able to generate.

And create this particular Earth that gave.

At some point, after billions of years, this particular instance and iteration of you. I kind of awakened to the wild odds that we even get to experience life, and to the panpsychism that there must be some kind of consciousness in.

The universe, whether you call it God.

Or just literally consciousness that is causing.

The stars to do what they do.

Causing the planets to do what they do, causing matter to do what it does, causing the universe itself to expand360 in every direction in the way that.

It does at the speed and scale that it does.

It's like, wow, just kind of in awe awakened by that. Because not only do I feel like I and you are part of that universal energy of expansion, I also am kind of awakened to the fact that I'm in awe of it. I'm appreciative of it. I'm so happy I'm alive. Which brings us back to number one, appreciation. So there you have it. That's how I'm reviewing my year. How are you doing it? The ten A's were number one, appreciation.

Number two, attitude.

Number three, ambition. Number four, alignment. Number five, assertiveness. Number six, achievements. Number seven, affection. Number eight, altruism. Number nine, acceleration. And number ten, awakening. I hope you will measure yourself on these and consider them and give yourself some credit in each of these. You should end each year feeling actually stronger. Even if you're down on your luck and even if you got a bad diagnosis, even if the year isn't going to finish exactly where you thought in revenue or accomplishments or achievements. You made it through another year, you.

Are blessed with another full year, you're.

Blessed with this breath heading into next year. It's incredible that we're alive and that we Know that every day is a great day to grow. So hop into your journal, take some notes on this year. Start getting it in your head how you're going to review this year. Start early on it because it's going to open up some big ideas for 2025 and we will continue to make.

Sure that we grow every day together. 10 Uncommon Things that helped me live an ultra successful life this year. It's Bren Burd, founder of Growth Day. And I got asked this from the community today, so I thought I would go off on it. Things that helped me.

10 things.

These are things I don't usually talk about all that much, but in some way or another, of course are part of high performance. And I thought this would help you. As I go into this, would you please start thinking about 10 things that.

Helped you this year.

I want to make sure you go into your journal and I want you to capture 10 things that helped you succeed and live well this year. It's that time of year for reflection. Do the work. You don't have to have the exact 10 that I have though. You can take notes on them in your journal. I want you to journal on this one. 10 things that helped you succeed and live well this year. Number one for me, very basic. I work out three to four times a week for 25 years now. I think lots of people work out. I think my hidden advantage is three to four times a week for 25 years now. None of those, I would say are excruciatingly hard workouts and a lot of in between workouts. I do daily walks and so I'm always walking or three to four times I'm doing workouts. Sometimes those are four by fours where I do four lifts and I do four rounds of those lifts. Other times, you know, I'll do two days lifting and two days 60 minute cardio, whatever. I feel like that week is really what's driving me. And by not over programming myself, I've stayed incredibly consistent because I still enjoy it. I wouldn't say that I ever attained some, you know, fancy six pack AB kind of thing, but I was able to maintain the incredible energy and endurance that it takes to do my career. Not just, you know, from the actual operation of a long day, but creatively. To create this much content has taken a tremendous amount of creative energy that I can only get if I take care of my body. Because your creativity is tied to your biology. So as you're journaling, I hope you'll capture somewhere that you did something physical. And if You've never decided it before. I will issue the same challenge I've issued for 20 years in my work, which is then make this next year.

The year that you decide to get.

In the best shape of your life. If you've never actually done it, that you just took a year and said, that's the. This is going to be the best year that I've ever had in my health. Of course, we can't control all the variables there. Sometimes there's chance and bad luck and illness. However, I do want you to think about that and really take it in that if you could have a year where you just got healthier, wouldn't that change everything? Well, for me, it's been 25 years. I'm just so dedicated and consistent with it. It's hard to imagine my life without it. Okay, number two, something I don't usually talk about. A green drink every year for 20 years. And sometimes those green drinks have protein in them, sometimes they don't. Just depends on where I'm at, what resources I have. But in General, it's about 30 grams of protein either. It doesn't matter to me if it's plant or whey isolate. And then I add a full avocado, half a banana, chia seeds, flax seeds, then I add in blueberries is definitely a huge staple for me. Spinach, ice, and sometimes a little bit of cocoa. And I just turn that blender on and that's pretty much every day. I also am a green tea drinker, which I think has helped me. Number three, meditation every day for 25 years. So it is not a meditation, by the way. Sometimes it's just a midday break where literally I'll go take a nap. It usually starts with the meditation, though. I do the release meditation technique, which you can look up on YouTube. Let's see, 1, 2, 3, 4. Don't overeat now. This one also 25 years now. Why am I emphasizing the 25 year ones? Because I don't always talk about these things. They're just part of my life. But I think they're really key to high performance. And helping people realize that overeating is disastrous to their health is really important for of course, in the medical field, but in the high performance field, it's really important to emphasize too, because when you overeat, it overly taxes your body and it tends to wipe out your mental functioning. Like when you overeat, you just get so, like, ugh, you don't want to do anything. You don't want to focus on thing, you're more able to get trapped into the distractions of the world. You lose your own will sometimes. And of course, by overeating, you're leading to other negative health outcomes. And so I've always been very disciplined about not overeating. Even though I enjoy lots of different kinds of foods, lots of variety in my foods, I would say I'm in general, a healthy eater. Thank you to my wife. What else?

Next up, I would say every day I serve others with joy.

Serving others with joy. Look at my work for the day through a joyful lens, through a blessed lens, through something I get to do, not have to do. Not only because I align my passions to my career, but I'd say because I like people. I love talking to y'. All. I love knowing that this is busting.

Your ears as you're out for the.

Walk with the kids or you're driving somewhere, or I'm joyful knowing that you're listening to this.

It's just part of my life.

I'm excited to do what I get to do, and I summon that enthusiasm every day. Even when I've got to do things I'm not super excited about, there's something on that schedule that I will be happy about. What else? I would say making friendships in my life and career throughout my entire life has been key. I've never been a solo striver. I have so many friends from my industry. I have so many friends in every part of my life from, you know, where I spend my time to my career to my events, to, you know, where I invest, to the people I learn from, to the people I hang out with. I just make friends wherever I go. My dad was really good at that too. My mom's really great at that too, so I had good examples on that. I just think friendships are foundational to a great life. And most people just take the friends they got versus looking for people that they want to get to know. I always strived to meet experts and leaders and people of influence who I felt like I could learn from, people who had high levels of competency and character and who were driven by contribution like I am. And when I can meet those people, I just feel like everything's better. Let's see what else I'm always reminding myself. Just don't be a jealous person, period. I enjoy my life because I don't really compare myself to others. I want great things for others. I wish others joy and good health and abundance and love in their life actively and consciously. Like, literally, when I walk by a stranger. I say that in my head. To them, I'll say, I wish you joy, abundance, love, good health. I'll just be like, sending out good.

Energy to people all the time.

So I had to develop that, though. You know, my story, as many of you know, began with a breakup with the first woman I ever loved. And we were in a jealous relationship. And I learned very quickly that was going to lead to a negative life. So I got over jealousy by the time I was 20. But it took a lot of work, I would say. In general, I understand how to be disciplined because I don't forget what my motives are. There's this big thing on the Internet where people often say things like, you don't need motivation, you need discipline. And I always laugh at them because what they are doing is parroting a bunch of other people on social media who've never read either of the topics before, and they're just not really aware that you cannot have discipline without motivation. The mere fact that you are disciplining yourself to do something that you do not enjoy involves contemplative motive. Like you have the motive to do the thing even though you don't want to do it. Motivation is the root of discipline. You cannot have discipline without motivation. What they're trying to say is the difference between enthusiasm or enjoyment and discipline. But they're confusing enthusiasm, enjoyment, or quote, unquote, feeling like it with motivation. And that's the problem. We just have a lot of people who haven't done enough work in personal development and actual reading of philosophy and psychology giving just advice out there for clickbait. And it always drives me crazy because even some of my friends who say this, you don't. You don't need motivation, or motivation is crap. You just need discipline. I'm like, can you take 10 seconds.

To think through that?

How do you have discipline without motive? So for me, the way that I've stayed disciplined is that each day I touch into in my mind what's important for me, what matters, what should come first, what should I prioritize, what will make the day go well, what will have a compound effect of positive habits and outcomes in my life. And by thinking about that and contemplating that I'm more likely to be disciplined. It doesn't mean I can't also set myself up for automatic habits. You know, put the shoes by the bed, so I get up, put them on, and go work out. You can do those things that make you think less, so you're more automated in behavior. But to maintain discipline over A long period of time, you better know your why. And knowing your why means touching the hem of your motive, meaning you're connected to motivation, not separate from it. So I think a lot about what matters today, what do I want to do today, what will add into good things over a period of time. And it's why I've been able to maintain some of these basic things I've told you about. Another thing that helps me is I don't expect quick fixes or easy riches. I just don't expect it. I never expected to make a ton of money real fast. I never expected that, you know, the difficult challenges of life that would be solved immediately. When I had depression, I didn't think I needed to overcome it in a heartbeat. When I was going through financial troubles early in my life, I didn't think I needed. I had to solve it in one quarter. And when I was dating, I didn't think I had to choose the person right away to fall in love with. I was always the patient person, playing a chess game, playing strategically and not hoping for the quick things, but instead striving for the things that mattered over the long term.

Let me say it again.

Not hoping for the quick things, but striving consciously for the things that mattered over the long term. And then I'd say number 10. So I'll recap first. Number one, working out three to four times a week. 25 years green drink pretty much every day. 25 years meditation or midday break pretty much every day. Number four, not overeating. Number five, serving others with joy each day. Number six, making good friendships in life and career. Number seven, not being jealous. Number eight, being disciplined. Number nine, not expecting quick fixes and easy riches. And number ten, studying personal development. Doing my personal growth work has given me the unfair advantage in life because it's taught me to manage my mind, manage my emotions, care for my body, care about my influence with other people, recognize other people's influences on me. It's helped me develop the mental edge for. For motivation, confidence, productivity, leadership. It's also helped me develop more of a spiritual grounding of appreciation and gratitude and presence and oneness and unity. Personal development has introduced me to my greatest mentors, where those mentors are alive or they passed away and I've learned in front of them from thousands of years ago in philosophy or hundreds of years ago in psychology, or decades ago in sociology or positive psychology. I've had the benefit of always being fascinated by the human condition and reading so many biographies, so many books, so many gosh listen to so many audiobooks, seminars, programs were a huge addition to my personal development this year. Number two, journaling. I just think if you don't journal, you're wasting so many memories that could have become wisdom. You're missing so many clues of situations and emotions and feelings and events from the day that could have become wisdom and strength and momentum and spiritual expansion. Journaling is so key. Number three, I think I did a better job at planning this year, and that is by using my high performance planner. I got back to the physical planner more this year than I ever have before, and that really helped me. Growth Day for the journal, for the digital journal, then my high performance planner, because I'm just.

I was like, you know what?

I miss writing. I need to get back to writing. And that's been a big thing. Now, of course, people say, well, Brendan, this all sounds pretty positive. Is there any area in which you suck?

And I'm like, yes, I had plenty of those areas.

I would say this year there were more, I would say, weeks of intensity or stress than I've had probably in two or three years. And that was just scaling and growing Growth Day while also doing a monthly show in Los Angeles while also writing a book, doing a documentary while also serving, you know, four billionaire clients while also running Ultra. With so many people really dedicated to the next level of their lives while also running Growth Day. My other companies and investing and advising in lots of other companies. There were too many weeks this year that I would say were overbooked. I don't think I ever tipped into burnout, thank God. But I don't want to be at that intensity. Not because I actually didn't enjoy it, but because the thing we all know in personal development called competing interests, that is sometimes when those schedules were fully booked, I was not able to do other things that were really important to me. Maybe a little more time with family or writing the next books. And for me, those two things are so critical, while the rest I'm pretty satisfied with. I do know that there was probably, I counted out the other day, there was about seven to nine weeks this year that I would say those were overbooked. And I'm really excited about this next year because I think we've solved some of them scheduling things. And more importantly, I can focus on the most important things, which is you, our strivers, doing all the things I just mentioned here, but really doubling down for you.

I'm so excited for this next year.

I'm so grateful for you. I hope, as I shared some of my wins or the things that made this year a little more successful for me. You wrote down some of yours in your journal because your journal is going to be something you're going to come back to and learn from over and over and over again throughout your life. If this inspired you in any way tis the season, please go to growthday.com gift and you can gift a full year subscription now to any of your family, friends or team. Someone who you feel like, gosh, I wish my friends listened to things like this. I wish the kids listened to things like this. I wish my team listened to things like this. You can go to growthday.com gift and you can buy them an annual subscription. Go to growthday.com gift and purchase growth for someone you love next day and help them realize that in their own lives they can rise up. In their own lives they can develop that mental edge again. In their own lives they can feel inspired again. In their own lives they can learn. Just like you know, every day is a great day to grow.