2024 GOALS & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
For 2024 I set some lofty goals for myself. Though life provided its fair share of hardship and tribulations I wanted to force myself to be better at struggling. For lack of a better term, I wanted to force myself to develop the ability to “suffer well” through hardship and continue pushing forward. As you’ll read in the post titled “Fac Fortia et Patere”, there has been a lot thrown our way this year. My wife and I have never been closer, or happier. That is a testament to us both committing to choose to dictate our situation regardless of what is dropped in our lap. We set the tone, we continue to accomplish our goals and aspirations. This takes daily intentional work to accomplish. You don’t just wake up with discipline. You don’t just naturally have an ability to be resilient. Character isn’t passively acquired, at least not good character.
So to develop this quality I set out to establish better habits. I set the following as goals to complete over the course of 2024.
1st Goal:
Read one book a month. This list is a combination of physical books and audio books I consumed this year.
- Kettlebell Simple & Sinister - Pavel
- The Code - Jocko Willink
- Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches... - S.C. Gwynne
- Sam Houston and the Alamo Avengers: The Texas Victory That Changed American History - Brian Kilmeade
- We Were Soldiers Once... and Young: Ia Drang- The Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam- Lt. Gen. Harold G. Moore and Joseph L. Galloway
- Meat Eater - Adventures from the Life of an American Hunter - Steven Rinella
- Strength Manual for Running: Raising Strength to Reduce Injuries- Louie Simmons
- The Conjugate Method: Enhanced Through the Research of Westside Barbell- Louie Simmons
- Scars and Stripes: An Unapologetically American Story of Fighting the Taliban, UFC Warriors, and Myself- Tim Kennedy & Nick Palmisciano
- American Buffalo: In Search of a Lost Icon- Steven Rinella
- WSBB Bench Press Manual- Louie Simmons
- WSSB Squat and Deadlift Manual- Louie Simmons
- Meat Eater’s American History: The Long Hunters (1761-1775) - Steven Rinella & Clay Newcomb
2nd Goal:
Lose 20 pounds. Got this done but it required breaking some bad habits that I have had for a very long time. My wife and I both held each other accountable, and though we aren’t quite where we want to be yet in this regard, we are far better off than we were. We have established some better habits over the last year and we will continue to build off of these habits going into 2025.
*Side note: My wife has done a much better job and is looking phenomenal. Hubby likes his BBQ… and his energy drinks.
3rd Goal:
I set out to accomplish a 1800+ raw total in the squat, bench press, and deadlift. My primary focus lately has been to increase work capacity or “GPP” and lose some excess weight. I’ve done well in accomplishing this goal so far. My most current training numbers would suggest that my squat is around 725, bench press is at 490, and my deadlift is at 655. This would place me at a 1870 Lbs. Total. Going into 2025 I plan on competing in June and the goal is to lose an additional 20-25 Lbs., and have 1850+ Lbs. Total.
4th goal:
I wanted to create a website and establish a new business for myself. You wouldn’t be reading this if that wasn’t accomplished. I am building relationships and looking forward to the potential growth of my business in 2025.
Last Goal:
Learn a new language. This got out of hand quickly. I am obsessed with Dulingo and I’m sure if I keep going down the rabbit hole with all these languages’ I am going to end up on a government watch list at some point. This past year I have extensively begun learning Spanish, Greek, Romanian, Danish, and Dutch. I have also refreshed my German. This has been very enjoyable to me and I look forward to traveling to some of these places in the future.
I am very happy with my productivity over the last year, but I’m still far from where I want to be. To anyone trying to begin better habits to start 2025, I encourage you to just put forth some kind of effort each day. Even the smallest effort will help establish better habits. Take steps that you can consistently maintain and build from there regardless of the goal. Many of us live or survive. It’s much harder to thrive. Thriving means making changes that can seem uncomfortable or intimidating, and constantly upholding a standard of physical and mental discipline that many do not put the effort into attaining. Sleep, nutrition, hydration, physical and mental capability, are all attributes that require long-term consistency to render the best result. It is hard to be consistent when things aren’t going your way. Family member passes, a pet is sick, or a marriage is rocky; it doesn’t take much to throw us off and when something heavy weighs us down it becomes daunting to stand up with it. This is the most important part. Just like in nature life has a consistent pattern of storms. Whether you like it or not, these difficult times shape us, and in the end can make us better, or we can allow these instances to negatively change us. I will also say these are the circumstances that make life worth living.
Recently I learned about a pretty incredible fact about the American Bison, or Buffalo. If you read the history of the buffalo you will get the impression that they are very dumb and easy to manipulate. Native tribes for hundreds of years would run hundreds of buffalo off of cliffs at a time. This made mass hunting much easier and would ultimately lead to mass waste. Yet, if you were to be flung into the air by a bison you would quickly realize why the still demand your respect. Another aspect that will grab your attention is a bison’s resilience. They’re capable of enduring temperatures well below zero and live in some of the most difficult environments on the planet. So, when I learned how bison operate in blizzards, I wasn’t surprised. See when bison anticipate a blizzard they walk towards it, instinctively knowing that the fastest way through the storm is straight through it, head on. Their task of grazing and attaining fuel for life doesn’t stop. Their pursuit of survival is unrelenting and they endure all that nature throws their way without hesitation. They instinctively know the storm will soon pass, lean into, and stay focused on the task at hand. I personally find that to have such commitment, or resilience requires you to anchor down. I will dive more into this concept in my next article.
Thank you for your time,
Coach V.