While 2019 was one of the most exciting years of my life, 2020 was the most impactful. This was a year where I completed my MBA, took the leap into working on Just Go Grind full-time, turned 30 years old, met hundreds of new people, and landed a new role that will catapult me into the next phase of my career.
Of course, 2020 was also the year of a global pandemic, the death of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, the shocking loss of Kobe Bryant, an important election, and much more.
I haven’t done a proper annual review since 2014, but it’s important, especially this year, to reflect on all that happened. Yes, there was a great deal of pain and suffering, but as we approach a new year, there are many reasons to be hopeful.
With that, I hope my review inspires you to take a few moments to reflect on your own year and plan for a better year ahead in 2021.
Goals for 2020
Sign Up 100 Members For My Paid Community. At the end of 2019, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to launch a paid community for entrepreneurs, one where we’d all be able to benefit from the collective experiences of the group. I ended up getting a few paid members but refunded them a short time later. Why? Because I didn’t have the capacity to manage it. I overestimated how much time I would have available. When factoring in the work I had to do to complete my MBA and produce the Just Go Grind podcast, I decided I wouldn’t be able to give the community the time it needed to be valuable for everyone involved. While I’d count this as a failure, it was also a useful learning experience.
25,000 Podcast Downloads. Coming into 2020 I wanted to put an emphasis on growing the Just Go Grind podcast audience. The show had already allowed me to meet dozens of incredible people and landed me a part-time role at a startup, but I felt like it had more potential.
Getting 25,000 downloads for the year was a stretch goal at the time, but I ended up crushing it. What contributed to the growth? Doing a daily podcast for nearly 4 months, consistent promotion across social media, getting bigger guests on the show and being more strategic about using Twitter.
Run a ½ Marathon In Under 1:30. I like to call myself “An aspiring runner” as a way to motivate myself to one day become a runner. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve run hundreds of miles, but coming from a background of being a sprinter, I don’t typically associate myself as a runner. To move towards runner status, doing a sub-1:30 ½ marathon seemed appropriate. On my birthday, October 8th, I ran a 1:29:55. Mission accomplished.
Become Conversationally Fluent In French. Learning a new language allows you to communicate with millions of new people and I find this to be fascinating. For a number of years, I’ve wanted to visit Europe, France in particular, and thought I’d get a jumpstart on learning the language. My primary method of doing so was Duolingo, a fantastic app for language learning. I made steady progress for months, but fell off midway through the year and only more recently have gotten back to it. For the year, I studied 1,026 words, earned 2582 XP, and was in the top 9% of all Duolingo learners. Not bad, but still a long way off from being conversationally fluent.
Decade Goals
With the start of a new decade, in 2020 I also decided to add a few longer-term goals to my list. These include:
- Help one billion people live better
- Personally invest in 100 companies
- Help 1,000 people start businesses
I’ve found that these bigger, longer-term goals help clarify the guiding principles of my life which have been especially useful when challenges arise day to day. Ultimately, if I’m able to help people through the work I do, I find that to be not only satisfying and fulfilling but quite simply the best use of my time.
Things to Celebrate
The Just Go Grind Podcast. 2020 was a huge year for the Just Go Grind podcast. I talked with 150+ inspiring people who continue to influence my thinking today.
For the Just Go Grind podcast in 2020 I was able to:
- Release 154 new podcast episodes including 113 in a row from August 1st – November 21st.
- Get my first sponsors
- Secure distribution with dot.LA and CEO
- Start affiliate partnerships with numerous companies
There are many people to thank for their support of the show in 2020 and while I won’t be able to list all of them, there are a few people I’m particularly grateful for including Samantha Patil, Zuleyka Strasner, Ali Whitman, and Jonny Price – they all referred multiple guests to me for the show and I can’t thank them enough for that.
The Just Go Grind podcast is almost entirely a one-person operation – from interview prep to promoting new episodes, I do much of the work myself. However, especially in the back half of the year, there were a number of people who put the time in to help me out:
- McCall Raftus
- Rafa Liou
- Sandra Guindi
- Chris Eberle
This has been a blessing and I’m thankful for the support from everyone this year.
Furthermore, I have an in-depth review of the Just Go Grind podcast in 2020 here.
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Running. One of the activities that kept me sane this year was running and, for the first time after more than a year living in Los Angeles, I began running outside instead of on a treadmill. I’ve found running to be a great way to explore and appreciate the world and, with a move from downtown LA to the West Side, it’s been a joy to be able to run by the beach. I ended up running more than 600 miles from late March through the end of the year.
Graduating With My MBA From USC. My MBA experience was phenomenal. It was undoubtedly worth the price tag and completing the program is something I’m proud of, especially considering I never thought I’d go back to school in the first place. While it was a letdown finishing the program online because of COVID-19, I’m grateful for the people I met and how those two years served as a launching pad for what I’m doing next in my career. With all that’s happened in 2020 I’m still in disbelief that I actually finished the MBA program this year.
Turning 30 Years Old. Years ago, I had all sorts of goals to achieve by the time I was 30, many of which I can’t remember, haven’t come close to achieving, or simply aren’t relevant. Yet, since hitting 30 this year, I’ve realized more and more just how fortunate I am to be in the position I’m in today with, hopefully, decades left to live. I’ve grown a lot both personally and professionally, gone through my share of ups and downs, and am just as optimistic and excited about the future as I was a decade ago.
Friends. 90% of the people I spent the most time with this year, virtually and in person, I didn’t know 3 years ago. That blows my mind. Most of my friends today I know because of the MBA and the Just Go Grind podcast. In 2017, when I was thinking about getting an MBA, this was the exact reason why I decided to go for it – the people.
Now, 3 years later, I’m overjoyed at the people I have in my life as a result of that decision. Pre-pandemic, the year was highlighted by trips to Mammoth and Temecula, endless laughs at The Lab or in the courtyard at USC, and the final time I’d see my entire class together at our 100 days celebration.
My New Role. I’m making a big change to start 2021, taking on a new role I’m overjoyed about. It’s the culmination of the work I’ve done the past few years and in line with what I want the next chapter of my career to include. More on that soon.
What I Want to Improve
Focus. I’ve repeatedly tried to do too many different projects, had to cut back, then taken on too many again. This is a daily struggle as new ideas for projects come up constantly. While I’ve made progress on this throughout the year, this is an area that needs work.
What’s helped me recently is to spend more time reflecting on what my longer-term goals are, how the projects I’m going to take on fit into those and looking at my calendar to find where time for a new project would actually go if I took it on. Also, instead of coming up with a new idea and instantly starting to work on it, I now let the idea sit for a few days, evaluate my feelings about it at a later date, and then decide if it’s worth implementing. Chasing every shiny object is no good. Focus is essential.
Delegating. I got better at this throughout the year and, admittedly, much of this had to do with my financial limitations, but delegating is something I want to do a much better job of. I’m thankfully in a position where I have a few people willing to help me with Just Go Grind and my ability to properly delegate activities that I should no longer be doing is important not only for my own mental health, but for making more progress on what matters to me.
To be able to delegate properly, a few things need to be done. First, you need a high-level goal you’re trying to accomplish. Next, you need an understanding of all the tasks that need to be done to make progress towards that goal. Finally, you need systems in place to be efficient. In 2021, delegating will be something I’ll do much more of.
The Weekly Grind Newsletter. While I had been consistent for many weeks with my weekly entrepreneurship newsletter, I fell off the wagon towards the end of the year. Why? Because I went through a period of questioning everything I was working on and when I looked at the newsletter, I thought it wasn’t offering enough value to readers. I put it on pause until I could figure out what would be best. Anyone who has an online business understands the value of an email newsletter, a channel which you can control, and next year this will be an area of importance for me as I shift to the next phase in my career.
Time for Writing. Besides publishing a 3,000-word article on my MBA experience, sharing some advice around fundraising, and creating show notes for each episode of the podcast, I didn’t write much in 2020. This is another area to improve, as writing on the internet, which I’ll talk more about next, can lead to such marvelous opportunities. I saw the benefits first hand that writing could bring when I wrote 250+ blog posts for my first business, Just Go Fitness, but I haven’t made the time for it since. That’ll change in 2021.
LinkedIn and Twitter. There is a massive opportunity to grow a personal brand on social media and, when done strategically, can lead to tremendous opportunities both personal and professional. I should know, the last 4 organizations I’ve worked with have come because of the content marketing I’ve done – no job application at all. I ramped up my Twitter output in Q3 and Q4 and have been consistently posting on LinkedIn each week, but there’s a chance to do so much more. I never had much of a system for either platform for my content and I think with more intentionality and preparation I’ll be able to use these platforms to the fullest.
Proactively Planning Fun Experiences. As an extrovert, 2020 has at times been a struggle. I thrive spending time with people on a consistent basis and when reflecting upon why the MBA was such an incredible experience, it’s clear that the fun trips and events with my classmates contributed greatly to it.
Looking forward, even though I’ve graduated, I want to plan more of these. Yes, it’ll likely be towards the middle to end of the year depending on the vaccine, but these experiences give me so much joy and I want to be proactive about including them in my life. It’s easy to slip into my normal workaholic tendencies if I don’t plan breaks and I just don’t find this to be the best way to live. Proactively planning fun experiences is a must.
What I Learned in 2020
Focus on What You Can Control. So much was out of our control this year and, as Stoicism teaches, the focus needs to be on what we can control. 2020 hammered home this point in what was an election year, a global pandemic, and a period with endless unknowns. Sure, I’ve heard this idea of “controlling what we can control” previously, but this year, the lesson was cemented.
Understand the Big Goal. I’ve always been driven, especially in my career, but 2020 forced me to come to grips with how much I miss all the other aspects of life, mainly time with friends and family and traveling to new places. I’ve done a lot of reflecting this year and taken more pressure off my shoulders after fully grasping the idea that the goal is actually to live an amazing life. That’s it. How you define it is up to you, but that’s the goal.
When I look at my work, that’s just one part of living an amazing life. Work has to fit with everything else that makes life worth living. Previously, I didn’t always understand that. I’m not completely there yet, still a workaholic in many respects, but I’m more open to other aspects of life now more than ever.
Implement Systems. Goals are important, but systems, repeatable actions for achieving them, are even more so. Producing 113 episodes of the Just Go Grind podcast in a row hammered this point home to me this year.
I had to implement systems for finding guests, booking guests, preparing for interviews, promoting interviews, and more. These systems allowed me to be efficient with my time and I don’t think I would’ve been able to do a daily show without them. In 2021, I’ll be looking at other areas of my personal and professional life where I can implement systems to not only save time but be more effective in all that I do.
Recognize Opportunity Costs. The concept of opportunity cost is one which I spent more time thinking about in 2020 than any other year. We have a finite amount of time and resources, how we allocate these determines the trajectory of our lives, and it’s important to fully understand the weight of our choices in regards to what we could have instead done. This applies to all of our choices, personal and professional. While we could get bogged down in every decision to be made, at a high level, understanding that there is an opportunity cost associated with our decisions should influence how we make them.
Understanding opportunity costs made me stop working with a very early-stage startup in January and influenced my decision to switch to a daily podcasting schedule in August as well as stopping daily podcasting at the end of November. As I mentioned, time is limited, so we have to be selective with how we spend it. With so many different opportunities arising in 2020, this was a lesson I learned through experiencing it firsthand.
Utilize Leverage. The reason I want to improve my output and quality of writing in 2021 is simple – it creates leverage. The more I pay attention to the world and those who have found ways to succeed within it, the more it becomes clear that they’ve all found ways to create leverage. In 2020, this point hit home for me more than ever where, through creating podcasts, blogs, and posts on social media, I was able to use leverage to connect with successful founders and venture capitalists, have PR teams reach out to me on a weekly basis, and jumpstart the next phase of my career. Creating leverage is how fortunes are made and this was a big takeaway for me this year.
My Favorites of 2020
Best Meal: Dinner in Mammoth with Chef Frank and Chef Clara
Favorite Under $10 Purchase: AmazonBasics Classic Lined Notebook
Favorite Under $20 Purchase: Wireless Mouse
Favorite Under $100 Purchase: Brooks Running Shoes
Favorite Under $200 Purchase: Philips 27” Monitor
Favorite Under $400 Purchase: Adjustable Height Standing Desk
Favorite Website I Discovered: Indie Hackers
Favorite Show: Money Heist
Favorite Episode: Lewis Hamilton on My Next Guest Needs No Introduction
New Obsession: Formula 1 Racing
Favorite Movie: Senna
Favorite Quote: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” – Annie Dillard
Favorite Book: Deep Work by Cal Newport
Favorite Blog Post: Mental Models: The Best Way to Make Intelligent Decisions (109 Models Explained)
Favorite Tweet: How to Get Rich (without getting lucky)
Favorite App: Strava
Favorite Coffee Shop: Philz
Favorite Podcast Episode: Naval Ravikant on Happiness, Reducing Anxiety, Crypto Stablecoins, and Crypto Strategy (#473)
Favorite Podcast I Discovered: The Knowledge Project
Favorite Weekend: Mammoth with my MBA classmates
Favorite Day: March 14th, the day my friends and I rented a limo to tour 3 wineries in Temecula
Favorite New Experience: 1st Lakers Game
Best Decision: Switching to a daily podcast on August 1st
What a Year
2020 was a year we’ll never forget, though many of us will want to. Nonetheless, there’s a lot to be learned from it if we take time to reflect on the experience. As terrible as much of it was, I recognize there was also a great deal of good that came from it and I’m grateful for that.
Cheers to 2021, I hope it’s a year for you to reinvent yourself, appreciate the little things, and be grateful for the opportunities available to you.
Much love,
Justin