What I Learned in 2020

I think we can all agree 2020 has been a crazy year with many surprises and challenges for everyone myself included.

I had my own share of challenges but in those challenges, I rose up to find clarity and opportunities in the chaos.

It wasn’t easy. I made several important life and career pivots to get to where I am, and even now I’ve made peace with the fact that there are so many factors outside of myself this year I can’t control like the larger economic and political decisions being made and continuing to be made during COVID-19.

I realized I needed to stay laser focused on factors that are in my control: my mental, physical and financial health. I took 2020 as an opportunity to show up for myself every day and to make significant investments in my time and money to improve myself in those three areas.

Physical Health

I made a decision to lose a significant amount of weight that had accumulated over the past three years and consciously invested time and money at the beginning of 2020 on my journey towards better health.

When gyms closed I pivoted to home based workouts which saved me a significant amount of time and money from traditional gyms and would not be impacted by public health orders. For $10 a month workout streaming service and buying a couple sets of basic weights I was able to maintain my general health throughout the pandemic.

I invested in coaches to get me on the right track with my nutrition through online coaching. I realized, similar to my finances, I couldn’t just out-exercise myself out of a calorie excess and focused on learning how much food my body needs for fuel and spending my extra time during the pandemic cooking with a whole foods, plant based diet and minimizing the amount of processed foods or take-out.

The results: I lost 60 pounds over the course of 14 months and continue to maintain it.

Note: To help kick-start this journey I did the 75 Hard Program by Andy Frisella which I highly recommend which helped set up my mental and physical habits at the start of the pandemic for continued success. I’d highly recommend giving the program a try if you are wanting to undergo a major life transformation and the program is free. Visit 75hard.com to learn more.

Mental Health

Part of the 75 Hard program focuses on developing positive habits that promote positive mental health. Habits such as writing down goals every day, taking time to read and reflect, prioritize nutritious eating and working out as well as going for a walk outside everyday are all factors that contribute to overall positive mental health.

Part of that mental health was also realizing how much the people around me were impacting my mentality. I made a very conscious effort in 2020 to minimize or completely eliminate people in my life that were bringing negative energy into my life or I just knew weren’t there for me when it counted, in my corner cheering me on or helping to lift me up during difficult times. It wasn’t easy letting go of some of those relationships that I had been clinging onto for a long time but realizing that my past progress in life had hit a ceiling because of my mindset and the people I had been associating with that led me to realizing I needed to make some real changes.

Results: Today my circle is much smaller but I know I wouldn’t have been able to mentally survive and thrive during the pandemic without making those necessary changes.

Financial Health

2020 caused me to take hard look at my finances and make some major changes.

During the pandemic, I eliminated a lot of subscriptions and monthly fees that were impacting my bottom line at the end of the month.

I became a financial minimalist and only bought things that were essential or I knew would provide long-term value in my life eliminating unnecessary shopping and entertainment expenses.

The pandemic made me realize how financially unprepared I had been to weather the storm and as a result I paid off over $20,000 in debt and aggressively saved and invested my money.

I achieved this through both raising my income levels significantly and focusing on saving money every paycheck with goals to pay down debts and save and re-invest the money. I did lots of self-education during this time learning about stock markets and forex investing. I still have a long way to go but I have some aggressive financial goals in place for 2021 and the next five years with huge ambitious goals that weren’t even on my radar pre-pandemic.

The results: The pandemic gave me an opportunity to completely re-evaluate the career and financial life path I was on as well as my savings and investing habits and gave me the time and clarity to put my financial house in order and to set myself on the path for a successful future. 

Feel free to message me for any health or financial advice or to share your story below.