2017 was a pretty fulfilling year for me. Like everyone, I had some ups and some downs, but all things considered things went very well and I have nothing to complain about.

Reflecting back on the year, here are 5 things that I learned both professional and personally about myself;

Relationships > Everything Else
Both personally and professionally, the more you open up and the more you work to develop positive relationships the more successful you are going to be. Invest in building relationships with the people around you. The more I open up and develop relationships with the people around me, the better things seem to go both personally and professionally.

Caring Less What People Think About Me
As I get older I have clearly noticed that I slowly care less and less what others think about me. Don’t get me wrong, if everyone thinks you are an ass you may way to do something about it, but generally speaking I have become less worried with how others feel about me. I feel it is more important to focus on concerning myself with things that I have to deal with, both personally and professionally.

My Coaching Style is Different
As the years go by I become more and more secure in my coaching style. I am not the loudest guy in the room. I am not the guy that is going to light people up and chew them out – and I’m okay with that. As a coach its important to be you – athletes will see right through the BS if you try to be someone you aren’t. I’m getting much better embracing who I am as a coach and doubling down on the strengths that I have instead of trying to be someone I’m not. Own who you are and embrace it.

“Me” Time
I clearly thrive off of ‘me’ time where I can relax and listen to podcasts and/or read – it’s almost how I re-charge after a long day or week. Its important for me to work that into most of if not all of my days as it is essentially a hobby for me, and I think it’s important to have hobbies outside of your profession to keep you centered.

Be Better at Applying Knowledge
I’ve always been someone that takes pride in continuing education and trying to learn as much as I can both personally and professional through books, articles and podcasts. Because of this I come across a lot of great info that I can apply to either my life or profession. But all this knowledge is useless if you don’t apply it to what you do which is something I’m not great at and something that I need to be better at going forward.