2021 Year-in-review

by Andrew Askins 2 years ago 7 min read

For the second year, I used the Reflecting Forwards Notion template to do an in-depth personal year in review. Most of it I will again keep private, but for the sake of consistency (and having something to publish) here are a few excerpts and pictures.

2021 goals

My goals at the beginning of the year were to:

Do more active giving.
Move in with my girlfriend.
Spend time outside of screens... in nature and in books.
Build a second business.
Make Krit less stressful.
Spend time with my sister and friends.
Be active.

Theme for the year: Margin

Ohhhh buddy did I miss on the theme for this year. I wore myself thin at work, and the constant setbacks really ate away at me. I did not take any money out of the business. I did an okay job making time for myself and not working totally crazy hours, but I had a really hard time not thinking about work when it was stressful which was most of the year. I didn’t take on extra projects.

But on the plus side moving to Detroit has been great, even though it has been tough. I think I’m getting a lot better at communicating, although I still have a long way to go. I spent a lot of time with friends, and climbing has been really great. The automatic thoughts have gotten better, and I would say my mental health in general is better although work is a major drain.

Journal excerpts

Had a great day with Austin, talked about why doing this, even if we fail building unparalleled skills and network.
Thinking about woodworking, trying to create more and consume less, made a bench with Dad over the weekend.
Do I want to invest in your growth, or load the dice? It’s hard to load the dice but people are good at learning.
Buried Duck, buried him besides Indie, marked it with the stone from Iceland and put the bench Dad and I made beside him. Worried I wasn’t mindful enough, or went along with what others said instead of making the decision for myself. But the timing was right. I hope he understood how much I love him.
Po Boy ran away and I went to Detroit. Started a podcast with Sean and I’m loving that, haven’t felt super motivated at work otherwise.
Feeling happier than I have in a long time. Relationship, climbing gym, getting self-care dialed in. Worried about sales.
“To choose doubt as a philosophy for life is to choose immobility as a vehicle for transportation”
We lost a big client, Scott’s advice “have some arrogance,” don’t compete on speed and availability.
Spent a bunch of time reflecting on north star for the team, what am I uniquely good at, what do I most enjoy doing, what am I bad at, what do I dislike?

Looking back on my journal entries from the year I can see the ups and downs. One of the biggest lessons from this year was learning to view anger not as something to be ashamed of but as a warning sign that I need to adjust something in my life.

Values

Core values: Courage, Love, Creativity, Honesty, Beauty

I think it was a pretty courageous year. It was scary to put Duck down, to move to Detroit, to keep going at work. I don’t think there is anything I didn’t do this year out of fear that I wanted to or should have. Climbing has given me a very real way to exercise my courage on a regular basis.
Love was definitely present this year. Friends, relationship. I think I could talk to my college friends more, talk to my family more, and continue to get better at how I communicate in my relationship.
The only bit of honesty I’m struggling with is Krit, is it the right thing for me to continue building Krit? And I think that’s more of a situation where I don’t know.
I’m not sure beauty is right, maybe this should be balance. It was not a super balanced year. It feels like even with all the time spent with friends, this year was a lot about struggling at work.

Struggles

Turnover at Krit was really hard on me. I had to fire people for the first time this year, and we had a number of really talented people leave. It really ate away at me.
Dealing with the end of Duck's life.
Dealing with a client who refused to pay a significant amount of money, and with a slowdown in leads.

Accomplishments

I’m proud of my move to Detroit, and how much effort I’ve put into finding friends, hosting people, and getting to know the city.
I moved in with Maddy, and have put a lot of energy into our relationship.
I started the podcast with Sean, and we have put out 13 episodes with 580 downloads.
I moved us into cybersecurity officially, and rebuilt our leadgen. It’s still a work in progress, but we’re in a much better place than we were this summer.
I raised our rates significantly, raised salaries, and improved benefits. We hired 3 great people.

Learnings

I learned about the roles of an agency, and really started to think more about what it means to be a Principal through DCB.
We have begun the transition to an FTE/flat-fee pricing model
I learned to climb at a consistent V2 level, and climbed outside for the first time
I improved the way we set goals
I learned to recognize when I’m losing my temper frequently as a warning sign that something is wrong
I got a lot better about communicating my needs instead of reacting passive aggressively with Maddy
I learned that providing specific direction doesn’t limit people’s creativity. It gives them the bounds to discuss and challenge the way things are done.
I learned to identify which hat I need to be wearing for a given situation.

Questions

What will it take to make Krit a place where people want to stay?
Should we focus on making Krit a place where people want to stay?
How do I show up best in my relationship?
Do I want to continue being an entrepreneur?
Is security still the right field for us?

Moments of awe or wonder

Drummond - seeing the landscape, sailing with Wyatt, going back and forth from the sauna.
Lake Michigan - seeing the waves and the whole lake for the first time. Watching the sunset with our friends.
Food - Takoi, Supergeil, Mink, Momofuku.
Finding Po Boy.
Burying Duck.
Seeing the Texas hill country at golden hour.
Seeing Joe and Laura get married.
Looking out at the Red River Gorge from the top of that 5.9.

Goals, projects, and thoughts about 2022

Goals:

$150k per year in salary
Learn to lead climb
Host a dinner party
Go to London
Refine marketing process
Hire and train an account manager

Thoughts:

I want to be content with what I already have - my job, my girlfriend, my home, my life.
I want to reflect on where in the business I am at my best and my most fulfilled and find ways to lean into that.
I want to start a project with my sister.
I want to climb, and have adventures, and make time and space for things that aren’t for social media or for a blog or a business but are just for me and my community.
At the same time, I can’t shake the desire to start the newsletter back up and create a regular writing habit. No matter how many times I try and fail I keep finding myself daydreaming about writing.