Year in Review 2024
What made me a better culture-making this year? Here are some of the most memorable things I learned, enjoyed or came across in 2024.
1. Constraining Your Curiosity - I learned about this from Jack Butcher from his interview with David Perrell. Even though I learned this in 2023, I found myself implementing it in 2024.
Jack Butcher
2. Start a business is all about serving a community and finding the gap where you can help.
3. “We do not rise to the level of our goals. We fall to the level of our systems.” (James Clear)
4. Five lessons from Space X launches.
PJ Milani
6. Creator flywheels.
7. Take my health more seriously as I get closer to 40.
8. Viewing life as series of projects rather than different jobs: Seth Godin 40 years of projects.
9. Thinking about death. Lost someone close and people I love are getting more sick. Wisdom comes from thinking about it.
10. 1 Year of Chat GPT. 2024 was my first full year of using ChatGPT and other AI tools more intentionally. Here were some takeaways.
11. Learned a new rhythm this year: how to work from home more.
12. Dad Awesome - The Intentional 40. Jeff Zaugg, host of the Dad Awesome podcast, shares this idea of 40 different experiences to mark turning 40.
13. Screwtape on prayer: "Of course, at the precise moment of terror, bereavement, or physical pain, you may catch your man when his reason is temporarily suspended. But even then, if he applies to Enemy headquarters, I have found that the post is nearly always defended."
14. Tim Keller's parenting advice. This talk was fantastic. Keller cites a specific study finding: Kids who believed their parents understood the real world and understood what they, as kids, were going through were much more likely to follow their parents beliefs.
15. So many warnings and illustrations about Christians fighting and quarreling.
16. Memorable reads: Power of Moments. Art and Lit. (Seerveld). Show Your Work. Love and Logic Parenting. The War of Art. The Abolition of Man (C.S. Lewis). The Four Loves (C.S. Lewis).
17. Enjoy AI as play. Photoshop’s generative fill feature. I took Kevin Kelly’s advise and have enjoyed it as an assistant.
18. Biz resources: Seth Godin, Chris Do, Kit, Daniel Priestly, friends.
20. Learning about the “creator economy”
21. Show Your Work by Austin Kleon
22. Kevin Kelly’s 1,000 True Fans
23. Rumination - perpetuating depression by dwelling on sorrows. (Joe Rogan, Abigail Shrier)
24. How to be thankful (How to remember the Lord).
25. Review your corpus.
26. The power of converting my goals into SMART goals.
27. In today’s world, people are not aiming to be good, they’re aiming to be true to themselves. The focus of life is to find it, not give it. But the key apologetic for today is this: life is found in giving it up (Steve Leston). This is similar to a lot of what Tim Keller talked about.
28. Paul Miller- asking, “where is Jesus?” Miller says you can find him in the hiddenness of the world. Look for humility, lowliness, apologies, cheerfulness, forgiveness, integrity, obedience, etc.
29. Jon Tyson’s advise on how to give life to your wife.
30. I read “The Intentional Father” in 2023 but have felt the impact already in 2024.
31. What setting goals is like…
32. Daniel Priestley on discovering value: something others perceive as valuable, something I enjoy doing, and something commercially viable.
33. Permission Marketing concepts from Seth Godin.
34. Unleashing the Ideavirus ideas also from Seth Godin. 1) Consumer wins status for sharing + 2) Recipient benefits because the idea changing their life + 3) Creator wins.
35. To solidify family identity, create mascots for each family member.
36. More Seth Godin goodness: when making a product, fill this out: My product is for ___________. I will focus on people who want _____________. And I promise that engaging with what I make will help you get ____________.
37. Donald Miller’s Storybrand Storyscript.
38. Gary Vee on if your family died next week.
39. “We have trained them to think of the Future as a promised land which favoured heroes attain—not as something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minustes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.” Put in my own words: The future is the result of who I am and what I choose to do in the next 60 minutes (Screwtape, 139)
40. The Japanese concept of Ikigai - Finding your life and worth.
41. Sketching out a personal brand.
42. Finishing a 1,000 piece Van Gogh puzzle (that we’d had rolled up for nearly ten years).
43. Learning how to use Notion.
44. Learning website, Etsy, Patreon, Shopify, DBA taxes.
45. The mission is the point.
46. I boiled down my advise for songwriting.
47. The power of the bee as a symbol.
48. Why Yellow Ochre is a fitting title I am using.
49. What is the mission of learning a thing?
50. Releasing Off the Bench: 33 Ways artists interface with God’s mission.
51. C.S. Lewis on four types of humor.
52. Ted Lasso and mental health.
53. Raising kids is like nurturing pecans, not strawberries.
54. Considering the Christian life: From Eustace to Useful.
55. The most convincing reason for sketchbooking I’ve ever come across. Just last week, I started doing a daily illustration.
56. I learned that complaining is a symptom. My job is to discover and address the root of the complaints.
57. Discover your Family ID and the Incredible Parent assessments.
58. Derek Sivers book notes.
59. My wife and I loved this cooking show 24 in 24: The Last Chef Standing. We’ve also enjoyed watching The Good Doctor this year.
60. The Psalms took most of my Bible intake this year. I leaned into Spurgeon, Boice, and Wilson for supplemental devotional reading.
61. Using Notion for notekeeping.
62. Getting an espresso machine (my wife found a killer deal on Burlington’s, wh-what). We’re still klunky, but enjoying homemade lattes.
63. Embracing the good friendships in life.
64. Refreshing staff retreat.
65. Enjoying our “lasts” as a family living in South Texas before moving up north.
66. Had lots of great conversations with friends from our church about the Sabbath, family culture building, multi-generational investments. Took some notes from Jewish Shabbot for creating a system for the week/weekend.
67. The ESV Psalms journal has been wonderful to use.
68. This talk by Patreon found, Jack Conte, on the future of creativity on the web.
69. Found comfort having the system of working out rather than the goal.
70. Committed to my first marathon in 2025 with some good friends.
71. Streaming jazz music in the background at home (our family likes the Disney jazz playlists).
72. I jumped on the Friends bandwagon way late in life. It was sometime this year or last year my wife and I finished the series.
73. Clarified my personal mission: I love making resources. But I love even more making useful resources.
74. I’ve been building a small collection of written books—each in various stages of completion. One book on 2 Corinthians and mission helpers is in the final edit phase. One book is a series of parenting reflections on Deuteronomy. Another is a collection of observations and takeaways from my journey in the Young, Restless, and Reformed movement.
75. Around this time last year, our daughters created their own little farmer-market business: Sea Shell Sisters.
76. I made and gave away some surprise paintings to friends and family.
77. I create a whole bunch of designs to test the waters of print on demand.
78. Read through A Praying Life…again.
79. Last, but certainly not least, my wife and I celebrated 10 years of marriage this last year!
