2022 Lessons Learned!
This week at BuildWitt…
To conclude 2022, I wrote a lengthy newsletter about my achievements. I meant it from an honest perspective, but then I realized it's entirely a flex. For those unfamiliar with the term "flex," here's a high-quality definition from Urban Dictionary:
Showing off your valuables in a non-humble way.
Man 1: *drops wallet* looks like my two bands fell out of my wallet.
Man 2: don't be flexing on me like that.
I visited four continents to tell stories, ran a 100-mile race and the Boston Marathon, raised millions from Dirt World leaders to grow BuildWitt Training (150+ contractors investing in their people with our 1,000+ lessons), and spoke to ballrooms of people from Texas to Maryland.
I love a good flex. I'm in my 20s and am incredibly insecure, thanks to being lapped by others my entire way through school. I'm writing this overlooking the ocean in Tasmania as the US is freezing. Of course I want my ex-girlfriends to know…
But in reality, no one cares. You're not here to read about how great a kid from Scottsdale is… You're here for entertainment, education, or inspiration.
To provide you with what I hope to be all three, here are my 2022 lessons learned in no particular order:
Time to think is critical
2022 was my first year using quarterly "think weeks." I scheduled a week each quarter to visit somewhere I love (twice to Savannah and once to Carbondale, CO) by myself to walk, write, and think. I keep a running list of bigger-picture items I'd like to think or write about throughout the months leading up to each week. For example… My most recent speech was born in Savannah. Without the noise of life, I can create different ways.
The conditions are irrelevant. Consistency wins
I've read, written, and exercised every day this year. I made it happen regardless of my exhaustion, the weather, or where I was. There are obvious benefits, but the biggest is the conditioning of my mind to do what I must, irrespective of conditions. This principle has followed me in business and life.
Growth is expensive (a tale as old as time...)
We doubled our team in the first three months of 2022. We landed $10MM in investment at the end of 2022 and let it loose to develop a training platform for the Dirt World. By all traditional metrics, it's a "success" for a product only eight months old—thousands of people have completed tens of thousands of lessons worldwide.
But the "success" wasn't enough. We (ultimately, me, thanks to my inexperience) overestimated the results we could achieve and overbuilt our team. As a result, we let a few great people go to adjust for 2023. In hindsight, we should've only hired the people we needed and then grew depending on sales.
As Jim Collins says, bullets then cannonballs.
Focus on the next aid station
After failing to complete my first 100-mile race in 2021, this year's Hennepin 100 was redemption. I talked my friend Benjamin into accompanying me on the adventure, and we sent it.
Of the countless lessons I learned over our 22-hour fun run, the concept of aid stations is the most compelling. Throughout the course, there were aid stations every 4-7 miles with water, snacks, and even pancakes!
If at mile 75, when I was in a dark place, I'd thought about the marathon I had left, I would've quit. Instead, I only focused on the next aid station, similar to my daily run.
Following my experience, I've sought to break as much of my life down into aid stations.
There's no hiding under pressure
I attended a 3-day trek through the mountains of North Carolina in March led by a formal SEAL (Chadd Wright). In short, it was an enormous slice of humble pie.
The wilderness and course stripped me of my crutches and showed me where I was weak... It was all about me, and I wasn't nearly the leader I thought I was.
When the opportunity for a second mission with Chadd presented itself, I took it without hesitation. Thanks to my previous no-nonsense assessment, I served the team, not myself, bringing me absolute joy.
International travel is a remarkable teacher
Growing up, I didn't travel outside of the country much, and I don't naturally enjoy travel. If I had my way, I'd live under a rock.
When I began BuildWitt, I traveled across the US because it was accessible and affordable. But our footprint's dramatically grown, and this year I had the opportunity to visit Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Australia, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and France… AKA the Dirt WORLD.
Traveling abroad for work is incredibly rich because it's a total immersion in the culture. I'm not there to see the sights—I'm there to capture those who work and build there. While not always comfortable, I wouldn't want it any other way.
America's only 5% of the world's population… The world's a big place, and the more I see, the better human I can be.
Stay on the path
This year has worn me out like no other. With the pressure of our growth, raising investment, and non-stop travel, I must've written the following in my notebook a hundred times: "stay on the path."
2022 was the first year I knew I was on "the path" for me. This Abraham Maslow quote describes what I mean:
"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be."
While all of my adult years I've felt caught up in what others are doing, this year I've found peace knowing I'm the musician making music; only my music is telling Dirt World stories.
However, people confuse this for a blissful feeling, which, at least for me, it's not. The further I walk down the path, the more resistance I feel, the more exhaustion creeps in, and the more I want to stop.
But I can't. I must stay on the path, for it's the only one for me.
Family time
I've found more value and enjoyment in family time with my mom, brother, and sister than ever. I spent one-on-one time traveling with all three of them in different ways.
I've deeply appreciated each moment and have checked my desires in favor of theirs.
I'm not proud to say this, but I've dreaded most family time as an adult. Our family fractured after my parent's divorce when I was about twelve, and the following commotion pushed me into self-preservation mode.
Self-preservation = me before others. Thank god I began to crack the pattern about a year ago and since then, I've never enjoyed spending time with my family so much.
Social media is a beautiful tool
Despite nearly everyone taking part in social media, it's often cursed.
For most, it's a means of consuming time. While I waste hours looking at dumb videos myself, I've positioned it mainly as a tool.
I've formed friendships with people worldwide, hired remarkably talented humans, and sold my vision for a better Dirt World to highly-accomplished investors thanks to my stupid posts on Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube.
None of these relationships would exist had I not started sharing photos of bulldozers online in 2017, and I couldn't imagine my life without them.
Question everything
For me, COVID was Scooby-Doo and the gang pulling off the bad guy's mask to reveal his true identity. Meddling kids…
I've lived my life assuming all the systems of modern society — government, healthcare, education, military—are pure and dedicated to the common good. But 2020 and the subsequent years have proven otherwise.
I've questioned more than ever, and I'm glad I have.
As Andy Frisella preaches, personal excellence is the ultimate rebellion. If I can remove myself from the establishment by being healthy, educated, and financially stable, that's one step closer to the current remarkably corrupt system failing.
No business is worth a thing without people
My greatest fear is failing BuildWitt's people by not caring for them enough.
I believe the solution for the Dirt World's workforce challenge is more care, but I can't dare preach that to others without practicing it first.
The immense weight of growing BuildWitt has pulled me from many of the things that got us here—thinking through our values, shaping our culture, and developing our people.
Have I done everything I can for our people this year? In many ways, yes, but in others, no, and that hurts to write.
Maybe falling short indicates I'm moving in the right direction, but I know I can do better in 2023. If it weren't for our people, we'd have nothing.
I'm not learning fast enough if my ideas aren't constantly changing
This year, I spoke to crowds in Texas, Arizona, Maryland, Indiana, Colorado, Utah, and Montana, but I never gave the same talk twice.
This isn't because I'm a brilliant orator or hard worker. It's because my ideas and views changed so damn fast.
I'm not afraid to be wrong. When I present my thoughts, it's my best guess at the moment. But as I meet new people, visit new places, and reflect on new ideas, what I believe changes.
I disagree with many of the things I presented as this year began; if I didn't, I'd be failing myself and those I speak to going forward.
If you made it this far, I'm sorry you have nothing better to do, and thanks for following along this year! What's to come next year? You guessed it… More dirt.
Vlog
In this episode of the Germany Series, Chase and I explored the depths of a potash mine where potassium is extracted to be used as fertilizer. (I mistakenly refer to it as a salt mine throughout the duration of the video. SILLY ME!) #mining #construction #germany
I’ll see you next week!
