40 For 40: The Recap

During the first 40 days of 2022, the 40 days leading up to my 40th birthday, I wrote out a lesson learned in each of the years of my life. It was an exhausting process and one that I am very happy to have completed. The through line that I started to see by the end was enlightening and I hope it inspires more of what I write in the future.

Here are 40 summaries of the 40 blog posts for your consideration.

1/40 - Where you fall in the birth order of your family matters. I am really glad I was the firstborn  https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/birth-order/

2/40 - Understanding what maps of the world we are given by our parents is important in order for us to eventually chart our own course https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/maps-of-the-world/

3/40 - Growing up a big brother with three younger siblings impacts how I see myself in the world and the responsibilities I assume https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/big-for-with-others/

4/40 - I was born in Omaha but my family moved to Dallas when I was 3 years old. That move and subsequent ones later in life made a huge difference in my trajectory https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/4-40-geography-matters/

5/40 - Two of the greatest gifts my parents ever gave me were an overdeveloped sense of self-esteem and a vivid imagination. https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/5-40/

6/40 - Running a lemonade stand is the gateway drug of entrepreneurship https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/make-lemonade/

7/40 - People do what they are incentivized to do. I started my first bank account with $100 that I’d earned a nickel at a time https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/nickel/

8/40 - I won my first invention contest in 1st grade. In hindsight, I used the same model to win that I use now when investing in startups https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/inventing/

9/40 - I grew up going all-in on the institutions of the idyllic American dream and later realized how our institutions are no longer relevant to making your way in the world https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/institutions/

10/40 - I was a sensitive kid. My Dad used to always say, “if you’re crying it means you haven’t lost touch with your heart. I still think that is true https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/cry-if-i-want-to/

11/40 - I feel bad for people who grew up without a hometown team to cheer for. I am thankful my parents went all in our family being @rangers fans https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/home-team/

12/30 - Composability and adaptability are two of the most important concepts in being a part of making the future. I grew up playing with @Legos, so I got a head start https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/piece-by-piece/

13/40 - I met my friend Josh when I was in 5th grade. 15 years later he hired me to lead Biz Dev for Gowalla and launched my career in tech. Don’t lose touch with people https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/staying-in-touch/

14/40 - I worked with Grandpa on his farm in Iowa during harvest one year. He thought I was just a city kid, but I earned his respect a couple of times that week https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/city-kid/

15/40 - If you read the rules, they tell you how to gain an advantage in the game by telling you where the line between playing aggressively is and cheating. Find that line and dance on it https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/read-the-rules/

16/40 - I tricked my parents into homeschooling me starting in 6th grade. It was one of the best decisions ever. Here are the four reasons I loved being homeschooled https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/home-schooled/

17/40 - It took a cute girl complimenting me to make a major change in how I looked going into high school. What part of my identity do I still hold onto longer than necessary? https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/identity/

18/40 - I started saving for my truck when I was 14 and paid cash for it when I turned 16. Here are the 5 reasons it was one of the best purchases of my life https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/freedom/

19/40 - A book I read in high school messed me up and  fed into the “purity culture” that took me decades to recover from in my relationships and understanding of sex and attraction https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/goodbye/

20/40 - When I wanted to learn something that my parents didn’t know how to teach me, they arranged for their friends who did know how to do it to teach me https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/outsourced/

21/40 - I almost didn't go to college because the company I ran in high school was making over $30k a year. Three people came into my life just at the right time to make sure I joined the @aggienetwork and continued my learning https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/never-stop/

22/40 - As a homeschooled kid now attending a 48,000 student university, there was one moment and one question that upgraded my whole college experience https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/unlock-the-future/

23/40 - My landlord my senior year in college used to train the FBI and CEOs on how to profile people on first impressions. He taught me and it been my secret skill that helped me achieve a lot of success in my sales career https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/profiling/

24/40 - A backhanded compliment from my accounting professor changed my career trajectory entirely. It was the nicest mean thing anyone has ever said to me https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/ships-not-beans/

25/40 - I was a professional bus driver in college. One of the legends of the bus barn gave me some amazing advice for my time as a bus driver that I’ve also used throughout my career https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/dont-smile-until-halloween/

26/40 - I became the #1 life insurance salesman in the country amongst my peers my first year out of college. I did it by only focusing on one thing https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/own-what-you-control/

27/40 - My first boss gave me some advice that I realized later, after my car got repossessed, was some of the worst advice I’ve ever received. https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/worst-advice-ever/

28/40 - My first executive coach told me to dream smaller. His “advice” helped me realize that I was in the wrong career and thinking too small https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/dream-smaller/

29/40 - Leaving my first job and moving in with my girlfriend of five years shattered people’s perception of me. It caused me to lose relationships with a lot of friends and some family and showed me the difference between pseudocommunity and true community https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/breaking-bad/

30/40 - When I sold private jets, my clients taught me that the truest definition of wealth is the person with the most options. Increasing your optionality is increasing your wealth https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/optionality-is-wealth/

31/40 - The longest romantic relationship I have been in is now 12 years. New York City teased me for a long time before I finally updated our relationship status to Official in 2010 https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/my-love-affair-with-nyc/

32/40 - Over the years, I’ve bootstrapped my network around the world through three franchises: #CoolKids #GoodPeopleGreatDinner #GentlemensDinner - Here’s how https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/networking-franchises/

33/40 - I lived on Hustle Standard Time for almost a decade. #HST eventually got the best of me, but I believe that balance is something that we achieve on our way out of it and that season was worth it in the end https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/hustle-standard-time/

34/40 - This was the hardest year of my life. There has never been more sadness and heartache all at the same time but when my world shattered, I was able to see how beautiful the pieces were as I picked each of them up and rebuilt https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/how-quickly-things-change/

35/40 - With my world in disarray, there was room for new things to emerge and I discovered the 2nd best way to wake up https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/the-second-best-way-to-wake-up/

36/40 - I’ve wanted to be a dad my whole life. With the tragedy of the prior year, I was in danger of being an old dad and I moved quickly to fix that instead of coming to terms with that deep-rooted narrative that was no longer available to me https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/afraid-of-being-an-old-dad/

37/40 - I helped start an entrepreneurship academy and had over 1,400 students from 49 different countries join us. I discovered the rarest gems of humans in this world of untapped geniuses and know the rest of my life will continue to be built around this theme https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/untapped-genius/

38/40 - When the church turned its back on me, I walked away from God. It took a decade for me to acknowledge I wanted my faith to have a bigger part in my life again, but I am still searching for exactly what that means for me https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/prodigal-son-vibes/

39/40 - After almost two decades of pushing things to the limit, including relationships, finances, and my health, it took a global pandemic to ground me and learn how to sit still. https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/39-40-learning-to-sit-still/

40/40 - Working with my executive coach and my therapist, I’ve been able to recover from past traumas, silence my inner critic more frequently, remove old stories, and update my map. I am still a work in progress, but I think I am finally finding my voice https://www.makeroom.fm/blog/finding-my-voice/

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