How to End 2024 Successfully

My formula to close out 2024 and gear up for an unforgettable 2025.

Dec 24, 2024

Hot take: I think general ambition is a bad thing.

Definition of general ambition: ambition without direction.

It gives you the constant racing feeling with nowhere to race to.

Imagine spending your whole life trying to get to a destination, only to discover it wasn’t what you expected. That’d be rough!

That’s why I believe the ritual of annual planning is so valuable. It pushes you to reflect on the past year, answer tough questions, and create a plan to enter the new year prepared.

Over the past few years, inspired by the wisdom of those around me, I’ve come up with a simple formula to annual planning: 3 sections, 60 minutes, and minimal prep.

It’s helped me become more grounded, considerate, and purposeful, and I guarantee it’ll make you more prepared for the start of 2025.

Enjoy!

1. Your Most Meaningful Moments of 2024

Begin by looking back on the memorable moments that defined your year. Identify 8-12 major accomplishments, key decisions, or challenges you faced.

If you can’t think of any—your calendar, journal entries, or digital photo albums are usually the best places to scroll through to find these moments.

As you go through each moment, ask yourself:

Why is this moment so important?
Did anything surprise you?
What did you learn?

My first manager, Swap, shared this with me. He’s been doing it every year for the past decade. His reason? He felt life was moving too fast and wanted to take a moment to reflect and relive those memories to better appreciate them.

Some of mine from 2024:

Bought my parents a vacation to Europe. (Biggest purchase I’ve ever made)
Gave a keynote speech in front of 1,000+ people in a foreign country. (Never imagined I’d have the courage to do this)
Got screwed over by a vendor on one of my biggest projects of the year. Lost a lot of $. (A tough lesson learned… but this wisdom will serve me for life!)

These don’t always have to be positive moments. The last example I shared was a terrible, year-defining experience I never imagined I’d face.

After you’ve found your moments, move on to the next section.

Speaking in front of 1,000+ strangers in a foreign country

2. The Blender Test

The next step is the Blender Test, a mental exercise I took from Jesse Itzler, the entrepreneur who sold his private jet company to Warren Buffet.

How it works:

Take a moment to think about your meaningful moments in 2024—your work, relationships, financial state, family life, and health—and picture mixing them all in a blender.

Now, ask yourself, “How happy was I on a scale of 1 to 10?”

What I love about the Blender Test is that your mind instinctively pops out the 1-2 things holding you back from being a 10.

It could be that you didn’t spend enough time with your family, skipped pushing yourself at the gym, or went out partying too much. Whatever it is, it becomes immediately obvious what to focus on next year to raise your number.

Personally, I gave myself a 7. I’m happy with my career and relationships, but I worked way too much and neglected my physical and mental health.

Next year, I’ll create more work boundaries, hit the gym more consistently, eat healthier, and do more fun stuff on the weekends. That’ll help me reach a 10.

3. Mandates, Missions, and Moonshots

The last thing to do is to commit by setting clear goals. I recommend sorting them into three buckets: Mandates, Missions, and Moonshots.

Mandates are your must-dos—essential, non-negotiable actions like eating well, exercising, and reading.
Missions are challenging yet attainable targets that push the boundaries of your comfort zone, like increasing your income, losing weight, or speaking on a stage.
Moonshots are your big, audacious dreams—the ones that feel nearly impossible but might just happen. These could be selling your company, achieving your ideal job, or setting a record.

Each year, set 5 mandates, 3 missions, and 1 big moonshot.

Some of mine:
Mandates:
Read >12 books.
No phone use after 11 pm.
Take >6 days off per month.
Hit the gym >4 times a week.
Meet a new ambitious creative person every month.
Missions:
Visit Japan, Germany, and Eastern Europe again.
Increase my new company’s revenue by 50% yoy.
Double my audience following on LinkedIn, X, and email.
Moonshoots:
Be able to dunk.

Further Exploration

Now, if you absolutely geek out on this stuff and want to push your boundaries in 2025, see my suggestions below.

How I can help:

Book a 1-1 with me on Intro if you’d like to jam on all things tech careers, personal development, branding, and marketing.
The OOO (Owners, Operators, Outliers) Summit in NYC on May 16. An IRL event for Outliers - high-performing, ambitious, and curious individuals who want to do more with their careers. Get your ticket here.
(Experiment) Get monthly mentorship on Intro. I have two spots available with two people to join me for this pilot, which comes with unlimited access to async communications and bi-weekly calls

My top articles of 2024:

Further reading:

💼 Job Board

Job opportunities at companies in my network.

Head of Brand Marketing, Rho
Product Marketing Manager, Carry
Channel Partnerships Manager / Director of Customer Success, Sunset
Growth Hacker, Eve.ai
City Launcher, POSH
Head of Sales, Thera
SDR, Otis AI
Founding Growth Product Lead, Superpower
Have a job to share? Let me know by replying to this email.

👉 Btw, if you want to be part of our partner talent network, next play, and get curated job opportunities in your inbox, please sign up here.

💃 Community Perks

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🚴 Discounted Equinox membership in NYC. Reply here for a free trial and discounted membership.
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What other perks should I include? Let me know.

🖼️ Behind the Scenes

What a year—100+ events, 20,000+ attendees, 6 cities, and only four of us running the show!

Each person here (Jacob, Becca, Christy) is a pro at operations, people leadership, and getting things done. They kick ass, and I’m grateful for them.

Last week, we took time to celebrate with sushi, reflect on 2024, and kick off our planning for 2025.

In my next newsletter, I’ll unveil our plans for 2025 and give you an inside look at how 2024 came together. Don’t miss it 👀