KAIZEN CH.91 - Lessons from 2024 and Looking onwards to 2025

A (kinda late, but better than never) yearly review

Hey friend 👋,

Welcome to the 91st edition of the Kaizen Newsletter ⛩.

I thought that last year was my newsletter return, but that didn’t happen. As I reflected a bit more, I didn’t want to transform my personal newsletter to a full fledged crypto newsletter and instead decided this to keep it as it always was: thoughts, musings and ideas on a plethora of random subjects that I like :). I’m unsure how regular I will be sending these emails, so if they annoy you, feel free to subscribe. Promise no hard feelings.

Now, on to the newsletter.

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Every December, my Twitter timeline gets filled with yearly review templates. And every year, I save a bunch of them thinking “This is the year I’ll finally do a proper review.” But let's be honest – I usually procrastinate until it's late January or February, and by then I'm like "who even wants to read this anymore?"

I’m still late on actually publishing it (since I’m writing it now), but I at least finished my yearly review on time. I completed my 2024 review using Year Compass(shoutout to Michelle who created an online version and made it easier to fill). What made this template work for me? Simple – I didn't have to deal with copying templates or setting up a bunch of Notion pages. I could just open it and start writing.

Here are my biggest lessons from 2024:

1. You Underestimate What You Accomplished in a Year

Before starting this review, I thought my 2024 sucked. Mainly because I didn’t accomplish much on the creative side. Writing and working on my personal projects are super important to me, and I barely touched them this year. But when I actually sat down to review the year, I realized I did way more than I thought:

• Had a baby (Isabella) which completely changed me as a person

• Got closer to my family and strengthened those bonds

• Got my first promotion in 10 years of working

• Maintained a consistent gym habit for the first time in forever

Writing down these bullet points made me realize that I’ve been judging my year through the lens of my Twitter bubble, where “productivity” only counts if you’re building products or creating content.

This review helped me zoom out and see that growth happens in many areas of life - whether that's becoming a parent, strengthening relationships, advancing professionally, or building lasting habits. All of these matter just as much as creative output.

2. The true power of Atomic Habits

Atomic Habits was one of the first non-fiction books to truly mark me, but 2024 was the first year where I think I truly understood it and put it to practice.

Showing up consistently for months, even for a “mediocre” workout, is better than doing a “hard” workout for a week and then stopping.

Instead of beating myself up for only hitting the gym once when I planned for three times, or only doing one exercise instead of my full routine, I learned to celebrate showing up at all.

It was because I finally accepted that doing something small consistently is better than waiting for perfect conditions to do the hard things you planned. And that over a year, all of those small sessions compound together and allow you to truly build that habit of yours.

3. Design your goals for the worse version of yourself

Although this next lesson is very tied to building habits and consistency, it made my goal setting easier and deserves its own separate lesson.

When designing goals, we often set predetermined numbers like "gym 3x/week, 3 sets of 10 squats." But often times, this hindered me — if I knew I couldn't do the full workout or hit all three days (like during client visits), I'd just skip the gym entirely.

That's when I learned to design systems for both my best and laziest self. Instead of fixed numbers, I had a range. My gym goal became "at least once a week, ideally three times" and workouts became "minimum one exercise, ideally full routine."

This prevented the mental block of “Oh I wont’ be able to achieve my goal, so I guess I just won’t do it at all.”

On good days, I can push for more, but on harder days, I have a bare minimum to keep the habit alive. That's how I finally hit my gym goals – by planning for both versions of myself.

4. Family Changes Everything

I’m not sure if this is really a lesson, but I had to include the fact that this year was the year I became a Dad to my daughter Isabella and it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.

If I’m being honest, I was not ready at all for this change to happen and even dreading it a bit. But all of my fears disappeared the moment I saw her (I know cliché, but true!)

Not only did my daily life change, but my whole worldview changed. Things I used to obsess over suddenly felt less important as I embraced being a “Dad.”

Becoming a Dad also made me realize how important family and friends are and that’s why I can’t wait to come back to Montreal so Isabella can grow up close to family and friends.

5. Creative Work is Core to Who I Am

Even though I realized I did accomplish a lot this year, it also validated that creative work is more than just a hobby — it’s part of my identity.

And this realization is driving a lot of my focus for 2025.

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Looking Forward to 2025

Here are all of my goals for 2025:

Creative Work

• Publishing 26 pieces of 700+ words (newsletter or articles)

• One tweet a day to build my Twitter presence

Physical and Mental Health

• 130 workouts by EOY (averaging 2.5 per week)

• Weekly walks for mental clarity

• Reading 3 books

• Meditating 52 times

Family

• Organizing 3 cousin gatherings

• Have 12 calls with my NHS

• Planning 12 proper date nights with Nancy

• Go on two big weekend trips with Nancy and Isabella

Career

• Finding work that excites me while allowing time for creative pursuits

• Leveraging AI to be more efficient in my day job

In previous years, I would mainly set “creative” goals for myself, like writing more, building projects or putting out content.

So I guess it’s not a surprise that I felt like 2024 was a “failure” since I barely touched any of those. But doing this year’s review made me realize how important it is to set goals across every part of my life.

Which is why for 2025, I decided to write add family goals and physical/mental health goals as well.

But beyond these specific goals, my ultimate focus for 2025 is simple: I want to take action.

I’ve always been that person who excels at planning and coming up with ideas, but struggles with execution. I’ll spend hours planning the perfect system or strategy, only to never start. But this year, I just want to do it. The specific activity matters less than the act of doing itself.

This mindshift shift is important because I know myself - I love novelty. One week I’m all about newsletters, then the next day I want to start a YouTube channel, and then I’m researching how OBS works so I can stream. But instead of seeing this as a weakness, I’m embracing it. As long as I’m taking action and creating something, the medium doesn’t matter.

I've spent enough time thinking and planning – now it's time to execute. Whether it's writing, building relationships, or creating something new, this year is about doing rather than just dreaming.

This mindset shift is especially important because I know myself - I'm a novelty chaser. One week I'm all about newsletters, then suddenly I want to start a YouTube channel, and next thing you know I'm researching how to stream. But instead of seeing this as a weakness like I used to, I'm embracing it. As long as I'm taking action and creating something, the medium doesn't matter.

I've spent enough time in my head planning the perfect move - 2025 is about making imperfect progress. Whether that's through writing, strengthening family bonds, or creating something completely new, this year is about doing rather than just dreaming.