I just had another birthday. Which I think is great. But it is easy to not think your birthday is great. When you are happy with your life, family, career, health and finances, birthdays can be enjoyable reminders that you are doing well. Because you are where you thought you would be at your stage of life. And not living in a van down by the river.
However, the opposite is also true. When you reach your birthday, but feel that you are not where you expected to be at your age, it can make you feel like you are behind the pace you set for yourself. And the farther off pace you feel you are, the more likely it is to affect your happiness.
A great exercise to do when you feel off pace is an honest self-evaluation. This helps you identify where you are feeling short of your expectations, which gives you an area to focus on for greater happiness and accomplishment.
The other benefit of the self-evaluation is that it often highlights all the things that are going well in your world. This can help you shift your focus from your shortcomings to your longcomings. (I don’t think I will use that parallel phrasing again.)
Despite the fact that I am feeling good about my life right now, I find the annual self-evaluation valuable. It serves as a reminder of the good in my life. And it highlights areas for growth and improvement and helps me prioritize experiences and actions that I identify as important. Remember, what is important to you is both highly personal and fluid. Like your blood, sweat and tears. So your list can change significantly from year to year. Just like your hairstyle or the style of your fashionable jeans.
So without any more color commentary, here’s Adam’s Annual Self-Evaluation 2025.
Doing Well
- I am happy.
- I smile a lot (Smiling’s my favorite.)
- I am very happy in my marriage.
- I have a good relationship with my 3 kids.
- I enjoy my work.
- I have seen my doctor and my dentist in the past year. (And I play Doctor My Eyes by Jackson Browne as my appointment walkup music.)
- My health labs and screenings are all up to date and in the right zones.
- I continue to both develop and maintain good relationships .
- I seek out a lot of knowledge and self-improvement.
- I believe in myself (Someone has to.)
- I gather people (Kinda like Noah, but without the ark and the imminent doom.)
- I read dozens of books each year.
- I talk to my parents regularly.
- I believe in my ability to improve.
- I exercise regularly.
- I feel strong for my advanced age.
- I have relatively good endurance. (but not for long boring meetings)
- I don’t drink or do drugs. (But I understand why others do. #raisingteenagers)
- I have hobbies and activities I enjoy.
- I have added to my investments in the past year.
- I vote regularly. (Typically for Pedro)
- I travel regularly.
- The Weaponry is healthy with a great outlook.
- My speaking opportunities are exciting.
- I have prioritized my annual guys trip for several years now, making it a real thing.
- I typically get good sleep.
- I volunteer a lot of my time.
- I am sharing my knowledge with youth.
- I think I am pretty good at admitting when I am wrong.
Want To Do Better
- Be more patient and tolerant.
- Be a better Christian. (And a better Adam.)
- Less time on my phone.
- Be more present. (Because the present is a present.)
- Follow through on all the things I say I will do.
- Get better at giving gifts.
- I want to drop below my snoring weight. (I’m about 5 pounds over my snore-free weight now.)
- Get in better shape (But I still want to be human-shaped.)
- Think bigger.
- Create a better system for giving to charities and other worthy causes.
Things I have done.
- Started a business (The Weaponry LLC. This was on my Life List when I turned 40.)
- Wrote a book (What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? This was on my Life List when I turned 40.)
- Created a blog (AdamAlbrecht.Blog) (I tried starting a blog 6 times before it finally took.)
- Created a newsletter (Adam’s Good Newsletter) (This was on my life list last year. Now there are 16 issues.)
- Traveled extensively across America (49 Countries and Puerto Rico – no Hawaii by the time I turned 5-0.)
- Traveled to 6 countries in Europe
- Traveled to India and Argentina
- Been married for 22+ years
- Own a home
- Paid off my cars
- Coached Track & Field at a proficient level
- Coached youth football
- Helped kids improve their skills and confidence
- Made people smile and laugh. (I don’t know if they were laughing with me or at me, but I’ll take it.)
- Found a great wife (Yes, it is you, Dawn!)
- Created and partially raised 3 pretty great kids
- I have ridden a snowmobile 113 mph
- I have bounced back from failure. (And I am still bouncing.)
- I have volunteered for hard jobs when I knew I was the best person for the job
- Donated blood regularly (Which I had never done until COVID. This was on my list of things I regretted never having done when I turned 40. Now I give regularly, which is proof that this evaluation helps. And that I have blood.)
Things I haven’t done yet that I really want to do.
- Write more books.
- Give a commencement address.
- Travel to East Asia.
- Travel to Africa (And bless the rains, like Toto.)
- Travel to Australia & New Zealand.
- Travel to Italy and Norway.
- Rim-to-rim hike of the Grand Canyon. (While drinking Brim)
- Walk a marathon.
- Attend a Super Bowl, The Grammys and The Oscars.
- Become proficient at an instrument. (Preferably a musical instrument.)
- Become reasonably fluent in another language.
- Do everything I say I will do.
- Own enough rental properties to support my retirement.
- Hike to Havasu Falls.
- Create a self-sustaining business that doesn’t need me anymore.
- Go hunting. (Like Good Will)
- Create my own highly successful brand.
- Become embarrassingly rich.
- Go skydiving (I’m waiting for that sweet spot when my dependents don’t depend on me anymore, but I’m still not wearing Depends.)
Key Takeaway
To create the life you want, give yourself an annual self-evaluation. Focus on the positive. Note your accomplishments and what is going well. Then consider areas of improvement, experiences, actions, and accomplishments that would be meaningful to you. Identify them. Prioritize them. And deadline them. It’s the best way to do more of the things you value in the year ahead.
*If you know someone who could benefit from this message, please share it with them.
+For more of the best life lessons I have learned check out my book, What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? from Ripples Media.
Adam Albrecht Blog 