Looking Back on 2014

Happy new year, everyone! 2015 is officially here. What a year it'll be.

Here's some of my personal highlights from the year:

Big Milestones and Successes:

• Launched the Agile Product Design program at CCEW, and led the first team of interns (Levate was the product we invented, in case you're curious).
• Planned and organized the 2014 Social Entrepreneurship Symposium at OU, and hosted Paul Polak, a personal hero of mine
• Finished the OKC Marathon, as well the the July 4th OKC GoRuck Challenge 
• Graduated from the OU Summer Accelerator with Levate
• Quit my job to work full time on Levate
• Became a certified Black Belt in Extreme Manufacturing in a workshop with Joe Justice in Seattle. Met Steve Pavlina (another personal hero of mine) at his Lifestyle Design workshop in Las Vegas.
• One sister got married and another got engaged
• Did a 5 day hike on Inca Trails to Machu Picchu with the family. Special shout-out to my Dad for organizing the trip!
• Ran two workshops abroad, in Lima, Peru, and thus made my first income as an entrepreneur.

Biggest failures:

• Levate still has no funding. We did not anticipate it would take this long, and the frustrating part for us is that a lot of what we're doing right now is waiting on other people.
• The Levate Kickstarter was unsuccessful.
• Injured myself in the Marathon. Will probably have to have a minor surgery on my knee to fix part of the damage.
• My friend Eric Morrow and I tried, and nearly succeeded, to get a pilot language immersion dorm up and running at OU. We got shut down for not getting permission first.
• I tried to design my first "muse" (low input income generating business that frees you up to focus on non-income generating activities) and failed. Looking forward to trying a new idea though!

Favorite Moments:

• Spending both Solstices around bonfires with the family in Prague, Oklahoma
• Hanging out with my sister, her fiancee, and my Dad in the Lima airport before they headed home
• Reconnecting with old friends and making new ones
• Right after we made our first successful funding pitch. Ethan and I were in Tulsa, and were stunned and excited. It was like a jolt of electricity in our nerves. While Ethan drove us home from Tulsa, I sat in the passenger seat and typed out the letter of intent we would send to our investor, reading out loud to get feedback from Ethan.
• 1 Million Cups presentation with Ethan in Tulsa. We work well together, and presentations are no exception. The people at 1MC are wonderful and very helpful and we had a great time giving the talk.
• Getting up at 4am on a clear, crisp night to watch a lunar eclipse
• Camping in Turner Falls and getting righteously drunk around a campfire with my friend Michael
• Seeing the awesome response from students to our the immersion dorm Eric and I tried to set up.
• Starting this blog. My favorite article? This one.
• Exploring Las Vegas with new friends at the Lifestyle Design Workshop
• Dancing with the family and DJ'ing at my sister's wedding
• Auditing the class on Italian Literature. In particular, the class on Dante's Inferno was spectacular. Restored my faith in Universities.
• Friday morning breakfasts every other week with the accelerator crew.
• When the Cadre of my Goruck challenge gave us our patches for finishing.
• Spending 2 days camping in the woods by myself from December 29th-31st. It was a great way to reflect and prepare for the new year!

Favorite Books from 2014:

• A Pattern Language and A Timeless Way of Building. Changed the way I thought, and about much more than architecture and design.
• The Alabaster Girl. I will forever divide my life into before, and after reading this book.
• Four Hour Work Week and Four Hour Chef. In the words of my friend Eric, "it's a game-changer". Read it. Let it change your life.
• Microadventures and Access all Areas. Life on your own terms.
• The Art of Possibility: Very inspiring. Parts of it made me cry. Shout-out to Helene Hipp, who gifted it to me!
• Little Bets. I debated on putting this on the list versus Nail it Then Scale it. In the end, I went with Little Bets because it shows how to take the agile entrepreneurial mind-set and apply it across fields as diverse as architecture, comedy, animated films, and of course business.
• Secrets of Power Negotiators. This book tells you why to negotiate, and how to do it well. So do yourself a favor and learn how to ask for what you want in life!
• Log From the Sea of Cortes. Renewed my desire to visit Baja California, and Steinbeck's portrait of Ed Ricketts is moving.

Favorite Movies I saw in 2014 (not necessarily released in 2014... I'm waaay behind on most things popular culture)

• Interstellar
• The Secret life of Walter Mitty
• The Grand Budapest hotel
• Amelie
• Cloud Atlas
• Django Unchained
• The Watchmen

Here's to an awesome 2015!