I love reading year reviews of the people I admire, and so I stole their ideas by sharing my year with you. I hope you gain insight from my failures and successes in 2017. What I learned and what I failed to change.Greatest Investment:CoachingCoaching has changed my life from being a victim of my circumstances to being a proactive person in all areas of my life. I love to coach and I love being coached. I had so many breakthroughs in my fears and doubts in 2017. My coach(es) help me get to where I want to go faster. I will never be without a coach.Specific breakthroughs:You need to commit to ONE thing and be willing to follow through on your commitmentYou won’t please everyoneYour addiction to being critical doesn’t help you or anyone elseGreatest book: BlueFishing by Steve Sims (affiliate link)This was a surprise. I received the book from Jayson Gaynaird of Mastermind Talks and I couldn’t put it down. The greatest lesson I learned is that I want to treat my clients and customers like my friends. Which leads to…
The Greatest Gift:Star Wars Poster of me and friendsI paid an artist to make this for me and my friends (in my mastermind group). I love these guys and wouldn’t be the man I am today without them.
I love Star Wars.
I love my friends.
They totally deserved this.
Don’t judge me.
Best Decision:Commit long term to The Happy PHarmDtbh, I have a commitment problem. Over the last 5 years of side hustling, I move too quickly to the next project. I lose faith in an idea, abandon it, and fail to make significant progress over time. It’s like I’m investing in multiple avenues, but bail out of the market once it goes down.Most Rewarding Experience:Celebrating 8 years of happy marriage with my beautiful wife Megan. She’s spectacular. Sadly, I’ve experienced friends choosing divorce, and it’s made me reflect on what I’m doing right and wrong with Megan. I’m thrilled to be with someone who makes me happy like when I discovered Pokemon.Most Satisfying Moment:Finishing the 1st Happy PharmD Summit.So thrilled we had over 2,500 participants, but I’m more excited for what’s going to happen at our next event in March.Unexpected Surprise (SPOILERS)Luke Skywalker died at the end of Star Wars. Did I just ruin it for you? Don’t worry, no one actually dies in Star Wars. They just come back as space ghosts.Coolest PersonTim and Tim at Your Financial PharmacistI had the distinct pleasure of coaching Tim Ulbrich to help him launch his book he co-authored with Tim Church the Seven Figure Pharmacist. I’m celebrating their success in growing a business.What would have I done differently?Focused on Pharmacist careers over businessI focused 2017 Q1 and Q2 on side hustles on my blog. I love sharing stories of successful pharmacist side hustlers, but I found that most pharmacists would rather find a better job than build a side hustle. If I could go back in time, I would have focused on building content, products and services on career development. What did 2017 teach me?Relationships are #1 priorityI had a few difficult lessons this year on relationships. Sadly, I seemed to have “lost” some friends in the pharmacy space. To this day, I don’t fully understand why I was shunned. But what I’ve learned is that some people will not mesh with me, and that it’s okay. The world is big enough for everyone, and not everyone has to like me. My relationships are so important to me because they are foundational for the success of everything else. I’ll be writing next about 2018 and my goals.
Alex is the Founder of The Happy PharmD. He loves anime, his family, and video games, but not in that order.