Lessons from 2024 | #631

In this final episode of 2024, Lachlan Stuart reflects on the lessons that shaped his year and how they can help you step into your best self in 2025. From the power of winning your mornings to embracing everyday adventures, Lachlan shares practical insights and personal stories that inspire growth, connection, and clarity. Whether you're looking to redefine wealth, strengthen relationships, or simplify your life, this episode has something for everyone. 

Tune in for actionable takeaways and a motivational send-off into the new year.

Chapters

• 0:00 Lessons Learned From 2024 Adventures
• 9:22 Wealth Beyond Money
• 14:55 Engaging With Audience for 2025 Plans

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome back to the man that Can with Lockie Stewart. This is going to be the final episode before Chrissy and I am heading back to the United States. I'm very excited to get back and more to come on that. However, there is so much that's going to happen over the next four months when I'm running 58 marathons in 58 days across all 50 states of America and all eight states and territories of Australia, so it's going to be one of those adventures that I'm literally going to cherish for the rest of my life. I'm very aware of that. It's going to be very challenging, obviously, but there's going to be so much that comes from it.

Speaker 1: 0:36

Today, I want to share with you some of the biggest lessons that I've learned from 2024. Now, how I came about reflecting on these lessons, I guess, was going through my camera roll. I was saying this to someone at coffee earlier. I'm very grateful, ever since I heard Jim Rohn say that things that you leave behind will be able to not only teach yourself but teach people about you, and memories are moments in time that you can reflect upon and, if you're like me, where you feel like the years are getting faster, the days are long, the years are short, it's great to have these to reflect upon, to remember things that you did, people that you spent time with and experiences that you had. So I went back through my camera roll for 2024 and, man, I have done a lot of stuff. So if you're like me, and even if you don't take as many photos as me, actually you can still go back through your camera roll. I'm sure there's some moments whether it's work-related, family-related, holiday-related that you're going to be able to reflect upon and go back to those moments, and that's one of the beautiful things about 2024. Now, if you don't have a whole heap of photos, maybe that could be something that you could look to do for 2025, so that you have those personal memories for yourself. Now, two things that I did with this before I share these lessons with you and I've got one, two, three, four, five lessons for you but before I do, two of the benefits is one when you have the photos there photos and videos to reflect upon, it's awesome to get to relive little moments in time in your life when it does go so fast. The second thing if you don't like the camera roll, like being rationally or rationally minded about it, if you don't like the experience that you had, or maybe you're thinking I didn't do enough fun stuff or I didn't do a lot of the things that I wanted to do. It is a great reminder that hey, 2025, a way that I can track the quality of my life is literally, I want to have a better camera roll, and it's not to show off, it's using a way for you to, I guess, make it tangible around the experiences and memories that you do, because, hey, if you didn't snap the photo, did it ever happen? Is the way of looking about it. But let's get into the five lessons that I took away from 2025 for the last solo podcast of the year.

Speaker 1: 2:52

So, win the morning, win the day. This was a huge lesson for me and you're probably wondering how the hell does this come out of a camera roll, this one or the moment? For me, living in America, I won every morning because Australia, where the majority of my clients are in my work, would generally kick off around 2 pm. 2 pm in Nashville is 6 am in Australia. So, because I didn't have necessarily many things to do like I did, I could dive straight into work, but there was no urgency to I was able to win my morning. And winning my morning meant I got to get up early, I got to read what I wanted to read, I got to write what I wanted to write about and I got to train. I got to do all these things for me and spend time with my wife before the day really started, and then I could get in and start doing my emails and catching up to date with what had been going on in work, and that, for me, was huge. My productivity went through the roof. How I felt about the day I generally felt happier. I was better for my clients, I was learning more. I had so many good things happening when I came back to Australia. We came back for my wife's tour and we've been back for I think nine weeks now. I haven't been winning the morning. So generally I get up at six still, but then it's straight to client work, catching up on the day, and I probably don't get to me time until maybe 9 or 10 am. Now, for some people that might be bad, but for me I've already lost the day because I've gone to emails, I'm reacting to all the things that have happened overnight or things that I need to get done to make the day a success. That's how I used to live my life and I feel a lot more stressed. I don't feel like I'm getting the most out of myself as an individual and obviously I'm doing what I need to do to get through this period in time, but I'm very much working out how I can continue to win the morning and win the day while I'm back in Australia as much as I do when I'm living in the United States, and I guess the simple answer is schedule a time and block it out. Yes, I get that. However, a lot of the work that I do or choosing to run before the humidity comes up there's always decisions. At the moment, I feel like the best decision is the ones that I'm making, even though I feel more stressed and I don't feel as good or as productive or as fulfilled, even as I want. So big lesson win the morning, win the day. Whatever that looks like for you, I'm going to continue working on that. I don't think I've solved that fully. I've experienced that, having moved overseas and been able to have the morning, the reason why I won it was because I got it. How I can translate that for when I'm back in Australia is something that I'll be working on in 2025. And for sure I'll be sharing that with you guys as well. But for me, I felt more fulfilled, I felt more productive and I was really enjoying life a lot more when I'm in the morning.

Speaker 1: 5:47

Number two every day is a mini adventure, looking back through my camera roll. I traveled so much, so, so much. I got to come back to Australia to run workshops. I traveled all around the United States on radio tours or with my wife while she was touring, and we got to see a lot, got to meet a lot of cool people, and the benefit of that is well, the benefit that it presented to me was that every day is a new adventure. There were so many times where I was extremely tired. I was sick of living out of a suitcase. I didn't want to get back in a van and drive. However, the people around me kept seeing the opportunity and the adventure in every day and eventually that rubbed off on me. I started going look as much as I'm run down, I'm tired, I feel like I need to catch up on work.

Speaker 1: 6:36

Right now is an adventure in front of me, whether we're moving to a new state, we're trying to pack up for a show or set up for a show, sorry, or I'm trying to run while we're on the road. It's a mini adventure and it's something that I will never get the opportunity to do again. So I need to learn how to be adaptable, to respond on the fly, to enjoy what moments are in front of me, because I chose to be there. Firstly, I wasn't there against my will, but I chose to be there. So now how can I show up as my best self and see every day as a mini adventure? Because when you look at life like that, you do adapt better, you do enjoy the small things and you do enjoy every day, knowing that, collectively, that is life. Your life and the quality of your life is the result of how you choose to view every day. And if you choose to view every day as inconvenient, unstable and, I guess, fatiguing, you're not going to have a very good quality of life, because that's all negative. You're viewing life through a negative lens. So I was like shift that the adventures are awesome, let's explore the new places, let's enjoy the road trips, let's hang out with all these new people that we're meeting and just enjoy the moments and find time to get the other things that I need to get done, and I managed to. I think I've gotten a lot better at it Personally. We'll find out what my wife and everyone else thinks, but I think I've nailed it. So that's where we want to shift, and the lesson for me was every day is a mini adventure. Should we choose it to be?

Speaker 1: 8:04

Number three double down on those that you love. As I've gotten older, my inner circle has definitely shrunk. When I was younger, I used to want to be the most popular person, have the most friends. As I've gotten older, I've realized how sparse time is and that it's very hard to spend time with a lot of people that way. I guess, give more to less people, meaning double down. So even with my wife, focusing on the things that I love about her and every day amplify that, continue them growing, because when you're around people for long enough, you can very well take them for granted, whether it's the significant other that you have, or family or those close friends. So when I've chosen to double down on the things that I love and admire about them, it's just made them seem even cooler in my eyes and me want to spend more time around them, which has enriched the relationship. So, rather than taking people for granted and just going, oh, they do that Cool. I've seen that a million times. I've lent into that and I've really doubled down on it, because the saying the grass is greener where you water it is really true and that's one thing that I've learned this year. My relationship with my wife has gone to a next level, with all the people that I spend a lot of time with have gone to the next level because I've doubled down on it.

Speaker 1: 9:22

Number four wealth isn't just money. As I said, if you look at your camera roll and look back through the things that you got to experience in life who did you go for coffees with? What experiences did you have? Who did you meet? What did you see? How did you feel that is wealth in and of itself. I would rather get to travel the world and earn less money doing what I'm doing now than a couple of years ago, where I was stuck in a specific location. I was earning a lot more money, because the reason why I want money is for the experiences and the quality of life and the adventures that it gives. It's hard to shift your perspective from that. I struggled for a long time. Look, I still do struggle with it.

Speaker 1: 10:00

Actually, I feel like wealth and my level of success comes back to what my bank account looks like, but when I was scrolling through my camera roll this morning, man, I felt wealthy. So many different states, so many different countries, so many different people, so many experiences that a lot of people never get. That is wealth. Those are stories and those are experiences and that is my life's work getting created. And while my, I guess, wealth hasn't grown per se, my bank account that has. So don't? This is, I guess, a message to my younger self don't get so consumed in making money yes, making money is great but don't get so consumed making money that you forget to enjoy the opportunities and the things that are around you, the relationships and all the things that really matter. So find a good balance between that, and for me it's just, I guess, going back to the point. All the points before double down on those that you love. Every day is a mini adventure Win the morning. They all create wealth in different areas. The fact that I'm running 58 marathons in 58 days across 58 states and two countries, man, what an adventure. I'm not making any money from it. I'm going to be very fatigued, but what an experience. That, to me, is wealth. Having that story and having that time with my buddies is going to be amazing. All right, now let's go number five.

Speaker 1: 11:22

Building a business is fucking hard, but fun. I've been supporting myself through my business for nine years now 10 years, 10 years and I've had huge financial years, poor financial years and just when I think I've nailed it, something shifts. Something shifts within me and I want to change something, or something shifts in how my business operates and it changes, and every solution that I've found or I've come up with creates that. Next problem For me, business is the ultimate vehicle to create the life that I want. I get to own my time. If I do it well. I get to control my income, if I do it well. I get to solve problems for other people, if I do it well, and that brings me fulfillment, if I do it well, so it always comes back to me. If I do it well, so it always comes back to me.

Speaker 1: 12:11

Personal responsibility but building a business can be fun. Same with Every Day is a Mini Adventure building a business when you look at the challenges, rather than life or death, because a lot of them aren't, as this is a new level for growth. What do I need to learn? How can I make it fun? I'm sort of taking that approach with the 58 marathons as well, as much as I know it's going to be challenging, how can I make it fun, how can I enjoy this experience as much as possible? Because, at the end of the day, I'm not defined by my business and my business could not be here in six months. So if I took it so seriously that my whole identity was the business, I'm setting myself up for failure as opposed to someone who's building something, creating solutions for people. But I really enjoy what I get to do on a day-to-day basis. So for me, building a business is fun was a huge one that I also took away from this year, and I guess I did say five and I haven't written this one down.

Speaker 1: 13:05

But less is more is another thing that I took away from this year. I've stripped the podcast back and I appreciate you guys listening to it and supporting it, and I have stripped a lot of things back, even with our Strongman of Value Academy. I'm stripping things back and simplifying them because less is more, not only for me, but for the people who work with me, or for you guys listening to this, having to keep up with, for example, the podcast that I listen to. Some of them release three to four episodes a week. I can't keep up with that, so I feel like I'm falling behind. Or I stress about missing good episodes. I was probably no different when I was doing two episodes a week. Less is more. I was doing two and they probably weren't as good quality. Now that the last couple of weeks I've gone to one a week, I feel like they're better. I'm more excited to record them and I'm hoping and we'll find out over time with the data that you guys are getting more value. You don't stress about missing out on episodes and you get a good variety between guest episodes and solo episodes. So for me, less is more. Think about that for 2025. For you guys, less is more.

Speaker 1: 14:06

What could you focus, I guess? What do you want to remove from your life so you can double down on things in other areas of your life? Guys, I just want to say 2024 has been a very enjoyable year for me. I've learned a lot, I've grown a lot. I've lost a lot of money. I've made some money, I've made new friends. People have left from my life, but ultimately I'm still moving in a forward motion. I'm very grateful for the life that I get to live. I'm very grateful that you guys support the show and you support me. I hope that, in turn, you get value from this episode and you're taking away little nuggets that you can implement into your own life. I'm wishing you all the best for the holiday season, christmas and New Year's, but then I look forward to walking side by side while I'm in your ears and you're listening to this podcast within 2025.

Speaker 1: 14:55

If you have topics you want me to discuss or you want to ask for my perspective on things that I've experienced, dm me on Instagram or wherever you leave comments on YouTube or any of the channels. I've got a really itchy nose for those watching. Just keep scratching my nose there and reach out, or even guests that you would love me to interview. I've got a good guest list that we're working on for 2025 and they'll be released every second week, but I want to continue doubling down on this podcast because I really love it. I know that I'm going to meet a lot of awesome people while I'm traveling and running and, more importantly, if you want to follow along on the 58 marathons, head over to my Instagram. We'll be doing daily short updates. Youtube, we will be doing daily vlogs for that and then, probably six to eight months after we finish, there will be a documentary coming out. Thank you for all your support. My name is Lachlan Stewart and, as always, do something today to be better for tomorrow.