Yesterday was my 37th birthday.

And last week, Kirsten and I got away to Vienna for fun, but also for an early celebration of 17 years of marriage this August.

Looking back, it seems crazy that I got married at 20 years old. I was so clueless as to how life would play out, but I was in love with the girl of my dreams and nothing about the future scared me.

I guess infatuation works like that.

As I reflect on the past 17 years of adulthood (and marriage for that matter), I thought it would be a good exercise to share 17 lessons that 20 year-old Sam would have benefited from.

Here we go:

1. Dive deeper into things that interest you and try to develop high conviction about those things.
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2. Make bigger bets on things you have high conviction about.
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3. Spend less time thinking about WHAT other people think, spend more time thinking about HOW they think.
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4. Invest in your wife more than you invest in your kids, they will actually benefit from that order.
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5. Ask more (and ideally better) questions in just about every situation.
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6. Start journaling now, your future self will be grateful you did.
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7. Do hard things more often.
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8. Invest in markets (stocks, crypto, real estate, etc...) precisely when you think it's the absolute worst time.
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9. Be vulnerable with other men in your life. Don't pretend to have things figured out.
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10. Practice the art of making any person you're having a conversation with feel like they are the most important person in the world at that moment
    (ps. I'm still so bad at this)
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11. Apologize more, faster, and with deeper sincerity.
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12. Exercise is more for your brain than your body, so move yourself or move heavy things, every day you can.
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13. Opt for the weird, wild or wonderful instead of the norm. When you have options, do the different thing!
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14. Write letters or encouragements to your friends. Aim to make their day at random times throughout the year.
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15. When you drink coffee, tea, cocktails or even cold water...just take a moment to appreciate that act.
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16. Spend more time in the wilderness. More time around campfires. More time in the rain. Just spend more time outside!
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17. Your faith (ie. what you believe in) influences everything about you. Don't minimize it or ignore it. Tend to it, daily.

For what it's worth, this isn't just an aspirational list. This is stuff I either do now or am trying to do more.

My hope and prayer is that the next 17 years of my life are characterized by me leaning further into these lessons.

Until next time,

Sam