5 Lessons 2024 Left Me

2024 has been a year full of changes and challenges: I changed jobs twice, I started a relationship, I was injured several times, a family member died, I had a pretty big downturn…

And at the same time, it has been the year that I have traveled the most, that I have read the most and that I have played the most paddle tennis. It has been the first year that I met my investment goal. A year full of lights and shadows.

These are the most important lessons I took away.

1. Enjoy quality time with my loved ones

An exercise that has helped me value this time more is to ask myself before seeing them:

If this were the last time I saw you, how would I behave?

Would I be bothered by a scathing comment? Would I lose patience because things don’t go my way? Would I get into a stupid argument about politics?

Probably not. I would cherish every second with them. I wish they would bother me and tease me as much as they could.

Another thing that helps me be happier is to appreciate these moments for a few seconds while they are happening.

• What a nice day it is today.
• What a crack he is my friend, he’s very funny.
• How lucky to be here all together.
• My future self will be remembering this fondly.

2. Emotions are like the warning lights on a car.

When one of those lights comes on, it means that you have to check a component of the car because it may be broken or need repair.

The light coming on is not a bad thing per se, and it does not always mean that something is broken. But what’s dangerous is ignoring that warning and pretending there’s no problem, until the brake fluid fails or the engine stops starting.

Our emotions, such as anger, envy, anxiety and sadness are the same as these warning lights. Let’s not let ourselves be distracted by the light, let’s stop and look at what turns it on.

I would dare say that negative emotions are even positive, because the worse you feel, the more it propels you towards action. If you don’t feel bad enough, you may prefer to let it be and not take action.

This is a question that helps me reflect on my emotions:

Of all the emotions I could feel, why did I choose this one?

3. Stop measuring days by their degree of productivity and start living them by their degree of presence

The moments in which I have felt happiest are those in which I was not thinking about myself or anything other than the activity I was doing.

The moments when he was present.

In a way, that’s what meditation is all about. Meditation is not just about sitting with your eyes closed while you focus on your breathing. It is also about taking a walk in nature, letting yourself be absorbed by an interesting conversation or giving it your all while playing a sport.

In 2025, try to practice all these things that make you present a little more.

4. Learn to communicate more efficiently with my partner

Each person has a different way of expressing their love, as if each of us spoke a different language. And I think it is very important to learn which one our partner speaks and try to adapt to each other.

Especially when there are cultural differences.

There are two exercises that have been very effective for me when I have had an argument or a problem:

• Before criticizing others, recognize what my mistakes have been, apologize and talk about how I can avoid them.
• Before speaking your point of view, repeat the other person’s ideas and emotions precisely. If she is not satisfied, you should listen and try to repeat them again.

The common thread of the exercises is to take responsibility for your own actions and listen carefully to what the other person has to say.

Of course, these exercises are meaningless if they are not accompanied by real change.

5. Be calm, work hard and stay healthy. It is not ambition or ability that will differentiate you, but sanity

This quote from Ryan Holiday has stayed with me throughout this year.

• Be calm: As Naval Ravikant rightly says, peace is happiness at rest and happiness is peace in motion. You can exchange one for the other at any time.
• Work hard: not work harder, but work better. Minimize input and maximize output. Remind myself that when I die, I won’t regret not working harder.
• Stay healthy: A healthy person has 99 problems. A sick person only has 1. The doctor is not going to keep you healthy and the trainer is not going to keep you in shape. You have to do it.

I hope these experiences are useful and inspire you. Thank you for reading me and I hope that this new year brings you a lot of nice surprises.