There is a framework I developed while mentoring students at the University of Illinois. I was a mentor for about 100 students in the Office of Minority Student Affairs (OMSA) program. Many of them had similar backgrounds as I did so I simply shared with them what worked for me.

As I progressed in my career and began sharing this framework with others, I began to realize that it transcended socio-economic backgrounds and could benefit many people. I have a plan on releasing this framework at scale but am strategizing the best way for this to launch. I huge aspect of this requires an incredible amount of research, which I simply do not have time for.

Instead, I am taking a piece of the framework and applying it myself.

There are two things in life that provided me great satisfaction. Writing and working out. I’ve always been a writer and it’s the best way for me to communicate my thoughts. I’ve often been commended for my ability to speak, especially in public, it’s honestly just writing things in my head and reading them out loud. The difference is you can’t go back and make corrections or strengthen points. Unclear verbal communication is a dangerous pit to fall in and erasing things you spoke verbally leaves smears on your words that don’t come out easily.

But writing, it’s different. Of the many thoughts that I have on this topic, I can be incredibly intentional about what I want the audience to read. So I promise my future self, that I will write often and publish a book. The steps to getting there include making time to write on this platform, as well as various newsletters that I’ve started over the years.

Working out. I spoke to a very close friend of mine a month ago and he reminded me about what encompasses the identity of an individual. Whatever you’ve dedicated a great amount of your life to, becomes engrafted in who you are. I’ve spent a great deal of my life performing at a high level of fitness, up until my last day playing college football. Since then I placed. a greater emphasis on my professional life, not realizing that physical life contributed to everything I did. My body is the vehicle that allows me to be a husband, a father, a trader as well as everything else I aspire to be.

So I will engage in some level of physical activity every single day for the rest of the year. I will create a fitness page on Instagram to document the journey and to hold myself accountable.

My future self would want to look back on these writings, and the improvement of my physical well-being and be thankful. So I’m promising my future self that you will have a catalog of writings, and the health needed to sustain you on this journey of life.