As we welcome the New Year, I want to take a moment to express my deepest gratitude for your unwavering support and trust in EnergyX. Your belief in my vision has been the driving force behind our progress and success. We accomplished a lot in 2024; now we need to surpass that in 2025!
Each year since 2019 I have given myself a theme to focus on for the year. While the theme typically blends into my professional life, this is also a very meaningful part of my own personal life and the New Year’s resolutions I set for self work and improvement. This process has really worked for me.
Please remember, this is just a small window into my mindset, and how I have built EnergyX into what it is today. It does not necessarily need to apply to everyone reading this, but hopefully you will gain some inspiration from these yearly themes for whatever it is you want to focus on.
2019: Year of Patience – Practice more patience in life. It’s not always a race and sometimes the smart decision comes with time.
2020: Year of Sacrifice – Focus on sacrifice for EnergyX, and put it above all else except health and family. Sacrifice pleasure and desires with no FOMO, and put in the work that others aren’t. It will pay off in the long run.
2021: Year of Perseverance – Don’t give up. Don’t EVER give up. 2020 was a hard year for everyone. Practice perseverance in daily life, and with long terms goals.
2022: Year of Leadership – EnergyX is transforming into a formidable company and will have 50-100 employees in 2022. Learn true leadership skills, and become a world class leader to your team.
2023: Year of Results – Complete Series B fundraise. This is the ultimate Result as 80% of companies completing Series B go on to IPO, however only 1 in 10,000 complete a Series B. This Result is key for 2023 if we are going to accomplish the goal of go-public event in the future.
2024: Year of Intensity – While it would be nice to have more balance in my life, now is not the time to let my foot off the gas pedal. It is time to apply even more INTENSITY and focus to EnergyX.
Now for 2025.
I recently watched a video of Marc Andressen, founder of Netscape, one of the first internet browsers, and then Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), one of the most successful venture capital firms ever. He discusses Elon’s leadership style and what separates him from others. One of the things that really stood out to me, and specifically one word, which will be my theme for 2025, is competence. 2025 will be the Year of Competence!
Marc goes on to say, “There’s a famous story—somebody used to work in one of the other defense, aerospace companies and went to work at SpaceX, and they were asked what it was like, and they said, ‘It’s like being dropped into a shocking zone of competence. Everybody around me is so absolutely competent.’ Most of us never have that experience. Most people are never in an organization where the bar is held that high, and as a consequence, the competence level is so high and stays so high and even rises over time.”
This is my goal for EnergyX in 2025. Competence is my theme of the year; it is something I will think about constantly and focus on intensely.
Here’s to another year of innovation, growth, and achieving incredible milestones!