My 2022 Playbook - Lessons Learned, Tips, Readings, and Goals for the Year Ahead
What’s up folks?!
This is one of the first years where I consider the previous year’s Playbook required reading.
Of the over 55+ lessons, tactics, and practices I shared in that edition, I’m still doing 85%+ of them on my day-to-day. Keeping that in mind, we can spend this Playbook talking about more finds, habits, and practices that I’m adding on.
Explore vs Exploit
All years leading up to 2021, I was bouncing around, experimenting, “exploring”.
New workouts, new places to live, new projects to work on, new people in my life.
This past year was the first year of coming to terms with “exploiting”.
The framework that’s often shared is “explore” vs “exploit”, taught in the context of a map. When you’re new to a place, or un-tethered to any specific commitment, it makes sense to explore.
I shared this in my conversation with Kendall Beach when I discussed building a “portfolio of opportunities”.
However, it’s easy to get caught up in the constantly-changing and novel nature of exploration, where you end up doing what David Perell calls Hugging the X-axis.
My experience in 2021 was learning the value of deploying a “exploit” mentality, and how it can lead to the achievement of (nearly all) my goals.
2022 is a fitting year to adopt the theme of “Double Down”. More of what works. Play to my strengths. Push more chips into practices, projects, and relationships that are providing value and moving the needle. And set non-arbitrary targets that relate to them, too.
You’ll find dot-points in each category for things that have changed, but for all intents and purposes, assume that you can overlay 2021’s Playbook on top of this one at 50% transparency to see the full picture.
Health
The long story short is: I’m in the best shape of my life right now. I’ve never felt stronger, more flexible, and more full of energy every day when I wake up than this year. I credit that, again, to a lot of great habits built in 2020 and 2021. Notice, though, that there are a few minor tweaks I’m hoping to improve, and feel immense sense of gratitude that these are the only things that come to mind:
INJURY PREVENTION
I had 2 injury scares in 2021 (right-side of my neck, and my left knee) that resulted in a re-think of how I think about strength. Chris Williamson shares this idea of Fitness Menopause: where you achieve a lot of arbitrary strength goals but you can’t bend over to tie your shoes.
I’ve already adopted a warm up routine through a combination of exercises that feel good to me and weird stretching that I see Peter Attia doing on Instagram.
The “big-number” lifting is also less top-of-mind for me too this year, with the goal being to aim for progressive overload week-after-week instead, and to let compounding and consistency take over.
I hit a 405lb deadlift in 2021, and fell short on both my squat and my bench press.
RANGE OF MOTION
I also didn’t achieve any of the mobility goals I set out to reach in 2021.
It’s mostly related to my hamstrings, which still remain tight and weak.
To solve for the fact that I miss executing my evening routine by a staggering amount every week, I’ve set a nifty little repeating Apple Reminders list, that seeks to make it a no-brainer for me to stretch every night.
Add on top of that, the progressive overload goals from above, and I’ll be strengthening all of the supporting muscles on my corrective-day in the gym over time, leading to more confidence in stretched positions.
CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH
I’m nervous about my heart.
My HRV (heart rate variability) as measured by my Oura ring, is staggeringly low. I know everyone’s cardiovascular system is different, but I can’t seem to pin down why. I don’t do a lot of activity that gets my heart pumping to strengthen it, and so I’m going to experiment with more Zone 2 training to achieve some improvements without too much taxing stress.
Not to mention that with a history of bad heart health in my family I’m not yet “paranoid”, but I’m keeping an eye on it.
Wealth
Again, here 2020 and 2021 deserve a huge round of applause for instilling rock solid habits that are continuing to just slowly compound over time. My net-worth increased more than ever in 2021, and I plan on continuing the trend this year, with a few additional “boosts”:
HOUSE PURCHASE
My wife and I bought a house in 2021! We’ve been renters for our entire adult lives, and it’s incredibly in line with the “Double Down” theme of the year; with this decision, expressed in a commitment to a physical location.
It coincided at the same time of us craving more space, and as we get more savvy with our financial moves, we were able to get a great interest rate on a mid-century house here in Seattle. Continuing to invest in this property will be a priority this year, and it’s another diversified category of wealth accumulation that is new for us.
This isn’t to say that it’s been all lollipops and puppies; we’ve spent a ridiculous amount on an unexpected bathroom remodel and additional furniture to outfit the increased sq/ft. However, in the long term, we see this being a great place to establish roots for ourselves. See more in the “Family” section.
CRYPTO & WEB3
As I’ll share in the “Work” section, my income suffered in 2021, preventing me from the investing behavior I was used to in 2019 and 2020. However, what I’ve spent a lot of time doing, instead, is educating myself on the opportunities that lie ahead. It’s become incredibly obvious that Web3 will fundamentally change how we live our lives, and I’m planning to continue to keep crypto as a large “bucket” for future investment goals.
“CASH-MACHINE”
After doing a disgusting amount of reading, research, and listening, I’m convinced that my 30’s should be spent building businesses.
Since I don’t have a multi-million dollar fortune to start with, the quickest route to attaining deploy-able amounts of capital for the goals that I have to invest in early-stage food and media startups someday needs to come from a cash-generating business.
I’ve really turned the corner on thinking that being a “frivolous creator” who just “makes stuff” is the only way. I plan on taking lessons from others that have built large media and brand legacies and using those principles to create my own path.
The experiment on my “mini-retirement” below shares that I know what it feels like to have my needs met, disposable “time”, but little disposable income. However, that lifestyle is more for 40 year old Justin. Until then, I’d prefer to keep the needs met, but have less disposable “time” in exchange for cashflow that I can use to invest.
Think, more of the time-tested piece of advice: less time “in” the business, more time “on” the business.
Family
In 2021’s Playbook, I shared that I would start to see the “Family” category become a larger priority in my life. As the following and audience grows, I’m taking inspiration from other larger public figures on how they publicize their family lives.
Gary Vee has “Family First” in his Twitter bio, but never posts pictures of his wife & kids on Instagram.
Tim Ferriss shares that his girlfriend is one of the most important people in his life, but he still hasn’t mentioned her by name on any of his content.
I don’t think this is a coincidence, as scary behavior like doxxing and threats to family members becomes an easy button to press online these days.
That creates a weird discrepancy when I write these pieces, because where my “plans” lie and what I’m able to share don’t always match in their level of detail.
To combat that while still providing value to the reader, this year marks the start of “Dot-Points” on family:
Read Tim Urban’s The Tail End. If nothing else, this quote sums up why I really value having my dad live just 30 minutes away from us: "Living in the same place as the people you love matters. I probably have 10X the time left with the people who live in my city as I do with the people who live somewhere else.”
Going to therapy with your partner or spouse is a life hack. We go 3-4 times a year, and it’s immensely deepened the understanding that we have into ourselves and how each other contributes to the dynamic in the relationship.
I created a checklist that I do once per week where I send a message to family members I want to keep in touch with. Even if I only do it 50% of the time, that’s almost 10x as many texts as I would’ve sent on just birthdays and holidays (26 vs 2-3). 9 times out of 10 it just ends up being a 4-5 message exchange, but the times when it turns into a FaceTime or a really important update makes me really happy I did it.
I became an uncle this year. The little nephew is cute as can be, and we’re excited to spoil him and teach him about fun foods soon.
I didn’t grow up in a house that was “warm and welcoming”. We weren’t in poverty, but there was never a sense of enjoying having people over. It’s hard to believe that didn’t influence me into entering hospitality. Now that I have a house of my own, I’m excited to host a lot of get-togethers with friends and be a place that family can stay with when they visit Seattle.
Still no kids on the books for us this year.
Work
The biggest theme in my work this year was getting over myself.
As I’ve shared in previous years, I’m absolutely my own worst critic. It’s one of the reasons I was so comfortable when I initially started the podcast and the channel; no one was going to be harder on the content than I was.
However, as the following grew, I developed an immense sense of Imposter Syndrome. I feared comments that would call me a fraud that never ended up actually being shared. And even if they did…who cares?
I also started to harbor this weird sense that what makes me “different” and “unique” was a disadvantage. I’m not a chef with a restaurant empire, nor am I a content creator with a million followers. I’m not an entrepreneur with an 8-figure net worth, nor am I a starving artist.
What’s going to change in 2022 for me is looking at the fact that I can empathize with both as a super power. I need to trust the process, and understand that there are plenty multi-hyphenates out there that have made incredible careers out of their unorthodox mix of talents. Rick Rubin, Josh Waitskin, Logic, anyone you read about in David Epstein’s Range book…it all comes down to conviction and decision making if you’ve identified you’re good at multiple things, and the plan is to act on that versus apologize for it.
VOYAGER’S TABLE
I’ve transitioned from Co-Founder to a board member of Voyager’s Table.
The events sector was hit just as hard as any other are of the hospitality industry over the past 20 months, and it was the most challenging set of business scenarios I’ve ever had to navigate.
In addition, the work itself changed. We were no longer hosting intimate or creative private dinners for clients; everything moved online.
At the same time, I was working hard on the course and wanting to “get back on the horse” of YouTube and the podcast. After a few too many nights and weekends working on my own brand, I would notice that I was spending “Voyager’s Table time” not focused.
I’m so lucky to have a business partner that I was able to have the hard conversation with that ultimately resulted in the decision for me to become an advising and strategic member of the company, no longer involved in day-to-day operations.
This not only allows the company to re-brand away from being so “catering” focused, but also allows me to gain experience in advising and being a productive board member of a growing company.
LESSONS FROM A “MINI-RETIREMENT” EXPERIMENT
At the start of 2021, I diverted from the Playbook to try something, and this is the first time I’m sharing it. I had fallen off the train of weekly uploading on YouTube. Dinners weren’t happening because people weren’t vaccinated yet. The business needed very little input from me, and I was effectively taking home about $2,000/month, which allowed me to pay rent, other expenses, and make my standard $500 deposit towards a retirement account.
So I asked myself: what would it look like if you were to find contentment in this?
That question began the 3-4 month experience of not pursuing any projects. I hosted more podcast interviews than I ever have, read a lot, went to the gym a ton, played some video games, and watched a bunch of YouTube.
And I ended up in a really weird place.
All my “needs” were met, and I had achieved what a lot of people envy. Effectively, I had an 8-hour work week with no overhead, time to do whatever I wanted, and projects that were truly my own. But all I found was guilt, shame, and a lack of “zest for life”.
Looking back, reflecting this experiment back to my core values, I realized that nearly all of them were being under-served.
Persistence - I literally gave up on striving for anything. With nothing to “push back” against, there was no point in feeling persistent.
Humor - Sure, I had no “employees” and very little “customers” to deal with, but that also meant I had no one to joke-around or have inside jokes with!
Adventure - COVID obviously contributed to me being “experimenting with retirement and being stuck at home”, but there wasn’t even enough disposable income to spend on an adventure.
Contribution - The podcast episodes I published “contributed” in their own way, however, without a team to lead or a project to share, it was difficult to feel like I was being a productive member of society.
Connection - This might be the only one that maintained itself. I got to spend way more time with my dad than I usually would have. I was home for dinner every night with my wife. I called my mom twice a week.
Velocity - With a huge decrease in “speed” and effectively zero clear “direction”, velocity basically went negative for me in the experiment.
I’m bringing a new sense of appreciation for work into 2022 that I’ve never had before. Having scratched the itch of “not needing to work” in my own way, there’s no sense of dread or apprehension towards new projects or personal accountability anymore. I’m just excited to put out ridiculously high quality work for the audience that has been so good to me over the past several years, and help as many people as possible.
CONTENT CREATOR FULL TIME
This is the year where I make being a content creator a full-time commitment. YouTube is the place where I plan to start, because the audience is already there and it provides the quickest path to reasonable consistent revenue for me. However, I’m starting a bit of a back foot. I effectively shot the channel in the foot with the increase in podcast episodes, which confused the hell out of the algorithm, and my view counts aren’t nearly as high as they should be.
To combat this, I’ll be bringing back all of the old favorites that made the channel what it was back in 2019. You might’ve already noticed TPC Episodes and Knife review videos resurfacing, and there’s more to come.
The way we’re approaching this is growth in a sustainable way:
Pick 3-4 platforms to “Grow” at a time.
Set Primary and Secondary metrics that we’ll use to keep track of that have clear, tangible numbers behind them. These either come from analytics dashboards, or can be calculated manually.
Set “Intangibles” for each platform that can’t be shown on a dashboard, but I want to prioritize for fulfillment, satisfaction or to just not be a slave to the numbers.
Meet once per month to set clear projects that help us track towards those goals, and then reverse engineer the tasks that are needed to get us there.
COHORT-BASED COURSE
The Demi Skills Course that I shared in 2021 went through its first Beta Cohort, and I enjoyed every minute of it. From writing the content and forcing myself to structure the lessons that I learned over years in professional high-caliber kitchens, to working with an assistant to create the slides, to having real “students”, to creating a landing page...it was the first real “product” that I’ve ever created and sold online.
And it’s going to be my “bottom of the funnel” for 2022. The goal is to use content from the podcast, on YouTube, and on all other platforms to provide value to as many people as possible, but this year I finally have an end of the rainbow. Previously, I proved that I could grow an audience. Now, it’s on me to prove that I can serve them a product that they actually want. And after seeing comments, DM’s from you folks, and the general sentiment in the industry that “culinary school isn’t right for me”...I see a huge opportunity to help hungry professionals progress faster than I ever did.
I’m finally able to take the learnings from entrepreneurship books, Twitter threads and business podcasts and put them to use, too. The past 5 years, I’ve felt like a lurker; never having the confidence to “get out on the dance floor” and give it a try.
Additionally, there’s a free-to-take, 5-Day-Kitchen-Productivity Challenge that we’ve launched to go along with the course, to make sure that the lessons resonate and that you’re in a good place to commit to enrollment. If you’re wanting to progress your career in 2022, it’s literally the distillation of everything I know, packaged and delivered over 4 weeks. We’re planning on hosting 3 Cohorts this year, and I couldn’t be more excited to teach.
QUALITY WORK
There’s a sexy look to “automated systems” and “templated work” that just screams “successful” digital entrepreneur. However, by definition, if it can be replicated by anyone, there’s a loss in “character” or influence from the “creator” that I’ve become averse to.
Mr. Beast talks a lot about “just make the best video possible”, and I’m coming around to that sentiment.
It’s not to say that we throw all structure out the window and subject ourselves to the “hardest way”.
It’s about looking at the final product as something you’re proud of; not something you just churn out.
It’s more “how can this be better, even if it takes a little bit more work/time”; less “just do what we did last time”.
So this year, every project will be approached from a “how can we increase the quality of this?” lens. I can’t wait to share the results with you!
PODCAST
I learned a lot about podcasting in 2021. I still love doing it (more than ever, actually), and I’ve found a way to compartmentalize it away from other projects that I work on.
I had some of my favorite guests on the show last year, and the one that stands out the most was Alex Aïnouz. You probably know him as the YouTuber “Alex French Guy Cooking”, and it was an addicting rush to get the confirmation that he was coming on the show.
And even writing that, makes me feel like I’m discounting all of the other incredible guests that I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing, which couldn’t be further from the truth. I have a shockingly low number of conversations that I didn’t enjoy in the almost 150 episodes of the show, and I think there are valuable learnings to take away from them all.
However, remember my core values? There’s something about trying to get a guest that’s “out of my league” to say yes to a long-form conversation that spurs an immense sense of Adventure. And when it doesn’t happen right away, I love being thoughtfully persistent to make it happen. And once I get a “yes”, it feels so good to actually Connect with that person, and Contribute an interview with you folks that provides you something valuable.
With so many ticked boxes, that pursuit is a no brainer for me. But there’s more.
I’m treating the podcast like its own separate business, now. The Emulsion Podcast now has its own channel, its own website, its own logo. We’re finally accepting sponsors, and actually going for bigger-name guests. This can hopefully serve as a reminder if you’re just starting off on a journey, that it took almost 150 episodes for me to start taking podcasting seriously.
COMMUNITY
This is the least-clear part of my “Work” playbook. I love that there’s a private, pay-walled area of the internet for real fans of the content to hang out. However, it’s incredibly underserved, and I own that.
The problem is that the folks that support there don’t want anything. They just want to see me continue to publish every week, and don’t care that they don’t get BTS photos or extra videos or exclusive access. I used to host weekly live streams and I still publish the occasional unboxing video...but no one watches!
And that’s a wild place to be as a creator; where the fans support what you’re already doing, and you don’t have to do anything extra. But there’s a bone in me that wants to see it grow to be more than that. I see a real benefit to a positive, encouraging, and thought-provoking place to hang out online for professional chefs. And I’m excited to continue to learn, experiment, and find conviction on an answer for 2022.
LEANING INTO STRENGTHS
In the spirit of staying true to the “Double Down” theme, the advice to “play to your strengths” is resonating a lot with me.
When you work alone, you, by definition, have to do everything. And some of those things might be what you aren’t good at, so I’m solving for them.
I’ve got a 4-person team that works part-time with me, as of writing this.
A Production Assistant who manages podcast show notes, episode booking, content calendar, YouTube descriptions, affiliate linking, and a bunch of other behind the scenes tasks.
A Project Manager who helps with sponsor relationships, managing the workflow for the course, project work streams, and contracts.
A Video Editor who takes footage I shoot and turns it into the content that you see on the channel for almost 80% of the things we publish.
The goal of these hires is to take enough off my plate so that the only things I’m doing are the tasks that only I can uniquely do. It’s an age-old piece of advice, but I’m seeing the benefits, and I’m truly getting to practice what I preach about leadership. It’s not a full-time crew yet, however I’m still getting to “work for my team” by making thoughtful decisions, creating systems, and operationalizing our processes so that they can also do their best work when they work with me on a project.
Hacks & Favorites
Oura Ring - I lost my Oura ring in 2021, 3 weeks before they announced the Version 3. The timing could not have been better, and I’m a massive fan of the new version. See the 2021 Playbook for why I adore sleep-tracking metrics.
Aer Flight Pack 2 - I picked this up because I wanted a bag that I could bring on trips packed with gear for the airplane, but could transition to a sleek camera bag for going out to dinner when I shoot TPC episodes. I tried 3-4 other bags, and this has been the favorite, even replacing my Peak Design backpack.
Fully Standing desk & Capisco Chair - With this new house, I finally don’t have to have my office be in the corner of our kitchen! I’ve got a dedicated room that I use as an office/studio, and I snagged a small-footprint standing desk on OfferUp, as well as the same chair that Joe Rogan uses for his podcast studio. I couldn’t be happier with the setup!
Automate.io - This favorite could be applied to Zapier, IFTTT, or any of the sleek no-code algorithm creators out there...but since we use Notion so much for our workflows, I’ve been addicted to creating automations for frequently done tasks.
Apple M1 Pro - I geek out every time there’s a new piece of tech to be had, but the new laptop I got in 2021 actually changed the game. It’s the first time that a piece of technology actually showed me that the closer we can move to the speed of our thoughts, the better. It’s a joy to edit on this machine, and I couldn’t be happier with the upgrade.
My First Million Podcast - I love the host synergy between Sam and Shaan (Shaan’s Tweet Newsletter is phenomenal as well), and I get inspired every time I listen to grow my business
The All-In Podcast - If you ever wanted to sit in a room with folks who have built billions of dollars of wealth, and just hear them shoot the shit about memes, the news, and business...look no further.
Superhuman is my favorite email client of all time. It’s completely changed how I manage my inbox (at one point in 2021 I had 4 of them), and it’s absolutely worth $30 a month to me.
Weightlifting gloves - I got a pair of palm-cushioned, open backed gloves after watching some YouTube reviews because I have really sweaty hands. I would get frustrated where my hands would be the first thing to “give out” on a set of pull ups or a big deadlift. Getting these removed that issue completely, and I’ve got zero excuses to increasing my strength this year.
Nike Free Run 5.0 - These are the most comfortable shoes I’ve ever worn, bar none. I previously have shown love to the Nike Commuter Line, but since they stopped making them I’ve been really frustrated to find an everyday shoe alternative. These strike just the right balance of “minimal” but “not zero cushion” that made me buy 2 pairs at the same time. I’m not getting left out in the cold this time when they stop making these...I’ll just bust out the backup pair! Update on the barefoot shoes from Vivo Barefoot: I use those at the gym now.
Camo Studio - This changes how I conduct meetings everyday, as well as how I travel (don’t have to bring the big camera setup for short trips). It basically allows your phone to use “Portrait mode” as a DSLR-lookalike, and it’s a game changer.
In Closing
And there you have it! A useful “add-on” from the 2021 Playbook that includes a few more pieces that I’m keeping top of mind as we start off the new year.
It’s always awkward to end these, because I don’t have a specific call to action. If you enjoy my writing on personal growth, hospitality, media, and technology, go ahead and give my newsletter a follow! It’s called the 80/20 Edge; basically a weekly version of something like this but things that I’ve found and loved from across the week.
Until next year, I hope you have a good one,
Justin