Project Par Final Update

And 2024 Project Reveal...

Welcome Players! And Happy New Year! I hope the close of 2023 and opening of 2024 has brought you renewed energy and vigor.

I want to take a moment and thank all 305 (yes, it just so happens the subscriber count matches the Miami area code. It was meant to be!) for being with me on the Project Par journey this year.

At the bottom of this email you’ll find the Week 52 update, the final one.

It’s going to take me a bit of time to run through all the data and journal logs that I made throughout the year to track my progress, but don’t worry, when I do there will be a comprehensive Project Par Year in Review to follow.

As for other things, I’m looking forward to getting back to publishing educational material for Train Like a Pro, something I haven’t had the time to do in the latter part of the year.

On deck in my drafts is a comprehensive research review on cold and heat modalities, a thorough write up of why “Active” Recovery doesn’t mean what you think it does, and a year-long review of my HRV data. If there’s anything you’re interested in that you think would benefit from my deep dive feel free to shoot me an email and I’ll see if it can be added to the list.

I also want to tell you about my 2024 Project!

Many of you have asked and I’ve been diligent about not revealing it until now. So here it goes…

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Proyecto Español!

Es verdad! En 2024 yo quiero aprender español, pero no que un gringo. Quiero hablar español como que persona de español por realidad. En conversación, a trabajar, todo lo mundo que habla español, quiero hablar y entender.

That’s right! In 2024 I want to learn Spanish, but not like a gringo. I want to speak Spanish like a native speaker for real. In conversation, at work, anywhere in the world that speaks Spanish, I want to be able to talk and understand.

I’ll admit, I already know a little bit of Spanish as it is. At least more than most people that grew up in New Jersey and went to college in Ohio.

But I’ve never fully committed to learning the language fluently. I can get around, can understand bits and pieces and am always able to order what I want at restaurants, but I want to be able to meet a native Spanish speaker and have a fluent, candid conversation with them.

Before I talk about why I’m starting Proyecto Español, there’s something I’ve got to tell you…

I won’t be publishing or writing about it like I did Project Par.

I really enjoyed writing about my experiences and sharing them with you, but in honesty it also took a lot out of me. It became a grind to track all the things I needed to track, organize data, and then write up a weekly review. It started to become draining at the end and I found it took out just a little bit of enjoyment from the journey.

And so for Proyecto Español I decided that I won’t commit to a regular publishing of any material. I’ll still be sending out semi-regular e-mails with my thoughts on life, health, wellness, and performance, and of course will include little updates on my progress there. Train Like a Pro will continue to evolve!

With that said, why learn Spanish?

Well, let’s point out the obvious: I live in Miami.

Spanish is the main language of South Florida, I don’t care what you say. It is not only a huge personal benefit to be able to communicate with the majority of the population in their native tongue, but there are a ton of business advantages as well. I think it would be awesome to expand my coaching and training services to the Latin population and those who don’t speak English. I think it would be amazing to be able to translate some of my resources, including my writing into Spanish.

I also spent a fair bit of time in Spanish speaking countries over the past few years, Spain and Colombia. Being around Spanish speakers made me realize that Spanish makes up such a large percentage of conversations that I’m around, and I’m ignorant to it all! I would love to travel around South America more, and speaking the Native language is the only REAL way to do that.

Since I have a pretty decent head start of understanding a little bit of Spanish and knowing the basic rules, it won’t be like I’m starting from scratch trying to learn French or Mandarin. This should help reduce the learning curve a bit.

I knew after Project Par I didn’t want to challenge myself physically. I love the physical aspect of Golf and thoroughly enjoyed the training I put in, but it was time for something different.

I wanted to challenge myself in a way mentally that I had not been challenged before. And what better way than to learn a new language?

I have a lot of fun speaking what little Spanish I do in my life as it is. It feels like I’m a whole new persona. Maybe that sounds weird, but when I speak Spanish I say things that probably don’t fit my personality should I say it in English. Is that normal for people who speak multiple languages? I don’t know… but I enjoy speaking another language and want to take it all the way to become conversationally fluent.

There are some more, smaller reasons, like wanting to take my parents to South America and be their guide.

Compared to Project Par, this is also going to be a lot less structured. When it comes to physical development, I was in my domain. That is my job after all, developing a training and development program was what I do best.

But with this, I’m completely out of my comfort zone.

Combine that with the fact that I need a little time off from extreme goal-oriented production (just a few weeks! Nothing crazy…) and I’m going to have to learn how to learn a language! If you have any tips or recommendations here, I’d love to hear them.

For now, I downloaded Babble and paid for the premium version this morning. I’ll be practicing there daily until I figure out how to take on a more serious routine. I figured it’ll probably end up by getting a tutor, and of course doing my best to talk Spanish with the people I see every day.

I’m really excited to be taking on this new challenge and the lessons I learn with it.

Progress never stops, it may change directions, it may slow down, but there is only one direction in life and that is forward.

I’ll be moving from Project Par to Proyecto Español, and I can’t wait until the end of this year when an entire article is in Spanish.

In the meantime, thanks for being a part of my journey, I hope you’ve gotten as much value out of it as I did.

For those of you that have adopted the Project framework, I want to hear from you!

How did your 2023 Project go? What did you learn from it? And what’s on the slate for 2024?? Let me know!

Whatever it is you pursue, I just hope that you give it your 100% effort. There is no failure in trying, only in giving up.

- Trainer 01

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