My 2016 Annual Review

2016 review

Every year, I conduct my Annual Review and share it publicly.

I find it helpful for me to reflect on my successes and failures of the previous 12 months, but also I hope you can learn something or be inspired reading my reviews as well.

This annual review is more detailed than my previous ones as I’ll look back at what happened in the 9 most important areas of my life last year by answering the following 3 questions:

  1. What went well this year?
  2. What didn't go so well this year?
  3. What am I working toward?

Let's get into the details...

More...

Health & Fitness

What Went Well?

  • Maintained a good health throughout 2016 without any major sickness
  • Consistently worked out 3 to 5 times per week
  • Ate clean and healthy very consistently (5 to 6 times per week)
  • Got stronger and bigger than I was in 2015 and that’s thanks to the Kinobody’s Greek God program

What Didn’t Go Well?

  • Progressed slowly with my key lifts due to my constant neck and lower back pain problems
  • Still had a hard time following my macros in order to shred some fat and achieve the lean physique that I want

What I’m Working Toward?

  • I decided to take a break from weightlifting as it seemed to be the cause of my neck and lower back problems.
  • I’m currently working on improving my flexibility, mobility, core strength and straight arm strength by following GMB’s programs (Elements and P1).
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Headstand at Mui Ne's beach.

Mind & Emotions

What Went Well?

  • As I got older, I noticed a lot of changes in terms of beliefs and perspective.
  • I thought about deaths a lot and knowing that me or my loved ones can leave this world anytime soon makes me a much more responsible person.
  • I actively spent more time with my family and close friends.
  • I realized that I need a lot less to be happy and that I actually have everything I need to be happy now.
  • One person that heavily influenced my way of thinking is Derek Sivers. I’m a big fan of his work and his approach to life and business. I actually had a chance to briefly meet him in person at DCBKK 2014.
  • Here are some of my most favorite pieces of content from Derek:
  • Overall, I’m calmer and happier than I’ve ever been.

What Didn’t Go Well?

  • There were still some moments when I felt stressed and unmotivated to do anything, but that’s normal. Everybody has low times.

What I’m Working Toward?

  • Meditation helps a lot when it comes to training the mind to be calm and happy so I’ll try to maintain a daily meditation practice with the help of the Headspace app.

Romance

What Went Well?

  • Maintained a loving relationship with my girlfriend, Hannah.
  • We are celebrating our 4th year anniversary this week and our relationship is stronger than ever.

What Didn’t Go Well?

  • We do need more romantic times though as I still spend a lot of time working on my business.

What I’m Working Toward?

  • Plan more romantic times and trips.
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Family

What Went Well?

  • I only visited my hometown a few times this year, but I did have some quality time with my family there.
  • We did a family trip in the summer.
  • I also took my sister to Singapore and we had a good time there.

What Didn’t Go Well?

  • Nothing that I can think of.

What I’m Working Toward?

  • Call my family weekly.
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Social & Friends

What Went Well?

  • Spent the most part of this year in Saigon hanging out with my awesome entrepreneur friends from the Dynamite Circle
  • Met a lot of new friends and made some close friendships
  • Had some quality time catching up with my best friends in Hanoi
  • Picked up playing a video game again (Dota 2) with my best friends and it’s been fun.

What I’m working Toward?

  • Organize at least 1 fun activities per month with my friends to strengthen our friendships.
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Fun going out with my buddies in Saigon

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22th birthday party in Hanoi 😀

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gym session with my new friend and soon-to-be biz partner Alec in Bangkok

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Steak dinner with Nate, Clayton, Michael, Josh, Mark, Kiet, and Alec.

Adventures

What Went Well?

  • Had some good trips with family and friends:
    • Mui Ne in March and June
    • Singapore in June
    • Bangkok in October
    • Phuket in October

What Didn’t Go Well?

  • Due to my focus on the business, I didn’t travel much this year.

What I’m working toward?

  • Visit 5 new countries
  • Go on a scuba diving trip.

Finances

What Went Well?

  • 2016 was my best financial year​
  • I’m not comfortable sharing my exact income in numbers, but it’s in the low six-figures.
  • I was able to saved half of my profit.

Career & Business

What Went Well?

  • This year I really focused on 2 main projects and the focus has paid off well.​
  • Created and launched AMZ Affiliate Bootcamp which has helped many students make their first $ from the internet. Success stories coming soon.
  • I hired my best friend, Kiet, as an intern in March and he has been doing an amazing work to grow the business. He’s now the Operations Manager of my authority website projects.
  • I also brought him to the DCBKK conference last October and that trip boosted his learning/motivation significantly.
  • I hired another team member in December as content marketing apprentice and he’ll be helping me grow Cloud Living in 2017.
  • I grew our Cloud Living Community FB Group to 8,500+ members.

What Didn’t Go Well?

  • Still didn’t do a good job of keeping track of my numbers regularly.​

What I’m Working Toward?

  • Triple my 2016’s profit​
  • Create a strong system to build and grow more authority sites
  • Really grow Cloud Living to impact even more people
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Contribution

What Went Well?

  • Never passed any opportunity to contribute or donate to charity or poor people that came in my way.​

How Was Your 2016?

So, there you have it- my 2016 year in review. Overall, it was a good year with lots of personal and business growth.

It’s a privilege to write for you. I have said many times that I'm not an expert and don't have it all figured out yet. I'm still young (22) and have many years ahead.

The only thing I’m sure of is that I will keep working hard to become better in every aspect of my life. And, of course, I will be sharing with you what I learn along the way.

Thanks for following my journey. Hope you have a great 2017!

How about you? What were your biggest takeaways in 2016? What's your plan for a better 2017? Leave a comment below.

Tung Tran

I’ve built and sold a bunch of highly profitable internet businesses since 2010. After selling my last one in November 2020, I decided to go all... [Read full bio]