Don’s Thoughts

2024's Extraordinary Days

If you’re a parent, you’ve undoubtedly experienced the pleasure of finding that a day or moment you took for granted meant the world to your child and, conversely, the humbling experience of realizing you may have tried too hard on something that just didn’t make the impression you thought it would. In our family, we measure “extraordinary days” and have a goal of sharing 1,000 extraordinary days together as a family before our oldest son, Donny, goes to college. The rules of an extraordinary day are that it must be a day we were together as a family, and we must all vote that it was an extraordinary day.

In 2024, we experienced an incredible 103 extraordinary days. Below are each of our favorite days.

Dad’s Favorite Day

November 6th, when Donny, Alex, and I were all baptized together. I was raised catholic and baptized as a baby, then went through confirmation. All of our boys were baptized as well, but for our two oldest to choose Jesus as their Lord and Savior and for me to be baptized alongside them was incredibly special.

Many of this year's extraordinary days were spent in service as we traveled alongside the DLP Positive Returns Foundation on mission trips in Panama, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and Belize. I've highlighted many of these trips in past editions, but here are a few highlights.

In Belize, 

we supported PathLight, which empowers children to receive a quality education, break free from poverty, and reach their God-given potential. While there, we had the opportunity to snorkel and swim with sharks and take a cooking class with Mayan locals.

In Guatemala, 

we worked alongside Transforming Futures, a signature partner of the DLP Positive Returns Foundation. We shared beanie babies with the local children, fed over 400 families at a local feeding center, put together care packages, and went bowling and shoe shopping with some of the local children.

In Costa Rica, 

we witnessed John C. Maxwell bring 100s to salvation. 

We also visited Panama alongside his Transforming Futures organization, 

where we had the privilege of being part of donating sports equipment and a new outdoor recreation center. Carla and Alex even got the chance to help him sign books.

Ready to create your own extraordinary days with your family? Our Extraordinary Impact Family Event this June is a great place to start. Spend four days with your family and other like-minded investors in beautiful Asheville, NC, strengthening your family’s bond and even experiencing some extraordinary days of your own.

Get a feel for what makes this event so unique with the recap of last year’s event. Browse photos, watch a recap video, and even see recordings of some of the most popular sessions.

Prepare for an Extraordinary 2025: Compass and Living Fully Dashboard

In the next edition of Don’s Thoughts, I’ll share my Personal Compass and Living Fully dashboard goals for 2025. If you haven’t taken the time before to complete a Personal Compass—or aren’t sure what I’m talking about—let me tell you why this exercise has become an indispensable part of my life. You can also learn more about this tool in my book Building an Elite Career (Chapter 3).

The Personal Compass is a tool that enables you to Live Fully, achieving both success (achieving your goals) and significance (making an impact on who and what matters to you). Completing the personal compass can help you connect with what you want to accomplish in your life and force you to take an honest look at what has been holding you back from living the life you want. It’s about going from dreaming about the life you want to live to planning for it. It’s a tool to encourage discipline, the foundation of success in all aspects of your life, including what I refer to as the eight F’s: Faith, Family, Fitness, Finance, Fulfillment, Freedom, Friends, and Fun.

I’ll explore the Personal Compass and the Living Fully dashboard in the next edition, but today, I want to encourage you to complete your own personal compass using the template available here. If that seems too overwhelming a place to start, focus on the Living Fully dashboard section. As you’ll see in my updates for 2024 below, this section is about identifying your top goals for 2025. 

As you work through the Living Fully dashboard, remember to focus on progress over perfection. Be ambitious, but aim for things you can see yourself being accountable for in the year ahead. If you’re new to this type of goal setting, I recommend no more than 4-5 goals. Completing a Life Assessment (available here) and evaluating where you are in your life using the 8 F’s framework is a great guide to get started.

My 2024 Living Fully Dashboard Results

• Goal: Win the Year: 84 extraordinary days in 12 different places each year, visiting 7 national parks.
  Update: We had 103 extraordinary days in 19 different places. We only visited 3 national parks, but we will make up for that with a big 2025 national park plan.
• Goal: Daily family routines: daily prayer and 15-minute convo with Carla and daily prayers with boys.
  Update: Not as consistent as I would like, but the habits are in place and largely achieved.
• Goal: Clear, active role at a church and church rolled out through DLP Communities.
  Update: Not 100% achieved, but great progress. Eleven22 is our church, and we have done a lot with Eleven22 through the DLP Positive Returns Foundation.
• Goal: Clear giving plan with 3+ significant ministry partnerships and EDC contribution implemented.
  Update: Yes! This was accomplished with 10+ significant ministry partnerships and the rollout of DLPgives.
• Goal: Sacred pace: Miracle Morning daily; free Friday; solitude days; quarterly 4 days off the grid; read 75 books; write a book.
  Update: Largely in place! Overall a success. I read 70 books (an average of 20 hours per month) and am halfway through writing Building an Extraordinary Organization.
• Goal: Weekly basketball and pickleball with indoor courts complete in St. Augustine and Asheville.
  Update: Asheville is complete! We were able to play on the courts for the first time on my birthday weekend. St. Augustine is permitted and ready to start construction.
• Goal: Be in the best shape of my life at 40.
  Update: Overall, I did well. There’s still work to do to get to where I want to be in 2025. I reduced my biological age by 3 years this year. All of my blood work, stress testing, body composition, etc., have continued to improve this year.
• Goal: Achieve investor and DLP return targets.
  Update: On track!
• Goal: All 12 tribe key seats filled: 4 Elite partners, 3 strategy team members, 2+ ministry partners, 2 mentors, 2 friends.
  Update: 100% achieved. Very blessed.
• Goal: Read the Bible chronologically.
  Update: This has been a great joy. I’m about 80% complete and will finish in Q1 2025. I look forward to deepening my relationship with Christ through deepening my knowledge of scripture in 2025.

DISCLOSURE

Statements are those of Don Wenner/DLP Capital only and are not guaranteed, nor should such statements be relied upon. Forward-looking statements are expressions and beliefs of DLP Capital and should not be relied upon. Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. Nothing in this is a solicitation or offer of solicitation. All investments in any DLP Capital Sponsored Fund are to be made after review of the PPM, OA, and subscription agreement. DLP Capital is not providing tax advice. Consult your tax and legal professional before making any investment decisions.