Just Start: Your Brain Is a Terrible Accountant (Here's How to Fix It)

Dear Andre, (5 min read)

I've been carrying around rocks in my backpack all year.

And I'm guessing you have too.

Here's the thing: Your brain is a terrible accountant.

It remembers every mistake. Every fumble. Every "I can't believe I said that" moment from March that keeps you up at night in December.

But the wins? The moments you showed up? The times you were brave?

Those get buried in a pile somewhere in the back of your mind, collecting dust.

This week, we're fixing that.

The Shoes I Forgot About

Last night I had dinner with a friend.

We're catching up, I was sharing about the listen capture action framework, and he says something that stopped me cold:

"Man, I'm still wearing those shoes you gave me."

I had no idea what he was talking about.

"What shoes?"

He looked at me like I was joking. "The ones you gave me. Remember?"

I didn't remember. At all.

But he did. He remembered perfectly. And apparently he thinks about it every time he puts them on.

I listened, captured what he said, and acted. (gave him something that mattered to him), and my brain just... tossed it in the pile in the back of the warehouse.

Meanwhile, I can tell you in vivid detail about a 30-second talk I gave that didn't go as well as I'd like.

30 seconds.

You see the problem?

The Warehouse Story

A mentor of mine, Keith Kochner, learned this framework from a billionaire (Bill Bartmann, the name just came to me).

And the thing that struck Keith most wasn't the money or the success.

It was this: The guy could try new projects, watch them fail spectacularly, and just... move on. Like it was nothing.

Or he'd win big and not get cocky about it.

Keith couldn't figure it out. How do you stay that steady? That clear?

Then the billionaire explained it like this:

Your brain is a warehouse.

Inside that warehouse are all the events from your year (every conversation, every project, every win, every loss). Just papers stacked everywhere.

At the front of the warehouse, there's a doorman standing next to a filing cabinet.

The filing cabinet is what you remember easily. The stuff right at your fingertips when someone asks, "How was your year?"

The pile in the back? That's everything else.

Now here's the key:

The doorman decides what goes in the filing cabinet based on one thing:

Emotional weight.

If something happened and you attached massive emotion to it (shame, fear, embarrassment), it goes in the filing cabinet. Front and center. Easy to remember.

If something went really well but you didn't pause to feel it, didn't celebrate it, didn't attach emotion? It goes in the pile. Lost forever.

Do you see the problem now?

Most of us spend the year putting all our failures in the filing cabinet and throwing our wins in the back.

A 30-second talk that went sideways? Filed.

Shoes that changed someone's day? Forgotten.

Then December rolls around and we wonder why we feel like we didn't accomplish anything.

This Is Called "Clearing and Cutting"

And it's something I do every December. (you can also do this at the end of any season of your life. End of a job, relationship, or project.)

Here's how it works:

You go back through your entire year and you intentionally reattach emotion to the things that worked and minimize the emotion around the things that didn't.

You're not pretending failures didn't happen.

You're just taking them out of the filing cabinet and putting them back in the pile where they belong.

And you're taking your wins (the moments you were brave, the times you showed up as a great friend, the projects that actually worked) and you're filing them properly.

Like those shoes.

Because here's what happens when you do this:

You start to see yourself accurately for the first time.

You realize, "Wow, I actually did a lot this year."

And suddenly, 2026 doesn't feel like climbing a mountain from the valley.

It feels like the next step on a path you're already walking.

How to Do This (The Practical Side)

Grab a piece of paper. Or open a Google Doc. (That's what I'm using.)

Go month by month through 2025.

For each month, ask yourself:

• What didn't work?

Then ask:

• What worked in my faith?

• What worked in my relationships?

• What worked in my health?

• What worked in my finances?

• What worked in my business?

At first, your brain will want to only give you the failures. That's normal. Let them come.

But then push deeper.

Look through:

• Your Photos from each month

• Your Instagram posts (if you posted anything)

• Your calendar (where did you go? who did you see?)

• Old text threads (who did you encourage?)

• Newsletters you wrote (what were you thinking about?)

Jog your memory.

Because I promise you (there are wins buried in there that you forgot about).

Moments where you stepped up when you could have backed down.

Times you were a great friend when someone really needed it.

Projects that actually launched, even if they didn't go viral.

Shoes you gave away that someone's still wearing.

Find those moments. And attach emotion to them.

Say it out loud if you need to: "That was a big deal. I'm proud of that."

Take the rock out of your backpack and set it down.

The Thing About Rocks

There's this image I can't get out of my head:

A little traveler with a massive backpack, picking up rocks as he walks.

Every failure. Every regret. Every "I should have done better."

He keeps adding them to the pack.

And he wonders why he can't stand a little bit taller. Why everything feels so heavy.

That's what we do all year.

We carry around the weight of things that didn't work, and we forget that we're still here. The business is still running. The relationships are still intact.

Even in the "failures," you survived. You learned. You kept going.

Clearing and Cutting is taking that backpack off.

Looking at each rock and saying, "Do I need to carry this into 2026?"

Most of the time? No.

Why This Matters for 2026

Last week, we talked about your 2026 thesis. (If you missed that, go back and read it.)

But here's the thing: You can't build a clear vision for next year if you're still carrying a distorted view of this year.

If all you remember are the losses, you'll play scared in 2026.

If all you remember are the wins, you'll see what's actually possible (and you'll play bold).

This process isn't about ignoring reality.

It's about seeing reality clearly.

Most of us blow our failures out of proportion. We make them this huge deal: "Everyone's going to remember this. This ruined everything."

But the truth? Most people forgot. It wasn't that big. You're still standing.

And most of us minimize our wins. We shrug them off: "It wasn't that impressive. Other people are doing more."

But the truth? You did something. You showed up. That matters.

And sometimes other people remember better than you do.

Your Assignment This Week

Go through your year.

Month by month if you can. The whole year in one sitting if you need to.

Write down:

1. What worked? (Be specific. Find at least 3 wins per month.)

2. What didn't work? (Acknowledge it. Then minimize the emotion.)

Then (and this is the most important part) attach emotion to your wins.

Say them out loud. Text a friend about them. Journal about them. Feel the weight of what you actually accomplished.

Let yourself see how much you've done.

Because when you do, 2026 stops feeling like a mountain to climb.

It starts feeling like the next chapter in a story you're already writing.

Well, that's all for now.

Go take the rocks out of your backpack.

-Daniel

P.S. I'm doing this in real time this week too. I haven't "finished" my Clearing and Cutting yet, but I wanted to get this to you now so you can start. It can take an afternoon or a few days (whatever you need). But it's worth it.

P.P.S. If you want the full training I learned this from, I'm including two links below. The first is Keith Kochner's original teaching (43 minutes, skip to 4:27 to avoid old announcements). The second is Bill Bartman (the billionaire) teaching his version of the concept. About 2 hours total if you want to go deep. There's also a book called Bounce Back by Bill Bartman if this resonates with you.

Clearing and Cutting Training

Bill Bartmann Interview

Bouncing back By Bill Bartmann