Wendell’s Weekly Wins and Whiffs

🏆 Win of the Week: The System Proved Itself

This week I went in with zero plan. First time in a long time I did not sit down on Sunday and map everything out. And I felt it almost immediately.

The whole week was reactive. I was thinking on the fly, constantly trying to remember what I was supposed to be doing, feeling like things were slipping through the cracks even when I was actually getting stuff done. It was exhausting in a way that had nothing to do with how much work I did. It was the chaos that wore me out.

But the week still moved. Deals progressed. The team executed. And by the time Saturday came around I was cooked and I knew it. So I took the whole day for myself. Sauna. Golf. Ice bath. Hot tub. No work. No calls. No screens. Just a full reset and honestly I needed every second of it.

The real win was not just surviving the week. It was the reminder that hit me in real time about why I have a system to begin with. When you skip the plan you do not stop working. You just work harder and feel worse about it. That lesson landing live this week was worth more than a smooth week ever could have been.

💨 Whiff of the Week: Running Without a Compass

The whiff and the win are the same story this week. I think that is actually the whole point.

Not planning did not mean I stopped moving. It meant I moved without direction. Burnt out. Constantly felt like I was forgetting something. Stressed and feeling out of control even when things were technically fine. That feeling took me straight back to the early days before I had any kind of system. Just doing. Just reacting. Just trying to survive the week.

I have not missed a weekly planning session in a long time. This week reminded me exactly why I protect that time. The planning is not just a nice habit to have. It is literally the infrastructure everything else runs on. Without it even a productive week feels like a loss because you never had a clear picture of what winning was supposed to look like.

Naming it. Not accepting it. The Sunday planning block is locked in from here on. No exceptions.

🎯 Tactical Tip of the Week: The Domino Effect of Planning

Most people plan their days. Fewer people plan their weeks. Almost nobody builds a system that connects what they do today all the way back to where they want to be in ten years. That gap right there is why so many people are genuinely busy but not actually building anything.

Here is the system I have been running for the last three or four years. I call it the 6 S's and it starts way before the weekly plan ever gets written.

At the start of every year I map out my 10 year vision, my 5 year targets, and my annual goals across every area of life. Business. Health. Spirituality. Finances. Relationships. All of it written down so I always have a reference point.

• At the start of every year I map out my 10 year vision, my 5 year targets, and my annual goals across every area of life. Business. Health. Spirituality. Finances. Relationships. All of it written down so I always have a reference point.

• Each quarter I plan out what needs to happen that quarter to stay on track toward the annual goals.

• Every Sunday I plan the week to make sure I hit what the quarter needs.

• Every morning I build my Power 5. The five things that absolutely have to happen today for the week to work.

It is a domino effect. Each level knocks the next one over. When the system is running the days do not feel chaotic because every single task is tied to something bigger. When the system breaks down even for one week you feel it everywhere. I just lived that.

This is also a big reason I believe so much in masterminds. When everyone in the room is running a version of this same system the accountability becomes automatic. You show up every week, you report on what you committed to, you own what you missed, and you reset. That external accountability speeds everything up.

👉 Action Step: If you do not have a weekly planning ritual start this Sunday. Block 60 minutes. Review your quarterly goals. Write your top priorities for the week. Build your Power 5 for Monday. Do it before the week starts and not after it already has you by the throat.

🔦 From the Field: Biggest Builds to Date and a Pivot That Actually Made the Numbers Better

We have two pieces of land under contract right now and these are the biggest development projects we have taken on to date.

The first is a triplex. Three spec built side by side townhomes. Straightforward plan and we are moving on it.

The second one is where it gets interesting. We originally planned to build another triplex on that site but when we dug deeper we found out there is a sewer line running up the side of the property that wipes out the setbacks needed for three units. So we pivoted. Instead of a triplex we are now building a luxury duplex. Two larger higher end side by side townhomes in a really sexy location. And here is the crazy part. The numbers actually got better.

Building two units instead of three brings the construction costs down. The larger unit sizes and the nicer finishes push the ARV up. Duplex townhomes in that market sell for more per unit because there is less shared space. And now we have way more backyard which is a real selling point in itself. What started as a constraint ended up being an upgrade.

None of this happens without the right people around you. One of our partners has a GC relationship he has used before who gives us a lot more flexibility on plans and customization than our standard builders can. That one relationship is unlocking a level of product and margin we would not have on our own.

We are crunching final numbers this week, locking in the plan, and getting ready to open the capital raise on it. Really exciting times over here.

I say it all the time and I mean it every time. If you want to go fast go alone. If you want to go far, go together with the right people. I will take the latter every single day of the week.

🎤 Final Word

This week was messy. No plan, pure chaos by default. And I still got through it. Deals moved, the team executed, and I closed it out with a full day of rest that I genuinely needed.

But what I am taking from this week more than anything is clarity. Clarity on why the system matters. Clarity on what it actually costs to run without a plan. Not in results necessarily but in how it feels. The stress. The constant feeling of forgetting something. The sense that you are out of control even when things are technically moving. I felt all of that this week and I do not want to feel it again.

The planning ritual is back. The Sunday block is locked. The biggest builds we have ever taken on are in motion. The team is strong and the machine keeps growing.

Sometimes the messy weeks teach you more than the clean ones. This was definitely one of those weeks. Let's get it! 💥

Keep growing or die,