One Word

Due to a strong case of writer's block, I am signed up for Reverb's "Reflect and Manifest" project for December.  They provide a writing prompt every day during the month for bloggers to write about.  I am starting this 5 days late.


December 1 - One Word.
Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?



This may be laughable to those who know me well, but 2010 was a year of Maturity for me.  For the first time in my life I made conscious decisions with the future in mind, AND followed up with the appropriate actions.  For a long time I have been somewhat split between the idea of succeeding within society and the contrary view of completely leaving that society.  I would often bounce between the ideas of moving my career forward and just selling all my shit and walking across China (or something similar).

I think a significant contributing factor to my decision to make financially-sound choices is witnessing friends and family who are struggling later on in life, and seeing just how limiting the lack of money can be.  Fear not, I am not developing a "Greed is Good" Wall Street mentality.  I still have inexpensive tastes and consider myself anti-materialistic.  As money never really mattered much to me, it was easy for me to spend it.  Buying rounds of drinks for friends, eating out whenever I was too lazy to cook, and other wasteful purchases kept me merely breaking even, even as my income went up.  This year I began contributing to my retirement savings again, saved up a solid emergency fund, and started an account for a down payment on a home.  If things continue as they are, I will be completely debt-free at the end of the 1st quarter 2011.

This has made a huge difference in my stress levels.  If something needs to be repaired on my car, I can just go do it instead of hoping things dont get worse while I save up the money.  Better yet, I can get it fixed properly rather doing whatever is cheapest (and most likely to cause more problems).

I believe I have matured in my personal relationships as well.  I have always been a selfish person in past relationships. My interests, goals and plans were priority #1, and it was usually time and attention to friends/ family/significant other that would suffer for it.  Really thinking about what I want out of life has helped me focus more on the people in my life, and my relationships are stronger for that.  It has allowed me to start a relationship with an incredible woman who challenges me and helps me grow, and I am not shooting myself in the foot by ignoring her for boxing practice or personal reading or whatever else.  My interests and fitness are all major priorities for me, but it is good to have a proper perspective about it.

2011 promises to be a pivotal year.  I have started my own company, a sales and marketing consultation business for overseas manufacturers, and it will require a tremendous amount of time and energy.  It would be very easy to become a workaholic and neglect the people and personal interests in my life.  Because of this, I hope that my word for 2011 is Balance.  There were a lot of times in 2010 when I felt that I did not have enough going on.  That is no longer the case, and I want to give myself wholly to my family, my friends, my girlfriend, my business, my health.  Maybe 2012 will be the year of Sleep.

A Case of the Mondays?

I may be the only person I know who likes Mondays.  They are kind of like mini versions of New Years Day, a fresh start to work on your resolutions and goals for the week, month and year. And they come more often, so if you screw up, as I inevitably do, another Monday is coming around the corner shortly. 

Sunday evening is usually spent planning out the coming week.  I go through my in-boxes, both real and virtual, scan my lists of plans, goals, dreams, etc. and put together as much of a schedule as possible.  I will clean up my desk, get my email folders down to zero, and generally start the week with as much of a clean slate as I can.  This way, Monday is fairly stress-free.  Yes, it is a rude and sudden jolt back to reality from the weekend, but I do what I can to minimize how hard the landing will be. 

Less is More, and other Hippy Shit

I recently read Leo Babauta's "The Power of Less."  Actually, I listened to the audio book, for those who may feel that the distinction is important.  This is not a full review, but there were a few important points that I wanted to touch on.  The main themes include minimalism, frugality, simplicity; all of which appeal to me these days. 

My caveat about recommending the book is that I sincerely feel that Babauta often gives advice on topics that he is far from an expert on.  His suggestions on how to handle email or projects would have gotten me fired at any employer I have worked for.  His tips on fitness, nutrition and excercise are dubious at best, and certainly aim at the lowest common denominator of health levels.  During these sections, I found myself wishing that he would stick to what he is an expert in. 

With that bet well-hedged, I will say that he has some excellent tips on goal-setting.  Like many people I know, I will get my head and heart all a'flutter with a million things to work on, improve, and adopt.  I want to accomplish literally hundreds of goals, and I want to work on them all NOW.  The inevitable failure is spectacular, my good intentions blown to smithereens, and the resulting disappointment leaving me gasping for breath and rocking on my heels in the living room.  Babauta's advice is simple, as one would expect from the book's title.  One goal at a time.  This actually works.  Determining and focusing on one major goal at a time allows you to give it complete attention.  I started the month with a gameplan for the goal, am sticking to it, and write/journal about it at the end of the day.  When temptation inevitably comes, I find it much easier to stay strong, as I remind myself that this is the ONLY thing I HAVE to be disciplined about for now. 

As it currently stands, I plan on focusing on one major goal per month.  After 30-31 days of completely prioritizing that one thing, my feeling/hope is that a habit has been developed, and I can relegate it to "maintenance status."  I can then pour my energy into the next area. 

Heres my current schedule...at least, as I see it today.

September - Private Goal
October - Becoming an early-riser
November - Minimizing time spent on social media

If you read Babauta's book, you will find at least a few tips that should make a positive difference in your life, assuming of couse that you actually put them into practice.  That being said, much of the content seems to be recycled, such as the productivity tips that seem to be borrowed straight from David Allen's "Getting Things Done."  I found it to be worth a read despite this, as the goal-setting sections alone were worth the time invested. 

You Are Not Your Bucket List

You may have noticed the "50 in 500" tab on my homepage.  I am certainly not the first to come up with a thing. These days everyone has a bucket list of things they want to do and see.  It seems to be a symptom of our generation that we want to make sure that we are getting a lot of things "done" in our limited time on this earth.  A noble sentiment.

Lately, I wonder if this mindset is appropriate for the type of activities that one typically finds on these lists.  For example, some of my "goals" include a backpacking trip with friends and family in the Sierra back-country, and a wine-tasting tour with my mom.  The point of these activities is to enjoy the time spent with people that I care about, engaged in activities that I enjoy doing.  I'm not sure that would qualify them as goals.

When Kalvin and I completed the C2C, one of the most difficult day-treks in the world, it wasn't "having done it" that was important so much as the "doing it."  It was the camaraderie, the effort and willpower that was required for every step, the shitty motivational songs that we made up, and it was the triumphant beer-guzzling at the bar afterward that made it worth doing.  The point is, the photographic summit moments are almost always anti-climactic.  The last steps were no more significant than any of the hundreds of thousands before it.  At the end of the day, it was both less and more than an item to be checked off a list.  Less, because an activity done for no purpose other than "fun" is not properly a goal, and more, because the time spent in exertion and challenge, and in the company of good people cannot be defined so easily as with a check mark.

I am too ignorant of the interwebz to figure out how to change the title on my "50 on 500" tab, but I am going to start thinking about it simply as a Someday/Maybe list of things that I would like to do.  There are no time limits, and there are no penalties for anything left undone.  I will simply resolve to live an adventurous life and trust that this will lead me naturally to spend my time among good friends and good times. 

* Thanks to Juliana and Linda who helped me fix the title of the tab

If you liked this, you might like:

Desert Heat, Vertical Elevation & Testicular Fortitude 
Learning to take it easy
Pussification