At least I can say this isn’t a resolution post. Mostly because it is so late. The title is more than just a joke about the year. I got new glasses to start the year and mostly due to my wife’s honesty while I was having my eyes examined, I have progressives. The first week or two was a miserable adjustment . I have since grown to love the absence of a struggle to read and see.
These posts are a continuation of the last few years of self focus and personal growth. My interest in self improvement extends further back but my concentration on specific processes and values has become more focused in that time. I gained a more mature kind of clarity about what I value and why. I got this clarity from reading and re-reading some excellent books. They helped me better organize and optimize daily tasks and routines in a significantly more effective fashion.
If those ideas escape you feel free to think of it as my mid life crisis. Some time back when I didn’t have a direction about what i wanted to blog about. My posts were blobs of personal free writing. Personal friends told me it was the kind of stuff you keep to yourself and those who only think they have a clue who I am , looked at me like i was a little crazy. This past year’s attempt started as a retreat from the social media keyboard warriors. It is growing into something quite different.
This post is another line in the sand as far as my goals. I do have milestones in this next year for those person, places and things that I value. I plan to continue improving my daily habits and routines that simplify maintaining and achieving my goals. This post is the umpteenth restart of a plan with a variety of minor and grandiose goals. A plan that is a work in progress. A plan that is not nearly perfect, but a plan based on systems I have grown to trust.
Pieces of the Plan
Health/Fitness/Gym
This past year I made it to the gym consistently for a few months and while no real weight was lost. I did lean up and some clothes fit better. A small deviation in that routine seemed to spiral me right out of the habit. That deviation was overly ambitious and caused by confused and unclear goals . This years personal health goals will be more evenly paced.
Learning/Reading/Music
Most of my learning has been geared towards professional aspirations. It has and will continue to be consistent. The book I am currently reading suggests a book a month. So I may make my minimal goal one professional book and one non professional book a month.
My reading will vary from the personal growth texts referenced below to technical texts and finally fiction and literature. The latter is to help encourage my writing aspirations which have fluctuated greatly. I did not quite set a goal for that but I can say I wanted to do more. I will be working on a goal in the new future (stay tuned).
After a long period of just mildly pursuing being a better guitar player and musician in general, I have been avidly pursuing large volumes of YouTube videos. The side effect of these videos has caused me to purchase some equipment. I have collected my first fully operational pedal board and an audio interface. The intention being to simplify my practices and increase their frequency and effectiveness. I also intend to record my self to listen for any amount of improvement from my miserable droning playing. If all goes well there will be posts specifically about interesting ideas and such that i have been following. Early signs are it is paying of, as practice has increased and I have a better understanding of some ideas that eluded me for no good reason.
Professionally
My professional plans for the near and distant future are pretty straight forward. I only need two goals. My first goal is to be the very best professional I can both in demeanor and skill set. My second goal is to grow out a laundry list of products as a technical entrepreneur. My first goal is to merely continue to raise my quality standards at work. The second goal is for me to carry out a list of projects at Covered In Should and DSS. Long overdue projects.
The goal for 2020 both here and at Covered In Should is to share not just the stories or their insights, but the principles I followed and developed to successfully achieve my goals. I plan to set reading goals and meet those goals by sharing book reviews and the insights I took from the book
The plan includes some personal and family goals which I may share at a later date if it proves relevant . Overall you should just understand the plan is based around a mission statement , principle based values and value based outcomes. All concepts I borrow from 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.
In the coming year, I plan to be more organized with these outcomes. I plan to be more proactive with personal and professional projects .
Summary
I hope for you there has been some redeeming value in reading this long winded post. I hope you see it as more than just self marketing and backwards pats on the back. Below are a few books that have helped motive me into my plan. Perhaps they can for the same for you. Expect to see more book referrals soon .
Be back soon with actual topics. Comment if you have one in mind.
The plan is to break out the different categories into different posts Suggestions for books are welcome. Leave a comment to let me know what you thought.
Reading Materials :
Getting Things Done7 Habits of Highly Effective People
Extreme Ownership
ddecasse 