More Shipping
I spent the last few months of 2010 getting the foundation laid for what I hope is a successful 2011. Success in 2011 means shipping. Shipping takes on various forms for me.
- Communicating consistently. This past year, when I was doing 300 words a day on this blog, it was one of the most productive times in recent memory. I had clarity of thought and direction. This year, I will post 200 entries on this site. Some will be good, some will suck. Does not matter.
- Release five new products. I have two in the works that should hit in Q1 of 2011. I am excited about one, and really excited about the other. This is a big stretch goal, but I am committed to making it happen.
Less Waste Of Time
I still have to get better at stripping away the things that don’t matter every day and working on the things that move me ahead. I will focus on doing the things that matter most first each day.
More Partnerships
I have found already that I really enjoy doing projects with other people. The creative energy is much greater when there is someone else to bounce ideas off of. I started out with Rocket Hangar thinking things would go a certain way, but circumstances took things in other directions. Instead of fretting about it, I have to be better at moving on and finding new opportunities. I also plan to really plug in to the local scene here in RDU and meet new people. For those of you that know me, you know that the thought of this makes me break out in hives. It’s not a strong suit. It needs to be.
Less Mental Clutter
I remember reading something from Tim Ferriss where he challenged his readers to go on an information diet. I was better this past year at this at times than others. I can get sucked into the vortex of information for information’s sake. It doesn’t help me think better, and I have to be able to shut stuff out.
More Seeing The World
This one stays on the list from last year. Our trip to Italy was fantastic. This year we are considering Costa Rica or other destinations a bit closer to home ( and a bit cheaper I hope! ). This is a big part of the education of our kids, and we are committed to experiencing more of what the world has to offer. I am also planning work trips to both Russia and India as I build the global Rocket Hangar team.
More Frugal
Hugh MacLeod has a saying: frugal is freedom. I have not lived this way, mainly because I have not had to, or did not think I had to. I am committed to living differently this year. Focus on people and experience, not the accumulation of things. I did a little better in 2010, but have a long ways to go.
Less Pessimistic
I have been reading a book entitled The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley. The thesis is that human existence has been getting better over time due to man’s ability to innovate and continually refine the division of labor ( I am sure there is more to it, but this is one of the main themes ). I am generally pessimistic about the cause of humans. There are ( to my line of thinking ) more reasons to think things will get worse rather than better. I have come to realize that this is poison. I have it better than 98% of the people on Earth, and I should think and act accordingly.
What are your “More And Less” items for 2011? Take some time, write them down, and share them if you are willing to.
Prepare to launch.
At the beginning of this year, I put together a list of things that I was looking to change this year. I called it my ‘More And Less List’ because each element had an element of doing more of something, and less of something else.
I am half way through the year, and so I thought I would take a look at how I am doing on each point. Here was my list:
- More doing, less talking about doing
Mixed results on this one. I have had a couple major decisions in the past six months, and have peered over the edge into the abyss and pulled back for various reasons. Committed to being different in the next three months on this one.
- More time with people I want to spend time with, less time with people I don’t
This one is actually going OK. I made a commitment to not attend worthless meetings ( to the extent that I could say no ), to not hang out with people I don’t really enjoy just for personal gain, and more importantly to find time for people and organizations I care about. As a result, I am more productive during the day, I have spent a lot of time with a few people in particular that I really value, and have jettisoned a lot of the personal dead weight. I am still working on getting even better at how I spend my day. I read a post by Seth Godin the other day about organizing your day to force yourself to get your work done in five hours. I need to be better at doing the things that are most important and letting the others just go.
- More thinking about impacting the world, less thinking about impacting myself
I spent a lot of time the last six months with my good friend Henry Kaestner of Durham Cares as well as my good friends at Children’s Hopechest. I can’t say enough about my time with both organizations, and at least indirectly I am actively working to change the world as I see it. I also started a blog series about changing education in the US. I have had a lot of good feedback and am planning to have some get-togethers this next six months to explore the ideas it has brought about even further.
- More seeing the world, less seeing the inside of my house.
I am happy to report this one has been a smashing success so far. In March, I spent three days in Zurich and in May my family spent almost three weeks in Italy. I had never been to either place and loved them both. I also traveled a fair amount for work and personal stuff, spending a good bit of time in San Francisco and recently visiting Boston, a new city for me. It’s been great, and I hope to keep up the trend this second half of the year. Tentatively on the agenda for later this year is Swaziland.
- More in the moment, less in the future and even less in the past
I have to be honest. I still have to wrestle this one to the ground, particularly on the work front. My constant looking over the horizon has caused me to miss things that could have been beneficial or just enjoyable.
- More gratitude, less complaining
If I were getting a grade on this one, it would be an F. Plain and simple. Must… do… better.
- More appreciation for what I have, less hand-wringing about what I don’t have and what that means.
For me, this past six months was a huge step forward. I have mentally ( and in some cases physically ) divested myself of things that did not matter and really started to pay attention to how good of a life I have. I know this seems in stark contrast to the progress on the last bullet, but I think for me this was about my desire to have things. I now, for the first time, see things in their proper place. No more clutter.
- More energy, less fatigue
I spent a lot of time this spring getting back into shape. I am not talking about not being fat kind of shape, but able to exercise for two hours without wishing I were dead kind of shape. I played a lot of tennis and got into probably the best shape of the last five years for me. I then went to Italy and ate like the world was ending, so I have some catching up to do.
When I wrote this, I had in mind the way of thinking about things in the world. I almost think if I could do it again, I would say it exactly the opposite. Smaller, more nimble, more flexible wins the day. I have some things to adjust to make this a reality. I still think that thinking about big things has value. However, executing the small stuff needs to get better.
So, overall I give myself a B-/B for the past six months. I consciously paid attention to this list, and it gave me something to go after. I think I have a long ways to go on all of it. I am thinking I need to post it on the wall and look at it every day.
How many of us actually live one day at a time? I am not talking about the irresponsible notion of not planning and accounting for the possibility of tomorrow, but I mean living today like it is the only day that matters?
I was reading this morning in Pascal’s Penseé #47, which says:
“We never keep to the present. We recall the past; we anticipate the future as if we have found it too slow in coming and were trying to hurry it up, or we recall the past as if to stay its too rapid flight. We are so unwise that we wander about in times that do not belong to us, and do not think of the only one that does; so vain that we dream of times that are not and blindly flee the only one that is…
Let each of us examine his thoughts; he will find them wholly concerned with the past or the future. We almost never think of the present, and if we do think of it, it is only to see what light it throws on our plans for the future. The present is never our end. The past and the present are our means, the future alone our end. Thus we never actually live, but hope to live, and since we are planning how to be happy, it is inevitable that we should never be so.”
If the present is all you have, does it change how you make decisions? Does it mean that you are reckless and don’t plan for the future?
For me, I think this means doing something important every day. I read an anecdote from Steve Jobs a while back where he says he asks himself every morning if the work he is getting ready to do that day is important. If it isn’t, he adapts and changes to ensure he does not string together multiple days of doing things that don’t matter.
I am not sure I fully grasp the concept of living only in the present. As part of my More And Less List for this year, I hope to get closer to what this actually means.
What do you think it means to live in the present? Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
I have spent some of this Christmas season doing something I have wanted to do for a long time. I have been getting all of our home movies off of my ( now ) ancient Hi 8 tapes and onto my computer. It has been fun learning about making my own movies and messing around with iMovie.
What was unexpected ( at least for me ) was the slug in the gut I have been getting every time I put in a new tape. I have watched video in the last 24 hours that I have not watched in seven or eight years of my kids early Christmases, their preschool graduations, and other really fun stuff. It has made me realize that while I have been sweating about how and when to do the next thing, the time has been flying by at a pace that even I did not recognize. As the saying goes, “The days go on forever, but the years fly by.” I found this video by Gretchen Rubin this morning while catching up on Twitter.
I have been thinking the last few days about what I can do to make sure I make the most of my own personal blip of time. I came up with this idea of a More and Less List. I have never done New Year’s resolutions, and I like to think of this as something more than that, whether it really is or not. If it resonates with you as a way to express where you want to head in your own life, add your own list to the comments below. I intend to use these bullet points as the guideposts for my decisions this year, and write consistently about whether I am passing or failing.
With that, I present my More And Less List for 2010:
- More doing, less talking about doing
- More time with people I want to spend time with, less time with people I don’t
- More thinking about impacting the world, less thinking about impacting myself
- More seeing the world, less seeing the inside of my house.
- More in the moment, less in the future and even less in the past
- More gratitude, less complaining
- More appreciation for what I have, less hand-wringing about what I don’t have and what that means.
- More energy, less fatigue
- More big, less small
What are your Mores and Lesses for 2010?
Here’s to a life-altering 2010.
