More And Less List Update

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.
  • More big, less small
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.