Sadly, I only remember one of my 2009 New Year’s resolutions, and unfortunately it was a drastic failure. After reading a book a month in ’07, and 16 books in ’08, I made the ambitious goal to read 36 books this past year. The final total? I was part-way through my tenth book when 2009 came to an end.
In late 2008, and the first few months of 2009, I came to find value in New Year’s resolutions and birthday reflections; once upon a time I found both to be pointless wastes of time. But there’s something powerful and revealing when you take the time to set goals for your future and reflect on your past. In essence, there is true value to be had in doing both and — lucky for me — New Years and my birthday fall six months apart, making it a semi-annual ritual.
So, we come to 2010, and begin where 2009 was an utter failure: books. Again, I plan to be ambitious. What is the point of setting a goal that won’t be a challenge? Yet I’m hopeful this year, it will be attainable. Twenty-four books — an achievable, yet challenging two per month. My reading list is easily twice as large with books being added constantly, so there will be no shortage of desired material.
Next, the cliché of all New Years clichés: fitness. Little over a month ago, upon completing Donald Miller’s A Million Miles in a Thousand Years — which is a memoir about attempting to live a better story — I decided I, too, wanted to tell a better story with my life, and chose to begin training for a half-Ironman (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run), which takes place in Boise this June. To this point, my training has been a disaster, though it’s not too late to turn it around and be ready in six months. While Boise is still my primary goal, I don’t want to end up pushing my body too hard, and in the event that six months is too soon, I still, would like to at least reach the training level of a half-Ironman this year. Since the conclusion of the water polo season my freshman year of college, in 2002-03, my working out has been sporadic at best. In 2010, I hope to get into a healthy routine. I likely will never be training up to five hours a day, as I did swimming in high school, but it’d be nice to get back into a regular fitness routine.
Also in the year ahead, I’d like to take a major step in my career. As the year begins, there are couple of obvious directions that step could be. Each would be progress, but none are assured; and who knows if another opportunity will pop up. What I do know, though, is I would like to commit to one, and forge ahead. Be it Wired Oregon, the media company I’ve founded, developing into a financially sustainable project, or taking a position that is both a good career move and can provide some much-needed cash flow into my checking account. In any case, I need to find myself in a creative position. I’ve spent too much of 2009 studying and brainstorming ways to invent new media strategies for the digital age to get stuck doing medial tasks with no creative flexibility.
Finally — and I’ve touched on it briefly already — I want to live a better story. Several books I read this year struck that chord: the aforementioned Donald Miller book; William Zinsser’s Writing Places; John Eldridge’s Captivating; even fiction novels like Garth Stein’s The Art of Racing in the Rain and Stephen Galloway’s The Cellist of Sarajevo. Sometimes, it becomes obvious the universe is trying to teach you something. For me, in 2009, it was telling me to get my butt in gear and start living better.