By LocalPCGuy on Personal Development

Refection of 2012; Planning for 2013 – My 4 C’s

Ah, the end of the year.  Looking back and reflecting; looking forward and planning.  It’s a time when you can put the past in perspective and the future starts to come into focus.  In 2013, I’ll be focused on what I’m calling the 4 C’s.  Create more, consume less, contribute to others, and (self-)control.  But first, I want to reflect a little on 2012.  This post is mainly for me to reflect on, but I welcome any comments, criticism or support any readers may have (@LocalPCGuy.)

2012, A Brief Review

At the beginning of 2012, I finally severed all ties with Advance Publications when I quit my job at Ann Arbor Offset.  I was working there on the weekends while I worked during the week at Enlighten.  I won’t get too deep in the specifics of why, except to say that when I took the job at Enlighten, I was starting in a new industry and so had to take about a 40% pay cut compared to what I had been making when working for the Ann Arbor News.  Over the last 4 years since 2009 when the Ann Arbor News shut down, my wife and I paid off all of our debt (except housing debt) and have worked on reducing our expenditures as well.  At the beginning of this year, when we paid off our last debt, it was clear that, even though things may still be tight, we no longer needed me to work 2 jobs.  It was a tough decision to carry through, but the right one.  I was able to focus more on my work at Enlighten and actually able to relax on occasion.

Enlighten continues to be a company I enjoy working for.  This year I have been able to be more confident in both my abilities and my position, and that has led to opportunities.  Early this year we are launching a new business that I was the main engineer for, both helping architect and then develop the website.  It would not have been possible without the support from my fellow co-workers at Enlighten, both management for creating the time to build it, other engineers for being available to lean on for questions and advice and of course, the team that wire-framed, designed and wrote content for the site.

In the summer of 2012, I spent 3 months eating a mostly Paleo diet (it sometimes leaned more towards a more traditional low-carb diet.)  This was an effort to jump-start my health, and overall to change my eating habits.  I have slacked a bit on the diet from in the last month, but I will be more strict again going forward.

In 2012 I admit I didn’t do as well as I had hoped with my 2 guidelines of simply “Create more, consume less.”  That was not quite enough, leading to the addition of my last “C”, self-control, this year.

2013, Looking Forward

I am definitely looking forward to 2013.  I know goal setting is supposed to be specific, but I have found more success by setting more general guidelines for what I want to do in the upcoming year and then throughout the year working on specifics that align with those guidelines.

Create More

This encompasses a number of different areas, but overall, I want to work on being a creator, rather than a consumer.

  • I want to write more
    • on this blog I want to create more content to both share with others and to organize thoughts in my own head
    • I have several ideas I would like to start writing into novels or books
  • I want to create more software
    • to continue my skills
    • to learn new things – I need to get in the habit of learning through creating, rather than just reading about something
    • to monetize, if the market is there
  • There are a few physical items I would like to build
    • Platform bed
    • Speaker stands
    • Addition for my desk to allow me to stand at it

Consume Less

Stuff.  It weighs a person down, and I want to let go off stuff this year.  Not due primarily to the cost of having/owning stuff, but it also weighs a person down, and limits the freedom we have.  So I definitely want to consume less material items this year.

The biggest part of consuming less this year for me, is in the sense of reading nonsensical things.  I’m not talking about keeping up with my industry, or reading a novel, but time that get’s wasted reading social networks, forums, blogs or Reddit, for example.  I want to limit the time I spend and instead, spend that time creating things.

Consuming less also applies to television.  With more free time this year, my television time increased as well.  While I tend to time-shift most of my watching with a DVR, this is an area I can cut down on without any real significant loss of value.

Contribute to Others

There are many ways to contribute to others.  One way is by sharing the things I learn.  I do this already, at work and through Twitter, but I can do a better job of making sure what I am sharing is valuable and useful.  I can also share more here, on my blog, so that people can find value here.

In addition, I plan to contribute to the open-source community more this year.  I benefit so much from the things they do, and I want to give back.  Even if it is just by answering questions, triaging bugs or if I can actually contribute code back to some of the projects, I’ll be doing what I can to both see and jump in and contribute when I can.

Finally, I would like to support some good causes a bit better than I have in the past.  I’ll be looking for causes that are close concerns of mine, like Diabetes research and animal rescue, that I can help contribute to, either financially or with time.

(Self-)Control

Lastly, but maybe most important to making sure the other areas are followed through on, I will be working on self-control, or self-discipline this year.  This has frequently been an area I need to work on, and so it is a major focus from here out.  This should grant me more time to do the things that are important and help me spend less time on the things that aren’t helpful.

I will be a bit more blunt this year, I need to say “no” more often so that I maintain control over my time.  This includes saying no to myself, when I start to procrastinate or be wasteful.

I need to control my attitude better.  While I am generally display a positive attitude for others, I can be better in private, with myself and in my own thinking.  No stinkin’ thinkin’ as Zig Ziglar would have said.

This includes also getting enough sleep, and setting a reasonable bed-time.  Too many times I get involved with something and am up until 2am or later.  This impacts my self-control and my attitude therefore it will be a significant area of focus this upcoming year.

The last area where self-control will be important this year is in taking care of my physical body.  I started eating better earlier in 2012, but I need to both continue doing that and to get better at it.  This year I will also start making sure I am buying out time for proper exercise.  My goal for 2013 is to lose 50 pounds (1lb a week.)

Overall, most of these are things I am working on already.  I don’t foresee huge changes in 2013, but I do see things that I need to continue to work on and get better at.  I look forward to the challenges of the year ahead!