With the start of a new year, I take the time to set my focus for the coming year. I believe that by being selective about where I direct my energy, I can achieve results that are exponentially greater than if I split that energy across many different goals. More details about the process are in this blog post and you can review the results from past years (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2018). 2019 Theme: Long-Suffering My theme for 2019 is long-suffering. This is the first full year of my newest sabbath cycle, of which overarching vision is that of preparing for my calling. That means my next six years will involve undertaking a lot of hard work, that might not always be directly rewarding or obviously contributing to the long term work I want to accomplish. With that in mind it seemed appropriate to start off by focusing my attention on
2018-2023 Sabbath Cycle Vision: Preparing For My Calling This is not only a new year, but it is also the first full year of my next sabbath year cycle. As such, before I define the focus for this year, I also need to define the guiding vision that will serve me for the next approximately six years. Technically my sabbath year started and ended mid-year, so I’ve actually had this guiding vision in place for six months already, since July 2018. As I reflected on the exemplars I’ve learned about the past three year, and the period of their lives in which they accomplished the great things they are known for, they each had their biggest impact later in life. Franklin negotiated the treaty with France his 70s. Muir founded the Sierra Club in his 60s. Liddell only lived to be 43, but those final years are the reason he
At the beginning of 2018 I wrote about my focus for the year. I’ve posted a few updates throughout the year (quarter year, half year & three quarters) and now is the time to do a final review. 2018 Theme: First Principles Lifestyle Self Grade: 7/10 In terms of relevance with theme, this year provided plenty of opportunity. I ended up making two major job decisions and we made one where-to-live decision. Each of those provided an opportunity to evaluate our options based on first principles, what we wanted to achieve. I think we did a good job drilling back into the heart of the matter and figuring out what we wanted and why we did. The difficulty is even knowing those things, the decisions aren’t easy as everything is a trade off. 2018 Challenge: Profile 12 Families (w/ Kids) Living Intentionally Different Self Grade: 1/10 I failed to make any significant
Earlier this year I wrote about a secret goal I had for the year (which I guess makes it a secret only between everyone with internet access). I was going to track my creative vs consumption time and try to move my ratio from 1:2.5 to closer to 1:1. For 2018 the results are Books read: 5 Books listened to: 1 Significant blog posts written: 9 Total Productive: 15 Movies watched: 52 Video Games Played: .25 Graphic Novels Read: 1 TV Show Seasons Watched: 6 Consumptive Total: 59.25 Ratio – 1:3.95 I nearly doubled things in the wrong direction, which is a bummer, but I guess this is why this is a secret goal and not an official one. I think the best way to get things closer to 1:1 that also seems really healthy is to drop my movie count by a good 20 or so and to use that
This year I picked John Muir as my exemplar. I recently came up with a new review template to help me get the most out of the process of having an exemplar. Below is my entry for this John Muir. What did John Muir achieve? John Muir helped lead the efforts to preserve millions of acres of wilderness land in the United States so that future generations could enjoy them. His is the founder of the Sierra Club, a well published author, responsible for upending the geological theory of how the Yosemite valley formed and is credited as the spiritual father of both the US National Park service and modern conservation efforts. He also managed a very successful orchard and had a great beard. Why did he care about that? Some people pursue goals intentionally or rationally. Others seem to just follow their inner voice – perhaps in a more emotional
My goal in designating yearly exemplars is to be able to learn from other successful individuals. In studying their lives, I hope to be able to identify; thought patterns that shaped their worldview, motivations that drove them, behaviors that helped them succeed, and decisions that proved favorable. I then hope to benefit from that knowledge by applying it to my own life; letting the thoughts hone my own worldview, using their motivations to adjust or magnify mine, experimenting with the behaviors, and creating heuristics based on the patterns of decisions they made. After a few years of doing this with mild results, I felt like I would benefit from a bit more structure. I want the practice of having an exemplar to be more than reading a biography every year. I want it to involve some reflection and some action. Below is my first pass at a template for an exemplar
Last year our family took a year off from normal life. I took a leave from my job, we put our stuff in storage, we moved to a new city and everything about our life became very different. Now that we’ve reentered normal life, we’ve been asked, and asked ourselves, ‘Was it worth it?’ With perspective from a few months back at normal pace, but with the time still fresh in my mind, I want to take an opportunity to reflect on than question. In general, I believe my answer is yes, but not for the reasons I had suspected. Reflecting on The Stated Goals Before we dove into the year, I was intentional about doing some thinking and setting a light structure for the year. I had defined seven things I wanted the year to consist of: a sabbath to the Lord, rest, enjoying this chapter, pausing things, living without,
With the start of a new year, I take the time to set my focus for the coming year. I believe that by being selective about where I direct my energy, I can achieve results that are exponentially greater than if I split that energy across many different goals. I detailed my 2018 focus here (read that first if you want more context). Here is how I’m progressing. 2018 Theme: First Principles Lifestyle Another quarter of big decisions. After deciding where we wanted to live long-term earlier this year, I spent Q3 searching for my next job and evaluating a lot of very different options. In the end, a very tough decision came down to a number of first principles about what was most important to me. I will detail that decision more sometime soon. 2018 Challenge: Profile 12 Families (w/ Kids) Living Intentionally Different I kicked off my first two interviews
Todays post is a product review. I periodically provide unbiased product reviews for companies that ask for my feedback. As someone that builds products for a living, I find this really interesting and it also serves the benefit of helping my readers find good products and manufacturers improve what they have created. Today I’ll be taking a look at Groove Life silicone rings. An alternative to metal wedding bands that works well for active individuals. There are a number of companies that make these, but this particular brand has a few unique features that make it stand out. For some background, I am pretty a pretty active & outdoorsy individual: surfer, bike commuter, marathoner, backpacker, certified stand up paddle instructor, Ironman, & rock climber. I never wore any jewelry or a watch before getting married, and so since tying the knot, wearing a ring has been troublesome for me. In my first years of
With the start of a new year, I take the time to set my focus for the coming year. I believe that by being selective about where I direct my energy, I can achieve results that are exponentially greater than if I split that energy across many different goals. I detailed my 2018 focus here (read that first if you want more context). Here is how I’m progressing. 2018 Theme: First Principles Lifestyle Similar to my update from last quarter – I feel like this theme remains very relevant to our effort for the year, even if I haven’t made much progress on the specific named items below. Having decided on where to live, and now evaluating how we want our family to earn an income, has brought us back again and again to first principles. 2018 Challenge: Profile 12 Families (w/ Kids) Living Intentionally Different No progress. I feel bad