Reflecting Back. Aiming Forward.
When the leaves start changing color, I always start getting reflective. I think about where I am in my life, what has happened over the past year and where I want to see things go and change in the future.
I remember starting this post in my head back on November 1st. I wanted to encourage people not to wait until the end of the year to figure out their resolutions and to end up only spending the night of the 31st reflecting and thinking about all these important little details. But, as my life has been lately, that post never got out of my head. Something else took the time and got my attention and I never got back to it.
I’m sure many people are like me where their brain is in a constant state of motion. I’ve got a million ideas bouncing around, to do lists, goals, emotions, thoughts and memories that all somehow fit in there. Plus the random collection of trivia, song lyrics and pointless information that the human brain is so good at keeping.
I’ve had a pretty damn good 2008. It wasn’t an easy year and no I didn’t accomplish every goal that I set out to, but that is why they are called goals. If they were all easy to achieve then where is the challenge? Set them high or don’t set them at all has always been my philosophy.
Yes, I’ve already started a list of what I want to accomplish in 2009. I rarely call them resolutions because those always seem non specific and thus hard to reach. Some have carried over from years past. I found in an old notebook my list from 2006 and noticed that there is one on there that seems to get carried over every year. It’ll make it that much sweeter when I finally complete it.
Individuals as well as companies need to be thinking about what they want to accomplish next year. We’ve got 4 weeks until 2009 will come roaring into our lives and we all should take some quality time and reflect on where we’ve been, where we want to be and to thank those that are helping us. I’ve been part of more then one meeting lately with clients looking at the entire year ahead and it is always exciting.
I have a feeling that the coming year is going to be one of struggle and stress for many of us and that will mean that your friendships and community around you are going to be more critical then ever. I’m not talking about all the people you have lunchboxed (hat tip to Clarence) on social networks and such. I’m talking about your real Friends and contacts.
Start thinking about what you want to accomplish in 2009. Figure out what you can accomplish before the end of the year and strive for that as well. If there are people who can help you reach those goals then share with them and talk to them about how you need their help. Trust me, I’ve got a lot in 2009 I want to accomplish and you’ll be hearing from me soon if YOU can help.
December 2nd, 2008 at 1:19 pm |
The best part about telling someone and asking for the help is being held accountable too.
Thank you. I have so many goals it will be hard to meet them all. But I am working for it really really hard. 
December 2nd, 2008 at 6:50 pm |
[…] Reflecting Back. Aiming Forward. […]
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:05 am |
You know I’ve been thinking along these lines a lot lately to. This past year has been a hard one for me.. the effects of loosing my mom and having to be a care taker for my dad.. and feeling like I’m never quite rising to those challenges, never mind the big career questions.. and with the emotional.. well whatever, I find that I need to be kind of generous with myself.. as far as the feeling of how little I’ve really achieved over the last year.. or at least how little it seems I’ve achieved.
But now I’m starting to recover a little.. or at least feeling more able to raise my head up and think “ok, what do I do now?” As I do this I’m reminded of so many dreams.. and a fire inside… and reminded that I really do have something going on.. if I can just honer those dreams in how I move forward.
And thanks to social media I’ve never felt so connected to the world.. made friends that are definitely of the big F kind.. and somewhere in here I realize.. why I could ask for help here and there.. even if I do have our Cousin Vinny’s issues with that sorta thing..
I often think of the rise of social media as remedy to post modern alienation.. and all those feelings that we are alone in our struggles. I think we all feel that way so much of the time..
One of the things that’s often not talked about.. with all this talk of transparency and personal branding.. is the roll of transparency in social cohesion.. that what we are really talking about is.. well saving our humanity, and re honoring that humanity.. that guess what.. millions of years of evolution have instilled a pragmatic value in that.. and it seems that tuff times might have the silver lining of bringing this more front in center
I often think of social media as a kind of open source collective R&D system.. we connect with people whom.. are in one way or another in similar situations as our selves.. be they in the same industry, or same along any number of vectors.. and in so doing we create a kind of market value of content, that is a direct expression of our needs.. so that as we go through tuff times.. we will collectively be working out our challenges.. and I think that’s an amazingly powerful thing.
I often thought you were a little crazy not to think of your self as a social media expert, and laughed as Shel Holtz sorta rebuked you for that.. but your spirit is always clear about this… our expert-ness is, after all, a kind of gift of our communities..
December 9th, 2008 at 9:44 am |
Hi CC,
You post has been in the back of my mind since you posted it here. I just got an email that helped me write down some of my goals.
It’s from a student journalist. Man times I like to post answers to these types of interviews so I get to have what I said be printed exactly, and share it in case the resulting interview never gets posted anywhere. In this case I’m sure she’ll post it when it’s complete.
I usually wait until New Years Day, but your post prompted me to post now.
Here’s my response, What Does The Fututure Look Like?
http://offonatangent.blogspot.com/2008/12/what-does-fututure-look-like.html