Every Day is New Year's Day

I’m going to rent myself a house
In the shade of the freeway
Gonna pack my lunch in the morning
And go to work each day
And when the evening rolls around
I’ll go on home and lay my body down
And when the morning light comes streaming in
I’ll get up and do it again
Amen.
Say it again
Amen.

Jackson Browne, “The Pretender”

I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. Last year I linked to Scott Berkun’s article on why we’re so bad at keeping them and how to make better ones. This year, I noticed Alistair Cockburn’s Post-hoc New Year’s resolutions, and I thought it was fabulous. And I find it strange that we often wait for a special occasion, like the changing of the numbers on the calendar, to try to make change in our lives, when we have the opportunity to do it whenever we want.

So I’m not making any New Year’s resolutions. Sure, I’ve got things I want to accomplish in 2012. The way I’m going to get there, though, is by making Today’s resolutions, and This Week’s resolutions. I don’t live my life a year at a time, so I don’t like trying to make resolutions at that scale. I’m going to pick the things that I need to do now, and do those every day until I need to do something different. When will that happen? Maybe a year, maybe less; I’ll know when I get there.

I understand the symbolism of New Year’s resolutions, and I understand the importance of symbolic resolutions to help inspire you. More important, though, are resolutions that help you do the hard work, day after day, that get you to your goal. And those can happen any day of the week.

Different Perspectives

I’m enjoying the long weekend, taking advantage of the opportunity to do a lot of cooking, hang out with Gwen and her parents (who arrived from Texas on Friday), and generally relaxing. I’ve resolved not to try to get anything done. Whatever happens, happens. Thus far, it’s going pretty well.

The cats, on the other hand, can’t figure out why we’re still hanging around the house. I think they’re plotting to kill us all so they can get some more sleep.

On Stage Again

Last night was my first Friday performance with the Ventura Improv Company in a while, and it was great fun to get back to. We have a slightly different mix of experience levels in our Friday night shows than we do on Saturdays, and we use it as an opportunity for newer members of the troupe to work with our more experienced players. Despite doing this for almost five years now, it’s still hard for me to accept that I’m in the latter group. Last night, though, I felt like I held up my end of the bargain.

I’ll be performing again this month, on Friday, December 30th. That show will be with my long-form team, Instant Karma, as a build-up to our annual New Year’s Eve Gala. If you’re in Ventura that weekend, you should come out to one or both shows. It’s certain to be a lot of fun.

Approaching Another Finish (and Starting) Line

Doing the Post-A-Day thing this year has been tremendously satisfying. I’m also glad that I’m almost done with it. Its relentlessness is a two-edged sword, and I’m looking forward to stepping away from the Damocles role for a little while. I’d been looking around for a similar thing to do in 2012, something to push me creatively in a way that I wouldn’t push myself otherwise. Then I found this, which seems to fit the bill perfectly.

I’d already been thinking about doing the picture-a-day thing, but I wasn’t sure that was enough by itself. The rest of the list would definitely push me in new and not unpleasant directions. And I was able to commission a lovely scrapbook for this from Sara Hindmarch, so what’s not to like?

So while I might not be posting as frequently here when 2011 ends, you’ll still have something to look forward to.

Slicing It Thinner and Thinner

Part of my plan right now is to take all of the things I’ve decided are important and take at least one step forward on each of them every day. That means when I get busy, I don’t just drop two or three and work on the others. It means I have to find ways to take smaller steps so I can fit them all in. It’s challenging, but I’m finding it very satisfying. I can’t fit two half-hour tasks in but I have time for one? I have to find a way to make fifteen minutes on each of them worthwhile. And that’s really the trick: Learning to see how I can make tangible progress in smaller and smaller chunks of time.

I’m sure that my Agile experience has nothing at all to do with this…