Three words for 2011
- Image by danieljohnsonjr via Flickr
The beginning of a new year is a time to set goals, resolutions, and so forth. Most new year’s resolutions are broken by the middle of January, and the R-word, as it’s become known, has a bad taste in people’s mouths. Whatever the case, flipping the calendar is a great opportunity to try new things and re-invent oneself.
Three words for 2010
Last year, Chris Brogan, whom I’ve known for years and finally got to meet in 2009 as he was promoting the best-selling book he co-authored with Julien Smith, Trust Agents (affiliate link), encouraged readers of his blog to pick three words for their year instead. These three words serve as a lens from which to view one’s life. It’s an inspiring and popular concept, and it’s one I thought about before posting my own three words for 2010. In that post, I wrote
I think as I approach 2010 with incurable, tough-minded optimism, that the following three words will be my guide, my mission:
BE MORE USEFUL
In everything I do in 2010, any project, task, event, blog post, podcast, update, and so forth… my mission is to be more useful. I will have this in the forefront of my mind. I will work to make the projects I work on the best that they can be, considering how what I do can be more useful to you and others. I will work to say YES as much as I can, but not necessarily all the time.
In general, I think I did a pretty good job. Among many things, I began opening each morning on Twitter and Facebook with “Good morning from beautiful Cincinnati!” followed by something else that inspired me (and others, as it turns out) to take on the day. Whenever I thought it was become cliche, someone would mention that they needed to read what I’d said and that it helped them refocus their day. Imagine that – a short, almost mundane status update can have that much of an effect on someone’s day.
Three words for 2011
Chris laid out his three words earlier this week. Others are doing the same thing. The past couple of months since I was laid off have been a time of re-evaluating where I’m going. With that in mind, here are my three words for 2011:
FOCUS. INTENTION. DELIVER.
FOCUS
As I write this post, I find my attention being pulled all over the place. In 2002, I read a book by Ed Hallowell called Driven To Distraction
- Blocking off time to prepare for the day ahead
- Blocking off time just to meditate, to train my mind for better focus, and just think
- Blocking off time just for email and other social media, instead of checking it throughout the day
- Keeping notifications (email, text, social media, etc.) off except during the time I’ve blocked off to pay attention
- Blocking off time to read and write more
- Blocking off time for nothing but productive work
- Getting consistent sleep
INTENTION
Similar to what I set out to do at the beginning of 2010, I’m going constantly evaluate every activity I’m involved in, and ask myself
- What purpose is this fulfilling?
- Should my time be better spent doing something else?
- What is the return I’m getting on my time and effort spent here?
In other words, I will combine Focus with Intention, to the work I’m doing.
DELIVER
The choice to have this be my third word comes from two different places.
Last year Seth Godin’s book Linchpin (affiliate link) came out, and I’d heard interviews and participated in a book discussion about the concepts in the book. One thing that stood out for me is the concept of Shipping. It’s easy for me to spend so much time and energy on perfecting what I’m doing that I don’t get anything done. I don’t publish the blog post or release the podcast episode, for example, because I’m consumed with making it perfect.
Secondly, I’ve been listening to the Canadian Podcast Buffet with Bob Goyetche and Mark Blevis for over 5 years. In one of the last episodes of 2010, Mark mentioned his own need to “get over the preciousness” of what he’s creating and just get it out. I felt like I could relate with that all too well.
Seth talks about shipping, and the fear of shipping. In order for software companies to make money, they need to release to their customers. They fix things as they go along. What I’m doing doesn’t need to be perfect. Yes – it’s good to strive for excellence, but there has to be a balance. So, in 2011, I’m going to deliver. More content. More effectiveness.
These are my three words for 2011: FOCUS. INTENTION. DELIVER.
What are yours?
Related articles
- My 3 Words for 2011 (chrisbrogan.com)
- Three words for 2011 (christopherspenn.com)
- The Most Important Thing You Can Do… (twistimage.com)
- Create – Inspire – Teach (cc-chapman.com)
- People Doing Cool Things on the Internet III (suzemuse.com)
- Will Focus Make You Happier? (blogs.hbr.org)
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Tags: Bob Goyetche, Chris Brogan, Driven to Distraction (book), Edward Hallowell, Julien Smith, Linchpin (book), Mark Blevis, mission, resolutions, Seth Godin, theme, Trust Agents (book), vision
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