The End of 2013

And so we reach the end of 2013.

Am I where I really wanted to be at this date?  That is the ruler and metrics I am using this year because these are the ones that matter.  When I started out 2013 I (theoretically) had a vision and a plan.  How did I do?

Not well.  In some cases these were due to items beyond my control, as they always are.  In other cases I simply did not reach where I wanted to be.  The failures are the most instructive part because they will tell me far more than my successes about what went wrong and why I did not achieve the results I was hoping for.  Bottom line?  I have what I would like to have happen and then I have what I am committed to making happen.  The canyon between these two is where I tend to fall in.

Okay, easy enough to say.  How do I fix things, you might ask?

I think one of the single biggest points of failure for myself is my inability to concentrate on a few things.  As I have noted before, I am a generalist.  It is almost an instinctive need to do a great many things.  This is a blessing in know a great deal about a great deal; it is a curse when trying to focus.  Therefore, the first point of changing is to narrow (considerably) my list of goals for the year.

The second point - and the harder one for me - is to focus on that mythical five and ten year plan.  I am a great tactical person but strategy comes slower to me - partially because I am not in a position in much of my life to be strategic, partially because I lack the learning.  I need those plans because then I can link my current goals to that larger plan and goal.  What do I want to be, who do I want to be in five and ten years - and even beyond?  These pictures need to guide what I am doing today.

The final point is focus on what I am doing.  I have fought indolence and sloth and a dislike of practice most of my life.  If I had the one big thing I need to get rid of this year (and why is it that we always focus on what we are going to do, not what we are going to get rid of), it would be this.  I need to do now what needs doing, not put it off or convince myself in my mind it will take too long or is too hard.

The great thing about the old year passing?  It is gone.  All that remains lies before us, a golden land of possibilities and probabilities.

Welcome to 2014.