I reached the conclusion about 3 years ago that New Year Resolutions were pointless for me. That my heart wasn’t truly in them. As a result, I quit them, forget about them, and my year moves on without a thought in the world.

Kinda pathetic I know.

So instead I decided to do something different. I decided to start naming my years. Spending the first week of every year seeking God, and developing the vision for my next year of life.

For example, I named last year 2011: Year of Growth/Learning. I spent the entire year last year dedicated to doing everything I could to learn. Little did I know that much of this growth was going to be rough, and brought on from outside circumstances. In the last year, I quit a job and moved across the country, only to be let go from that job 3 months later, had to deal with and even work for difficult people, and probably worked about 20 all-nighters. I also read 40 books (you can find the list here), filled three moleskins with thoughts, and rebooted my blog. This past year God birthed many dreams in my head. All of this learning, and growth has set me up for 2012.

2012: The Year to Ship

For 2012, I am focusing on shipping. What that means is that I am no longer going to sit on the sidelines holding onto my ideas. It’s time for them to see the light of day. It’s time to ship them out. A number of books I read had the same thing to say… “GREAT ARTISTS SHIP!”

I have always been a starter, and a great one at that. My mom has always told me that my passion for life will take me places in life if I stick with it and not get distracted…. Man does my mother know me well.

Getting ideas has never been my issue. My issue has always been with shipping those ideas. Making them happen.

This means more…

writing.

discipline.

designing.

dedication.

shooting.

persistence.

 

There are three things I learned last year.

1. I don’t have it figured out. (but I’m not expected to, and there is freedom in that)

2. WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN. (you never know when it will come in handy)

3.  Until you ship, you are not an artist… you are a theorist. (and I’ve always been terrible at philosophy)

So what are my goals for 2012?

I want 2012 to be a year of focus, and a year of production.

This year is about pressing forward despite circumstance.

There are a few projects I have swirling in my head that I cannot wait to get out to you guys. I am looking forward to getting my book project underway (more on that later), Blogging more, Designing freebies for you guys, and trying to make a difference by fighting for people and bringing out the best in them.

This year is going to be unlike any other.  I’m looking forward to it. Stay tuned for more projects, fun, and thoughts.

Cheers.