Resolve
Just talking about New Year's Resolutions and some stuff I read this week that I liked a lot.
Well, I haven’t written one of these in a while. 2021 is next week and one of my goals—which I’ll talk about below—is to write more. So that’s what I’m doing. If you want to see how long this lasts, go ahead and subscribe so I can spam you every now and then.
Here we go:
Shit to Fix in 2021
Christmas is over. I’ve just finished scarfing down a bunch of cookies, ice cream, and a sleeve of crackers, so let’s talk about New Year’s Resolutions.
They’re garbage.
Every year I set out to do a thousand different things—most of which I either half-ass or abandon a few days in—and fall into the same old routines and comfortable habits after a while. I start working out (either at home or in a gym) and then something happens (hey, COVID-19 and wisdom teeth removal) and I fall off the wagon. Owing to screen time notifications and the desire to be a more present parent, I’ll delete social media apps from my phone and reinstall them a week or two later.
Or, in another development, I say I’m going to read more books. But I end up distracted and fail to pick up more than a handful of books over the course of a year. Maybe I tell myself I’m going to write more blog posts or email newsletters that aren’t client-related, and then I never write a word outside of work hours for over a month or I start an essay or story, give it a few minutes, then give up and go back to playing video games or watching Law & Order reruns.
Spoiler alert: I am watching Law & Order right now. It’s the one where Elliott Gould is an accountant who guns down some would-be robbers. I have seen it at least two or three times in the past year, but I can’t actually tell you what happens. Given that I’m writing while watching it? Still won’t have a clue until the next time it’s on.
Anyway, where was I?
Oh, yeah. The resolutions.
There are two competing schools of thought regarding aspects of personal growth and any associated projects. One of them says that you need to keep your shit secret, because telling people about your goals or work immediately puts pressure on you to do that work. The other one—which I am very clearly fond of—is to show your work: To share your processes and to let people know what you’re doing because people might be interested in helping you get it done, or at the very least be interested in the work itself.
Let’s say I’m in the latter camp.
There are some things I’d like to do this year, but I’m not calling this list a batch of “resolutions.” One reason is because I’m starting a few days before the end of 2020. The other is to avoid tempting fate. If it’s not a resolution for the New Year, there isn’t as much pressure to perform, right? I can quietly go about my work. Or, in the case of 2020, I can tread water and survive and be pleasantly surprised when I’m promoted to a new role with even more exciting things on the horizon.
But because I want to talk about goals, let’s get to it. Here’s my list of shit to work on for 2021:
Confidence
I’m really fucking good at my job.
You wouldn’t know it if you asked me because I tend to wander around with something that could be mistaken for either modesty or insecurity, but I’m ridiculously good at it. I can turn around just about any piece of content a client needs in a day; sometimes I can push out a blog post in a little less than an hour, especially if it’s a topic that I know a lot about. And given that I work with three specific client verticals, I’ve done a lot of research into topics specific to them.
But something happened a long time ago, probably owing to that time I got kicked out of the school of education at UE. Maybe it was the time I got fired at Fossil or laid off from my last two major writing gigs. Either way, I kind of stopped believing in myself for a while. I started requiring a lot of external validation for proof that I’m good at what I do.
You know what, though? I’m an absolute monster when it comes to developing meaningful content strategies for my clients. There are people who trust me with the management, formation, and implementation of digital content for multi-million dollar companies.
That shit is wild and will never cease to amaze me.
The least I can do is to listen to people like my boss and my coworkers and believe it. Buying into my own hype is going to pay huge dividends in 2021.
I can feel it.
Time Management
Despite the fact that I get my work done, I am atrocious at time management. I’d probably get a lot more work done if I didn’t spend so much time reading tech news or shopping for RPG rulebooks or learning about obscure Scandinavian speed metal, which is a subject that has literally never come up in a conversation. Maybe I’ll spend less time reading Wikipedia and more time reading books to make me a better writer.
Writing for Fun
Speaking of writing, I’d really like to do more of it for my personal enjoyment. Screenplays, short fiction, nonfiction...it doesn’t matter. I’d just like to spend a little more time doing it. Nothing crazy, maybe 2000 words a week that aren’t related to storage, banking, or pest control.
The other part of this puzzle is publishing more. Whether that’s in the form of email newsletters or self-publishing or—God forbid—pitching to outlets and literary magazines, I’d like to push my writing out in multiple directions or venues. I owe it to myself to improve and do that.
More Intentional Reading
Time is the most valuable currency a person has, and reading takes a lot of it. So it’s not great to waste it reading books you hate. Look, I’m not in school anymore. Assigned reading—for the most part—isn’t a thing I have to worry about. I started reading Cormac McCarthy’s The Crossing last night before bed. I got about 35 or 40 pages in and was bored as all hell. Look, I love some of his work. I think he’s a powerful writer. But I’m not going to spend time hating something I’m reading because I’m bored. So I put it down and moved onto something else (Elmore Leonard’s The Big Bounce, if you’re curious). Is it the highbrow kind of philosophical, intense writing McCarthy does? Hell no. But is it fun and entertaining? Yes. Will I pick something up from it that I can use in my own work? Probably.
Either way, I’m working on reading more things that I like. I’m not setting a numerical goal, though. I just want to read more books of all stripes. And since we’re talking about books and reading…
Stuff That Stuck With Me This Week
I read a handful of books this week, in keeping with getting a head start on that last goal. I finally finished Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, which is parts hilarious and sad and a stark reminder of what we are all missing by his absence. I also took some time to dig into two books by Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artistand Show Your Work!, which are two pretty great meditations on creativity that you can read in the course of an afternoon if you don’t have a ton of interruptions.
I also spent some time with this recent Welcome to Hell World by Luke O’Neil, in which a bunch of different writers grappled with the most batshit moments of the Trump era, including the fast food banquets and the Muslim ban. If you’re not subscribing to Hell World, you’re missing out on lots of great writing. It’s worth the price of admission.
I’ve been reading a lot of Anne Helen Petersen, whose work on Millennial burnout has just been vital this year, especially given that the barriers between work and home have eroded for so many of us professionals. She has a piece in the New York Times about office culture and what it might look like on the other side of the pandemic. It raises some really good questions about what we really want when it comes to “going back.”
While writing this post I actually stopped watching Law & Order and instead finished up the HBO Max documentary about Heaven’s Gate, whose website is still a thing you can visit. It’s a wild, wild ride and definitely worth the four hours or so if you can’t think of anything else to watch. Or if you’re not interested in streaming Wonder Woman 1984, which was a decent enough movie to check out on a Friday night.
If you’re looking for something to listen to while working next week or even this week, I suggest checking out the Persona 5 soundtrack. If I haven’t been listening to evermore or Christmas music this week, it’s been that. It’s really good in all kinds of fun ways.
You can buy it through the Apple Music store or you can just listen to it below.
Final Thought(s)
I’ve pretty much given up Twitter for now because, as I’ve written before, being logged in for too long tends to turn me into a meaner person and it also acts as a major distraction. In the past few weeks I’ve started winnowing down my other social media feeds, too, deleting something like 150 Facebook friends who have either died, deactivated their accounts, or I’d fallen well out of touch with. Instagram’s harder to parse, but I’ve cut down on the accounts I follow there, too.
Something I’d like to do in 2021 (or when it’s safe enough to do so) is to be more intentional with my relationships, both online and offline. Hopefully meet some of the people I’ve known in Kansas City for the past decade but have always been too chickenshit to get together with.
If you’re the kind of person who makes New Year’s Resolutions, I hope you do well with yours and that you have great success in 2021, or at the very least that you’re able to keep your head above water long enough to come out better and stronger on the other side.