New Year's Resolution

So it's been well over a year since I last updated this. It seems no matter how I try, or where I post, or what format, I just don't have the motivation to keep it up for long.

So let's change that.

I don't normally make New Year's Resolutions, but I've made one this year. Two actually: Communication and Commitment.

Anyone who knows me well knows that communication is not my strong point. I've been working on it over the past few years, but sometimes it feels like I have not made any progress at all. For a while last year I was really on top of my email... I even had it down to 9 messages that I had left to deal with after starting with 250... but then I got busy/distracted/etc. and now I'm up to over 450, many of which probably are so old that they don't need to be dealt with anymore. I try tricks and other strategies to improve my email communication, but nothing seems to work over the long term.

I think part of that reason is commitment. I'm committed to what I do, or at least I say I am, but I think I can go further. For me, I'm quantifying commitment as doing everything I can to make something happen; If I'm in, I'm all in. I have a tendency (as demonstrated by this blog), to start things and not finish them. I do consider myself more of an idea generator, and in that personality test I was definitely not an implementer.

So, what does this mean?

First, I'm going to try to post...

no, scratch that, not try...

First, I'm going to post here at least once a month with updates on what's happening in my life. My mom will be happy about that :p but I figure she's not the only one wondering what's going on in my life and where I am. I promise to not pull any more surprises like last summer ("Hi Brett, where are you?" "Oh, just in Kenya for the summer...").

Second, I've changed the way I use my email to better flag what messages I need to tend to, and which ones I don't. I'm trying to respond faster, and not let apathy get the best of me.

Third, I might need your help to keep me going. If you notice that I'm not responding to you, or that I've not done something I said I would do, call me out on it. I may be awesome, but I do need support. :)

So, if you've been waiting for me to do something, and I haven't done it yet, I'm sorry. I am working on it, but sending me a reminder won't hurt. My first priority right now is to my LC, and I know I have to send out a bunch of things related to planning, and I want to get them done tonight.

Later, I'll post updates about what I was up to this past year. But for now, it's back to work.