It’s a new New Year, which brings new opportunities, new challenges, and new perspectives, but also challenges us to reflect on what just passed, and how we can use it to grow. 2023 was a good year for me, one in which I made a long-awaited move in my career, learned a lot about personal development, and got a chance to really think about what’s important in my life. Spoiler alert, it’s the people. And with that realization I’m working hard to orient my life around what’s important as much as possible.Modern life doesn’t make it easy. Demanding jobs, activities for kids, time for self-care, you name it. Life pulls us in all kinds of directions, and it can feel like we’re being torn apart. What helps me keep it together is remembering that the struggle is real, and expected, so what I’m going through isn’t the exception, but the rule, and with proper expectations, dealing with reality becomes much easier.
Words
You know what’s fun? A book about numbers (there’s a VERY specific type of person who read that sentence, and says: I agree). Or more specifically how to use (or not use) numbers to tell better stories. I’ve spent the better part of my career working with numbers and data, and this book: Making numbers count, is all about how to be thoughtful and careful about using numbers when trying to communicate with humans.
Some key ideas in the book include: use whole numbers instead of fractions or decimals, use comparisons people are familiar with (batting average in baseball), transform huge numbers to human scale (the solar system as a football field). Basically, make it easy, and make it familiar. If you do that, numbers become a powerful tool for storytelling. If not, numbers can become confusing and alienating.
Music
There’s a real chance our family becomes the Black Von-Trapp’s this year. We have a bunch of family and friends who’s children have started learning piano, and in the best kind of social contagion, we’ve ended up in a “let’s do it too” situation. So we bought a piano.. and two guitars, and we’re going to give it a go with learning. And not just the kids, the adults are getting in on the fun too.
As we get ready to begin lessons, we’ve also started using Simply Piano, an app that has made learning Piano pretty fun so far. We’re a little bit away from our Mozart moment, but the progress is real, and the realization that I can now read music feels like a superpower that I’ve just unlocked. This is where learning can be fun, and I’m so happy to be doing it with the whole family.
Goals
Goals have always been a big part of my life, and nothing has changed on that front. But my approach to them has as I’ve gotten older and wiser (the gray in my beard means I’m wise right??). I have some high level goals for the year, that will drive how I make my decisions.
Spend time with the people who matter. Life is meant to be lived with people, and I’m going to try and double-down on my relationships, with family, with friends, and with myself
Learn and grow. I love to learn, and I love to get better. I’m going to try and do as much of that as I can this year. Whether its the reading I do on my own time, professional development, or learning to play music and golf, the journey to growth continues.
Experiences. I’m working through a split with “stuff”. There is so much “stuff” in my life right now, and I’d like to move way from it, and towards experiences. From a simple bike ride with the family on summer afternoon, to a trip to a far flung location to celebrate a milestone. I’d like to spend more time living life, and less time accumulating stuff.
Giving back. I feel extremely blessed in life, and I feel grateful for those blessings. One of the ways I want to express that gratitude to give back where I can. With money, with time, with love and care.
So it begins
The year is just beginning, and right now the book of 2024 is a largely unwritten. As much as we can, let’s write the chapters into something meaningful. As always, let’s do it one step at a time, and be there for each other on the journey.