From the desk of Adam Thomas

It’s 2019, and we’re changing. A new year has passed and its resolution time, right?

Wait a second.

If we are going to change, it’s important to qualify the type of change we are going to make to increase the odds of success.

What does that mean?

Figure out if you are taking a step or taking a leap:

Step – Steps are incremental. Low risk and habitual. Do it every day, build a habit, and voila, you win. Increase your chance of success by setting a reminder, forgiving yourself, keeping track. 

Example: Drink a glass of water when waking up in the morning.

Leap – This is a full-on shift. When you leap, you take several steps and a significant jump. Leaps require some preparation. Increase the probability of success by setting due dates, talking about it, finding a coach or mentor to walk you through and hold yourself accountable.

Example: Leaving your job.

Both types require focus. Whatever you do, don’t try to jump and step at the same time. I am sure you know what happens if you try that in real life. It’s a sure way to fail.

We can’t do more than one thing at a time. 

My hope – the hangover isn’t too bad for you :-).

May this year bring you a ton of love and joy.  It’s going to be a strong one, I can feel it.

And even if it isn’t – we are in this together. 

Oh, this month we are talking about newness. In honor of the new year, we are going to talk about exploration, and what that means in the context of leadership.

Expect some new context and formats for Life as Usual in the meantime. 

Happy New Year.

Every month is a month to experiment, aligned with a theme. With each theme, I want to turn those experiments into action, so at the end of the month, I write, publicly, some of the successes and failures I have, and lessons I want to take moving forward.

The goal – something actionable that we can take home and use today.

• Boredom 
  
  • Successes: Family, work, health
    
  • Failures: Sleep
    
  • Lesson: In silence, I found some thoughts I thought I had lost. We miss so much in the world when we try to keep impulses. Take the headphones off, turn off the phone, and engage in the world around you. Trust me; it gets interesting once you settle in. 
    
  • Moving forward: Keep some silence in your day – every day. 

At the end of the year, I usually write some sort of major lesson that I learned (2017,2016).

I don’t want to do that this year.

I feel like I got a lot of the gist in yesterdays post with success and failure. Instead of doing that, I wanted to lay out some guidelines for 2019.

Why guidelines?

Goals and lessons are great – but only if they tie to something. One thing I’ve learned over the last year is that culture beats strategy. Guidelines are an output of culture. I’ve seen this at work and it’s been the foundation of some of my best success.

Well, why not take what works at work and bring it into my personal life. 

Let’s do it :-).

A quick note to you reading this and future Adam – these guidelines are vague for a reason. They need to exist as a heuristic to help me align, no more no less.  

The LIST!

Always improve your base – How am I improving my infrastructure?

Am I taking care of myself? Did I give myself enough slack to think freely? Am I improving the way I write? Where am I taking my temperature and making myself better? 

The community is missing input/output – How am I sharing/learning?

Where am I being generous? How can I listen better? Where can I find a challenge and critique? 

The bills matter, man and not just yours – How am I improving a financial situation?

How am I challenging my financial state? How can I use my privilege to help people? Can I amass some wealth? Can I do so ethically? 

I’ll grade myself on these concepts, and we will see where we end up. 

Happy new year.

At the end of every year write down my successes and failures and turn it into a post.

Why?

This process gives me space to pause and reflect on the things that happened over the year. I spent most of my day analyzing the last year through essential blog posts, other writings, and my notes over the year to see where things went right and wrong.

In a year, I’ll also have a place to check in during 2019 to understand 2018 and see where my trends are. Hopefully, around December 2019, I’ll be writing this same post again.

Let’s start with failures:

• Reading Books – My average is around 50 books per year. This year, I went at almost half of that, with large stretches of time where I didn’t read at all. 
• Personal Essays – This year, I wrote five medium articles of a personal nature. This is way short of my goal, twelve.  As with my reading, I had lapses where I didn’t produce at all. 
• Quality of the blog –  After reading some of the posts today, I am aware that I am not bringing a clear point of view on a daily basis. For the first year, I think the quality of writing stagnated. 
• Communities – I didn’t show up as often as I’d like. The last few years, I made a lot of inroads with different communities, and this year, I don’t think I did with any, short of Startingbloc.
• Health – Where do I start. Gained weight, had several ailments, didn’t do much therapy, and my gym time has completely stopped.
  

Wow, I totally missed the boat on personal enrichment. Self-care flew out of the window. It makes sense that I had such an up and down year emotionally because I didn’t take care of me. 

How will I mitigate failure

Self care. That is the word of the day, week, and year. 

Let’s talk success:

• Relationships – This was a big year for reconnecting. I’ve had some time to visit friends and family after a solitary 2017. My mentor/mentee relationships feel stronger as well. 
• Job! – I am now the Director of Product at Informed. The third time seems to be the charm!  I love the gig, and I am proud of my team and the work we’ve bee producing.
• Money – So I was unemployed for a stretch of time this year, and with that said, I was able to get by without blowing through all of my money. The debt I accumulated during that period is close to paid off. I’ve also gotten the chance to donate to causes like the Brooklyn Bail Fund, The Human Utility, StartingBloc, and the Ida B Wells monument. 
• Life as Usual Videos – We have a new YouTube Channel and the videos have gone up every week since June. Proud of the work we’ve done and there is a clear leap in value with each watch. 
• Life as Usual Team –  Speaking of! Jace and Tony busted their ass in turning over content and I am so proud of the finished product. I am also blessed to be having Amit join the team this year. Can’t wait to see what we produce.
• StartingBloc – I felt better as an advisor, friend, and facilitator due to StartingBloc and the opportunities that came my way. It’s so awesome being a part of this group!

How will I build on success?

I’ll build on this by investing more time into Life as Usual and building even better systems to help me financially. I’ve gotten much better at sending gifts and will make time in 2019 to SEE people more often.

In some ways, this year felt like a rollercoaster. I know I am blessed to essentially be back to zero, and in a place where things can only get better.

It’s been a strange year – especially since I’ve been depressed, unemployed, and unsure of the future. Where I am now, as I write this, is so much better than where my mind saw me when we began the year.  

Until next year.

• Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It
• Problem Solving 101: A Simple Book for Smart People
• The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels
• When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing
• The Excellence Dividend: Meeting the Tech Tide with Work That Wows and Jobs That Last
  
• Herding Tigers: Be the Leader That Creative People Need
• Everybody Lies: Big Data, New Data, and What the Internet Can Tell Us About Who We Really Are
• The Artist’s Journey: The Wake of the Hero’s Journey and the Lifelong Pursuit of Meaning
• It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work
• The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture

Read the full article tomorrow on Medium – and follow me will you :-). 

We are coming up on the end of the year.

It’s pretty quiet.

In this WeWork in Harlem, I am currently sitting, almost alone – everyone is winding down. 

And because of that, it’s a perfect time for me to “turn up.”  Over the next few days, I’ll be working feverishly, trying to audit the last year while making plans for the next.

If you have the space and time, I hope you’ll join me. 

People walking by and a wonderful silence consume an airport lounge.

Great place to think. Great place to work. Great place to focus.

You only get this if you get to the airport early enough to make it effective. 

When was the last time you got to the airport early?

Better yet, where is your “airport lounge?”

How can you set up your day(week) to get to your lounge?

If that means together, try it.

If that means apart, try that too.

Live well today.

Not even a mouse.

If you have the opportunity to relax this “preholiday,” I hope you take advantage.

If you can’t – I appreciate you for keeping the lights on for us. If there is anything I can do, let me know.