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2017 In Review: The Major Lesson

The Lesson Is…

August 2017:

Picture me sitting on my couch in a sticky New York City apartment, hands on my head on the verge of tears.

Somewhere, somehow, I lost something.

That thing? Courage.

The lesson? Courage is a muscle, and I had let it atrophy. I didn’t know it then, but soon, it would be evident.

One of the people I look to as a paragon of courage is Cornel West.

The Harvard professor, no matter the moment, seems to lean on his extensive reading of history, morality, philosophy, divinity, politics, and organizing to be a voice for the voiceless, from around the world.

He has done this during unpopular administrations in the United States Critiquing the foreign and domestic policy of each regime, with the focus of the defenseless (often people of color and LGBTQ). For that, he received a ton of praise.

He also did it during the administration of the first black and highly popular president, one where most black intellectuals were silent.

For this, he has found himself on the outs with many “well to do” African Americans, a group that was once his base of support.

Even so, every day and every speech, he lobbies for the voiceless, while being called every name under the sun.

Is he perfect? Not at all. None of us are. I am sure someone who may read this will bring up a critique of Dr. West. Perhaps it is valid.

However, one thing you cannot do is mention a lack of courage. Dr. West has been a consistent voice for the voiceless, both when it beloved and when it isn’t.

When I sat on that couch in August, I recognized that while I held on to many things, like anger and resentment, I let courage go by the wayside.

This year has been hard for me emotionally.
While I’ve spent hours with my team working on building Life as Usual into something interesting, speaking at wonderful events, and writing, I also had dreams dashed, work demolished and felt disrespected.

That caused me to stop working on being vulnerable and retreat. That retreat caused me a lot of pain.I need courage as fuel as a firestarter. When I shut it off to feel protected, I start a feedback loop that damages me psychologically.

In 2016, in the middle of me quitting a job and losing my startup, I felt okay, because it was a courageous year. What looked devastating on the outside was terrific on the inside because I constantly worked the muscle.

2017 was the opposite. I got more comfortable, and I turned courage into some event, instead of a daily practice that I had when I was more unstable.

When I look at Cornel West, he walks, talks, and acts courageously because in his existence he works his courage out by telling the truth. He seems not to resent anyone and calls everyone brother or sister. He recognizes everyone’s humanity (even when a “side” doesn’t want him to).

I recognize for me to do the same, I’ll need to get back to leaning on the daily courage to sustain me.

The good news is that with a new year, there will be plenty of opportunities. If you read this, feel free to keep me honest.

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Blog Direction for 2017 – New Year Themes!

At the end of the year, I take the time to reflect. This post, and the others like it, are my lessons for 2016. My hope is by reading them; you get a sense of what my overall lessons were. My hope is by writing them; I’ll have a place to archive my memories. In the future, they are quickly sorted and filed when someone looks for insight.

2017 is on the way, and we can’t stop it.

Like I did last year, I want to make some changes with the focus of Life as Usual.

New themes and new opening posts

Next year, I’ll be bringing in a new set of themes. Like the last two years, each topic has its month. Unlike the last two years, I’m announcing the themes ahead of time.  Also, they are attached to one of the three tenets. Everything, for now, goes through self-awareness, direction, or execution.

Here they are:

  • Self-Awareness
    • Emotional Propulsion
    • “You” in Your Work
    • Cargo Cult Science
    • Comfort with Nothing
  • Direction
    • Mastery is Subtraction
    • Jeopardy Knowledge
    • What Do You Want
    • Good Creates Bad
  • Execution
    • The Water Down Effect
    • Keep Firing – The Consistency Effect
    • Get to the Punchline
    • Avoiding SINO – Symbol in Name Only

Video is coming in a big way

We are investing in video, heavy. First, the Life as Usual video blog is coming back. We’ve leveled up the audio and video. Also, at the start of each month, there will be a video part with each theme post.

Want a sample? Here (Pass – atbusy)

https://vimeo.com/181973716

Delivery

I want to make it easier for you to enjoy this blog, and part of it comes with fixing the “pipes” I’m using to deliver the information. I’m making a pledge to invest in this in 2017.

One of the changes starts with the branding. By the end of January, all branding will be consistent. After that, Social media, and from there, the world, hopefully.

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2016 in Review: The Major Lesson

At the end of the year, I take the time to reflect. This post, and the others like it, are my lessons for 2016. My hope is by reading them; you get a sense of what my overall lessons were. My hope is by writing them; I’ll have a place to archive my memories. In the future, they are quickly sorted and filed when someone looks for insight.

My Major takeaway: Leadership has three tenets – self-awareness, direction, and execution.

I spent a lot of time scrambling.

This blog is a big scramble. Many of the posts here are for me to figure things out.

On its best days, this functions as my over version of Meditations, from Marcus Aurelius. At it’s worst, it’s a mess of thoughts, half-finished.

In its chaos lies its beauty. The ability to keep attacking things day after day strengthens me.  This blog is my dojo.

This year I took away a ton of lessons through living and writing. However, one stands above the rest, and now I’ll use it to push this blog and focus my training here in the “dojo.”

The lesson: Leadership has many legs, the important ones are self-awareness, direction, and execution. If a leader doesn’t come to the table with all three, they may get lucky. However, they can’t sustain it.

If you want to know why, check here (and subscribe to the newsletter, it comes every Sunday).

Back to me? Great.

Why does it matter?

Being able to categorize my thinking gives me the structure to go deeper and mine these ideas to sharpen my skills. The money is in the depth, and I am just getting started.

I’ll use the lesson to inform my thinking and blog and ask, is this helping my self-awareness, how I execute, or how I set direction.  You’ll see it on the front page and through the themes of next year. It will come up in any talk I give.

These three tenets can help you get stronger for the people around you. Make it count.

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2016 in Review: Eleven Book Recommendations

At the end of the year, I take the time to reflect. This post, and the others like it, are my lessons for 2016. My hope is by reading them; you get a sense of what my overall lessons were. My hope is by writing them; I’ll have a place to archive my memories. In the future, they are quickly sorted and filed when someone looks for insight.

Reading is fundamental

I used to laugh at that slogan, “reading is fundamental.” It always ended with me saying “fundamental for what?”

It took me years to get serious with my reading habit. Now, I read over 60 books a year. Reading made my life better.

I like to end the year clarifying my favorite books of the year. If you don’t read regularly, start. Pick one of these books.

Must reads

  • A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr.– Sometimes one bright spot can blind us to other great work. The “I Have A Dream” speech may have propelled Dr. King into our country’s heart. However, the bright lights of inspiration blind us from the practical. This book contains selected sermons, speeches, and essays that lay out Dr. King’s platform, much of which is still relevant today. Read this a little at a time and consume it. It’s a masters class on how to make your point in the face of adversity and a great history lesson to boot.
  • Seeking Wisdom: From Darwin to Munger, 3rd Edition – How often do you think about how to think? One of the tenets of leadership is “direction.”  You use a map to give direction.  In building a plan, it is important to think about the tools you use.  Seeking Wisdom is an excellent primer for that, as Peter Bevelin takes great effort to distil several tools great thinkers have used, from Charles Darwin to Charlie Munger, to do that. This is an expensive book (cost me $50.00 or so) and worth every penny.
  • Finite & Infinite Games – We play two types of games, finite and infinite. Finite games are winnable; the infinite game is not. The infinite game affects us much more than finite ones. However, we can catch ourselves bowing to finite games. We often give too much power to the smaller things in life, and let them affect the big picture. This is a great book to help you set perspective and add some play in your life.
  • Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World – All work is not created equal. As much as we like to use time as a barometer, it fools us. Cal Newport gives you a recipe to help create the circumstances where getting a ton of stuff done is the “norm.” Why is this practical? Professor Newport used these tools to become a tenured professor at 34(extremely young) while writing and speaking all over the world.  He also shuts off his computer every night at 5:30 PM.
  • Turn the Ship Around!: A True Story of Turning Followers into Leaders– The secret to leadership is your vulnerability, all things equal. If you need proof, I’ll suggest this book, where the author, David Marquet, takes on the “worst” submarine and makes it the “best” in a short period. Give respect, responsibility, and agency to the people around you, and often their success will far outweigh the risk.
  • Getting Everything You Can Out of All You’ve Got: 21 Ways You Can Out-Think, Out-Perform, and Out-Earn the Competition – The key to fixing problems is to ask the right questions. This book from Jay Abraham gives you the tools to keep asking the right questions. This is my genius book, because every time I go into it and use the solutions, it makes me look like a genius. Seriously, the book is that good.

Nice to haves

What to Do When It’s Your Turn (and it’s Always Your Turn) – Seth Godin gives you a tome to help you execute. This book is beautiful and full of relevant information on performing.

Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future – Think big, do the work and risk it all. This book can inspire you to take action on the ideas worth doing.

80/20 Sales and Marketing: The Definitive Guide to Working Less and Making More – Eliminate. Always eliminate. The Pareto principle helps you work on the things that matter.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life – Love yourself. The only way you are going to get to yourself is if you listen.

Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration – Pixar opens to the books to give a blueprint for consistent success.

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2016 in Review: Successes

At the end of the year, I take the time to reflect. This post, and the others like it, are my lessons for 2016. My hope is by reading them; you get a sense of what my overall lessons were. My hope is by writing them; I’ll have a place to archive my memories. In the future, they are quickly sorted and filed when someone looks for insight.

Success is Fun

It is also surprising.

At the end of last year, I had an inkling of where I wanted to go in 2016. Here, at its end, most of the success I got I didn’t know until it happened.

Here are my top 10 successes in 2016.

  • Quitting my job – In 2015, I realized that I wanted to try something new. At the beginning of the year, I decided to leave my job at DTCC and see where this year took me. I left, ending one chapter of my life and starting a new one.
    • The lesson – When you aren’t into what you are doing, figure out a way to leave, and leave. There are more adventures in life, and you stop yourself when you decide to stick around out of “obligation.”
  • Giving value– In May of 2015, I started a journey. I wanted to increase my network. At the end of the year, I did that. This year, I wanted to work on giving better value to my network. I’ve gotten better at that through using my newsletter, one on ones with people, and holding office hours.
    • The lesson – Attaining numbers is easy, learning where you give value is much tougher. It forced me to narrow my focus and listen more. I also found out that people want to help as well, so I better be ready.
  • Cofound Harlem – I found Cofound Harlem last year. They hosted events. I even volunteered. One of the things I got from that was a chance to build with John Henry.After the first cohort, we went our separate ways. Fast forward eight months and they announced the second cohort. I just closed up a few projects and loved the mission. A few coffee chats later, I joined to help John with Cofound as the “director of strategy. ”
    • The lesson – Keep contacts warm and clear your schedule when needed. Things start to happen.  Your failures can create value. Some failures I had from this year (like Barbershop Books and Arcade School) prepared me to help John with the second cohort.
  • Writing Everyday – Last year, I wrote on this blog over 300 times. This year, I had a goal to write every day. I’ve done it. Through sickness, hectic schedules, travel – you name it, I’ve done it. I’ve become a better writer in the process.
    • The lesson – Consistency is a fantastic teacher and “busy” is no excuse. It’s doable.
  • Life as Usual Video – I made a couple of videos last year. I made them around my apartment. It was an experiment, just something I wanted to try. It didn’t “blow up” (no video is over 100 views). However, I learned a lot.
    • The lesson -I got better at talking about what this blog is about and connecting with people (some people just love video). It also gave me the confidence to “step it up.” The second season of the “Life as Usual Video Blog” premieres here next month.
  • Newsletter – I started 2015 happy I launched a newsletter.This year, I wanted to make one people enjoyed. It went through a ton of changes, however, by the end of the year I think it’s starting to find its footing. It has its voice with a long-form piece of writing from me and some links I find useful.  I’ve increased the subscriber count by 70 (200% growth) and get more feedback on Facebook and email.
    • The lesson – Don’t be afraid to try new things. Everything is a scratchpad, particularly in the beginning.
  • altMBA – For a program, I didn’t think I could get in (which applies to the last two “successes” as well), I was surprised at how welcoming the community was. altMBA is a challenge, and if you attend, you’ll have the pleasure of being around some smart and driven folks. However, the biggest surprise is how quick you create a bond and how much work you get done in such a short period.  This program shifted how I thought of work and group projects writ large.
    • The Lesson – Always apply. Show up. People want you to succeed. Projects can create a bond with pressure.
  • Coaching altMBA – I had to give this a separate space because coaching was its “beast.” The amount of work increased as a coach, I now had to add guidance counselor and mentor to the list of duties. As much as I grew as a student, I got the opportunity to double down as a coach. It was an honor to be selected and have a chance to help shape this program – one that will help students for years to come.
    • The lesson – Show up every day. Your opinion matters. Be sharp. Work with people. Sometimes those around you need time to vent. Communicate.
  • Harvard Business School CoreX – This was hard for other reasons. I think there would be little overlap between altMBA and this, however, the workload was about the same. The difference with this was it was less about my creativity and more about the details. It turned me into a better entrepreneur regarding X’s and O’s.
    • The lesson – Consistency matters. Number matter. Studying matters. Study groups help. Don’t be afraid to go over things multiple times.
  • StartingBloc – After being told about this, I didn’t know what to expect. What I found was a leadership institute much different than the ones I’ve previously attended. This had a bite to it I’ve rarely seen. Every day I was exhausted. I didn’t even attend the “party.” I walked away from it a changed leader that understood himself more, along with a network of fantastic people who have become a new tribe.
    • The lesson – Try new things. Seek adventure. Give value. See what happens.
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2016 in Review: Failure

At the end of the year, I take the time to reflect. This post, and the others like it, are my lessons for 2016. My hope is by reading them; you get a sense of what my overall lessons were. My hope is by writing them; I’ll have a place to archive my memories. In the future, they are quickly sorted and filed when someone looks for insight.

Failure sucks.

Even so, it is a bridge to our future. There are lessons with our failure that inform our growth if we decide to listen to them.

To listen, here are my top 10 failures for 2016.

  • My love for comedy – Last year I wrote about doing more comedy in 2016. This year, not only did I not do more comedy, I did much less.It wasn’t a matter of time, it was want. At the heart of it, I lost my love for it. As a result, my pulse on funny has faded, and I lost a step in public presentation.
    • Change for 2017: I am not sure. I’ve thought about comedy a lot. Was, is escapism or do I love it? Perhaps it is both. Before I go any further, I have to answer this question.
  • My Health – In 2015 I wrote about losing weight at the end of the year. As the new year started, I got even better. Then, I just stopped. I ended up gaining the weight back. When I had the time to invest in my health, I decided to do other things. I regret this. I prioritized anything and everything else, and I paid the price. Physical health influences my mental and spiritual energy.
    • Change for 2017:  The next year of my life is dedicated to my health in many ways. I’ll change my diet and spend more time in the gym. The good thing about this year is I got to pay attention to how I failed and pivoted from there.
  • Using Social Media as a Tool – Like my health and comedy, at the start of the year I had some great experiments going on, like investing in Facebook ads. I stopped. My focus went elsewhere and I missed an opportunity to learn more. I think this is going to be important, and I failed. At some point, I just turned on automation and stopped thinking about it entirely.
    • Change for 2017: I know the importance of this, and might consider outsourcing here. Social media, in particular for this blog, extends its reach.
  • Guest posting / distributing content – I completely whiffed on this. I missed the chance to share some of the posts here through creating fantastic content. Some of this is because I have been scared of distribution. Hearing no makes me defensive. As a result, I miss opportunities.
    • Change for 2017: I came up with a way to change this. I am going to experiment with combining my newsletters and creating guest posts for folks. Once I perfect, I’ll “keep firing,” which is a philosophy I am going to double down on in 2017.
  • Barbershop Books – This didn’t end the way I wanted. I resigned in October because I didn’t feel the engagement of the folks around. I had to make a choice, and I decided to leave.
    • Change for 2017: I’ll support this organization when and where I can. My lesson, though, is in fostering engagement. I learned a lot on this journey and will make that a priority for any leadership position.
  • Delivery of Material – An old mentor told me once “you deliver filet mignon, it’s just you have the tendency to put it on a garbage lid.” I find that in my work on this blog sometimes, and in a world where your attention splinters easily, I can’t afford to lose people because of the presentation. This played into my lack of distribution.
    • Change for 2017: I am working on my presentation for all projects in 2017 as a priority.
  • Money as flexibility – I could spend money in a better way. I could save money in a better way. With wasteful spending, I cut down on my flexibility. Freedom is in flexibility.
    • Change for 2017: Create automated systems where I make sure that I can’t waste money.
  • Arcade School – I created a startup feasibility project in 2016. It was called Arcade School. After four months of work, we realized it wasn’t possible, and the barrier to entry was too high.I put myself in a box.I didn’t put a test early enough and backed myself into a corner.
    • Change for 2017: Having a test to market out faster on all future projects.
  • Distraction – I spent a lot of this year seeking. I also spent a lot of time distracted. Time is one of our only true resources. I rationalized a lot of my distracted time, pretending I was seeking. Distraction is hard to avoid.
    • Change for 2017:  I’ll make space dedicated “seeking” and work to reduce distraction with tools like Pavlok.
  • Online Classes –  I didn’t finish any of the ones I started (outside of altMBA / Harvard Business School CoreX). In a way, it started me down the path to Arcade School, however, I still lost a lot of time. Too many classes and not enough engagement.
    • Change for 2017: Taking the lessons from Arcade School about engagement (adding a partner, raising stakes, being public) to increase my hit rate.

 

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Build Trust and Push off Worry – Pick a Review Date

 build-trust-and-push-off-worry

Review in intervals, not the moment

There is no perfect choice. 

With that said, it’s insane to change every time you feel there is a better option. There is always a “better” choice. Making that choice is a shortcut into decision fatigue. 

In order to avoid decision fatigue, make it your practice to check and improve your plan before you begin every project. This tactic is a best practice.

Put the date on the calendar. When it’s there, if something needs a change, just document it. Once it is out of your head, you’ll feel better. Instead of a headache, wondering if this changes, you know you will address it.

This tactic is even more important when you delegate to or deal with a team.

Keep your team in the loop. An established review date improves trust and makes change a natural part of the process.

When you don’t do this, you risk changing the plan on the fly and demoralizing your team around you. 

Leaving your team out: avoid this at your peril. When you often change things without a set process, you seem to be a waffler.

This simple move, picking a date, allows the worry to have its “day in court.” 

Most importantly, you and your team get back to work.

 

 

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Questions Lead To Something…

This month was a rollercoaster

From quitting my job to learning how life is without an alarm clock, January 2016 had surprises that I didn’t account for. So, the theme of Questions this month was an apt one. I spent most of my time this month learning things all over again, and there were a ton of questions that I got to ask.

As I wrote in the intro to this month, questions are a great bridge to improve communication and context. This month proved it. I asked a lot of questions, and received some serious answers. Some answered, some are lingering, but all in all, I am much better for the experience.

Wins This Month

  • Calendaring – Last year, I constantly missed when I tried this habit. This month, it all clicked, if for no other reason I knew I couldn’t do anything if I didn’t calendar it.With no schedule (from no work) I needed something to anchor me. Book Support:  Deep Work from Cal Newport.
  • Experimentation – I tried a bunch of things. Learns a lot. Having the courage to try things opens so many doors. This might end up as a monthly theme in the future. Book Support: Do Over – Jon Acuff
  • Vulnerability – I was particularly happy about my ability to keep myself open with my newsletter. I talked about my fears, how uncoordinated I was, and ultimately how things aren’t going perfectly. (If you want to join the newsletter click here)

Losses

  • Note Taking – I didn’t get a chance to do any note taking this month.  I always see Marc Andreessen doing it during conversations, and it seems like a good tool.
  • Reading  – I slowed down on my reading this month. Both my reread and my new reading list.

Books

Videos

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End of The Year! My Mega Post On What’s Happened and What Will Happen! 2015!!!!!

The end of the year

As we walk into a new calendar year, I want to take the time to lay out what went well, what happened unexpectedly, and what went wrong. Each of these things have a lesson in them, especially the failures, and documenting them helps not only me, but anyone who reads them know that there are lessons in anything.

The end of December is a great time to deal with clean slate thinking (since everyone else is) and work out what didn’t go well and what did go well over the last year. It was both exhilarating and painful to write this, but so is anything else that’s good.

What happened in 2015

I spent the last few days sitting over and thinking about the goals I set in 2015, and what they mean for me. Usually when I do this, I try to pull a bunch of notebooks out and crawl over the notes, hoping to find some nugget of wisdom to move into the next year, but having this blog, and forcing myself to go through that process every month, made me sharper in dealing with whats important and knowing what to write.

So, my process got better.  But what did I do that got better over the last year?

 

Expected

  • I expected to get more confident – I wasn’t confident. Over the last few years, I saw my confidence erode due to problems at work, an expanding waistline, and, dealing with some of the darker sides of comedy. So, I made a point to get confident again. It started with reading, then doing. Tools like online workshops meshed with networking events. Building my contact list and providing value to the people on it gave me more juice. By the end of 2015, I am starting to feel like the old me again, and I love it since my plans for 2016 involve me making a few scary leaps.
  • Better read – I worked myself into a good reader. I started the year as an “ok” reader, taking time to read when I could, but by the end of the year I got back to enjoying books. It’s become a bit of an addiction. The benefits are tremendous. 100 books later I feel like a better reader and a writer. I read so much I learned I had to change my strategy though, but more on that later.
  • Connecting more with family/friends – It felt like I didn’t talk to anyone in 2014, but now my relationships are in a great place. It started strangely, automating my texts to friends and family (sounds cold but it worked by forcing me into a conversation) and then  eventually spending more time.I made sure the time meant more too with no cell phone, no computer, no books. I put my attention on them.
  • Clutter – I started this year with a ton of stuff. Now I don’t have that stuff anymore. It’s nice to walk in my apartment and have room to move and nothing to clean up. I feel like my mind freed up.
  • Physical Appearance – It’s always interesting to see how things morph. At first I thought of ways to exercise, but I found out about coaching in February and took a chance. She walked me through and taught me a ton over the 6 weeks we worked together, and now I am the sharpest guy in the room most days. That gave me the confidence to lose weight (down 30 pounds this year) and work on the other parts of my appearance (Sharp haircut, shoes, etc)

Unexpected

  • The video blog  – I never thought about doing video until this year. I hated recording. Now, I am glad its out there. Its been a way for me to try to understand how I come across, and work to get better in a medium that is just getting more and more widespread.

  • My social media – I read Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World in 2014 and thought I understood it, but it took almost a year of thinking, and finally experimenting (because of this blog) to get the most out of the book.
  • This blog – Speaking of the blog, I knew I was going to write more in 2015, but to look at this now and see that I’ve done over 300 posts in a year amazes me. I’ve become a better writer, better at getting my ideas out, and better at delivering content. I can’t wait to see what lessons writing for over 350 will do for me next year. Better content begets better content.
  • Being a Godfather – I am the godfather  to a wonderful baby girl(Hi Skyler). Very important to me and a cherished honor, especially since my life was headed for calamity at the time of her birth.
  • Jury Duty – After having a period of crisis earlier in the year(A lot of flux and starting a bunch of scary experiments that turned into the wins above) I received a jury summons. It was the last thing I wanted. What I thought would be just an interesting experience to check out the courthouse for a day turned into 4 months away from work. I got to do a lot of thinking and reading during this period,and it changed my life for the better. An experience I recommend for everyone.

Losses

  • Job – For all my personal wins, my job suffered. I concluded that I didn’t want to deal with it anymore. My chance at delivering my best isn’t here, so 2016 is a year I venture into the new.
  • Submitting content – Where I was great at generating content, I was horrible at submitting it . I put out 1 guest post and ended up doing 1 writing packet. Number I won’t repeat in 2016.
  • Calendar – I didn’t give deference to my calendar. I learned how to deal with the tactics, but never invested in it emotionally.
  • Comedy – I didn’t do it nearly the amount I wanted to in 2015. There were pockets of working on it every day, and weeks where I didn’t see a stage.
  • Meditation – Like comedy, fits and spurts. The good news is, I could have said the same thing for the blog, and now its a pretty strong habit.

What will happen in 2016

The future is interesting because it isn’t set. If you would have told me that I would spend a quarter of my year in a courthouse last December I wouldn’t believe you. Life changes, and to try to plot it out in on big chunk isn’t the way to go.

Sadly, I did that in 2014, and I fear I missed something because our limited energy, and when we focus on something, we miss out on another thing.

So, its time to experiment, and go for something newer that gives me direction, while letting my mind roam. I am going for big themes and little milestones.

By doing it this way, I am going to learn a ton and make some mistakes, but the plan is to have my 2016 process get bigger. I spent 2015 looking at what was in front of me instead of the big picture planning that introduces huge reward.

Themes

Execution

My biggest failures are failures of execution. It’s also where I find the most opportunities. This year, some places I executed well (this blog) and some places I executed badly (brand expansion).  One of the things I want to focus on in 2016 is how to expand on executing not just for myself, but for the community around me.

Abstinence

Some of the greatest lessons come from cutting things away. I learned that in 2015. I want to expand on it in 2016.  What can I remove in my life, a physical or emotional object, that will let me know that everything is OK – that life goes on. I did it with my cell phone for a month and if I handled that, I know I can handle much more.

Education

I read over 100 books. This was great, but only a first step. I never plan on reading 100 books again. My plan going forward, is to pick a great choice of books that I read through last year, and study them fully. I did this on accident with Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World , but now I plan on doing it on purpose with several books I read this year. I will still take in a new book and read it, but I want to put my energy in the books that have the most to share, because often you don’t get everything out of it on the first read.

Communication

Communication was always scary to me. In my past,I dealt with a ton of shoot the messenger (i.e. getting in trouble for bringing bad news) so I learned how to avoid saying things. What I thought was a strength turned out as a weakness. Vulnerability is critical here, because often the reason I don’t make the first move is fear that the other person won’t like it.

Big Ideas

Around September this year I had a frightening observation. When I looked around me, I only saw what was in front, I never looked down the road. I rarely pursued my legacy.I am not going to repeat this mistake. Now its time to take a swing at big ideas, and I will keep up time to work on just that. Clean up time is over, now its time to bat for the win.

In Conclusion

This was a good year. I ended up fixing a lot of the problems I had. It led to huge development, not just in my self, but network and community.

I think the 5 themes for 2016 only help building those three things and in a year, I will be back here, revisiting how that worked, and how it makes me work. If you have any questions, please tweet me and lets discuss your goals and plans.

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Album Review: Big Sean’s Dark Sky Paradise

Big Sean - Dark Sky Paradise
Big Sean - Dark Sky Paradise
Big Sean - Dark Sky Paradise
Big Sean – Dark Sky Paradise

 

Everything is a work in progress. I am often reminded of this when I listen to artists who haven’t hit their stride. The only thing you can measure is improvement. Is this work better than the last? Is there a sense of growth or are we stuck in the same patterns.

In that sense, Big Sean’s Dark Sky Paradise is a victory. After his last effort, 2013’s Hall of Fame, we visit Big Sean that is still more lost than found. It isn’t that the music is bad, but it reminds you that there is such thing as too much polish. As good as the music is Hall of Fame, it lacks depth, and is more “keeping the ball afloat” than taking chances and getting to know Big Sean.

It’s refreshing that he starts off Dark Sky Paradise with his father’s voice. Its right there where you know that we are getting something a more personal with this album. And it doesn’t just stop there, you find him talking about his last relationship with the single “I Don’t Fuck With You” and his family in “Blessings” with lines like “My grandma just died, I’m the man of the house. So every morning I’m up cause I can’t let them down, down” let you into his process.

The entire album feels like a diary entry. It flows, with distinct emotional, inspirational highs “One Man Can Change The World” and dealing with dark lows with the Kanye West assisted “All Your Fault”.

There are a few missteps on Dark Sky Paradise. “I Know” feels a little to long and seems like a reach. “Stay Down” is one of those songs that work drunk, but within the context of this album, just doesn’t fit. It feels like a bit of Hall of Fame creeping. With those two back to back, “Deep” suffers but ultimately gets the album back on track.

It feels like with each release, you understand that Big Sean is getting closer to discovering the classic process. With Dark Sky Paradise he hasn’t landed into that vaunted territory, but you see him circling his plane. When you do well enough to get another chance, you owe it to yourself to do better. Big Sean buys into that, and with that attitude, the sky is the limit.

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