Welcome to 2013.
Stark and formal, I know, but I’m sure you’ve been wished a “Happy New Year!” several hundred times by now and you already know I wish you well, so I thought we’d break with the norm. Another standard for this period of the calendar is the onslaught of industry predictions and ways to keep resolutions. To some extent, let’s break with that as well.
One year ago I laid out some goals for this site and sought to fuel them with my three guide words for 2012. Many life changes then took hold in the middle of the year, both personally and professionally, prompting another shift in how I view this channel.
While you won’t benefit from the minutiae of those changes, I hope that regular readers will find value in a brief reflection of what the site was, where it lies currently and, most importantly, where I plan to take it this year.
A Look Back
Image Credit: William Murphy
My three words last year were ‘Serve’, ‘Tackle’, and ‘Dispatch’. My aims were clear, my results mixed.
In pledging to better serve those of you who take time to peruse these pages – thank you! – I was able to refine the content to only that which added practical value to creators. Or, at the very least, a striking opinion… perhaps a unique insight here and there. I scrapped a lot of draft posts after running them through this filter and feel that the site is all the better for it.
I did indeed tackle more challenges with a single-minded focus, though my need to load on a variety of tasks without dismissing the lower priority ones does remain. I need to better define the most important questions facing creators today and put lesser items on the back burner.
I largely failed to dispatch, if I’m honest. I still have too many projects sitting in the “potential” category, left to linger as they’re not priority one but nonetheless sucking away creative juices to no end product. I need both a better system for passing judgement on my ideas and also a ruthless streak in consigning those that yield no progress to the scrap heap.
Above The Static certainly reached more people and generated more conversation in 2012. What was lacking was consistency in writing and a willingness to post short, sharper pieces. These are in my sights for the coming year.
3 Words for the New Year
My three words to guide action in 2013 are ‘Meet’,‘React’, and ‘Habitual’.
Meet is simply that I need to get offline and do more old-fashioned social, be it networking, collaborating, or simply listening to the stories of the creators I aim to serve.
React is to stop the death spiral that can occur with over analysis and/or procrastination. I’ll be more accepting of content that doesn’t neatly wrap up an idea or concept and act on the impulse of needing to get something done, rather than sucking on it until all the flavor is lost. I’ll deliver ideas here more consistently as a result, removing some of the filters while still guarding against any filler.
Habitual will apply to life across the board, as I focus on changing underlying motivations and not the resulting behavior. I don’t need to cease writing long, detailed articles, for example, but I do need to understand why I’m uncomfortable sitting down for under an hour and knocking out a shorter post. From there I can develop a habit that better motivates me to create the latter, or at least forces my hand to meet a time/word limit. By extension, this will again lead to me publishing more relevant, timely content.
A Leap Forward
Above The Static is here to provide creators with the resources and advice to reach more fans by developing their web presence. With greater variety and regularity of posts, I hope to deliver a lot more value, better serve artists and reach more of you myself.
This site is simply a channel to deliver the insights that I believe can facilitate this, with the resulting discussions and actions being what makes a real difference. I’ll lay the foundation with ideas, after which our conversations across the comments and social networks will serve to build the structures that attract others.
That stated, I submit to wish you a creative and contented New Year!
About Steve
Thanks for another helpful reminder, Steve. My /letter/ for 2012 was “G” which I extrapolated as grateful, glad and graced. I only partly reached what I had imagined on each of these fronts.
Meanwhile, the first week of 2013 has come and gone. The year is moving ahead, full speed and I’m just starting to catch up.
My first word for 2013 will be “alignment”. I have had a tendency to simply do things as they come to me. This year, my desire is to do first the things that align with the commitments and goals I’ve already set. Then, if other stuff come’s to me, I can perform a “re-alignment”.
Thanks again, Steve!
@muz4now Thanks Stan, Happy New Year! Alignment is a balancing act sometimes, as we want to move towards an overall vision but not to the exclusion of genuinely great ideas that may not seem to fit. Examining a potential effort from both perspectives is a healthy exercise to make a decision… sometimes things are worth doing simply for the fun of it.I also love seeing the various takes on guide words for the year, letters in your case for 2012! Great to watch a concept morph and mould to the needs of the individual creator. Look forward to watching your suns align in the coming weeks and months
Great post and some good reminders for anyone in any creative industry. Particularly the point on procrastination. I think everyone’s guilty of it at times, over thinking everything leading to getting nothing productive done. Usually it’s best to just go with your instincts and run with it. That’s why I quite like tight deadlines, you don’t get much time to sit and think.
Cheers Simon. Spot on regarding deadlines as well… everyone works to them and it can be an important motivating factor in managing priorities. And your comment reminds me to revisit this post as we close on the halfway point of the year, so double thanks!