welcome 2012 ( - or, back to old ways for new years)

Recently I have been unable to keep up with email at work.  I've been unable to stay focused in meetings.  I've been trying to figure out why I don't get more done.  I've been trying to figure out how I can't complete small tasks before getting blown onto something else for weeks at a time... and recently I've been scared by having similar situations creep up at home.  I should have all the time in the world at home.  I don't have a big house or landscaped yard to maintain.  I'm not travelling all the time for work.  I don't have a wife or kids.  I'm not trying to stumble through divorce papers.  I don't even have a girlfriend to blame... yet I feel really time poor.  I am not totally starved for free time; lots of people would love to have as much as I do, but I don't use it as effectively as I should.  I'm alone for hours every day yet I can't seem to set aside time to work on me.  Call me an introvert or worse, but I desperately need me time.  It's how I learned how to play guitar and found out that I loved weird genres of music.  It's how I discovered Latin America, skiing and cycling were deep, core passions of mine.  It's how I find my way into pages of books that blow me away.

My poor use of free time as me time really smacked me in the face recently on a long weekend where I (coincidentally?) skied 3 days in a row, explored Steamboat at my own pace, and almost read a travel memoir about a guy's travels through South America in its entirety.  I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I had a super satisfying weekend, and it reminded me of how I felt in college.  I didn't check my email.  I didn't spend a lot of time on social web sites or youtube or with the TV on.  I didn't think about work or stop into the office.  And it was amazing.  I had been trying to trace back to a time when I was able to accomplish all I needed to and still had time to discover more about myself, discover new relationships and people, or just pursue the folly of my choosing.  That time was, unmistakably, college.  Miami gave me the opportunity to disconnect from everything and get a mountain of progress done in a very short time.  That truly was a halcyon era of productivity and discovery.  A lot of people look back at college and pine for the parties, the debauchery, the beer.  I have my fare share of those stories and thoughts too, but mainly remember college as a time where I learned who I am.  My world was vastly smaller but it was satisfyingly simple, and I was content in it.  So I've been thinking about then, what made it different, and what I need to change to get back to that kind of handle on time/work/me.

Resolutions
In light of that, and since it will be already be April next week, I have decided that I should scrap the whole resolutions thing and instead just try to cultivate these traits over next 9 months:

• focused - Prune away distractions.  After all, 'Tis a gift to be simple, 'tis a gift to be free...
• cancel my cable TV after moving from The Peloton to wherever else
• also as part of the move, (a) use additional square footage to be better organized and (b) make  "get rid of things I don't need/use/want" part of the packing process
• Un-install the Facebook app from my phone or just stop looking at the dumb thing.  They should seriously consider renaming it LifeVacuum instead of Facebook.
• cancel my Google+ account.  [This is not quite as easy as it sounds.  Prior to clicking all the submit buttons I'm currently reading through the terms to make sure I don't wreck my Google account....]
• unsubscribe from all the ad emails I get.  I currently have 462 unread items in my gmail inbox.  Most of it is stuff I don't care about.  As it turns out, I don't need any pants from j.crew.... also newsworthy; I don't care about the Crate & Barrell sale this weekend, and I don't want to attend that new meetup about knitting.
• diligent - "Having or showing care and conscientiousness in one's work or duties."
• Maintain a job in a company I believe in and care about being a rock star in.  I just read an account of leaving Google for Microsoft and really liked a few points in there.  "Want to enjoy your work more? Find better work... That's what it really boils down to: find work you can be passionate about. Then find the company that considers that work important, wants you to be part of it and is in a position to be an industry disruptor."
• Spend my time on things that matter to me and that I care about.  If I'm not passionate about something, be honest enough with myself to skip it and do something I want/need to accomplish.  Self-caution: I hope this doesn't make me anti-social or upset friends.
• I know myself well enough to know my performance is poor in things that I either don't believe in or don't consider a priority.  Recognize that feeling and respond to it rather than floundering.
• curious - Keep discovering new interests.  Explore to improve in things I'm uncomfortable or weak at now.
• I'm going to buy a Mac laptop to replace my 2002 Windows XP single core desktop... this thing can barely run Chrome by itself.  I'm going to re-learn Mac after many years away.  I'll put VMWare on it and get a virtual instance of Windows 7 running, but I mainly want to have a Mac.
• I bought 2 fantastic books on JavaScript last week.  I'm well into the first and have learned a ton.  I only ever really learned enough about JavaScript to be dangerous with it, and I'm excited to apply some actual intelligence about a new language at work.
• I'm going to keep reading books about Latin America and travelling.  Hopefully this year takes me to Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuador... we'll see.
• Self-caution: Do not let this be the opposite of focus.
• consistent
• Early to bed, early to rise... I want to be healthy, wealthy and wise.  Repeat.  Give myself the whole day to succeed...
• If I want to diligently focus on becoming a better runner, I need to be running 3 days a week.
• ambitious - Set specific goals and go after them. 
• Copper Triangle...  Half marathon... Spanish... move to a new country.... volunteering in Nicaragua or Bolivia... there are lots of things to put here.  With focus, consistency and diligence, I know I can accomplish a ton.
• content
• This is not the opposite of the above items, but I do need to recognize contentedness and be OK with who I am, where I'm at, and what I'm capable of.
• Be me and be happy about what that means.  There is great relief and reward in simply being content.  Be wise with my money and time, and content with what I have.

There's a word in Spanish that I think pretty much sums all that up, which is one of my favorites; juicioso [hwee-see-OH-so].  I need to be more juicioso in how I spend my time, what I spend it on, etc.

With any luck, by December I will have done great things passionately, will have a small Inbox at both home and work, will be happy about what I spent my time on, and feel time wealthy rather than time poor.  I hope my world is smaller but more satisfying.  Who knows, I might even have enough time for a yard or a girlfriend or anything else that people spend all their time on and wish they had more free time instead of...

2012 news and plans
On a lighter note, there's a lot going on in the Burch bunch, but these are the big ones.  I'll try to actually update this site in a timely manner when more events take place.

• The big family news is that Danny and Alissa are due to have the first of my parent's grandchildren.  I'm going to be an uncle.  When she comes along in July, more things are going to change than I now realize.  May we all be as ready as we can be.
• Dad is turning 60.  May we all be as ready as we can be.  Hopefully we find ourselves celebrating by a return trip to ol' Columbus town to see some Ohio State football in person this fall!