2017. More resolutions.

As I said last year, I love New Years Resolutions. I like tracking and recording things, and I like giving myself goals and new things to try.

2016

How did I do? These are the resolutions I set myself for 2016.

1. Read four books. Kind of. The first two took about 11 months, I read a short book in about two weeks in December, and then didn’t quite make the last one, but it was enough to spur me on to read more this year.
2. Run at least two races. Didn’t do this, I should have, but was sloppy with signing up, so I’m going to make sure I get signed up for these early.
3. Learn more Italian. A standard resolution outcome, started the year well, but very much faded through the year. Can definitely say I learnt some though.
4. Daily devotional with Emma. Sadly that’s similar to above.
5. Date nights. We definitely had more time together, but perhaps in bigger chunks. We went away quite a bit, and packed work into the other times.
6. Be more on time. Very vague. Probably a bit better, but could definitely still improve.
7. Adventure. We travelled around the world. Canada > New Zealand > Tokyo. It was amazing.

2017

Here’s what I’m going for this year.

1. Run at least two races. The two I should have run in 2016.
2. Give up sugar for at least a month. I’ve seen others do this and see real benefits, so I want to give it a go. But I’m noticing more and more, sugar is in everything!
3. Read another four books. Minimum.
4. Complete our wedding photo album. We’ve been meaning to do this for four years! We’ve got to get it done.
5. Be on time more. I feel like I need to keep putting this down, as my time keeping is still really bad.
6. Less screen time before bed. I did this before and really felt the benefits, but I slipped last year. I’ve just got to replace my phone with books and then this and number one both happen.
7. Review what I consume. This is a bit of a strange one, but I’ve started a fresh new Field Notes and want to try and record everything I watch, listen to and read. Just think it will be interesting, we consume so much.

In addition to the resolutions, I’ve also re-downloaded Bean, the counting app, and am recording some more things. This year includes number of coffees (I got a new coffee machine for Christmas), sugar-free days and articles read.

Work

For the last few years I’ve also created resolutions for my work, but I’ve not shared them because I’m probably scared they won’t happen and so like to keep them secret. Until now. I’m writing these down to record them properly and to make me a little more accountable, I hope it will help me stick to them a bit more. So here are some work resolutions for 2017.

1. Grow Winners & Losers. I’d love to grow the subscriber list for this, but organically, only with people who really want to read it. Build the tribe! If you haven’t checked it out, I’d love you to.
2. Two more clients. This is a general work-related goal about growing my business. Honestly I hope there are more than two, but really I’d love two new long-term, meaningful partnerships; clients with whom I can offer my design skills and help them grow their business and head towards their vision.
3. Magazine pilot issue. This is one I had last year. It’s no secret I’d love to create my own magazine some day, but I keep putting it off because I don’t think I’m good enough to do it yet. But I’ve been challenged about that attitude; I may never think I’m good enough, so why not just start and let’s see how it goes. Maybe this is the year.
4. Expand apparel range. Just before Christmas I got some T-shirts printed with my Bristol illustration on, and they were received pretty well. Clothing and apparel is always something I’ve kept an interest in, and I’m inspired to do a bit more with it, so why not. Again, we’ll see how that goes.
5. Share more. I always go through phases of posting and sharing work, inspiration, my process. But it’s normally followed by a few weeks of nothing. I’ve seen the importance of social media and having recently read Show your Work by Austin Kleon I’m inspired to keep it up for longer than a few weeks at a time.
6. Projects that mean something. I’ve also just finished reading Aaron Draplin’s book Pretty Much Everything, the guy is a legend. The biggest thing I’ve taken from it is how my graphic design skills have the potential to help out people. I really want to use design for good. Sometimes clients may not have the biggest budgets, but they have a great vision for how their product or service can really help people, and those are the sorts of projects I want to get involved in! *Plug!* If you’ve got a project or idea that I might be able to help with, I’d love to hear more about it. To see what I can do, have a look at my website.

2017, bring it on!