This isn't a New Year's Resolutions post

This is not a New Year’s Resolution post.

As I sit in my newly renovated dining room looking out the window as it rains, writing today’s post, I am reminded that my holiday break is coming to an end … soon I will be back at work.

[sigh]

Like most people, I have been spending some time over this extended break thinking through the last year about what worked and what didn’t, which new projects to tackle and which new skills to learn … trying to put them all into some sort of order of priority simply because there are too many things to realistically tackle in 2013. These are not New Year’s resolutions … I hate those. Nothing will set you up for failure other than picking one or two things that you’ve never been able to accomplish before and saying

“this year I’m going to [fill in the blank]!!”

Resolutions rarely seem to motivate people into action – they do at first but it never sticks. Instead of saying “this year I am going to start running and lose 30 pounds” why don’t you decide to say “this year I am going to try to become a healthier person.” Choosing the latter will at least give you a fighting chance to go through the entire year without looking back at the end and seeing that you didn’t accomplish your goals.

I have been trying to prioritize my list of things “I want to do” vs. “need to do” vs. “have to do”. The ideal results have a balance of items from all three of these categories but somehow that bothersome “have to do” list always seems to win. I am trying to find a way to include more fun on this years priority list … last year was a fun year but now that I am at the end of it, I feel more exhausted than energized, maybe that’s just a state of mind. [probably not]

Learning new things is fun, change is fun, meeting interesting new people is fun … I think I will get a chance to do all of that in 2013.

I took a position in the 2013 leadership of the Texas Society of Architects as Chair of the Digital Communications Committee – my charge is to try to make things more interesting and create activity on the website. If you are a Texas architect and want to share something with me, drop me a line, I think I could use your help, assistance and voice with my project.

Over the holiday break I learned that my site here was put on Architectural Records list of 10 Architecture Firm Blogs to Watch in 2013 which was quite an honor and a complete surprise. Looking at the other people on the list, I am amazed at what this little blog has accomplished – most of which is crap but there are a lot of great people who come by and comment or send me emails that constantly inspire me to continue writing down my disjointed and incomplete thoughts.

Over the holiday break I was interviewed for two separate podcasts for friends of mine (neither of whom I have met in person). I have been thinking about learning how to do a podcast myself – not because I love to hear myself talk (which I do) but things on the site here have become a little tired and I am worried that I am becoming bored with the format. The idea I have for a podcast is me talking with someone else and recording it … pretty straight-forward. In the beginning it will simply be about learning the process and hopefully over time, they will become interesting. Because I am constantly fighting boredom, I might be changing the look of the Life of an Architect website … so if you come by and things are all frakked up, it’s in the name of progress (or at least change for the sake of change.)

We will also be running the Life of an Architect 2nd Annual Playhouse Competition with initial entries due sometime around the end of April. It was a lot of fun last year and I hope the participation will be just as good this year. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, click here and this should get you up to speed. Now that I have one years efforts under my belt, maybe I can get some sponsorship and increase the prizes (and by “increase” I mean “have some”). Even if I don’t it’s still a fun project for a cause that everyone can get behind.

Lastly … well, there is no lastly. This list will expand and contract, go off on tangents and put me somewhere I didn’t see coming at the time of this writing (another reason why it’s a list of priorities rather than a list of resolutions).

I hope you all have a fantastic 2013 – you probably deserve it.