Restless Tumble

Last years version of this didn’t turn out so well with a 47% success rate but I’m going to give it another go and see if I can’t improve on that a bit this time around.  So without further ado, here we go!

Things That Will Happen This Year

1. 3 Weddings, 2 of which will require some fun travelling!  
2. Run another marathon
3. Attend a Michigan Football game
4. Visit a new Hawaiian island
5. Take a vacation with with dog (and Leslie)

Things That Should Happen This Year

1. Book my first international vacation
2. Take a trip to Sonoma
3. Enter Penny into an agility event
4. Redo my website from the ground up
5. Sign up for the Goofy’s Race And A Half Challenge in Walt Disney World

Things That Probably Will Not Happen, But I Hope They Do:

1. Climb Mt. Rainier
2. Learn to snowboard
3. Buy a new house!
4. Go to the Michigan v Alabama game in Dallas 
5. Pupgrade somehow makes me millions and I retire

At the start of last year, I made an attempt to predict / hope what the year ahead had in store.  Since I’m kind of a statistics geek, I figured I’d see how it worked out.  Here are the results:

Successes in bold, misses instrikethrough

Things that will happen this year: (3/5 - 60%)

1. 5 (6? Maybe a 7th?) Weddings between June and October.  One in Seattle, one on the west coast, and the rest on the other side of the country. 
   » Only was able to make it to 4
2. Learn to snowboard. 
   » Skiing is just too fun!
3. Leave my twenties behind & Celebrate 1st year of marriage. 
   » Done and done!
4. Take a tropical/warm weather vacation somewhere.
   » Napa counts, right?
5. See Michael Jackson: THE IMMORTAL World Tour on Nov 9 (very excited!).
   » It was really cool!

Things that should happen this year: (3/5 - 60%)

1. Start coaching.  Be it soccer or running I am really ready to stop playing as much and start getting back into the coaching aspect.
   » Team Challenge!
2. See a Michigan home football game (from a luxury box?). 
   » Guh.
3. Make a career move.  Intentionally ambiguous so that a promotion, job title change, new job, starting my own thing, or going back to school all count. 
   » Point Inside!
4. Take a cooking class. 
   » I did get a gift certificate for a cooking class though
5. Get new skis and start really skiing.  
   » Boo-yeah!

Things that probably will not happen, but I hope they do: (1/5 - 20%)

1. Go to Alaska via boat.  I have been to 49 of the 50 states and Alaska is my last one.  My Father-in-law runs charters up to and from Alaska every once in a while on his boat.  I have placed my name in the deckhand hat so fingers crossed that he gets a charter this summer.
   » I did it!  Alaska!  Bears!
2. Travel internationally. Related to the previous entry, I have never been to a foreign country (Canada doesn’t count). 
   » Swing, and a miss.
3. Write a Kindle Single. 
   » This is getting less appealing 
4. Go fishing. 
   » I miss fishing.
5. Climb Mt. Rainier. 
   » One of these days. Totally.

Overall: 7/15 - 47%

47% overall isn’t too bad, but I’m bummed how low that first section is.  I guess I need to redefine “will” and “should”.

Similar to last year, I’m going to do another year in review for 2011.  I like lists and I like them even more when they are grouped so the format will be the same as 2010.  Everyone ready?  Let’s do this:

January

• I did some foreshadowings, results of which will be a later post
• Kicked off an Epic iTunes music quest
• Restlesssoul turned 8 years old 
• Took a spontaneous weekend trip to the ‘Couve and ate Caribou at Le Croc

February

• 

  Started coaching runners for Team Challenge
• Started listening to Oldies music all the time 
• Quit my job at VMware
• Had one of my favorite all-time conversations with Leslie

March

• Started working full time at Point Inside!
• Jimmy’s Bachelor Party in Scottsdale, AZ
• Went to my first ever Spring Training game (Go Mariners!)
• Ran a road race that was really more about drinking beer

April

• Rang in my 30th year with a shuffleboard and sounders party
• Did some live band Karaoke with Mike McCready of Pearl Jam
• Won a field pass for a Sounders game
• Worked a ton
• Ran/Coached a ton

May

• My first WWE Raw event with Leslie, Streeter, and Megan
• Learned a valuable lesson
• Worked a ton
• Ran/Coached a ton

June

• Saw my new nephew, Ethan, for the first time!
• Went to a wedding in West Virginia with Adam Duritz (and Leslie)
• Discovered the 90s on 9 XM Radio channel
• Discovered Turntable.fm!
• Dropped a tree on my car
• Finished my epic iTunes quest
• Got some sweet shots of Penny doing agility

July

• 

  Best man at Jimmy’s Wedding in Portland, OR
• Took the Team Challenge team to Napa for a 1/2 Marathon!
• Made it to my 50th state (Alaska!)
• Saw my first whale
• Saw way too many bears and way too close

August

• Grandma J’s funeral, RIP Grams!
• Laser Gaga with Leslie
• Won some tickets to the Michigan Football home opener
• “Starred” in a documentary about Mike McCready
• Kim’s Facebook wedding of the century
• Discovered Instagram!

September

• 

  Got into this new fad called stocking.  I hear it’s the new planking
• Watched Michigan play at home under the lights for the first time in history and somehow managed to not lose to Notre Dame while only playing for 1 quarter. Bless you, Denard!
• Scored a VIP backstage pass to a Pearl Jam concert in Vancouver. (Thanks Mike!)
• Got one of the best(?) fortunes ever.
• Puyallup Fair! Funnel Cakes!

October

• Celebrated 1 year of marriage!
• Won the US Open Cup for the 3rd year in a row
• Went to Columbus for Joe’s wedding, met some interesting people
• Celebrated Penny’s 3rd Birthday!
• Got my new MacBook Air (love it).
• Started reading Three And Out, very frustrating and depressing book.

November

• Made a mixtape for the first time in forever
• Went to Michael Jackson: The Immortal Cirque Du Soleil show (my first!)
• Watched my cousin run in the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Spokane, WA (Go Aimee!)
• Took Leslie to Indy for Thanksgiving for the first time
• Launched Pupgrade!

December

• 

  Found probably my favorite song of the year. Definitely going on the next mixtape
• No more Gowalla (le sigh)
• Brand spankin’ new office for Point Inside!
• Lost to my wife in fantasy football playoffs.  Half proud of her, half embarrassed for myself.
• Scored me some sweet handerpants at a white elephant gift exchange!  Can’t wait to nightblog.
• Did some sweet New Years skiing at Alpental

That is a ton of links but I think it just about wraps it up for 2011!  Great year and I’m looking forward to 2012.  I’ll have my foreshadowings up soon.

Instead of Goals

There is an alternative to setting goals that will bring you closer to the life you want. Focus on a few practices you can enjoy doing on a regular basis. The trick here is consistency. These four helped me:

• Get up early. When the world wakes up, distractions abound. If you are going to focus on creating a new life for yourself, you’ll need to find the time. The best way to do this is to work while others are sleeping. At first, I didn’t like waking up before the sun, but eventually my body adjusted and I began looking forward to the solitude.
• Over-commit. The adage “under-promise and over-deliver” is a farce. It only propagates the status quo. Real difference-makers push boundaries. They test, prod, and poke until something gives. You can do this, too, by saying “yes” to more things than you’re comfortable with. Learn to stretch yourself. You might be surprised by what you’re actually capable of. Your confidence will grow, too.
• Talk to strangers. Relationships are what make the world go round. This is true for your career, personal well-being, and inner life. When you meet new people, you make connections that can lead to all kinds of future breakthroughs. Even when it’s uncomfortable, reach out and introduce yourself to new people. The worst they can say is “no.” Fortunately, many won’t.
• Practice generosity. Give away your time, money, services, and ideas. When you do this, you will get a lot more than you give. People will learn to trust you, and if you really help them, they will tell others about you. This will build your reputation, and you will have more friends than you know what to do with. And as the saying goes, what goes around really does come around.

After a year of doing these things, I ended up with a life I couldn’t have imagined or planned for. And I had a blast doing it. So I’m going to do it all over again, without setting a single goal.

I couldn’t agree with this more.  I followed this outline the past year and feel incredibly better both personally and professionally. source