The 2017 100

Last updated on April 1st, 2021 at 01:08 am

Unless my life sees some major changes this year, 2017 may mark the last list of 100!

It’s January 13^th—I’ve spent nearly two weeks of my new year agonising over 100 items that matter enough to hit a list of goals and aspirations for the year ahead. And that’s a key difference from the lists that came before it.

Before it was a task list—I’d look around at everything that needed doing and jot it down, because my life would obviously be better with them out of the way.

But task lists aren’t inspiring. They’re not motivational. As a creative, that’s like dropping a pile of 100 things I dread on my lap and nagging myself to get ’em done by the year’s end.

Once I realised what I was doing to myself, so much so that I just went through my least successful year yet for my list, I knew I needed to make a change for 2017.

I’m particularly proud of the list I’ve put together for The 2017 100. I didn’t take any shortcuts—I wrote out 100 things that’d help me live the life I’d like to lead and prove instrumental along the path there. Rather than hurriedly scrawl out a list I’d likely ignore ’til December, I wrote one that I’d happily check off, knowing that each accomplishment would take me a step closer to a far better 2018. I feel like I’m finally getting it right this time, and I hope that shines through as you give it a look for yourself!

But that’s enough of my chatter—I’ve already made you wait long enough. Here for your consideration is The 2017 100—because it’s not what you do… it’s how you do it!

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The 2017 100—The List

1. Stop biting my nails
2. Send out a Christmas letter and family photo to everyone who’s helped me get this far in life
3. Build the Casey Palmer business
4. Design a new business card for myself
5. Get rid of the endless amounts of paper in my life
6. Get my finances in check
7. Publish all the drafts on my blog to move forward and stop clinging so much to the past
8. Update the look for Casey Palmer, Canadian Dad and renew the hundreds of posts that aren’t being used to the best of their potential
9. Learn to write a killer press release…
10. …because I’m putting out the second round of posts for Live from the 3.5, bigger and better than before!
11. Do something for Canada’s 150^th that’ll blow people’s minds
12. Install the growth chart for my kids, which will mean learning how to drill through plaster and getting my hands on a power drill
13. Spend more time seeing people and not just following their lives on Facebook
14. Get a Brookhaven Computer Cabinet
15. Find more time to keep my fashion game on point—refresh my wardrobe with more bespoke pieces.
16. Get my hands on a Microsoft Surface Pro 4 for Sarah—and the Microsoft Surface Studio for myself once all the bugs are worked out
17. Embroider the Christmas stockings with everyone’s names
18. Catch up on all our photo books and put more of them together for the family
19. Turn more of my childhood photos into digital ones to include in my work
20. Sarah’s mystery gift. What is it? It’s a mystery.
21. Create more things that don’t fit the mould.
22. Use my countless resources to create dope infographics like One Piece in One Piece.
23. Clean out the garage while there’s still room to walk through it.
24. Build the Toronto Fun List!
25. Get new headphones and earbuds to keep enjoying new tunes!
26. Get my G licence. Like, immediately.
27. Hang up Christmas lights for the first time ever.
28. Get a new cufflink box, because fishing through a pile of them each morning is just downright annoying.
29. Create more video content!
30. Create a new media kit for 2017 with an accompanying page to detail everything I’ve been up to, and a one-page version.
31. Take my old high school candygrams and turn them into something new and exciting for the blog!
32. Do more maintenance work around the home—this house is old and needs a lot of love!
33. Take my toddler out for more adventures.
34. Create an emergency preparedness kit for my family, because you never know when the zombie apocalypse will strike!
35. Be more present in my blog through photographers who can capture my life not just through the things I write.
36. Get a Gary Fong Collapsible Snoot to round out my camera accessories.
37. Get out and do more public speaking.
38. Make better use of my email list to tell my audience what’s going on.
39. Make the most of my 9-5, taking advantage of everything it has to offer!
40. Watch all the shows and movies on my “To Watch” list.
41. Read all the comics and manga on my “To Read” list.
42. Check out all the music on my “To Listen” list.
43. Hit my blog and social media goals for the number of likes, follows, and consistent unique monthly views.
44. Make healthier life choices (#Diabetes21, what up?)
45. Really kill it with giveaways by offering prizes that can make huge differences in people’s lives.
46. Share more of my art with the world.
47. Further develop my brand and PR relationships to the point where we’re both getting something awesome and unique from the exchange.
48. Get an intern or some temp help or someone to help keep on top of my emails and more routine details of my #BloggerLife.
49. …but before that, do a better job of addressing my emails and getting back to people.
50. In fact, I should unsubscribe from like, 95% of the email newsletters I’m subscribed to.
51. Get more off my plate and a definitive plan written up so I can actually pitch some brands this year.
52. Score some items from the wishlist I put together last December.
53. Develop a platform where more guest contributors can become part of what I do.
54. Stop trying to make Sarah laugh. It’s either going to happen or it’s not.
55. Act on new ideas.
56. Do some DNA testing to further my genealogical studies of my family history.
57. Re-seed and maintain the lawn until it’s greener than our neighbour’s… who has a fake lawn.
58. See more of Ontario.
59. Find the best local Canada Day celebration I can and make an event of it with the fam. (Bonus: If we can make it up to Ottawa, even better.)
60. Stick to my commitments.
61. Get rid of anything I don’t need.
62. Keep the family festive for the myriad of holidays throughout the year.
63. Keep things simple and my lifestyle organised.
64. Write more for outlets other than my own.
65. Use every resource at my disposal before acquiring new ones.
66. Remember to take my vitamins (and give them to the kids) daily.
67. After seeing Rick Mercer rock it on New Year’s Eve, get my hands on a Canada 150 jacket.
68. Read more of our books in the house.
69. Re-educate myself on the art of cooking.
70. Create subpages on the blog for the keywords I want to rank for most.
71. Streamline my digital services.
72. Keep my work and living spaces as minimalist as possible.
73. Take the little guy to the barbershop in time for his first day of kindergarten!
74. Hold a 10-year reunion for my fellow former interns from the Ontario Internship Program’s class of 2007.
75. Get my spare battery back from Emma!
76. Replace my Lenovo Moto Z, whose screen got chipped in a freak public transportation accident ☹️
77. Sleep… eventually.
78. Make more time for self-care and -preservation.
79. Have more family experiences to veer away from a mundane life of routine.
80. Live a life worthier of Toronto Life.
81. Find a new home for the graphic novels I’ll offload in 2017.
82. Either submit the blog for some new awards in 2017, or create so well that some awesome people do it for me.
83. Go to at least one event where I need to get really dressed up.
84. Learn to make some cocktails.
85. Come up with a life motto and inscribe it upon a crest in Latin.
86. Send more birthday cards to all the important people—maybe even get a birthday calendar like the Dutch do ?
87. Start my days earlier.
88. Modernise my home with more smart tech—but not so much that it leaves my home vulnerable.
89. Play more board games once the boys are in bed.
90. Give my 2012-13 Mansformation project its own proper home on the Internet.
91. Start working on my first ebook.
92. Discover something new every day.
93. Do a digital cleanse with all the files on my hard drives and laptop.
94. Have all my close friends over for a BBQ later into the summer so they can verify that my second child actually exists.
95. Create at least one product I can sell/give away on Casey Palmer, Canadian Dad so I can experiment with some other Web techniques.
96. Get more involved in the Facebook groups that’re relevant to me.
97. Liberate my remaining possessions from my parents’ place.
98. Record a music video.
99. Expand my thinking in at least one major area in my life.
100. Don’t leave The 2017 100 wrap-up ’til the last minute and give more regular updates on how I’m progressing.

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The 2017 100—It’s Not What You Do; It’s How You Do It!

So no messing about this year—2017’s about goals in the truest sense of the word, and I’ll fiercely pursue it with every fibre of my being, because for perhaps the first time ever, this is a list bespoke for my life as I see it. It’s my roadmap for the one place I’m always trying to reach—my potential.

The 2017 100. Consume it. Contest it. Tell me what’s impossible. But do so expecting the best of me every step of the way, because it’s the only way I think I’ll hit my ultimate goal for 2018—not needing 100 items anymore!

I hope you’re all killing it in 2017, stay blessed, and until the next, I remain,