I’ve started 2021 with a single thought: less is more.
Normally I’d start the year with a giant list of goals, planning to make my year amazing by accomplishing a million things.
But if my years of writing have taught me anything, it’s that one rarely finds success by continually chasing after something new—more often than not, what we needed was something we already had… we just didn’t realise it at the time.
Real talk? I was done with 2018 months ago, but it wasn’t quite done with me.
It’s been a challenging year. And not in the regular “working harder than any year before it” kind of way—hard in the losing friends and making enemies kind of way. It’s in the realising you have more work than you have the effort available to do it kind of way. 2018 was a continuous, ongoing gauntlet of activity, and though I’d love to jump forward to 2019 and make a clean break, things aren’t quite that easy.
The Life and Times of Casey Palmer—The Reality that was 2018.
I tried so hard to have less on my plate than everything I’m looking at on December 31st, 2018.
The year had no shortage of curveballs, and my batting average wasn’t exactly amazing—despite my successes, there’s plenty that went to the wayside. Like this being the first year in a while where I didn’t start with a list of a hundred goals, too busy travelling across the continent and planning to get my act together. The same goes for my annual Black History Month project, which got a few posts out but didn’t reach the potential I had in mind. It was a year full of distractions, and while I started Chatting with Casey and giving some much-needed shape to the unfinished problems in my life, it still showed I was a long way off from sorting it all out— I sensed a very interesting 2019 ahead.
The time where many rest and recuperate from the holiday season, but for me, it’s the time of the year where I’m putting in work. Between my ambitious year-end wrap-ups (2700 words and counting…); thelistsIpreparefor the year ahead, and the work I put together for my Tales from the 2.9 Black History Month series, it’s not where you see me at my most relaxed, even with Christmas out of the way. Add a trip to Dad 2.018 and a couple ofparenting keynotes in a month’s time, and I think there’ll be plenty to keep me occupied in the “slow season”.
In some ways, I did it to myself. Whenever I explain how busy my life is to others, they’re often quick to point out it’s a problem of my creation, putting so much of myself and my time into a blog whose reins I’ve held ever firmly for the past seven years.
But that doesn’t mean I ever intended to do it alone. Even from day one, I sought collaborators out among my family and friends, thinking that things would be simpler if we pooled our resources instead of everyone trying to be top dog and stepping on each other’s toes as our brands grew. I kept trying to make partnerships happen for years, but it never came together.
Some of it was me and the ever-increasing demands in my life keeping me from developing yet another project. Or those who didn’t share my vision or stood convinced they were better off alone when the market was rife with opportunities. Whatever the reasons, the fact is that I have a mountain of work before me today, and as far as I can see right now, I’m the only one who can get it all done.
But I’m far from hopeless. Far from believing I’m the best suited to manage everything on my plate right now, but right now I’m all I’ve got. I’ve got blogs to write, contracts to sign, reports to compile and a brand to develop—what was once just a hobby is now enough to keep a team busy… and you know, maybe it should.
Ladies and gentlemen, friends of all ages, sorry for the unexpected lull in activity lately—the site spent the last couple of days overcoming technical woes, which kept me well occupied until we got back to 100%. With that drama sorted, I’ve been back to my tedious ways, chipping away at all sorts of content I’m looking to share with you in the coming year.
But before I hit you with the new stuff, I need to get my house in order first—starting with The Week That Was coming back into regular rotation, my weekly look at what went down in a post full of bite-sized pieces—you know… if I get my act together, anyway.
This week, we focus on the transition into a new year, where if the first few days are any indication, should prove to be nothing short of interesting.
It’s almost surreal that another year’s behind us as we gear up for another full one ahead. I hit Maker Pizza with my sister-in-law and her fiancé a few days back, and while we both had very different 2015s, we both agreed—the trip we took to Cuba back in January feels a lot farther away than a mere 11 months!
No; 2015 challenged me to do more than any before it, and while I’m not about to give myself any gold stars for performance—there’s enough I could’ve improved—but the Casey today’s a far cry from the disillusioned blogger we saw just one year earlier. If anything, 2015 helped me take a quick glimpse at my potential, seeing what’s possible if I’m willing to test my limits and really show myself what I can do.
It makes me hopeful for an even better 2016 than the amazing year I just had!
