Jesse Lavery

Since the days of the old 43 Folders forums, I have been a fan and admirer of Patrick Rhone’s writing and his wisdom in the ways of all things Mac, minimalism, and productivity. Inspired by his recent accounting of last year’s new years resolutions modest goals, I present a few of my own.

For the past nine years, I’ve (more or less) made my living on the web as a web designer and developer. I’ve become an avid user of social media and many of the more popular web apps. Yet surprisingly, I don’t have much to show for myself online. I’ve started and stopped blogging numerous times, never lasting more than a month or two. I have a number of ideas for web apps of my own, yet I’ve never followed through on developing the ideas further - and in a few cases have seen others implement similar ideas with great success.

Now, on the threshold of a new year and a new decade, I feel like it’s time to put up or shut up.

With that, and with Patrick’s inspiration, I’m laying out a few of my own modest goals for my life in 2010, online and off:

1. Write at least one “significant” blog post per week. Or in more general terms: become a “producer” and not just a “user”. To make that easier, I’m not limiting myself to any one topic. I’m a designer, a Mac nerd, a musician, a music lover, a lover of any creative pursuit, a sports fan, and a lover of my family. Any and all of that could appear here. And being that I’m using Tumblr (at least to start) I’ll also be able to quickly post links, videos, photos, etc. to pad the time in between more substantive posts.

2. Reduce the digital clutter of my online life. Much like Patrick, I’m realizing more and more that I’m drowning in online noise. And in truth, I’ve already started the pruning process. I’ve mostly stopped using RSS, instead relying on people I follow on Twitter to post interesting links and discussions. Twitter and Facebook are the next areas I need to tackle. I follow people on both that bring little (if any) value and I’m ultimately doing myself a disservice by following them.

3. Learn to play the banjo. I’m already a solo musician/singer/songwriter and a singer/guitarist in a part-time classic rock cover band, but I’m getting bored with rock music. I’m currently obsessed with The Avett Brothers and am more and more intrigued by the idea of creating “rock” music without falling back on the traditional rock instrumentation of loud drums and louder guitars. Can I rock out armed with nothing more than good songs, an acoustic guitar, a banjo, and occasionally a bass and some hand percussion? We’ll see!

4. Get one of my web app ideas off the ground. I’m playing coy on this one since I don’t want to tip my hand just yet. I have a few ideas. Within the next few weeks I’ll run some ideas past a few trusted friends, advisors, and allies, prioritize, and go from there.

5. Be the best I can be at home. This is my top priority. I know there are times when household projects fall by the wayside. I know there are times when I’m a useless zombie when I come home from work. I want to do a better job at this, finish what I start, and be more present for those that need me most.

I think that’s plenty to start with. I’ll post updates here throughout the year (assuming I keep up with goal #1). Wish me luck!