My goals for 2016: Simplify and focus

  
Being a dreamer certainly has its plusses. I get to do fun things like take risks starting companies, and create experiences like 48in48. I always see the glass half full. Heck, I see the glass as completely full most of the time. 

But the problem with that kind of outlook is that you can find yourself pulled in many directions, making it a struggle to bring things to life and do your very best.

I did a better job this year of starting to focus, but I imagine it will always be one of my biggest challenges. I dramatically cut into time I used to watch TV and instead have more than beat my reading goal for this year. At Dragon Army, I was able to focus my time on cranking the growth engine for the business (this year we became a mobile agency), and the game studio convinced me to stop dragging us into whatever new platform Apple, Google, and Amazon decided to create (yes, we dabbled in the Amazon Fire nonsense for a little while in the past.) 

And with the nonprofits I work with, I slimmed down that list in order to focus on fewer initiatives, allowing me to put more of my time against them and provide a bigger impact. More on that here.

In 2016, my goal is to further simplify my life and focus deep on the things most important to me. That will mean the following:

• Spending more time with my family. Part of the reason I get up at 4:50am every day (weekends included) is so that I can be home by 5:30pm with my family. And getting up that early on the weekends allows me to knock out whatever work I might have before the kids start getting up.
• With Dragon Army, I look forward to continuing to focus my time in the most important areas, but more importantly, rolling out an open management system and incorporating the Great Game of Business as a platform to run the company. This will allow everyone in our company to focus on the most important parts of our business. I’m beyond excited about that :)
• I will continue to focus more on the nonprofits I’m a part of. We’re gearing up for a big year for 48in48, and I’ll be stepping in as the Chair of the Central OAC board (first time I will have ever chaired a board.)
• On this blog, my plan is to continue a process of 2-3 blog posts a week. Some posts will be short, some longer, but always true to what I’m experiencing and thinking about at the time.
• I think I’ll set a goal of reading 36 books next year (3 per month.) That might be ambitious, but this year I’ll get close to that number so I think its achievable.

So that’s it, more time with family, more focus when running Dragon Army, bigger impact with my nonprofits, continue writing, and read more. Let’s do this, 2016.