I’m not the sort of person to make lots of huge grandiose plans. I don’t generally go all out or blow the top off of anything to make something happen. I am rather easy going and I go into most of my larger plans with a general idea that will be fleshed out when I get to the end. This is great if I don’t have any ambitions or plans for the future. However, it is not great if I do.

Let’s be real, I do have plans for the future. They may not seem terribly ambitious. However, they are reasonable enough. I want to be a better husband, friend, coworker, and leader. This is ambiguous I agree. But the reason it is ambiguous is because I do not do a great job at planning what that looks like. I just set the goal. I am never disappointed that I do not achieve the goals I have set. I just never reflect on whether I set goals in the first place.

Looking forward, I have a few plans set out, achievable plans. First, I will continue to write. I will write here, two or three times a week. Continue to process my feelings, thoughts, and generally my issues that I may or may not realize exist. I look to continue to be authentic and real. I will continue to write about my counseling, process my baggage, and anything else relevant to the conversation at hand.

Second, I am going to start reading. I do not read much. A better way to say this might be, ‘I don’t really read books.’ I will read my twitter feed, articles I find interesting on the internet, and I read the news every so often. However, I don’t sit down and read books very often, whether it be a physical book or an ebook. I don’t read much and I don’t read enough. So this year will be a year of reading and writing for me.

You might now point out reading and writing do not accomplish my goal of being a better friend, husband, coworker, and leader. Ah, great point indeed. I would argue, these two thing do make me better at all of those. I will be reading insights in who I am and who other people are so that I might have new tools to use as I am trying to improve on these aspects of my life. Also, writing will help me process these portions of my life.

Ambitiously,

–JT