The Year Of Essentials

One of my radio mentors would ritually strip his station bare every January 1. He would remove the recorded promotional announcements, and the liner cards that act as reminders of things the DJ's are supposed to mention (events, contests, sponsors, etc) Announcers were left with only the music, and their own creativity. Why? His thinking was that leaving the DJ's with a bare canvas would give him the chance to objectively evaluate everyone's priorities. If you have freedom to do anything, what you choose to do will say a lot about how you perceive yourself as a personality, and about how you endeavor to entertain and serve your listeners.

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Just the basics, Just the primal, just the facts, ma''am (does anyone else even remember "Dragnet?" ) This programmer was one of the most intelligent people I've ever worked with. So, in the grand radio tradition of swiping someone else's good idea, I hereby wecome the new year, which I christen:

2012: The Year Of Essentials.

I want to dedicate this next year of my journey to making certain that LIFE 4.0 will support whatever lies ahead. Insuring that my house is in order will not be particularly exciting. It will be hard, boring work, which is why I've left it till now. I have needed the excitement and a sense of velocity in order to to keep me motivated.

But we all reach a point when it's time to eliminate the distractions and fix things from the bottom up. That is my loosely scripted goal for the year. Looking back at 2011, I get breathless. My expectations were far surpassed by my achievements.

Our achievements, really. Cathy deserves at least half of the credit for what I've done. She has been there with me every step of the way, except of course for my fumbled try at romance. Maybe not having Cathy at my side was the reason I fucked that up. Do you suppose I should take her along next time I have a date ( or a "was it a date or not") Granted, it might be a little awkward. It also might make a hell of a blog post.

Today's Lesson? Building on a good thing. In setting my course of action for 2012, I'm keeping alive the spirit of The Year Of Rule Six. Why give up a good thing, especially when it's successful? I plan to continue practicing continuing to practice brutal honesty, and circling the wagons. It's worked pretty well so far. I hope 2012 will be as special as 2011, but as for specific goals? I'd rather just fly as hard and fast as I can, and see where I land. It should be a bountiful year. If, as the saying goes, the fun is found not in the destination, but in the journey, it doesn't matter where I end up on December 31.

But I'll betcha it will be somewhere terrific.

StevenK