it’s almost 2006, and i’m putting together a nice list of goals for the coming year. i did this last year as well, and i’ll be looking at those goals in the next couple of days to see how i did, but i think this year is going to be even better than the last.
in a lot of ways 2005 was a good year for me: i started to podcast seriously, got involved with a lot of podcasters and got seriously involved in the culture, got involved with podshow, started working with them, got into a bunch of newspaper articles, and a lot of other stuff that’s brewing in the background that could end up being really cool as well. it’s kind of funny when i think about it – i really didn’t expect things would end up in this direction, but i’m not complaining that they have.
in the vein of learning a bunch of new skills (and not painting myself into a corner), i’m planning to learn a bunch of new stuff and implement some new habits this year. right now, i’m taking a couple of hours to get back into programming by learning a programming language, perl. it’s complex and interesting, and if i keep at it, i think i’m going to find it very engaging.
this brings me to another goal i’ve been working at for a long time: keeping at it. this may seem kind of weird, but i’m involved in conversations with podcasters fairly regularly in which i’m asked: ‘how do i (say) monetize the podcast?’ or ‘how do i increase my listenership?’ there’s obviously a lot of factors involved here, but the main one is: never say quit. assuming you have a passion and aren’t an imbecile, you’re going to make it. this is because, at some point or another, an opportunity will come forward, and if you quit the way you wanted to so many times, that opportunity is going to pass you right by. but if you keep moving, it’ll smack you in the head. right? so have you lost all your listeners because you haven’t podcasted in 3 months? you better get off the couch. your RSS file was hijacked? keep hustling, man.
of course i’m not amazing at taking my own advice, but i’m leagues from where i was 12 months ago. amazing what social pressure will do. the whole idea of the podcast and its name started from putting yourself in positions where you’re totally beyond your own skillset, high on adrenaline and panicking to stay afloat. throw yourself off the highest diving board, pray, and start scissor kicking.
anyway, i’ve always found that christmas is a good time to step back and examine where your life is going. since the rest of the world isn’t asking you to answer emails and get X and Y faster than you can imagine, you can chill out for a while, consider, and re-prioritize. maybe in the next couple of weeks, you’ll spend less time in front of the TV in front of bad cop show reruns, and maybe read a book. as for me, i’ll be doing one last podcast in december and then moving forward with show 101 as of january. hope you guys will be there along with me.
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