With a new year beginning, I think back to the year that concluded. There’s some small things and some big things that I’m aiming to change. In mid-2017, I recall writing that I would be writing a weekly blog post for 2017, and unfortunately, that effort did not follow through. Though I could make one excuse or another (a topic I plan to write about shortly), I instead am restating my goal of a post per week for 2018 – more to come soon! I’m looking forward to the opportunity to write about various quirky insights, (semi-)thoughtful commentaries, and entertaining lists as the year unfolds.
The gist of my new year’s resolutions includes “aiming to try more new things” and “get better at some things I’m good at”. The idea of “comfort zone challenges” and trialling ideas that feel a bit beyond my normal routine seems like a good way to expand my perspective of the world. As I see it, if I’m not challenging my assumptions about the way I go about my day now, nothing will change.
To wrap up the first post of the year, I’ll say farewell to what I consider my top 3 failures of 2017:
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Inadequately prioritizing personal needs
I’m trying not to whine here, but no one else prioritizes your own goals and needs. That’s each individual’s job! Even if your goal is to focus on assisting a specific person or group or people, you’re responsible for avoiding distractions that take you away from that priority. In 2017, I neglected a few items that probably led to less-than-ideal habits and slightly degraded health (nothing serious, mostly short-term nuisances). I plan to be more diligent in addressing such matters as early as possible going forward.
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Creating space for creative thought
For me, a busy schedule has downsides. Inadequate sleep and higher stress might be obvious, but more hidden is the cost of insufficient time for creative thought. I find that leaving space in my schedule for reading books (not blogs or news articles, but actual books!), thoughtful brainstorming about future projects, and various lazy weekend activities can bring a helpful balance to a weekly schedule.
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Not maintaining this blog!
As trite as it may sound, I do enjoy writing these posts. They’re a means to express ideas that get stuck spinning around my head with no outlet. So here’s a strong start to 2018!
If I were to add a final mistake, it would be overestimating what I would get done in a set amount of time. However, I consider this an unfortunate byproduct of optimism and setting higher standards, so I’ll give it a pass for now… that might be for 2019.
Weekly Extreme Exception
One interesting trend I’m watching is the increased interest (and proportional number of startups) working on small eVTOL passenger aircraft. The idea of using the same increase in battery power density that enabled the increase in hobby RC aircraft and multicopters is now being repurposed to fly larger heavier crafts with people as payload. I see these early single seater vehicles as laying the groundwork for future multi-passenger electric planes (anyone placing bets for the 2040’s?) as research on electric aerial propulsion develops. I’ll likely share more videos relating to this upcoming trend in the near future, but speaking of new starts… here’s the first video I recall ever seeing with a proof-of-concept eVTOL craft. While sitting on an exercise ball might be suitable at other times, I wouldn’t volunteer to ride that thing!
