The new year brings lots of reflection about the old and the new. My Facebook wall has been filled with numerous thoughts about 2011 and hopes for 2012.

It is traditionally a time for many to talk about and make resolutions. Others have sworn off resolutions and make goals. Most admit these lists of good intentions all too often end in failure not long after the start of every new year. You will see a lot of advice on how to raise the chances of success of these goals … like making them specific and attainable, having a stated timeline, writing them down and the like.

A few years ago I read of an approach many were adopting and it made sense to me. It was the choosing of three words that meaningfully resonated within you. Here have been my words of focus starting in 2009:

• 2009 – (stay) genuine – listen (first) – (seek) clarity
• 2010 – simplify – connect – achieve
• 2011 – serve – income – focus

Each one is significant to me and continues to be areas of thought I place an importance on in life.

But here is the problem. I didn’t keep them visible to me throughout in ways that I could see them on a daily basis. As a result, I found myself knowing I had them but if you had asked me what they were, I couldn’t tell you exactly what they were!

This week I will be making some sort of thing to display them, all of them, by year. I’ll have them subtly displayed at work and home.

As 2011 closes out tonight and 2012 begins, I’ve considered what words resonate in me for 2012. Those will be revealed in the next post. There will only be one for 2012. And it’s a big one.

Happy new year! Welcome 2012 and all that it will bring.

Remember hearing on TV and radio the phrase, “We now pause for station identification”? I sure do. It was a time for the station to identify itself to its viewers and it was a law that they do that. I guess it was a reminder to them as to whom they were listening.

So I am taking a moment to pause and review what it was and is that I am doing with this blog. I’ve been finding myself thinking a lot about all that is happening in this world of new medias. Things have really changed since I began.

I started philladden.com on February 29, 2008. Post 1 was titled, Day One. I went back to read it today and a real sense of nostalgia was felt! I described what I planned to do with it. I wanted to share personal stories, others’ stories, successes, failures, and simply things I found relevant.

Some topics I have clearly covered, others not so much. I’ve begun to focus a little more on sharing experiences and places in the Phoenix Valley. The 40 Day Challenge has not been developed. ( I have to confess that making commitments for 40 days is NOT as easy as it sounds.) I was hopeful in 2008 of developing the video aspect of blogging and even purchased a Flip Video camera to do this. Ironically, video has become even more important and relevant, so this is a direction to get back to thinking about.

There has been just 224 posts, and to my surprise, over 25 more saved as drafts that I have not gotten back to … my energy and creativity challenged as I began a Masters in Education (Adult Ed and Training) in the fall of that year which continued to take much of my time through March of this year. It is interesting to note that life long learning was mentioned in the Day One post. Learning is clearly something that motivates me, particular when related to history, achievement, and business.

I am thinking that moving forward, my focus will narrow as to the things I will write. I like keeping it real and it seems so do readers. The Visalus 90 Day Challenge I’ve been documenting is the most found topic on the blog from searches and seems to clearly be a topic others have found relevancy in reading. Things to do and places to go here in Phoenix and Arizona are topics of interest with visitors to the site. More of these types of posts are planned moving forward.

Video is coming, really; this time for sure. As a matter of fact, while writing this post, I thought that a video post would be perfect to compliment this topic. **Watch** for it …

Other things that new media warrants for the future is probably a Facebook *like* page. A re-design is well over-due too. I’ve put that off because of the link and fit problems that seem unavoidable when a new design is activated.

A final note. In that first post, it seemed clear that I thought time was short. I wrote that I had maybe 25 good years left. That seems kind of depressing. Yet it’s true. Far less years lie ahead than behind for me. Can’t quite recall why I was feeling that.

This I know for sure and was also on my mind at the start. I am to make the best effort with the days that are left. The outcomes will take care of themselves.

This past week I saw this quote on Twitter:

How we live our days is how we live our lives.  — Anne Dillard

Each post, like each day, contributes to the end result. I see the blog as a small record of how I, we, are living our days. I hope there will be value when it is all said and done.

So here’s to new directions and focus with the blog. We now return to our regular scheduled posting… albeit sproadically.

This week I finished my Master’s in Adult Education and Training with the University of Phoenix. I took the majority of the program online. It was a great experience as the design of the degree allowed me to study and apply many of the ideas and interests relative to new medias I have been involved in over recent years.

Using the action research project I studied, I plan to develop and offer training in using digital portfolios using social medias. There is so much misunderstanding about these mediums. Most have not kept up with the pace of technology; this includes users and providers. Ignorant beliefs pervade the professional community. I hope to help dispel those beliefs and provide instruction for those willing to learn and apply new technologies in ways that will help successfully connect and engage people.

I’m grateful the UOP online model allowed and even encouraged us, as students, to explore the topics in ways that directly related to our professional lives.

It is with some relief I find I now have time and energy to re-dedicate to a number of personal things that I’ve not been able to do.

I do not plan to “walk” in the graduation. I do plan to reflect and share some perspectives on education, life-long learning, and some of the stories of the past couple of years on my Master’s journey. Thanks to all the great instructors in the program and congrats to all my classmates.

Words are powerful. They can change people. They can change directions, attitudes, decisions.

Here are my three words for 2011:

SERVE. INCOME. FOCUS.

Serve. I must continue to listen and recognize opportunities to serve. It isn’t a natural thing to self. It’s an important part of what I do believe should be a foundation in my endeavors. Meaning always seems to be found … felt … related … to serving. So obvious but most often forgotten.

Income. It is time to take action and commit the time and energy to ideas on monetization of a couple of my online projects. Starting this week, (actually last week) I have made decisions to concentrate in 2011 on two activities. I also commit to sharing the progress and success or the lack of with them.  What are they? As a friend likes to say, stay tuned. Seriously, I will write updates.

Focus. If you know me, you might have chuckled on this one. There is no question, the older I’ve gotten, it might appear how fragmented life gets for me sometimes. This world is an exciting time for anyone that is committed to life-long learning. Completing my Masters the first part of this year will open up time and energy for me. I’m looking forward to applying this concept, particularly relative to the first two, serving and income.

Happy 2011. Share a word or two or three if you’d like. (Use the Highlighter tool or comment section : )

Keeping things simple just isn’t easy for me because I am always thinking and re-thinking stuff and that adds way too much stress to life. Over analyzing is a curse sometimes. While I think I have done better accepting things as they are, I continue to fall into thought patterns that cause me grief. Simplifying is a focus I will continue to take with me into 2011 decision-making.

I’ve had an acceptable year building decent connections online using social media. I don’t add followers to my Twitter account for the sake of building a false numbers base. I look over every follower before following back and verify they are engaging with others. Lately, there seems to be a large use of tools to build up followers as if the number of followers equate to one’s importance. It really doesn’t. I have just under 1700 followers and follow a little over 1600. I’ve made and hope to continue to connect in professional and meaningful ways with others in the real world.

I am definitely finding Facebook to be a fun and nice way to keep in touch and communicate by sharing stuff with others. Almost every FB friend is someone I have met or have appropriate social interaction with. I now see and understand that setting up a “fan” page … now called a like page, is an important step in building appropriate connections with your market or audience. I did not do much with LinkedIn, but see further opportunity to develop that medium in 2011.

For a variety of reasons, I did not use Sendout Cards effectively nor take advantage of it as a service or business. I’ve made a decision about this and 2011 will give me an opportunity to put it to the test. I’ve watched it and followed a number of others who I hold in high regard build a business of card users with very profitable results.

The biggest surprise in looking back at the post I made in January 2010 was that of achieving the goal of being within two classes of completing my Masters in Adult Education and Training. This Thursday I am starting the second to the last class and as it looks now, will graduate by the end of March. I did not make near the progress on my blogs or income focus. I found the time and energy spent in my Masters’ classes to be all I could handle.

2010 has definitely set the stage for my three words in 2011, those being serve, income, and focus.

Happy New Year!

(stay) Genuine / Listen (first) / (seek) Clarity

As we approach the last three months of the year, I find these to have been an important part of the past ten months.

The first one, stay Genuine,  has been the easiest to remember because it really is such a daily focus of mine. The tough part of being genuine is staying true to what is truly important. It still seems most people are living lives all too concerned with the wrong things. There is also the risk that if we jsut be ourselves, there will be those that do not like us.

Listen first is often a tough one because if I have an opinion, I tend to stop listening to different points of view. It seems in such a noisy world, spending time listening has never been more important. Amazing the perspective you gain when just listening. People I’ve been listening to are my kids, co-workers, friends, strangers, and God. I realize I must improve this skill.

Seek Clarity. This seems to be one that may take more time and will always be an ongoing process. Areas I’ve hoped would clarify include future endeavors, relationships, purpose, and faith. I tend to be doing so many things that I think it is more important to keep in action and let things sort themselves out. This is new to me as I am far more comfortable waiting for things to be figured out before taking action resulting in never getting anything done because it was never clear enough.

For the end of the year, I will share one  significant reflection from each of these areas. One example of genuiness, listening and clarity I experienced.

I have over 20 topics for posts saved in my draft section. I was looking over them. Some it seems too late to use, such as my trip to Louisville, Kentucky to visit my daughter (2008) or my plans for the blog this year. Actually, that one will make for a reflective one that demonstrates how far I have dropped the ball relative to my goals.

What I want to do is review (for myself) where I am and where I plan to go.

Blogging was an avenue to experience the benefits of writing, sharing, and using developing social media. It has clearly been something that has kept me learning about how the world is changing and communicating.

I began this past year setting down a few things I hoped to accomplish in 2011. Here was a part of that list:

Plan for hiking the Grand Canyon (2011): This one looks like it could definitely happen the fall of 2011. Hoping to get a day hike done from the South Rim to Indian Garden in the next month.  Everyone I’ve talked to that has hike Grand Canyon has said it was a fantastic experience. If they haven’t hiked it, they want to join and do it.

Scale a 14er, at least one more time (possibly summer 2010): First, if you are not from Colorado, it is likely you have no idea what a 14er is. That sure has been a realization while telling others of this goal. These are mountains that are at or above 14 thousand feet in elevation. Colorado has 56 of these peaks. It had been over 30 years since attempting one and I am thankful to report that I was able to climb Mt. Sherman (14,033 feet) AND Mt. Bierstadt (14,060 feet) this summer.

Increase awareness of those in need and act (in progress): I ‘ve been realizing how self-centered people, myself included, really are. How focused we are in the things in life that matter not. Not at all. Shallow! I try to listen everyday to thoses around me and see if there are opportunities to share or serve. Almost alwaysm there are. This will continue to be an ongoing goal.

Finish my Masters in Adult Education and Training (JAN 2011): IN progress but looking more adn more like a Spring 2011 completion date. Working on this masters has been the single most trying activity on my energy and focus as I give it a lot of attention. It has allowed me to use my skills and expand my knowledge of the exciting mediums developing for educating the adult learner.

Cruise the Eastern or Southern Caribbean: Not happening this year … but next! I hope. And I will be adding a destination – Ambergris Caye, Belize. *16*

Making these lists was fun. After all these years of hearing how important it is to write goals or plans down, I have never really done it. Looking back, it motivating and clarifying as to how it is working or not working out and why.

In Part 2, I want to review my word goals for 2010. They were SIMPLIFY – CONNECT – ACHIEVE.

It will not be another month or more before I share Part two : ).