My 2018 Review

In 2018, I found I wanted to go backward to go forward more than I expected.

At work and in my writing and my service, I differently assessed where I was last year to plan for this year. Where 2017 featured many public facing advances (I became CEO! a creative piece of mine was published somewhere! I), my 2018 featured far more internal or private advances.

I am proud of what I’ve done. There’s more to do.

Below find both a recap of important milestones in my year, and, farther down, find a review of how I did on my 2018 Resolutions.

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Find my full archives here.

• For my company, I led a six-month visioning exercise that informed a reorganization. It was the most exhaustive professional initiative I’ve ever taken on. I am deeply proud, and I’ll be sharing more about it. Among other changes, it led to my being joined by a new Chief Product Officer, my friend Kristin Dudley.
• I co-developed a version of a job-interviewing card game with Kristin, who invented the game design.
• I produced and launched a podcast called The Writing Process, interviewing masters including Rapper T.I.
• I traveled to Morocco to bring in the New Year and Mexico City in August (including my first pyramid visit!). I also went to Key West with my wife.
• I helped curate and moderated a panel with Salesforce at their San Francisco HQ. (I returned to SF for the Social Innovation Summit in June). I also went to Tampa, Florida for the first time.
• I wrote a profile of Lithuania’s startup economy after traveling there in 2017.
• I did a road trip in Kentucky, including Louisville.
• I got way deeper into whiskey and cocktails, aided by those Bourbon trail and Mexico trips.
• We celebrated nine years of publishing Technical.ly.
• I developed and led a grant-funded reporting project in Pittsburgh.
• I grew a beard.
• I hosted a surprise 65th birthday party for my father.
• I went an entire year regularly going to the gym, and hitting some goals.
• I hosted a concert by my friend John Elliott.
• I hosted an unconference on the future of news for the 10th time.
• I completed a program on empathetic leadership.
• I moderated a panel at SXSW, among other speaking.
• I finished a pledge to read a dozen books by women and writers of color.
• I wrote My 12 Rules to Live By.
• I became the chairman of the nonprofit that supports The Workshop School, a public high school in West Philadelphia. (I raised more than a $1,000 for the school this year.)
• I did a bunch of house renovations, including finishing my basement, remodeling my bedroom and discovering hardwood floors. I learned a whole lot, including electricity and plumbing. I also finished a pew.
• I did a lot of reading, including a bit on economics and a ton in linguistics.
• Friends and I hosted our third annual Personal Finance Day.
• I was interviewed on a new podcast from my friend Jason Brewer, and then I wrote this.
• I was interviewed on a few other podcasts, like here and here and here and here.

1. JANUARY: Start submitting: I submitted fiction to a few publications but I came to an important conclusion. I want to focus on a single longer-term project I have. So I’ve resolved to set aside shorter fiction for now. [FAILED]
2. FEBRUARY: Be healthier: I (mostly) succeeded in my temptation bundle of only having a drink when I’ve been to the gym. I’ve done a pretty good job of going to the gym regularly. I also, uhm, sorta, made progress on portions. [PROGRESS]
3. MARCH: Return to French: I did an admirable job staying with my French learning to the summer but this fell off in the second half of the year. I’d like to return. [PROGRESS]
4. APRIL: Be a great board member: I’ve stepped off one of the four boards I was on this year, though I then stepped into the chairman of another. [COMPLETED]
5. MAY: Finally sync married finances: We did meet with a financial planner, and we had several important conversations but there’s a lot more work to be done here. [PROGRESS]
6. JUNE: Advance publish project: This resolution ran into my first one, and I recognized I had to pick one of them. This didn’t move forward. [FAILED]
7. JULY: Be a better CEO: I am proud of how much I delivered on this, considering how much time and energy this took. I led a company reorganization that feel distinctly my responsibility. [COMPLETED]
8. AUGUST: Drink whiskey better: I got smarter about what I drank, why and my understanding about it all. I took a long-awaited trip the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, and I learned quite a bit about Pennsylvania’s own tradition. [COMPLETED]
9. SEPTEMBER: Find my own platform: I wanted to explore a new creative project that was entirely my own to feel out my own creative platform, and I did so with a writing process podcast. [COMPLETED]
10. OCTOBER: Be a better mentor: I took several opportunities to embrace more thoughtful approaches about mentorship: asking questions and serving as a sounding board for younger and/or differently experienced people than I to whom we felt I could be supportive. [PROGRESS]
11. NOVEMBER: Complete the novel manuscript: I didn’t finish this, but I made progress and moved forward a plan. [PROGRESS]
12. DECEMBER: Finish the basement: I didn’t finish. I did advance this with plenty of father-son time. [PROGRESS]