Hey 2021, Can I Watch The Trailer First?

Photo by Andreas Dress on Unsplash

I was going to start this post with a comment about how crazy and unprecedented 2020 was, but then I realized that a) it would be cliched, b) I’ve already made that point in numerous posts over the last year and, c) it would be cliched.  

Instead, I’m going to focus this post on two things - the things I’m proud I’ve been able to do on this blog over the last twelve months and then share a bit of my mindset for the coming twelve. 

First, 2020. I set out to keep doing what I've been doing and posting consistently on this blog and, over the last year, I’ve put out 104 posts on a wide range of topics, but mostly around issues of mindset and personal ownership, which I believe underlies everything we do and take on. 

I’d also set a goal at the start of the year (technically in December 2019) to put out a podcast on a weekly basis, and I’m happy to say that I’ve been able to do so, having put together 54 episodes, with each month focused on a specific theme. 

I also recently launched a second site, this time focused on my creative endeavors called The OMZ Project, which combines my interest in a range of creative arts, from music to photography to video. This site has nothing to do with my ideas and thought processes on business and entrepreneurship, etc., and is entirely focused on creative expression. (It will also have a commerce element that I’ll roll out in the New Year.)  

In 2021, my goal is to continue to do the same in terms of both blog posts and podcast episodes and whatever creative ideas fuel me over on the OMZ project site. I hope you’ll stay tuned and come check it out as it develops. 

Underlying all of this, is a fundamental goal that I have, perhaps more of an ethos that I’m trying to live by. Specifically, I believe that we’re all fueled by a desire to create, to express ourselves in different ways, to convey who we are through a medium of our choosing. I believe this is an important part of who we are and it’s imperative to find this form of expression in whatever way resonates with us.

Some of this should be through the work we do, and I try and do as much as I can through my work at The Smart Cube. But some of this takes form in ways we can’t necessarily express through our professions and it’s important not to lose that.

This is especially critical if you’re the type of person who becomes fully absorbed in your work, because you’ll tend to do that work to the exclusion of all else, and that’s not healthy. (I speak from experience here.)

So, if I can offer any advice as we head into 2021, I would say that, in addition to our work, which we should all give our ‘all’ to and find a form of expression that matters to us - even if (especially when) that that form represents a marked departure to who others think we are (and especially who we’ve told ourselves we should be). Go after it with zeal, learn all you can about it, pull others in to collaborate with you, but, at minimum, just do it. 

Do it, and enjoy it. Do it, not for others, but for yourself. If there’s one resolution you want to make, make it that one. Just be who you want, and who you are.

Happy New Year, folks!