2019: setting intent and seeing what happens

I try not to make new year’s resolutions but I do spend the first week of each year getting myself together, setting an intent for the year and generally becoming set up for the year I want to have. Its a companion to the firebreak that I had in the summer. There is also a lot of cupboard sorting, batch cooking and domestic todo-ing accompanied by some thinking about the questions I want to focus on for the year – defining my curiosities if you like. I have been using the brilliant set of questions that Cassie shared at the end of the year – accompanied by the cup of tea that is recommended.

2018 was brilliant for me – hard work but so good to move to a job that I love with a great team and a lot of fascinating things to work on in 2019. I am still adjusting to once again feeling committed to an organisation and a purpose – and working out how this connects to some of the things that I am personally committed to.  But in thinking about things I want to do this year a few things have come to mind:

• I will write separately on this but in 2019 I want to set out my personal enquiry but also invite people from my team and my wider network to enquire with me on a couple of questions that I have been thinking about.
• I want to make sure that the work I have been helping Demsoc with at RBKC is meaningful and evolves – I also want to make sure that I spend time on the Public Square project because in a year when democracy seems destined to let us down we have to throw ourselves at the problem of making it stronger.
• But 2019 needs to be about focus – one of my great weaknesses is a magpie like brain and a defining curiosity. These things are also a strength but this year there are some big things I want to get done and I have to accept that I can’t do these without the getting better at narrowing my focus and deepening my attention to some things. I need to define my curiosities.
• I am going to try and evolve my thinking about mindful diary and mindful systems – and perhaps avoid buying any more notebooks as these are clearly not the answer to the problem.
• 2019 is also going to be about leadership; both developing my own practice but also thinking more about what leadership needs to look like to support real and sustainable digital transformation.
• 2019 is also going to be a year when I figure out what word I am going to start using so that I can stop using ‘digital’ as a descriptor.
• I want this to be a year of either 500 words a day or the creation of one good image or sketch that captures an idea.

Not all of these intents will become true – but I put them out there as a way of holding myself to account and as part of my commitment to working in the open. I return to this list over the course of the year – this year I am going to do this at Easter – let’s see what has unfolded by then.