Author: Matthew Baya

Resolutions

More more moreI started this blog post in late December, and then just left it in draft form until now. Instead of tossing it now that it’s 2 months older, I figured I’d post it now and just take off the ‘New Years’ part of it.

By the way, I’m told my first word was ‘more’ and thus all my resolutions involve ‘More’, though they aren’t the ones you might expect (as in ‘Make more $’, ‘Get More Stuff’, etc)

So without further delay, here are my somewhat late resolutions;

  • Get More Organized
    • Inbox Zero – The idea here is basically, your e-mail inbox shouldn’t be your to do list, it should be (what a concept) your Inbox. You take things out of your inbox and you either archives them, respond & then archive them, throw them out or if you cant reply right away put them in ‘followup’ or ‘hold’. I’m doing really well on getting my inbox to zero, and I’ve been doing this for about 10 months now. The catch is, my followup folder overfloweth. So my goal here is to achive not only inbox zero, but also ‘Zero Followup’ and actually reading my ‘readme’ folder (or if I dont have time, then accepting that fact and tossing it)
    • Project Management / To Do List – Create this from incoming mail tasks and other needs I’m made aware of. I’ve been using Asana.com for this with some success.
    • Calendar – It’s great to have a to-do list but unless the tasks are scheduled, it’s just a wish list. This last part I’m realizing I need to do, but haven’t actually done yet. It’s a big switch to start scheduling my free time in evenings etc but I guess it’s necessary.
  • “Do More”
    • “It’s not the fights you’ve dreamed of, it’s those you’ve really fought” – Si Kahn. Time to start taking things off my ‘someday’ list and either do them, or drop them to make room for other things I want to / need to do. This also goes for organizations I volunteer for, is my time & effort really benefiting them enough that it’s worth it (for them & me)? If not, walk away. Part of this is I’m realizing in order to do more I need to be more organized and prioritize better (See Resolution #1)
  • Blog More –
    • Just write what comes up and not worry if it’s inane, incomplete or not for any particular audience. If I like it and I feel its worth sharing/archiving, that’s all that matters. No one is being forced to read my blog. I am not a professional blogger, I have no reputation to cultivate or ads to worry about. This is my personal blog, it doesn’t need to be perfect. “Perfection is enemy of good enough” is a quote I heard a while ago. My goal here on this blog is to be ‘Good Enough’
  • Sleep More –
    • Ever since my college died back in 2008 (See previous post) and I started volunteering to help with websites and IT efforts related to helping the alumni save it I started staying up WAY later than I should. It’s a bad habit, and I’m not terribly productive in that last hour or so anyways, so I know I should stop. A while ago I saw mention that Arianna Huffington had given some speeches about lack of sleep and everything she mentions in there makes sense. I’m hoping the more organized and prioritized me will mean I’m not feeling overwhelmed to just reply to one more e-mail before I go to bed.. and then another .. and another.

I have other ideas and plans but these are all the ones that are gelled enough to mention here. So.. 60 days later than planned, but still there.

I hereby resolve to (try) to do these things. So mote it be.

 

Capacity to give

EmptyPocketsI’m out here in Southwest Ohio right at the Alumni Board meeting for the college I graduated from over 21 years ago (yikes)… well kind of. The college I attended officially closed in 2008, then through a series of efforts by a large number of folks, it reopened but with many casaulties (including all the former tenured faculty and all current students at the time).

So it’s a officially a new ‘non-successor’ instituion, while at the same time using the same name and geographic location as the former college. The current president takes pride in referring to the new college as a ‘160 year old startup’. They refer to alumni and our ‘rich history’ on one hand, and then on the other they state they are a new college and aren’t bound by any assumptions or associations with the ‘old college’. Basically it seems like if an association is an asset, they claim it, and if not, they don’t. Confused yet? I am and I’ve been following this for years.

So I just spent a weekend not only getting told whats happening on campus, but why we and everyone we know needs to give ‘personally significant’ gifts in order to help them succeed. More than once the term ‘capacity to give’ has been referred to, which basically means ‘How rich you are’. Like much in life, it’s frustrating to think that ones ‘capacity’ equates to how much influence and access one has to the decision makers. ‘But ain’t that America?’

If you had asked me when I was 22 and graduating how ‘well off’ I’d be when I was 44, I would have guessed much higher, surely I’d be able to give ‘personally significant gifts’ of large amounts and I would be debt free and be saving and investing money etc. Well.. sadly.. not so much. Mind you, this is all a matter of perspective and it’s certainly a ‘first world problem’ to bitch and moan that I don’t have extra money to give away, but after being told what at least one organization needs, it’s frustrating that I am not able to help them in any manner that they, or anyone else, would believe is ‘personally significant’.

Here’s hoping when I’m 66 I’ll be at that point, though sadly I suspect.. not so much. Sorry all worthy non-profits, I’m not a good prospect. I’ll sign your petitions and cheer your victories but when it comes to the almighty dollar, ‘it ain’t me babe’