2012 Year In Review

Continuing with the year in review, let’s take a look at 2012.

At the end of last year, I said this would be a year of doing, while 2011 was a year of learning. 2012 ended up being both. I read more books in 2012 than in any other year and I created more content than any other year.

Random Highlights

– I bought a DSLR at the end of 2011. My wife and I decided to upgrade her camera to one that would double as a video camera I could use. In 2012, I produced a huge amount of video, considering I didn’t do much with video in 2011.

– Learned how to make stop motion videos. I had no idea how to make them, but I committed writing/creating a video for a client with the deadline of a month. I lost a lot of sleep, but was able to finish the video at 5AM on the day it was due. The result is below.

– Filmed my first wedding highlights video. The second one I created is below. It’s impossible to not whistle along with the song during the reception.

– Filmed a real estate video tour. In the process, my hand went numb from holding the 10 pound camera/rig for 5 hours.

– Re-edited my book, making it superior to the previously published version.

– Got my book on over 10,000 Kindles.

– Wrote, filmed, and edited a commercial for Grand Old Day:

– Recorded and published an audiobook.

– Learned how to surf, which was one of the funnest things I did in 2012. I took my GoPro along and made a video out of it.

– Finally fulfilled my lifelong dream of riding a Segway.

– Started tracking my daily habits. Every night at 10pm I call or get a call from someone I connected with via Hacker News. Peer pressure works. My productivity has jumped since then.

– Began to consistently write down ideas. I likely have over 500 ideas stored up in an Evernote folder. All due to stumbling on this blog post/book one day.

– Took a picture of myself (almost) every day. Next year, I’ll be taking a one second video every day.

– I lost at least 20 pounds without trying. Around March, I made a conscious decision to avoid bread for 30 days. When I had my first piece of pizza afterward, I felt a little rumbling in my stomach. I cut back dramatically on my bread intake and I unintentionally lost weight and feel better.

– Got an Ostrich Pillow.

– Read/listened to over 68 books. A visual view of the books can be seen on GoodReads.

– Started doing self-analysis. A few of the books I read (The Art of Learning, Mastery, A Million Miles In A Thousand Years, The Icarus Deception) caused me to reflect on projects I’ve done, successes and failures, and caused me to get a much better understanding of why some things worked and others didn’t.

Goals for 2013:

– Develop daily habits geared toward deliberate practice.

– Become a content producing/shipping machine.

Those two things are fairly vague, but I’m still working out the specifics. Of the 70 books I read this year, Mastery was my favorite and that will likely be the theme I work toward in 2013.