Keep calm, commit and contribute

Image courtesy of Harli Marten on Unsplash

I find that the New Year is a great opportunity to introduce new themes into ones life. Of course, this can happen at any time of the year, so why not Month 1?

For 2018, I am going to have three watchwords in my life, and see how they influence my thoughts and actions.

The first is “calm”. This is simple. In all situations, try and remain calm. Now, I’m no the kind of person to fly off the handle, quite the opposite. But, as with most people, my mind can perform summersaults. I’m going to borrow a little Stoic wisdom from Epictetus and realise that “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.”

The second is “commit”. This basically means, ship! I have a ton of ideas and projects I want to work on but am my own worst enemy for putting them out there into the world. My plan to overcome this is to ship something as often as I can. I’m creating a bias towards action.

The third is “contribute”. We are not on this great earth for ourselves. I wholeheartedly believe that what we contribute is the measure of our days so in every way I can, I plan to make contribution a core tenet of 2018. It could be charity work, or it could be a kind word to a stranger, but contributing to the betterment of others and the world is my goal.

Thats it! Shipping this thing ;)

Let me know your theme(s) for 2018 and how you will commit to them!