2019.01.07

Five Resolutions

Each new year inspires reflection and aspiration, looking back on the previous year and considering improvements for the upcoming one. Usually I’m not one for New Year’s resolutions, but as I’m living a largely unstructured professional life for the first time in years, I welcome the excuse to set some goals…complete with KPIs.

So here are my 5 New Year’s resolutions:

Write more

Most of my writing energy of late has been aimed at my book. Now that I’ve moved into the editing phase, I’m committing to spending more time writing shorter pieces. Through this practice, I aim to reduce the amount of time I spend rewriting and editing, focusing more on the actual writing.

I’ll also commit to publishing more…hopefully finishing some in my long list of half-written blog posts.

KPI: Publish one blog post per month

Take over my own finances

This resolution is a boring one, but marks an important transition from being a company of many to being a company of one. I’m no longer managing a team of designers, which means I have more free time and less complicated finances, so the time has come for me to take control of the paperwork.

KPI: An increase in Hans’s free time

Share more work in progress

The Artificial has a lot of work and a good number of followers, but since shuttering the company, the brand has done very little sharing. With the rebirth as Artificial Design, I aim to share more – both in words and in images. This will be a tough commitment without the (wo)manpower of The Artificial, so expect less polish.

As a side effect, I hope this resolution inspires me to take on some side projects, since so much consulting work cannot be shared.

KPI: post one WIP per week

Paint and exhibit

Running The Artificial took a lot of my time, and more than actual time, it took energy. Nights and weekends were often spent preparing for the next day or week, or recovering from the stresses of the previous days or weeks. As the days became more demanding, and the stress more plentiful, I found myself lacking the inspiration and motivation to go to the studio in my off time. With that stress behind me, I want to rebuild the habit of heading to the studio instead of to the couch in my free time.

In addition to simply painting, I also hope to have an exhibition. It would be my first in a long time, and more importantly, my first since moving to Amsterdam.

KPI: finish 12 paintings and have 1 exhibition

Track myself

One of the best ways to learn about yourself is to track yourself, so I’ll be doing just that. I’ll use tracking as an excuse to make sure I’m making progress towards my KPIs as well as seeing what behaviors affect my mood, energy, and creativity.

KPI: log stats daily with 95% adherence