Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you’re well rested, relaxed and rarin’ to go in 2013!
The day after New Year’s is traditionally a chance to start anew.
It’s the first “real” day of the year, when everyone is back at work, your to-do list is newly inked and your resolutions have been made. This year I decided not to make a big
list of things to accomplish. Instead, I decided to focus my efforts on one thing: to be “good.”
You might ask yourself, “What does that have to do with a column
generally dedicated to digital media and marketing”? Stay with me; I’ll get there in just a moment.
Year in and year out we come up with resolutions like getting more
organized, eating better, exercising more, balancing work with family better, and a hundred other efforts that are each noble and well-intended. We do a pretty good job of these things for three
to five months, but eventually the challenges of daily life build up and some of our old bad habits re-emerge. It doesn’t mean we lose the path we laid out at the beginning of the year
entirely, it just means we may not be as focused as we were at the beginning, and our goals may have slid a little bit.
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This always happens to me, and I’m sure it happens to you as
well. So instead of trying to plot a graph of specific intent that I’m likely to veer away from, I discovered a holistic resolution that I think can encompass everything I want to be --
while still providing me with the flexibility to avoid bashing myself for not living up to a specific, albeit measurable, goal. The resolution to just simply “be a good man” in 2013
encompasses everything I want to be.
2012 was an interesting year. There were highs and lows, and what happened in Connecticut was probably the lowest of the lows. Sometimes
it takes a tragedy for people to see the things that are really important to them. For me, being a good man for my kids is the most important thing in my life. I want my sons to see the
kind of man they can aspire to be, in honor of those parents who lost their children on that senseless day.
I want to be a good man to honor the memories of children who will never get
to grow up and be honorable men and women in their own right. I want to be a good man to honor those people in the military who lost their lives defending the freedom of others. I
want to be a good man so I can honor my family and leave a lasting impression on the world around me.
What does it mean to be a good man? It means to work hard and enjoy life. It
means to make decisions based on integrity. It means to be honest and open with your opinions as well as your feelings, and make sure the people around you are confident and open in
return. I want to help those around me to reach their full potential while not sacrificing the things that I want. I want to take care of myself, both mind and body, and want that sense of
personal pride and confidence to come through in my work.
When you read a column like this at the very start of the new year, I want you to take something away from it that you find
valuable.
Simply put, I want to be a good man. It doesn’t mean I have to be perfect (no one ever is), but that I have to try and be good at life and the challenges that come with
it.
It may sound like a lot, but it’s not. It’s actually quite simple. It just means that you treat every hour with integrity, respect and honesty -- and that you
forgive yourself when you don’t, because the strongest mark of being a good man is the ability to forgive other’s faults, as well as your own.
So here’s to 2013, in all your
business and personal goals. May you also be “good” --and may you have a wonderful year ahead. And a special thanks to MediaPost for always allowing me to share my thoughts
with you.
Cheers!