Michael Janzen

Normally I don’t make new years resolutions because I’ve done pretty well simply following my nose. But this year I’m going to do something quite a bit different… I’m going to make a plan. For me this is a completely foreign thing to do. Here are four resolutions:

Resolution 1: Focus more on fewer projects.

• Publish the book Tiny Simple House on Lulu.com by January 31, 2009.
• Publish the book Do It Yourself Freedom on Lulu.com by March 31, 2009.
• Publish a fiction novel that’s been cooking in my brain for a while by June 30, 2009.
• Finish building the Tiny Free House by June 30, 2009.
• Complete the design and build a prototype of a top secret device I’ve nicknamed House-In-A-Box by August 31, 2009. It is actually my father-in-law’s idea and it’s an amazing concept. Can’t wait to work on this one.
• Finish building the tiny house nicknamed Nine Tiny Feet by October 31, 2009.
• Publish a book on the Tiny Free House on Lulu.com by October 31, 2009.
• Publish a book on the tiny house Nine Tiny Feet on Lulu.com by December 31, 2010.
• Regularly blog on Tiny House Design, and Tiny Pallet House all year long.

Here’s what this looks like in a picture. Basically I’ll work on one book and one building project at a time. The blogs can be done regularly at night. The image you see is actually my desktop image too so I’ll see it every day this year. The lighter blue means more intense activity. The icons show which is a book, blog, or tiny house. Click the chart to zoom in.

I know that’s a lot but I think if I focus and take on no new ideas until these are done I’ll have half a chance of getting all this done. One of my biggest personal challenges is to stay focused on the project in front of me and see it to completion. My ability to harness my divergent thinking, my strongest talent, is also one of my biggest obstacles. That either makes perfect sense or is perfectly ironic, ha!

But to achieve the goals I’m really working toward I need to see some of these good ideas through to their completion. If I continue to get side-tracked I’ll simply stay relatively stuck in the mud.

Resolution 2: Improve My Overall Health

This doesn’t mean diet and exercise it means eat better and move more. I need to change the way I live to make real changes to my physical health. Good health is a requirement for happiness and survival. In fact it’s probably the biggest impediment to real freedom.

By the end of 2009 I want to be able to go backpacking again without too much serious trouble. I really love being on top of the world, physically, and I live at the foot of the Sierra Mountains so why shouldn’t I get off my ass, back on my feet, and start working my way to the top? I also think improved health will help me achieve the enormous set of projects I’ve laid out in front of me.

Resolution 3: Improve My Financial Position

2009 will be a hard year to do this but if I stay focused and do a great job at my day job and complete some side projects I should be able to reduce a lot of debt and begin moving my family closer to the life we really want to live. This will involve reducing burn and increasing inputs. Consuming less in every area is required.

The revenue from my online projects already funnel a respectful amount of money into my bank account but it’s no where near where I need it to be. The completion of these additional projects should help increase the number of income sources but there’s no telling how much that will really mean until I’m there.

Resolution 4: Simplify, Simplify, Simplify

This is more of a reminder to myself than a real resolution, but I will continue to eliminate complexity in my life where it makes sense. This means reducing the number of things I own, use, and buy. Less is definitely more, easier to take care of, and gets me to my goals faster.

Conclusion

You might have noticed I’m taking some of my own advice. Knowing something and internalizing something enough to take real action are two completely different things. I’m not getting any younger so if I’m going to get to where I’m headed I better make it so… right?