Damian Holmes

My News Years Eve 2005 – Sydney Opera House Steps

This time of year is often when people in the west reflect on the past year and set resolutions. However living in China most people don’t reflect until Chinese New Year which is February 14 – Year of the Tiger. So, as I am living in China, I have two times a year (New Years Eve & Chinese New Year) when I reflect on the past year and what I want to achieve in the next year.

At New Years I often set  goals but this year I am taking a different approach similar to that used by Chris Brogan’s 3 words but I am going to use 5 words. After listing the 5 words (the what I want to achieve) I have then listed the why, how, when for the words. The when doesn’t have to be in 2010. So the list is what, why, how and when. I hope this approach will give me more focus, and less distraction. So how is this different from resolutions? resolutions are goals but often with no process of how they will be achieved.

So how do I reflect at Chinese New Year – its a family time in China and often it is a good time to reflect on family and then review what I have done in that 5-7 weeks (chinese new year changes based on lunar cycle) and what I need to do more or less of to achieve the goals.

2010 will be interesting – developing and growing my design studio – SUSTAIN.DS, changes to my websites, travel (china & abroad) and personal life changes. Overall, I have decided that 2010 is going to be doing less reading, less reflecting and far more doing!!

What are your goals, resolutions for 2010? what didn’t you do last year that you can do in 2010?

Email me damian@damianholmes.com

Chinese New Year 2009 – City of God Temple Shanghai