I’ve been pretty absent online in 2018. For one, I didn’t create a lot of content: podcasts and video fell to the wayside. And even when I wrote, it was just so… empty. Bare bones stuff.

That was my attempt to be efficient– direct and to the point.

But then it was just words on a page with no life. No spice. No zest. That writing didn’t give any sense of Jon Dao.

And the real killer is– one of my big learning moments of last year– no matter how simplified you try to make a lesson, sometimes it just doesn’t stick anyway. So damn, what’s the point, right?

I knew the whole social media puzzle wasn’t something I was going to crack anytime soon, so I let my online projects sit to the side. I focused on my in person clientele and through working with them I keep getting ideas:

• December Dumps
• Check Your Case
• Endless Insecurity
• You Don’t Know You

And none of those things make any sense to you, but oh man, I’m excited to develop those bullets into media when I get the time.

Hm. So there’s another epiphany…

On the fitness front, I’m constantly telling people to adapt to the time available. Embrace the 15 minute moments to workout instead of searching for the hour long stretches that just might not manifest in your current lifestyle. Things don’t need to be perfect. Things don’t need to be crazy. You just need to find consistency.

On the communication side, I’m constantly telling people to get outside their head. (This is in the context of working with people who overthink, deal with self-esteem issues, struggle in finding the confidence to speak.) Crafting the “perfect” thing to say in your mind is too slow of a progression. You need to talk things out loud. You need to refrain from being overly self-critical, so you can stumble towards success. It’s tougher, but the improvement rate is so much faster.

And so with both sides, I realize I’m not doing such a good job of practicing what I preach. Oh sure, I’m consistent with my own fitness. And, I developed a good system of consistency to re-ignite my Japanese study.

But, for whatever reason, that didn’t work with the whole online thing. I overthought that to hell.

I didn’t refrain from being overly self-critical. I had no chance to stumble because I didn’t even move. I stayed inside my head. I’d dream of the ideal and put things off until they were “perfected”.

I want to be the guy who practices what he preaches. Sure, I’d like to be cool too. I’d love to gain a bit more notoriety. But more importantly, I want to do it Ghandi-style: I want to be the change I want to see.

In order to encourage others to take action with less reserve, I need to be making strides too. I’m hoping 2019 is one of my most creative years ever.