I am making a resolution not to make any new years resolutions. There is enough going on in everyone’s lives right now, mine included, to take on any major commitments or promises that even to oneself are difficult to keep. Who really needs that kind of self induced stress anyway?

Instead, I am committing to some modest goals. Small, achievable, meaningful goals that will add just a small bit of personal satisfaction to my life. I will not stress about them nor beat myself up should I not achieve them. That being said, some will be things I normally do anyway (this is partly to remind myself and partly to ensure success) Here are a few I am setting forth on. It is my hope that those who know me will keep me accountable to them.

* I will learn and use keyboard shortcuts more and use the mouse and/or trackpad less. I have downloaded a little program called KeyCue to help with this. This also means getting in a little deeper with Quicksilver.

* I plan to be much more mindful of the signal to noise ratio of my online life. This means I will be doing some trimming of my Twitter follows, my RSS feeds, etc. Basically, if the signal is not adding real tangible value to my life, then it is simply noise and I do not need it. I also hope to increase the quality by seeking new signals that I should be listening to. For Twitter, Mr. Tweet will help with this.

* Of course, the signal and noise argument cuts both ways. For this reason I will continue to post here according to the following criteria and schedule – Only when I think I have something of real and original value to add to the greater internet conversation. My personal promise to you, the reader, is that I will not fill your eyes, head, or RSS feed with anything that I consider to be repetitive, noisy or otherwise less than useful.

* In addition, I will be adding regular and more reliably scheduled content over at my other project, work.life.creativity. Myself and the other founders recently got together on a conference call and recommitted ourselves to making this project into something really great. The past few weeks has seen a virtual explosion of new activity in the forums and fantastic new content added to the blog. I am very proud of the things happening over there.

* I will continue to seek ways to grow my consulting business into something that can reliably sustain me and mine. This includes finding new ways to get the word of mouth spreading as that is where the vast majority of my business comes from.

* As is the case with many a couple, Princess Bethany’s resolutions and goals are, by proxy, mine as well. Towards that end, I also will work towards a better appreciation for our home. We have started the renovation work on what will become our new bedroom and also on a library/den area. Our vision may be a bit ahead of our grasp and means but I am sure once it is all finished it will provide an even deeper love for our beautiful house.