A NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTION...FOUR MONTHS EARLY

Image by: PeterAnthony Photography

You may be wondering why I'm publishing a post about New Year's Resolutions exactly four months before January 1st?  I'll admit, that on the surface, it seems odd.  We still have one third of the year remaining after all.  Well, I believe that you'll need four months to internalize, to seriously consider, to muster up the strength, and to hopefully actualize what I'm going to suggest.

At some point in your life, you must have heard the following time tested saying: "You're only as good as the company you keep".  My New Year's Day routine is based on this saying.  People who know me well have occasionally said that my New Year's Day tradition is somewhat ruthless, but I have been following it successfully for the last number of years...and my life is better as a result of it.

When I first started five years ago, I looked through my phone book (today I look through my listing of digital contacts), and I deleted anyone that did not improve my life, or anyone that failed to make me a better person.  If they were overly dramatic, or unappreciative, or unrealistically demanding, I deleted them from my contacts.  That simple act ended my relationship with them for good.  I'm pleased to report that over the last few years it has become significantly easier, with fewer deletions with every subsequent year.  Only one person got the preverbal axe last year.  The first year really is the hardest, because we grow attached to our relationships...even the bad ones.  With those cuts, you do come to a realization of how many people you carried in your life that did nothing more than bring you down.

This leads me to my point, as it relates to photography.  Many photographers today are active participants in online photography forums.  I'm sure we signed on with these forums originally because of the valuable advice, the constructive criticism and feedback, and the fantastic camaraderie. However, there are many unproductive, negative, and juvenile members of photography forums, yet we still accept them into our own personal fold.  Have they done anything to better and enrich your photography, and your life for that matter, in the last twelve months?  If the answer is no, block them, or "ignore" them.

Give this some thought over the next couple of months.  This isn't something that you should jump right into, so that's why I've given you four months of lag time.  Lastly, I say this somewhat tongue in cheek, but I hope that my message here has not provoked many of you to unsubscribe to my website all of a sudden.

Comments

[Michael Spotts]

You're the first person besides myself I've known to have done this, in both regards. Glad to see your courage.

- Michael Spotts
www.walksomewhere.com