I've followed and listened to Merlin Mann in the past, and he's always been very interesting and inspiring. I came to know Dan Benjamin from The Ruby Show podcast, where he appeared last summer. After a while I checked out 5by5.tv, and found many interesting podcasts on that side. He's also an interesting guy to follow.

Well, back to the said podcast, Back to Work. I subscribed, synced it to my iPhone and took a late night walk, listening to the thing. And I must say that it was inspiring, even though both of fthem said that this first episode would just be the two rambling along. When Merlin Mann stated what his idea behind the podcast is, he told a story with a punchline that was quite an epiphany for me. Without spoiling you with all the details (go take a listen - it's inspiring), I must say, that he is so right in stating the fact, that there is nothing that hinders you in doing something, building something, creating something, but yourself. There's rarely a barrier that you can't overcome by yourself. Most of the times, it's your own excuses and fears that hinders you in doing great things. And that will be an important thing that I'll have to work with myself.

Long story short - go take a listen to that first episode. I think it looks promising.

I've always been addicted to good storys, and those radiotheater episodes really caught me. I was glued to the chair, with either the volume cranked up on my parents loudspeakers, or a pair of headphones on. And I really miss them, after DR discontinued them.

Shortly after the podcasting wave rolled in all over the Internet, I jumped on the bandwaggon, and have listened to podcasts ever since. I rarely listen to the radio anymore. A couple of years ago, I discovered that some podcasters had used the platform to put out - tada! - audiodramas, the equivalent to the radiotheater I used to know and love.

After some searching I found a really awsome one, that I highly recommend. The Leviathan Chronicles (http://theleviathanchronicles.com/). It's so professionally performed and edited, and the storyline is awsome. And as a bonus, the storyteller has this really sexy voice! :-)

The author of The Leviathan Chronicles is Christof Laputka (awsome name), a man who is really devoted to the project. Apart from the episodes of the story itself, I've enjoyed the soapboxes that they've released between episodes, almost as much as the story itself. And the kickass music is performed by Daniel Jakubovic.

Anyways, I highly recommend you to check it out. Season 1 is out in it's full length, (25 episodes), so you can listen to it in a more coherent way than I did, as I had to wait (sometimes in a very long time) between episodes. The next season will come out in a much more coherent way too, as they will only release it, when all episodes has gone through postproduction and are ready to release. So if you like audiodramas (or as I, radiotheater) and Sci-Fi, head over to the website and subscribe to the podcast!

So this is some of the things I've had in mind for the new year:

1. Write more

With this I don't just mean on my blogs, but in a more general sense. To help me commit to this goal, I've signed up for Project52.info, so some of the writing I'll do, has to be on this blog.

But I'll also be doing some technical documentation stuff, and just writing to reflect my thoughts down on paper, something that helps me a lot getting an understanding of my life, and to get ideas of how to improve. I've done that a lot in the past, but not so much lately, so I have to pick up on that.

2. Be more productive

For the last 5 years or so, I've worked with the way I organize myself and the work I do. I've worked hard on implementing the GTD system in my life, as it really fits my way of thinking. It's been a struggle, and I'm not there yet, but the method is more a part of me, than it was 2 years ago. During the 5 years, I've tried out several tools to help me use GTD more effectively, most of them digital. And I've found that for me, OmniFocus from omnigroup.com works best for me. But I must admit that I'm still not satisfied with the way I use the program in my daily life - it still needs improvement.

One of the things I like to do in the first month or two of this year, is to help someone getting started with GTD by presenting the system and the tools I use for some diverse audiences. I'll start with my coworkers, and I already have made the commitment of presenting it to one of my customers. I started the work on the presentation late last year, but didn't finish it. So this will be some of the focus points for January.

3. Play more music

I've played music almost all my life, but the last 10 years have been more or less without playing. 1 year ago, I got together with my old band and started playing again, and I really want to do more of that. I also like my son to get interested in playing, but I can't expect him to be that, if I don't play myself.

4. Start a Unicycle club in my new hometown

Last year I started learning how to ride a unicycle. I'm now at the stage where I can get up on it and ride, and get off again gracefully. But I want to be better at it, and I want my son to be better at it (we started together). After attending to days of training in another club, I realized that it boosted my sons and my learning considerably, to be riding with other unicyclists at different experience levels. So my goal is now to start a club in my hometown, so me and my son can get together with others and learn from each other.

5. Start drawing again

Just after New Year, I saw a demo of Sketchbook Pro for iPad. I must say, that I haven't found a good enough use case to get me an iPad, but after watching this demo (and several others afterwards), I've now found a very good one indeed. That program is awsome! And that made me want to draw again, like I did a lot while I was younger.

I'll try hard to make these goals this year. I already have an appointment next monday with Lars Lottrup who has started a lot of unicycle clubs here in Denmark. He's also behind unisalg.dk, the danish pendant to unicycle.com.

Until next time: Stay tuned!