I would summarize the theme of my 2018 for three words now. "Create", "Connect" and "Communicate". These three words will become the theme of this year. Whenever I make some decisions, I will come back to these three words for priority.
Why I choose these three words, and only three words? Let me first answer the second question: It's because time and energy is very limited, and only by prioritizing could you focus on the things that is absolutely important. And these three things are extremely important for me.
Create
The one thing I realize recently is that without creating, no matter how much you absorb, you are not improving much. Creating helps one to synthesize and iterate. And iteration is the key to effective growth.
Then how would I apply this principle? For example, between reading and writing, I will prioritize writing. Reading takes a lot of time. Although I enjoy reading very much, there might be some better way to ingest information. For example, I could listen to podcast. I could even do interest driven research. These approaches will be more effective than buying a book and spend the whole weekend on it.
I will still consume of course, however, comparing to consuming, creating is way more important.
Connect
This is a world of connection. Every influential people and business have this one thing in common: connectivity. The more one reach out, the more valuable one will be in the network. So instead of being isolated, go out and connect. Connect with reality, connect with the latest technology and connect with the great minds.
Communicate
This is something that I always wanted to improve. I often times find embarrassing when I run out of words talking to people or communicating my ideas. To communicate efficiently, the only way is to practice, and endure the pain and embarrassment on failures. I plan to practice some toaster masters table topic everyday before going to sleep. In addition to that I will practice mentally a tough situation for a few minute before going to sleep.
Hopefully at the end of this year, on reflection, I would be glad that I improve tremendously in terms of these three words, the theme of the year!