I’m not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions. I believe that every day gives us the opportunity to reinvent ourselves and so it’s silly to put so much stock into that one day each year. Nonetheless, with the new year starting this weekend, I find myself longing to create more and – in the words of Seth Godin – to ship it. The more it terrifies me, the better!

And so, for those of you thinking similar thoughts, here’s a bit of inspiration that others have shipped to help us out:

Productivity Tie-Breaker: How Will You Feel Afterwards? by Mark McGuinness. Includes three things we can do to make sure 2012 is our most creative & productive year yet.

6 Steps to Building Your Creative Endurance by Jarie Bolander. Helping us get back into creative shape.

#YearInReview What did you ship in 2010? by Seth Godin. Seth Godin’s awesome post from last New Years that reminds us it’s not just about what we create but about what we actually ship.

What are YOU going to ship in 2012?

Photo Credit: Ship in a bottle by JohnLH

Over 130 people – half techies, half business folks – converged on Microsoft NERD this weekend to start their own companies, have some fun & make some noise.

Friday night, 50 of them stood up and pitched their ideas in quick 60 second spots, interrupted only for a quick game of multiplayer rock-paper-scissors.

Pitches ran the gamut from gamifying entrepreneurship to games to solve the world’s biggest problems. From help with dating to help finding babysitters. Investing help through forecasting small company returns to a game that lets you invest in twitter hashtags.

One pitched a joke “I’m going to create a double rainbow – I mean, a Double Game Layer around the world!”. Some just sounded like it – DidWeShag.com for sharing those vital date details. And a guy named Sting pitched something about the Police (PayYourTicketsOnline.com).

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“To change one’s life: Start immediately. Do it flamboyantly. No exceptions.”
– William James

I got this quote from Michael Bungay Stanier’s book Do More Great Work. Great Work, you see, is what lights you up, it’s what makes a difference. Great Work is the work that matters.

I can picture you right now, reading that phrase and I just know you’ve got an idea. Something you’d love to do. An area you could really make an impact in, that would build on all those things you kick ass at, the things you’re truly passionate about, the stuff of heroes.

I know that’s what made me buy Stanier’s book and probably all those others who’ve launched it to the #1 rank in it’s category on Amazon’s Kindle store.

So why aren’t we all out there doing our Great Work?

Can you imagine if each of us managed just one piece of Great Work this year? Not just for how awesome it would make us feel (although that would be pretty amazing). But for the difference it would make in the world when everyone was out there doing something more. Something that pushed beyond the same old same old we spend so much of our lives in.

So what’s stopping us?

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Taking my queue from Seth Godin, I’m posting my list of what I shipped in 2010.

As Seth describes it…

“Yes, I know you’re a master of [whatever]…
But what have you shipped?

What have you done with your connection skills that has been worthy of criticism, that moved the dial and that changed the world? 
Go, do that.”

So to close out 2010, Seth posted his list of what he shipped and asks that each of us do the same. “Doesn’t matter whether it was a hit or not, it just matters that you shipped it.”

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