My five goals for 2010

It’s the end of the year. The week everybody makes lists. I figured it would be a good idea to make a list of my personal goals for 2010. So I can live up to them. So that I have to live up to them (since you’ve read them).

If you’re planning on making a list like this as well, please share it in the comments. I’d love to read what kind of exciting stuff you, dear reader, are up to this year.

Oh and I realize some of the ideas listed below are ridiculous. Please forgive me. Have a good laugh about it. And consider this quote from Timothy Ferriss’ book:

Having an unusually large goal is an adrenaline infusion that provides the endurance to overcome the inevitable trials and tribulations that go along with any goal. Realistic goals, goals restricted to the average ambition level, are uninspiring and will only fuel you through the first or second problem, at which point you throw in the towel.

1. More in-depth stories on nrcnext.nl

On March 10th this year Dutch quality newspaper nrc.next started newsblog nrcnext.nl. They hired me as a full time blogger. My tasks: blog, help other people blog, and blog. It worked out pretty well, since we’ve won the Dutch Bloggie 2009 awards for ‘best blog’ and ‘best news blog’ and several nrc.next-reporters are contributing to the blog. The latter has an interesting side effect: I now have time for in-depth reporting for the blog. Every other week I’ll hit the streets for blog reporting. More about those online journalism projects later.

2. Write a book

As you might have noticed in the top menu, I’m writing a book about blogging. It will be published by Thomas Rap (part of De Bezige Bij) in September 2010. I’m writing about all the blog adventures I’ve experienced the last couple of years and will also interview some remarkable bloggers. It’s probably gonna take up all my vacation days (and we have a lot in Holland).

3. Turn Times Square into Art Square

My friend Justus Bruns wants to replace advertising on Times Square with art. A radically ambitious idea, yet I encouraged him to give it a go. I’ve blogged about my motivation for this wild ride recently:

Sure, it’s a ridiculous idea. Too ambitious, not realistic at all. How’s a twenty-something from a small Dutch city going to take over New York’s most famous square? Yet that’s what I like about it. Because I think this project will show how our societies have changed. We’re a networked society and we’re gonna prove it.

I’ll help Justus with media connections, planning, and some good ol’ project management. We have six other folks on board. Our launch date is February 15th. Check out our temporary website and follow us on Facebook.

4. Scoring a number one hit with Christina Five

Ok, here’s another ridiculous idea: scoring a number one hit with a band whose members have hardly any musical experience. Oh well, why not give it a try? At least I have a good excuse to rock a small studio with three friends every Monday night. We came up with this idea in the summer of 2007, yet our drummer Peter Evers left for London and our guitarist for The Hague. Back then, there were five of us.

Now the drummer is back. There are four of us now. Our name is still Christina Five. Peter has always considered drums as a hobby, our bass player Rob Simon just got started, and I’m not a terribly good singer (to put it mildly). Anyhow, our guitarist Ridzert Beetstra is quite talented, so there’s hope. If we hit number one, it will be with Rocket Money. Here’s an old recording of the song. I wrote it on the subway, Ridzert and Peter came up with the music, and this was the third time we played it (in august 2007). After watching this video, you’ll realize the idea is really, really ridiculous. Follow our adventure on Facebook to see how it works out. Thanks.

(Oh and the guy doing the solo is not Ridzert, he’s the one who left for The Hague)

5. Watching Thomas Duste turning OverheardinAmsterdam.nl into a success

I have a hard time focusing. There always too many projects, too many ideas. And oh, a full time job. So it’s time to hand over some projects with potential to people with potential. Thomas Duste is my high school buddy. We’ve known each other for eleven years now. He always considered me to be a nerd. One time, he was cool with that, and actually helped me building a website. We were sixteen and made it to the finals of a national high school website competition. How about that for working together? He’s almost done with his economics study now and about ready for another geeky project. That’s gonna be Overheard In Amsterdam, a fairly good Overheard in New York rip-off. I can’t see one reason – apart from having no time – why this site couldn’t be a hit. You could become a fan on Facebook to see it happen. Thomas, take it away buddy.

So there you have it. These are my five goals. Please, do make a fool of me when I won’t be able to make them reality.

Some other posts you might be interested in:

• We’re Gonna Replace All Advertising on Times Square with Art. Here’s How