By: Kenneth E. Boone, Sr.
For me, it seems like all the holiday festivities are like to a pre-race load up of carbs. With all the food, gifts, and goodwill, are we preparing ourselves for the marathon ahead, better known as the new year? Is all this necessary? Of course, it is! 2024 is going to be a challenging year, and we need all the help we can get. I'm Ken Boone and this is my Podcast, “MUCH MORE TO SAY” This is my 50th and final episode of the year, setting a record for this podcast in a given year. If all goes according to plan, I’ll tie it next year and beyond. As you know, I made just three resolutions for 2024. In the last two episodes, I went into detail on Items 1 and 2. Today, I'll take a deep dive into Item #3. But as just a reminder, here are my three New Year's Resolutions for 2024:
As I’ve mentioned from time to time, perfectionism is not a good thing. In fact, it is a symptom of procrastination, which is one of my many character flaws. That’s the flaw that haunts me the most. How can I keep my procrastination to a minimum? By keeping things simple while sticking with what I know. Certified genius Albert Einstein once said that… “if you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” For over a half century I’ve been trying to be an expert on any topic. That must have driven family and friends crazy because it surely drove me nuts. And while I was busy growing my inventory of trivia, I was mastering not a single thing. After spending the better part of three years striving for excellence over perfection, I’m convinced that I will accomplish most things I’ll attempt in 2024. That can only happen if I apply all three items on my list of resolutions in an effective and efficient way. There you have it. My three New Year’s Resolutions for 2024 are now stated and set in stone. I'll publish the first podcast episode of 2024 on Wednesday, January 3rd, with a companion blog post on Friday, January 5th. But we’re not done yet. Calendar Year 2023 was an eventful one, complete with more than its fair share of triumphs and challenges. Here are just a few from my perspective: After four years, I ended my relationship with my previous podcast hosting site over a misunderstanding. Although it caused me a great deal of inconvenience, I was able to land in the right place for me. I found, relocated, remastered, and reissued 35 episodes of Celia's podcast, “ISO Peace & Healing” on a brand-new hosting site. Listening to them with a fresh set of ears reminded me of how great a host Celia is. At the same time, I also reissued nine favorite episodes of Angel Snipes’ podcast, that I renamed “I Have Things to Say”. I'm still praying that she will agree to record more new episodes in 2024. The government is still open for business, although temporarily. After months of insanity, we have a new Speaker of the House of Representatives, who may or may not be part of the lunatic fringe. Time will tell if he will be an effective leader, or if they will give him the boot like they did the last guy, who is taking his ball and going home. Wars are still raging in the Middle East and in Ukraine. Our allies in both wars are literally begging us for financial, military, and diplomatic aid. Whether we give it to them in a timely manner is anyone’s guess. It all depends on our wacky legislative branch of government and what side of the bed they wake up on. In the wide world of sports, I have nothing to cheer about. My beloved Panthers are probably the worst team in the NFL. It's difficult to watch them play week after week. They fired the coach after only eleven games in the first year of his contract. They’re starting to show flashes of decency, so I guess I can say, “wait until next season”. Thank goodness there were a bunch of Hallmark holiday movies to keep me occupied. The Charlotte Hornets aren't doing much better. But at least I can see their potential. With a few tweaks here and there, I believe they could be a playoff team. That's all I can ask for at this time, progress over perfection. It’s been a great year for the Philadelphia branch of Boone Clan. My brother, Mike, released his eighth jazz album titled “Enjoying the View”. As a bonus, he also released an online version of a live recording at no charge. My son, Kenny, who lives in Atlanta, GA, is on the board of his neighborhood business association. He told me that he’s been flirting with the idea of entering politics. To combat the homeless crisis, his organization established a warming center. He's always had a heart for others, and I couldn't be prouder of all he’s accomplished past year! As for Celia and me, we’re still living a life of leisure as retirees, although we are starting to lay the groundwork to restart our music ministry. Things are still in the planning stages, but there’s a chance we can pull it off in 2024. For the month of January, I'm going to begin executing my new content creation strategy. As I stated in Item #1 of my resolutions, my goal is to work smarter. That means that I will better coordinate my weekly podcast episodes with my weekly blog posts. There's no need to do double work. 2024 will be another presidential election year. It’s my wish that this election season will be more civilized than 2020 was, although I doubt that will be the case without some divine intervention. I’ll follow the races, but I refuse to get sucked into the theatrics as I was during the last two cycles. Parting Shots It’s time to turn the page to a new year. I’d like to express to you my heartfelt thanks for the support you gave me in 2023. Every time you listen, like, and share one of my episodes, you’re advocating for me. You’re the best, and I can’t wait to do it all over again in 2024. Take care, and God Bless! Today's Quote “Though no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand-new beginning.” Carl Bard – American Author and Poet
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I finally completed my list of New Year's Resolutions for 2024. Last week, I gave you a sneak peek at Item #1. In this episode, I'll bring you Item #2, which is in the form of a confession. Why the confession? Maybe because it's good for the soul.
I'm Ken Boone and this is my Podcast, “MUCH MORE TO SAY” This is my 49th episode of the year. We've already crushed the previous record of 36 episodes set in 2022, and we still have one more to go for this year. I'm hoping to publish another 50 episodes in 2024. And I'm hoping to use my list of resolutions to drive the creative process. As I mentioned several times, the list of resolutions for 2024 will only be three items long, so I need to be efficient. Although I shared them with you last episode, I only elaborated on Item #1. Today, I'll dive deeper into Item #2. But as just a reminder, here are my three New Year's Resolutions for 2024:
In my introduction to this episode, I told you that I needed to make a confession. For those who've known me for a while, and can see through the façade, it should come as no surprise. But I still feel the need to get it off my chest. Keeping it to myself has stifled my creativity more than anything else. Since I was in my teens, I considered myself a musician who was a better than average pianist. My specialty was Gospel music, but I could fake it at playing several different genres. But the truth is that I was only half correct in my claim. While I am a better than average musician, when it comes to playing piano, I can barely play my way out of a paper bag. And the truth is that every time I sat down at the piano, I was faking it. How do I know that? By counting the number of times, I bombed on stage. My musicianship prevented most of those flops from being noticed by members of the audience. But I knew, and it drove me crazy. That's because I thought I was stuck in a place where the only way to be involved with music was to be on stage. Success behind the scenes didn't seem like a viable option. It wasn't until I was almost 50 years old, when I met my friend Pete, that I realized that it was possible to fit this square peg into a square hole. He taught me that a person's ears are musical instruments, and that he used his ears, as well as his business acumen, to earn a very good living in an industry that he loves. Although he taught me that lesson around 15 years ago, I resisted putting it into practice until recently. In fact, as recently as this year, I included the playing of musical instrument on my list of resolutions. Of course, I failed promptly and in spectacular fashion. It wasn't until a few months ago when I noticed increased social media activity from “The Philly 3”, that I found my new voice. These gifted jazz musicians are now reaping the rewards for their generosity during the COVID pandemic. Vocalist Maci Miller released her latest album titled “Nine” to glowing reviews. She's maintaining a busy schedule of live performance dates in the Greater Philadelphia area and beyond. Guitarist Larry Tamanini was a featured artist at the prestigious Rocky Mountain Archtop Festival in Colorado. He's also gigging heavily, as well as enjoying a growing number of listeners and subscribers to his YouTube channel. And I'm probably proudest of my brother Mike, on the release of his amazing album titled “Enjoying the View”, which takes me back to the music we grew up absorbing in our childhood neighborhood of East Harlem in New York City. The old Ken would have been a little envious of their accomplishments, without taking into consideration all the hard work, along with God-given talent, needed to bring their music to life. I probably would have tried to duplicate what they are doing, with disastrous results. The new, saner version of Ken celebrates their accomplishments. He also knows what his true talents are and is willing to use this platform to amplify the great works of others. This Ken knows that he doesn't have to bring others down to lift himself up. Parting Shots For 2024, I hope to find other people out there in need of someone to trumpet their praises. And it doesn't have to been in music, but that's the area I can speak to with the greatest level of comfort. There you have it. Resolution Number 2 for 2024 is now stated and set in stone. Next week, I'll publish a year-end podcast episode on Wednesday, December 27th, followed by a year-end blog post on Friday, December 29th. We're nearly at the end of another productive year. I'd like to express to you my heartfelt gratitude for all your support this year. Every time you listen, like, and share one of my episodes, you’re advocating for me. Now, I have a favor to ask of you. Please keep doing that so I can continue to advocate for you! Today's Quote “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” - Mother Teresa
Although my list of next year's resolutions is not yet complete, one item that I'm sure will be on that list is for me to work smarter, not just harder. That means that I'll eliminate redundancy in my efforts. Why make more work for myself if I don't have to?
I'm Ken Boone and this is my Podcast, “MUCH MORE TO SAY” This year, I published nearly 50 episodes of this podcast. I also published over 25 blog posts. While those numbers pale in comparison to most of the podcasters and bloggers I'm currently following, they are huge numbers for someone like me. That's because writing and/or recording 75 unique pieces of content is really just a waste of time and energy. I wish I was more prolific like many of the creators I've been following, but I've become a “slow and steady” type of guy in my old age. In order to become more deliberate in my approach to content creation, I wrote everything down on my dry erase board. That happened to be my first resolution in both 2022 and 2023. I was guilty of valuing quantity of quality. To prove my point, all you have to do is look at my list of New Year's Resolutions. In 2022, the list was 15 items long. I got a little smarter in 2023, when the list shrank to seven items. For 2024, I think my list of resolutions will be rather short. As I said in my intro, the list is not complete, but I'm sure that it will probably consists of possibly three resolutions. I'll tell you what they are in this episode, but today, I'll only elaborate on Item 1. So, before I forget, here are my three New Year's Resolutions for 2024:
For most of my adult life, I recited the “work smart... not hard” mantra, but for some reason, practicing that concept was easier said than done. That's because my belief quantity over quality defeated any attempts at productivity. All I have to do is point to the amount of extra work I do to create my content. As I said earlier, I've created around 75 unique bits of content over the past year. That means I came up with 75 ideas and wrote 75 different scripts. That would be fine if this were my job. But this is my labor of love, which is the thing I would gladly do if money were no object, and I could never fail. The term 'work smart… not harder' was first used by Allen F. Morgenstein, an industrial engineer and the creator of the work simplification process. It was later featured in a cartoon by Carl Banks, with the lead character often telling his nephews, 'Work smarter than the smarties and tougher than the toughies.' Mr. Banks' line reminds me of the joke about the two people being chased by a bear. I'm sure you've heard it, but it's still worth repeating. Person number one tells person number two, “I don't have to be faster than the bear. I just have to be faster than you!” To paraphrase what I read in an article on Indeed.com, “If you want to take control of your time, it's important to work smarter, not harder. Working smarter reduces your stress levels and conserves your energy.” But I still struggle to find the right mix of discipline and motivation so I don't cut any corners. That's why I find it useful to read some of the inspirational “hard work” quotes and sayings that I've posted throughout my workspace in order to keep me productive. To quote Bill Gates, “I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” While Mr. Gates would never knowingly hire a person whose laziness affects his/her competence, I get his point. I can apply this quote when it comes to Resolution Number 1 for 2024. In my case, I'd consider being lazy as not to do more than necessary to get the job done. Case in point, I've been publishing a podcast episode on Wednesday and publishing an entirely different blog post on Friday. Instead of doing that, why not repurpose the episode content for the blog post. Easy. Simple. Smart. In fact, this episode is a companion to my blog post from last Friday. For 2024, I'll align things so my Wednesday podcast episode will serve as the foundation for my Friday blog post. But I'm still kicking that idea around in my head. Parting Shots There you have it. Resolution Number 1 for 2024 is now stated and set in stone. Next week, I'll dive deeper into Item 2, “Advocate for Others”. And since I've been doing that for the past six months, that should be an easy episode to produce. I'll wrap things up with a year-end podcast episode on Wednesday, December 20th, followed by a year-end blog post on Friday, December 22nd. There, you will get an explanation of Item 3, along with a heartfelt expression of gratitude for all of your support this year. Today's Quote “Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” Peter Drucker – Austrian-American Consultant and Educator
By: Kenneth E. Boone, Sr.
I only had seven items on my list of resolutions for 2023, and I still couldn't keep them all. Does that make me a failure? Not really, because this year I learned how to change course whenever I hit a dead end. I'm Ken Boone and this is my Podcast, “MUCH MORE TO SAY” It's hard to believe that it's already December. We just finished with Thanksgiving and all the post-Thanksgiving sales. Next up on the calendar is Hanukkah, then Christmas, followed by Kwanzaa, and finally New Year's Eve. And as always, I wish you and yours a safe and happy holiday! For me, December is also resolution season. As you know, in 2009, I made it my New Year's Resolution to relocate from Upstate New York to the Southeast. By August 2009, I actually pulled that off by moving here to Huntersville, NC, where I still live. I didn't make any more resolutions until 2020, when I vowed to do whatever it took to recover from my health scare. I stuck with the plan and my efforts were honored. My heart function returned to normal, but I still struggle with high blood pressure. But with the help of diet, exercise, and medication, I've never felt better. For some reason, I didn't feel the need to come up with a list resolutions in 2021. COVID-19 was still raging around the world, and people were just trying to stay alive. However, although we were obsessed with masks and social distancing, I felt that all was not lost. We had a new president who knew where all the buttons were, and which ones to push. Somehow, most of us made it through. In 2022, after the worst of the pandemic passed, I felt secure enough to actually make plans for that year. I created a list of 15 resolutions that I hoped to keep, Because I kept my expectations low and my acceptance high, I was able to deal with the mixed results I had when it came to sticking with those resolutions. This year, I pared my list down to seven resolutions that I hoped to keep. In this episode, I'll revisit that list to see how well I did in keeping those resolutions. There were some that only lasted about a month or two, while others are still going strong. With that said, let's take a look back to that list:
Parting Shots There were seven items on my resolution to-do list for 2023. With the exception of the first three items, I failed to stick with the rest. And that's okay, since it's not a crime to change your mind. In fact, a lot can be said for a person who is willing to take a different path if the one you're on doesn't lead to a good place. I'm about to start compiling my list of resolutions for Calendar Year 2024. I can assure you that it won't be seven items long, and that at least six of the seven from 2023 won't appear on the new list. Off the top of my head, the list will probably be only three to four items long. But like years gone by, I will work hard to accomplish as many of them as I possibly can! Quote “People with good intentions make promises. People with good character keep them.” - Anonymous |
About the HostKenneth E. Boone, Sr. is a writer, podcaster, music lover, sports enthusiast, and retired accountant. Archives
May 2024
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