“Monotony collapses time; novelty expands it,” writes Joshua Foer in Moonwalking with Einstein. It feels like more than two years since the start of my 5-year experiment with semi-retirement, which is what I jokingly called this adventure into a self-directed life. So far, amazing. This year, I focused less on consulting and event sketchnoting, and I focused more on creating my own content. More than 500 sketches and three mini-eBooks later, I feel happy about this decision, and I'm curious about where else it can lead.

I've also been ramping up my delegation and systematization. Since I'm still doing a bit of consulting here and there, I think that these processes will help me get even better at making and sharing things even if my attention is divided–and that can come in handy later on. Let's see how it goes.

2014-02-16 Two years into my 5-year experiment #experiment #review

I'd done a pre-mortem of possibilities for failure back in 2012, but I don't think I wrote about the success criteria or vision. (That's odd!) Somewhat belated, but here it is. This experiment is shaping up to be about whether I've got what's needed for a good self-directed life. I think success for this experiment would be:

• exploring uncommon questions and ideas
• having a happy life at home
• helping lots of people grow
• having solid plans and a great foundation for next steps

2014-02-16 Goals and success criteria for my 5-year experiment #experiment #success

So, how was this year different from last year? What might next year be like? What would wild success at the end be like?

2014-02-16 More detailed evaluation of 5-year experiment so far #experiment #review #evaluation

The first year was about getting the hang of paperwork and consulting. This second year was about coming into my own. Next year will be a good year for growth and resilience, I think. If I can continue on that path, I think it'll be interesting.