2024 - How’d we do?

It’s the end of the year, so we are all contractually obligated to look backward in a reflective stance, and as good as my agent is, this was one clause they just couldn’t get me out of. Alas.

Longtime readers may recall that I actually shared my goals for the year here. Realllllllllly longtime readers may even remember my 2021 writeup of how I approach yearly goal setting as a person who isn’t exactly goal-oriented.

So, then, it’s time to take a look back on the year that was 2024 and size it up.

Before the in depth breakdown, I will say that my intuitive impression is that this was a very good year for me and for Routine Chaos. I feel like I took a step forward and the work is a lot deeper and richer these days - and it was already in a good place when the year started. I have a clearer sense of who we are as a studio and the kind of work that we do, as well as what we don’t do. Our focus is on building the foundations for a creative society, and there’s sooooo much provocative, compelling, meaningful work to do in that space.

For the in-depth breakdown, I’ll go through and classify each theme on the spectrum from Red (terrible, total & complete fail) to Green (resounding success to be trumpeted from the rooftops)

Theme 1: Stretch your muscles/Don’t be afraid to be ambitious

The way I feel about this one and the tangible outcome of this one don’t exactly line up…like I feel proud, but I don’t want to publicly acknowledge that I feel proud because what it looked like wasn’t quite the same as how I defined it, and I have that ever present voice in the back of my mind that says, “You know you could have done more.”

And the voice is right! I could have. And I will, because there are some of these themes that are “get the ball rolling” themes, which is to say they need some activation energy and then they continue to snowball and build after the year ends even when they’re no longer one of the main thematic focuses.

I suspect that’s what this one is.

Here’s how it played out:

• I didn’t take on a school design project…but I did get even more hands on with the network of micro schools I advise, and I did work with a major school design organization in the US to help them build tools for their own school design process. I think I’ve also realized that what I really want in here is not to advise someone else on their design process or come in as a design partner, but at some point I’m going to want to design something myself…and there are a few top secret things in my current project portfolio that are moving in that direction, albeit slowly.
• I didn’t take on a new collaborative project that required building a team. I did work on sustaining a project that grew in complexity and needed a team behind it. Not the same, not the same kind of Ocean’s 11 satisfaction. There’s a world of difference between building a team and running a hiring process.
• In the strictest interpretation of the term, I did launch an in-house product if we’re willing to count our first Routine Chaos merch. I’m willing to count it for the sole reason that it fits with the piece around stretching my muscles: redesigning the logo was what motivated me to get back into doing visual design work, which has never been a huge strength but has always been something I like learning about and growing in.

(BTW, if you too want a Routine Chaos sweatshirt, they're available here)

• Double your audience. Lol. Nope. Not even close. I have a conflicted relationship with initiatives related to audience and reach…on the one hand, I don’t really care. On the other hand, I do think there are more people out there that I’d love to be in dialogue and community with and who would dig what’s in here. But the energy for that has to come from somewhere, and I haven’t been willing to borrow from anywhere else to make this happen.

Theme 2: Put weird into the world

Like theme 1, there's going to be momentum from this one carrying forward. The main difference is that this has already built up quite a head of steam already. I have heard this commitment ringing out in the back of my mind so many times throughout the course of the year - not that "weird" is a new thing to me (though it did get an unfortunate rhetorical spin during a couple news cycles), more that the idea of letting the weird ideas show up publicly a bit more was something I needed to embrace.

By the scorecard:

• 1 new research project - Over the course of this year, I first wrapped up Countertop Chaos - which is fairly embarrassing to watch in retrospect - and the Pokemon Travelogue, and then I decided to go back for more and kicked off Pursuit of Play. The first two feel frivolously weird...Pursuit of Play feels different to me, like I think it's actually doing something in the way I'm thinking about and engaging in the work. It's all still taking shape, so I can't quite articulate it yet, but I feel like a mad scientist again: I'm learning & testing something new out on myself.
• 1 conference presentation - this very much did happen, and in the kind of format I love. I'm not really a conference person, but the iF Design Impulses was an intentionally small gathering (~100 people) in a space designed to provoke creativity. I more or less snuck in because 2 of my friends were presenting and asked me to tag team in, and it was great - and because we're all similar flavors of weird, our keynote was weird.

• Connect into a couple new networks where you can contribute and build meaningful relationships - the network part of this hasn't quite happened, but I made a few really key friendships this year that strike me as the kind that might be the seeds of future collaborations. I'm excited to see where it all goes.

Theme 3: Take a 10 year view on change

You can't win them all I guess...I do think I've had a bit of a mindset shift and am not always optimize for the immediate or short term, and there are some very tangible ways that this played out - ie, I have been so much more physically active this year than last year and was pretty deliberate about taking care of my body, my physical health, and my mental health. I started seeing a new counselor. I made more frequent contributions to my investment accounts. I worked on projects like Pursuit of Play that I expect to bear fruit over the course of years.

So definitely some progress...though not exactly on the initiatives I had defined:

• Get comfortable enough in Dutch to volunteer at kids’ school for basic things...oh, the naive optimism that led me to pay for an annual subscription to Duolingo on January 27 in the midst of a 9 day streak. Did I use Duolingo for 9 days total the rest of the year? I don't think I did. There has been plenty of ink spilled about Duolingo, so I won't belabor any points, but when you're using it to try and learn a language that is spoken in a country where you currently reside and are at least a little bit conversant, the discrepancy between the reality of the language and the Duolingo version of the language is just too much. Recognizing this, I did start watching the Dutch language news (yes, the nightly news show for children. It's a start), and I started a home delivery subscription to a Dutch language newspaper. Better things in 2025 maybe? But you know who did volunteer for the organizing committee for the year-end Christmas dinner at the kids' school? That would be none other than Sarah Trudeau. I'm not the kind of person who is motivated by being shown up by their significant other, but if I were that would really do it.
• By end of year, swim for 30 minutes twice a week. I really do enjoy swimming. I do. The 10 times I went for a swim this year were lovely - especially the ones that were in open water. But my motivation level relative to the amount of work it takes to get myself ready & get to a pool is just too low. On the other hand, this initiative gave me the clarity to see that I do feel a lot better when I'm physical active during the day and especially when I ride my bicycle, so at this point I'm riding the bike pretty much every day regardless of the weather. The motivation piece is less of a factor, because riding the bike is often a means to the end of getting to a place I need to be. I think I'm in better physical condition than I was a year ago...and the rings on my Apple Watch seem to bear that intuition out.
• Attend 1 international coffee event - so so close. I nearly went to 3 different ones, but every time the intensity of my existing travel schedule clashed with the dates. I also have to acknowledge that my interest in coffee waned a little bit this year. In 2025, though, I might try to visit a coffee farm or look into something more directly related to the supply chain and the wellbeing of coffee producers, because on the 10 year view that's what I really care about.

Beyond that, I published 30 times on this here platform including a transition from Substack to Ghost. 31 if you count this newsletter right here. If you want to walk down the 2024 memory lane with Routine Chaos, you can find all of this year's entries here.

I'll be back in the new year with a few stories about the moments from 2024 that will stick with me.