Around the corner | Refugio Beach State Park, California | Dec 2008

This year did not end up as I thought it would.

Despite my constantly-updated lists of projects, what I accomplished bears little in relation to what I planned.

• I started the year off by staying up all night, similar to 2007.
• I came back from India planning to reduce my web presence. That didn’t go exactly as planned.
• I started writing so much that I would need to create a second blog.
• Even as I became harder to understand, by asking a lot of questions I started to find my style and voice. Maybe.
• I did my first interview.
• I completed my first book, kinda.
• I started writing (a lot) about the photography business.
• I started refining my thoughts and writing about entrepreneurship and venture capital.
• I wrote about how to fail (easily the most-read item I’ve ever written).
• I had my first bit published on the broader web, about the future of workspaces on the IDEO blog.
• I found out about my first “speaking” gig (scheduled for 2009).
• I quit my job, again.
• I drove cross-country, again.

Even as I focused on cutting things out, my desire path through life got a lot messier.

But I wouldn’t have had it any other way. As I disappeared into the Internet time machine I also met a tremendous amount of amazing people through the web.

I am inspired by every single person that creates, comments, replies, adds to the conversation, passes on ideas and shares their thoughts, privately and publicly.

I couldn’t have taken this path without you; I wouldn’t have even seen this path without you. It’s not the path I planned, but it’s what happened, and this path has helped build me into who I am. I couldn’t have done it without you.

Despite the noise, keep it coming. Bring on 2009.