My Word for 2012

A couple of weeks ago, I told you about my annual ritual of choosing a Word for the Year (WFY) to help guide me in my personal and professional endeavors. You can read my original post about it for a complete explanation on each of these, but to recap, my WFY’s since 2005 have been:

• 2005 // RESET
• 2006 // AWAKE
• 2007 // CHANGE
• 2008 // FUCK IT
• 2009 // PURPOSE
• 2010 // MANAGE
• 2011 // EXPANSION

My Word for 2012

As I mentioned in the original post, I usually start to think about and contemplate my WFY around the beginning of every October, but refrain from making the final choice until the week between Christmas and New Years. At that point, normally, I would set my WFY in stone, and run with that word as my point of focus from January 1st through December 31st of the following year.

However, the original post sparked a bit of a movement by many of you to consider adopting this exercise with me for 2012. In the past several weeks, I have had hundreds of conversations with Creatives all over the world about the idea of a Word for the Year, and thus have thought about it more than I probably normally would. In almost all of these conversations, the same word keeps coming up in my speech, almost as if it is speaking to me to simply open my eyes and recognize that my Word for the Year of 2012 has been sitting right there in front of me in plain sight since we started talking about this.

That word is “core”, and thus, my word for the year in 2012.

CORE Defined

To me, the meaning behind the word CORE is this:

“The barest essentials for supreme happiness in my personal, professional, emotional, and physical life.”

When I think about CORE, I picture everything stripped away in my life. My possessions. My money. My ideas. My security. My work. My wants. My desires. My friends and family. Basically everything that I’m attached to. Then, if I think about what I really need to survive—the things I absolutely cannot live without—what gets added back in? What things are the heart and soul of Deane Ogden that he absolutely cannot do without? What are things that are “air” to me? The necessities. The non-negotiables.

Those things are my CORE. Those things make me tick. They make my life complete. They make me happy. You could light a match to everything else but those few things are the things that I need to have in my life in order that I might have a full and fruitful existence. You take away any of those things from me, and I still might be able to get along eventually, but I would have a tough time doing so. They make me. They define me. They are me.

The CORE of Deane Ogden

So, what is at my CORE? What are those things that are the foundations of my happiness? I’ve thought about this a ton this last week. Waiting for [deaneogden.com] to get “unhacked” gave me a lot of time to think about, reflect upon, plan for, and dissect my word for the year. CORE.  What *is* my CORE?

My CORE consists of three things that are the absolute essentials of my happiness as a human being.

Family

During the first few months of my senior year in high school, I moved out of my home and in with the band I was playing with at the time. Ever since then, my music career has taken me to all corners of the globe and has kept me on the run for the majority of the last nineteen years. One of the tradeoffs of being a professional musician is that you sacrifice time with your family being on the road, in studios, and head down on film projects that demand 1001% attention from you until completion. Then, at least for me, when I finish one of those long-haul creative pushes, the last thing I want is to be around a bunch of people. Instead, I want relaxation. I want me time. I want white sandy beaches, piña coladas and coconut plantations.

The result of that has been that I have neglected important time with my family, to the point of even alienating certain members of it to some degree. Many things have contributed to this: Getting married at 19, relocating to Los Angeles, dating selfish women who didn’t want to share me with anyone, and a hesitancy to visit home for fear of losing out on work if I leave. Now, a little older and a lot wiser, I realize that none of those things ever kept me from my family… I did. I allowed those things to control my choices when it came to prioritization of my family—something that has always been super important to me.

Now I know that part of my CORE is regular and consistent time with my family. I’m no longer allowing any outside circumstances to rule that part of my life. It’s too important. Life’s too short. With a click of Travelocity.com, I can move about the world anytime and in any way that I want. My work is global now—not tied to any one place. Therefore, my abilities and freedoms are unlimited. And I’ve already started. In 2011, I spent more time travelling home to see my family (including across town to hang out with my Dad) than I have in the last 19 years of being out on my own. It’s been amazing. And there are personal life developments that are happening which I am excited to share with my family like I never have been before.

Personal creativity

In 2011, I detached from a lot of things that used to control me. Early in the year, just as I was preparing to start writing the score to Jabang Tetuko, I knew I would be gone to Southeast Asia for many months, so I sold everything I owned and thought, “When I get back home, I’ll just start from scratch.”  Well… that one decision launched me on a new path of self-imposed minimalism that I’ve come to realize is much more suited to the way I prefer to live. The only things I own are those that I absolutely need to survive. And it extends to my business, as well. The staff at Deane Ogden Creative, Inc. is global and not centralized to one place where I have to be with them day-in and day-out. Therefore, my personal projects are not what they used to be. They used to be someone else’s. Now, I can pick and choose what I want to work on because I’ve freed myself from the confines of the Hollywood machine. There are no limitations anymore on what I can work on. Everything is on my table of opportunity, and I can take it or leave it as I see fit. I’m not waiting for the phone to ring anymore. I’ve detached from that. Now, I create my own opportunities, and as a result, have much more time to focus on the creative endeavors that I feel are most valuable for me as a Creative. My financial picture no longer dictates to me what I need to be working on. I call the shots on my creative output, and believe me… I am a happier man because of it.

My 14-month window

The third and final part of my CORE focus is something I’m calling the 14-Month Window. I’ve discovered, through looking back and observing my career thus far, that my output tends to be based on a 14-month window of opportunity. If someone mentions they want me to score a film they are starting to shoot, I typically seem to start work on that project about 12 months after the pitch, and then have a couple of weeks or maybe a couple of months to do it… 14 months. Record projects that I get hired for are usually in the pre-production phase when I’m pitched them. Then it’s about 14 months before the first single hits the airwaves.

I’ve recognized this pattern in my career, and instead of struggling to find ways to shorten that window or bend it to my will—which is what I used to do—I’ve learned to embrace it and allow it work in my favor. I now plan 14 months out in almost everything that I do. I wrote my new book in a little less than 14 months. I’ll be on Mecca for a little less than 14 months. I’m involved in a British theater production that I’ll be on until late 2012… About 14 months from now. Everything that I am setting up now, today, will most likely come to fruition in about 14 months. So, back to CORE—a focus for me in 2012 is going to be cultivating that 14-month window even further and really exploring how to make it my “hot zone”, the sweet-spot for how I conceive and prepare for constructing and releasing my most creative work.

I Dare You

I don’t know about you, but I can’t refuse a dare. I once fell out of a car going down the road at 45mph with my pants down and… well… I’ll save that story for another time.

The point is, I want to dare you into something if you are interested. I’d like you to try this Word for the Year thing with me for 2012. I’m 1001% convinced it will focus you like you have never been before. Here’s how it works:

1. The word should be a single word or phrase of no more than two words that encompasses something you’d like to see in your life all year.

2. The word should be specific enough that it communicates a simple idea, not a complex one that requires too many steps. For example, “Home Run” is not the greatest choice, but “Swing Hard” might be. Catch my drift?

3. The word should be something that you can build on next year. For instance, if your word is “Freedom”, you can’t really build anything specific on top of that in 2013. It’s too broad a stroke. But if your word is “Establish”, then you can build with “Extend, Explore, Facilitate, Advance, Progress, Refine, or Increase.”

4. The word works better when it’s an action word (verbs are perfect) as opposed to a person, place, or thing. For example, “Reach” is a great one… “Goals” is not. “Persist” is an action word… “Car” isn’t.

What’s Your Take?

I have two questions for you today if you are also contemplating this:

#1) If you have it already, what is YOUR word for 2012? My friend Laurie Ann Haus (a brilliant vocalist in the D.C. area if you are ever in need of vocals on your scores) is already slamming away on hers, having made considerable progress on a new solo record she’s producing simply by identifying and narrowing her focus to carry out the goals set forth by her word for 2012. I’ve received emails chronicling countless stories like Laurie’s, about how people are already meditating on their word for 2012 and how it is helping them visualize and plan for the success that 2012 is bringing their way, only a few short months from now. If you have your word already, post it in the comments, followed by a few sentences on why you chose that word… or how it chose you.

#2) If you can, what are the three CORE purposes in your life? The three things that, if you strip away everything else, make you the happiest in your personal and professional life? I’d like to hear what those are. You defining them and assigning a name to them is important, but I also know that in this community, your labeling of those goals and core purposes will help others reading this to also define and label theirs.

This is a conversation we are having… a two-way street. I’d like to hear your ideas on how this folds into your creative process. Please leave a comment under any post. Names are optional, but I’m interested in real and meaningful discussions, so consider leaving your name if that’s also interesting to you. Thanks for stopping by!