Thoughts For 2014

Today is the first Monday of 2014 and for many people in Japan, including myself, it’s the first working day of the year.

This will be a busy week. Tomorrow, a team of electricians and tradespeople descend on my studio to install new wiring, so all my non-Japanese audio equipment can work properly. Then, on Thursday, the acoustic design specialists come in and install the sonic treatments to improve the sound of the studio and setup some custom made power balancers I’ll be using to run all the studio’s gear.

In this and many other ways I’m starting the year by picking up where I left off in 2013. In fact, there’s a theme running through most of my plans for January and February, a kind of alternative New Year’s Resolution; finish in 2014 what I started in 2013.

After all, 2013 was a year of disruption, after relocating from Singapore to Tokyo, or to use a football cliche, it was a game of two halves. The first, was one of the most creatively productive seasons I’ve had in years. The second, all about the messy everyday reality of adjusting to life in a new town, complete with plenty of disruptions and new experiences.

Right now, I’m feeling thrilled about living here in Tokyo and enjoying the cool winter weather. I’m loving the anonymity that comes with being in a new city, the freedom of having near complete control of my schedule and the ability to dream broadly and perhaps outrageously about what shape the rest of the year might take.

And, I hope, wherever you find yourself right now, in the depths of winter, the searing heat of summer, or somewhere in between (yes, that’s you Hong Kong and Singapore), you find a little time this week to dream about where your work can take you this year, or how you can find more meaning in what you do with your days.