Johnny Boy Marketing

Circles are interesting things. They have no beginning and no end. They just keep going around and around and around.

And yet we set Jan. 1 as the day to mark the start of our journey around the sun, a journey we measure so incredibly poorly that we have to add an entire extra day once every four years. If we decided the new year began on, say, March 28, we’d still complete the same revolution around our life-supporting star in the same amount of time. But doing that would just be weird.

So I look to Jan. 1 and say, “There’s some stuff I want to get done during this next orbit, and if we’re going to declare that a circle has a start and an end, well, Jan. 1 is as good a day as any other to kick off this journey.”

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Below are my intentions for 2022. I go into this knowing full well I likely won’t get all 100 things done … and that I’ll do quite a few things not on this list. There also are a few things at the end of the list that even I — a guy who lives his life very publicly — am not willing to share. You’ll just have to trust me when I tell you I either did or didn’t do them.

If you had to categorize my list, I’d say it breaks down into roughly six themes.

1. Stuff I want to do.
2. Stuff I want to experience.
3. Ways I’m going to take care of myself.
4. Career and financial aspirations.
5. Home stuff.
6. Stretch goals.

Some of these goals scare the crap out of me. The thought of actually doing improv is so far out of my comfort zone I can’t even see it.

Some of these goals make me smile, like the thought of getting an autograph from Jennifer Lawrence that says, “I like John better than you, Josh.”

Many of these goals, like the JLaw one, won’t make sense to the average reader right now. That’s OK. I’ll explain some of them as I go along.

What does success look like for me with this list? It’s not checking off a certain number or any specific number. In truth, I’m not sure exactly what success looks like. Perhaps it’s just being around at the end of the revolution around the sun to take a look back at the list. “These Unprecedented Times” have taught us life is extremely fragile and can be snuffed out by an unseen enemy coming from a bat in China.

But I think perhaps success the ability to look back at the list in last December 2022 and be able to say, “2022 mattered.”

Without further ado…

In 2022, I Will …

1. Go on 52 dates with CC.
2. Go to a Yankees/Cardinals game.
3. Go to a minor league baseball game.
4. Rent a sports car or muscle car for a day.
5. Go to a concert.
6. Play cornhole.
7. Play washers.
8. Play lawn golf.
9. Go to a boxing match.
10. Go on a family scavenger hunt.
11. See license plates from all 50 states.
    1. STUPID RHODE ISLAND!
12. Get a new tattoo.
13. Dress as Slash for Halloween.
14. Go skiing.
15. Scooter through STL.
16. Go to Ikea.
17. Go to five thrift/second-hand stores.
18. Go to a museum.
19. Discover a new park.
20. Attend a stand-up comedy event.
21. Go to dinner with a friend.
22. Bet at least $50 on a sports contest.
23. Go to a WLW wrestling event.
24. Start a collection of something.
25. Go on a float trip with CC.
26. Walk around an old cemetery.
27. Go on a C4 float trip.
28. Take Joey fishing.
29. Cook something authentic from another country.
30. Get Uber Eats delivered
31. Eat in three new restaurants.
32. Cook a complicated meal with CC.
33. Take Jonah on an overnight trip.
34. Go on a long-weekend writer’s retreat.
35. Have a weekend planning/dreaming retreat with CC.
36. Read five books.
37. Play D&D three out of every four times the party plays.
38. Get a box of good cigars.
39. Take enough photos to have a photo of the week for 52 weeks.
40. Get a bottle of bourbon that’s on the “best of 2021” or “2022” list.
41. Grow something edible.
42. Create a college football bowl pool with a traveling trophy.
43. Start the Waffle House Fantasy Baseball League.
44. Grow the house sale money.
45. Refer a real estate client to our team and have their house sold.
46. Buy something to make working from home better/more comfortable.
47. Pick up a freelance marketing side gig.
48. Update my website monthly with my latest work.
49. Buy crypto.
50. Learn Adobe Illustrator better.
51. Get new pants that fit now that I’ve lost weight.
52. Sell or give away 100 copies of my books.
53. Get at least two professional beard trims/head shaves.
54. Get a monthly massage.
55. Do a float every quarter.
56. Stay off all non-work social media for a week.
57. Get a new, longer yoga mat.
58. Go to restorative yoga 52 times.
59. Meditate daily, a minimum of five minutes.
60. Keep my new healthy eating habits and maintain my weight.
61. Host a monthly movie night.
62. Do a daily digital detox from 7 to 9 p.m.
63. Do a weekly digital detox 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Saturday or Sunday.
64. Get into and stay in the 99th percentile on Lumosity.
65. Take care of a pet.
66. Write down my top 5 accomplishments from each month.
67. Don’t hit my medical deductible.
68. Figure out and remember my blood type.
69. Update my will.
70. Create and keep bags in my car to the help the homeless.
71. Donate or throw away at least 20 things.
72. Give someone an anonymous gift each month.
73. Create a screened-in-porch oasis.
74. Create with Jonah his new bedroom.
75. Complete a new home repair project.
76. Create a baseball card wall in my office.
77. Tell Alana Gwinner’s story.
78. Write, edit and complete a short story (1 of 3)
79. Write, edit and complete a short story (2 of 3)
80. Write, edit and complete a short story (3 of 3)
81. Edit/rewrite my Popcorn Whipstein book.
82. Start compiling “QF and the Compound Kids” into a book.
83. Write my obituary.
84. Try to get something I write/wrote published.
85. Continue to blog regularly.
86. Create a 2022 memories journal of ticket stubs, etc.
87. Write a letter to 60-year-old me to be opened on that birthday.
88. Watch season 5 of Better Call Saul.
89. Watch the rest of The Walking Dead.
90. Watch a classic film from the 1940s, 1950s or 1960s.
91. Watch the John Wick movies.
92. Get a personalized Jennifer Lawrence autograph and stick it to Josh.
93. Take an improv class.
94. PRIVATE
95. PRIVATE
96. PRIVATE
97. PRIVATE
98. Make an anniversary video for CC.
99. Rent a Jeep for CC to drive for a day.
100. Plan/go on a 25th anniversary trip

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So there you have it … one hundred intentions for the year we’re going to call twenty-twenty-two. Time to get crackin’. Updates to follow…

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