New Year's Early

It's 2am on New Year's Day, and beginning at midnight until 1:30am, I greeted my family and friends, toasting in the new year. From 1:30am to 2am, I did some billable work on the computer.

Yes, from 1:30am to 2am, I worked.

Why?

One year I heard that the famous baseball catcher, Mike Piazza, to get a head start on everyone else, celebrated the new year by going to the batting cage to practice his swing. Mike Piazza holds the record for most home runs hit by a catcher, holds a record 10 consecutive times to win the Louisville Silver Slugger Award, and is on his way to the baseball Hall of Fame. I decided to follow his example one year, and have been doing it ever since.

Another reason I worked a half hour now is so that I'll have a half hour less to work for the rest of this year. I figured I had some energy left tonight, so I worked. Plus I get a head start on everyone else.

A third reason goes back to my teenage years, where I, full of angst and self-doubt, celebrated one New Year's Eve locked up in my bedroom, not talking to anyone, having that feeling of helplessness and "What's the use?" running through my mind.

Now, I take my business partner's advice, "If you don't like it, do something about it."

I want to have a better year than last year, so I do something about it. I want to begin the new year already having accomplished something, so I do something about it. I want to further empower myself this year, and so I do something about it. Early.

Here's the Mike Piazza article:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/
mi_m1208/is_n17_v219/ai_16862082

Snippet from the article:

"Do you know where he was on New Year's Eve? He was in a basement batting cage, swinging at pitch after pitch, perspiring profusely, and he couldn't have cared less about Dick Clark and Times Square."