Welcome to 2013, and Happy New Year! And with every New Year comes the laundry list of resolutions that generally don’t make it past the end of the month. According to Digital Spy, the top 5 resolutions are:

1. Read more books
2. Save more money
3. Lose weight
4. Redecorate
5. Take better photos

Granted, this was from a poll taken by LA Fitness, so the sample might have been skewed/biased based on the population surveyed (people that attend a gym), but you get the idea. The whole list is here, and many of the usual suspects can be found. Personally, I’m not one for New Year’s Resolutions—at least not traditional ones.

However, I do think that broadcasting New Year’s Resolutions are a GREAT idea. While it might make more sense to come up with a resolution prior to the start of a new season in your sport(s) that you call, I don’t think there’s anything wrong by coming up with a  “New Year’s Resolution” for your play-by-play at the start of a new calendar year.

Like any kind of change, personal or professional, I’ve found that the best way to succeed is to find one or two things that need to be addressed, then work on those areas for a set period of time, and then assess your level of success. During that time, you should be very focused on ensuring that you work on these areas of change, because change takes time to implement, and it’s often easy to fall back on routine (which could mean bad behaviors in play-by-play if you’re trying to improve on something in your call).

I’ve picked three “resolutions” for broadcasting in 2013:

1. Add written critiques into my self-review of air checks
2. Secure an agent
3. Pick up some extra freelance work (sort of tied w/#2 above)

In regards to my first resolution, this is something that I will be able to start on right away. I do listen frequently to my work, and I am often my worst critic. However, I do not generally write down notes and come up with action items to work on the areas that I see to be most deficient. That’s not to say I do not notice areas of improvement to work on, but I know I can see faster (and consistent) results if I am more regimented in my self-critique, so this will be an area I will strive to resolve in 2013.

The bottom two “resolutions” are more long-term projects that I will be engaging through the course of the year, and honestly, are both objectives that I’ve been working on before the end of 2012. Finding time however during the hockey season is always a challenge when trying to balance my freelance broadcast life against my family and my full-time job. Maintaining a work/life balance is always a difficult challenge for any of us in broadcasting.

What are your broadcasting related resolutions for 2013 (assuming you have them)? I’ll leave the comments open for all to share.