Becoming
A One-Year Experiment in Living on Purpose
Becoming is a one-year experiment in intentional living, running from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. It isn't a self-help program, a coaching system, or a formula. It's one ordinary person, me, trying to live with more awareness, honesty, and purpose, one day at a time, and paying close attention to what that actually does to a real life.
Becoming
The Year That Didn’t End
Becoming grew out of the year I wrote about in 50 Things at 50. That year showed me what could happen when I stopped living on autopilot and started making choices on purpose. When it ended, a new question wouldn’t leave me alone: if one intentional year could change my life this much, what would happen if I chose to live that way every day? Becoming is my attempt to find out.
A Different Way of Paying Attention
Becoming, as I practice it, is not about fixing yourself or arriving at some finished version of your life. It’s about learning to notice what your days are actually made of, your habits, your reactions, your small choices, and then gently experimenting with living a little more honestly, a little more awake, in the middle of all of that.
The Parts of the Experiment
Right now, Becoming has three main parts:
• Monthly Field Notes: at the start of each month I post an honest account of what the previous one actually revealed, loosely organized around four ongoing practices: The Observer, The Four Phrases, Reason for Being, and Going With the Flow. The daily journal itself stays private; these notes are what I share publicly.
• The Field Manual: the evolving ideas and principles I’m discovering as I go, written down so I don’t pretend I knew them all along.
• Behind Becoming: a monthly letter from the middle of the journey, where I gather up what the last stretch has been teaching me and share it with you.
None of these are instructions. They’re simply the record of what I’m trying, what seems to help, and what I’m still unsure about.
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The Original Working Edition
Own it in print.
Before I began the Becoming experiment, I wrote a small field manual for myself.
It wasn't written as a commercial book.
It wasn't written for publication.
It was simply the guide I wanted beside me during this year, a collection of questions, reminders, practices, and ideas to help me live more intentionally.
As this experiment continues, I'm learning that some ideas work exactly as I expected, while others have changed because real life is always a better teacher than theory.
Rather than waiting until everything is finished, I'd like to share that original working edition with you.
If you'd like to walk through this journey alongside me, you're welcome to use the very same guide I'm using.
Think of it as the map I'm carrying, not the finished destination.
When the Becoming experiment concludes, I'll revise everything I've learned into a completely updated and expanded edition of the Becoming Field Manual.
That future edition will reflect an entire year of living these ideas instead of simply imagining them.
Until then, this original working edition is my gift to you.
The Original Working Edition of Becoming is the guide I want beside me during this journey.
If you'd like to hold it in your hands, write in the margins, highlight meaningful passages, and keep it as a working field manual, a professionally printed paperback is available.
Own It in Print
Paperback - 6 x 9
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