Earlier this year, I made four major commitments to myself and picked my word of the year: create. We passed the quarter-year mark a few weeks ago, so I decided to evaluate my progress so far on my word and commitments.

In an effort to be transparent about my progress and be held publicly accountable for my commitments, I’m sharing a few snippets of that self-evaluation here.

A commitment to smiles.

My first commitment for the year was to continue to strive to make at least one person smile every day. I feel as though I’ve been largely successful on that front: I may not have succeeded in making one person smile every day, but I surely have tried.

This exercise, however, has brought some perspective. I’ve often been accused of trying too hard, putting too much on the line for the sake of arousing some kind of emotional response. This has often backfired. I am now slowly being more cognizant of the impact that my actions are having on others — that while everyone may need a reason to smile, not everyone wants you to be that reason. It’s a humbling proposition, but one that will definitely help me pursue this commitment into the next quarter of the year.

A commitment to learning.

My second commitment for the year was to embrace change and learn from new experiences and encounters. I have had no shortage of change and new experiences this year: moving to a new city, new job, and essentially a new style of living seem like small changes in light of the other new encounters and experiences I have had in the past three months.

Learning from change, however, is not an easy task. There are times when new experiences shake the very core of your moral framework, of your ethos. Sometimes, the best way to grasp the learning that comes from this change is to step back and give yourself time to digest. While I feel like I have taken some good steps in embracing change and using it as a learning tool, I know I have a long way to go on this front.

A commitment to confidence.

My third commitment for the year was to approach any opportunity with positivity, courage, and resolve. I’ve always been one to keep a relatively positive demeanor, but I’ll be honest: I’m not always the most confident guy when it comes to certain matters in life. This year so far, my courage and resolve really haven’t been any better than they have been in the past — perhaps even worse.

I’ve got a lot of work to do on the confidence side, but I’m doing well on staying positive. What I have learned, however, is that in order to really, truly feel positive, you need to embrace negativity as well. Not every day will be a perfect day, not every encounter will be a productive one, and not every relationship will be a fruitful one. You’ve got to let yourself be sad, upset, or angry from time to time to be able to step back after a while and look at the goodness in the larger situation.

A commitment to creativity.

My final commitment for the year was to push myself to create things that provide value to the world around me. This was also the impetus for choosing “create” as my guiding word for the year. You may not know this, but I’ve been on a creating frenzy over the past three months. I’ve been writing, crafting, making, editing, splicing, mashing things up on a daily basis. I’ve taken my guiding word and made it an obsession.

The question, however, is this: am I creating value? Many of the things I do never get seen by anyone but me. The cross-stitching experiment? Hidden away in a closet. The birdfeeder I built? Now in the trash. The many stories I’ve written on scraps of paper? Lost. Somewhere. How is this creating value to the world around me? Even the things I share don’t necessarily have value — does anyone really care about my stories of silly encounters in the rain? Probably not. I’ve been creating, but I have not necessarily been creating value.

This is where I need your help. What can I create — within my limited talent and capacity, of course — that would provide value to you? Drop me an email or Twitter reply or leave a comment and let me know. Better yet, tell me in person so I can truly understand how I can make your world a better place.

That is, after all, where the impetus to create comes from: to leave the world a better place before I leave. I’d love your help in making that possible.

(The stunning photos in this post are by Cristoph, Andrew Stawarz, Hartwig HKD, and Frederica Atecht’nefott. Click on the photos to go directly to the photo pages on Flickr.)