Jan 02 2011

This year I’m happy to report that I have much more upbeat plans than last year’s kind of sad post. With that said, here’s my 2011 goals:

• I want to work for other people 2 days per week on average for the year.
• I want to write something every day
• I want to keep building on the initial success that Hackety Hack’s 1.0 launch has brought. I’d like to get a new release out every month or so, with a 2.0 for Christmas 2011.
• I want to start exercising again. My current lifestyle is still too sedentary for my liking.
• I want to eat better.
• I want to start logging my activities every day.

Most of these are kinda standard. I used to go to the gym all the time, but I’ve never eaten healthily. Both of these things are going to become more important as I age, however, and so I’m starting to actually give them serious consideration.

Hackety Hack had an impressive 1.0 launch, but I have lots of work to do. Please check out the Hackety Hack blog tomorrow for a report on that. Basically, I now have a sizable userbase to attend to, and they’ve found a bunch of bugs that I need to iron out before starting to build more stuff.

The logging is an idea that I got from Sebastian Marshall. We’ve had some good conversation recently, and we talked briefly about the importance of measuring things. You can only improve things if you know what’s actually wrong… I’m going to be tracking the time that I do various activities, and seeing if I can improve. If I feel this is working, I’ll write about it in a month or so.

I’ve already made some progress on all of these, actually. Obviously, most of them can only truly be realized in a year’s time, but here’s what I’ve got going:

• I’ve got my logging set up going. I’m trying to figure out how to make it as unobtrusive as possible, but I think I have a good first run at it.
• I’ve got a set up for the work situation, and if all goes well, that should be accomplished. I originally thought I’d have to front-load a bit, but it seems like I’ll be doing this most of the year.
• Working that little will enable me to really accomplish my Hackety goals.
• Now that Maria is graduated, she’s got some time to cook things, and she’s also interested in eating better, and her habits are better than mine already. Hopefully this will lead to success.
• Logging should help keep my eyes on the prize for my exercise and writing goals.

So, that’s it! Good luck with your goals in the new year!