Last year I set myself the relatively ambitious target of completing 30 goals in 2013. Whilst I didn't complete all of them I did achieve a lot and found it great motivation so this year I'm scaling it back a bit and setting myself less - but maybe more challenging - goals.
Lifestyle
- Walk 1,000,000 steps - I got a FitBit Flex for Christmas so I'm suddenly aware of how many steps I'm taking. In order to make 2014 more active than it's predecessor I'm going to try to take over a million steps.
- Run a half marathon - Last year I tasked myself with completing a marathon and I failed miserably. This was simply down to not having the time to invest in the training required. I've decided to be a little more realistic this year and go for a half marathon.
- Take my wife on a date every week - This is a really important one. It's far too easy to get caught up with work and hobbies and forget about your loved ones. There were a number of things I didn't achieve last year; such as going to the theatre, going to a gig and going to a comedy show. These are all things I want to treat my wife to in 2014.
- Have 31 consecutive days without alcohol - I think it is important to rid yourself of things you do on a regular basis. I did this last year and really enjoyed it however me and my wife are going to a vineyard for a few days from tomorrow; hence the careful wording of this one.
- Buy a house - Not a small goal at all but one we hope to achieve before then end of the year.
- Drink 100 different beers - Last year I made my own beer. This year I want to sample the best there is to offer. I'm tracking my progress using untappd so you can see how I am getting on here.
- Play at a gig - Although I am glad I didn't pursue a career in music I am still a musician, OK drummer, at heart.
Tech
- Talk at a conference - I spoke at a user group last year and loved it so this year I am hoping to take it to a larger audience.
- Author my own OSS project - I have a couple of OSS projects I am working on but I want to create something for the development community. It's early days yet but I really like the idea of a handlebars.js view engine for Nancy and MVC.
- Learn a new programming language - This is another that has spilt over from last year. The pragmatic programmer says you should learn a new programming language every year to broaden your knowledge so perhaps I should learn two.
- Become a main contributor to a large OSS project - I really agree with the open source movement and want to contribute more of my time to it.
- Make money from a product - This one is more selfish than the last but I have always given my personal products away for free. I'm not so concerned about making a large amount of money from any of them, it's more that I want to make something that someone is willing to pay for.
- Blog every fortnight - I've been blogging once a month since it went live and I'm pretty comfortable with it. That means I need to do more.
- Get StackOverflow score to over 1,000 - I use stack overflow most days at work but I don't contribute back nearly enough. I know a score 1,000 isn't anything to shout about, it's more that I feel I need to give back.
Here's to a productive 2014!