Now’s the time people are making resolutions for 2013 so I’m going to join the club. I’m publishing them publicly since that should help my motivation. I’m also calling them goals since a goal seems harder to abandon than a resolution. I’m hoping that having these goals be specific, however arbitrary, will also help me in achieving them.

Here goes:

• Run 1000 miles in 2013
  I’ve gotten out of shape over the past couple of months and that’s a bad place to be in the late 20s. I think it’s important to get good habits now since that will help me maintain my health as I get older. Not to mention that being in better physical health will improve my acuity.
• Write at least 2 blog posts a week
  The more I work with various people the more I realize the importance of communication. Writing doesn’t come easily to me and I spend the majority of time editing but I’m hoping that it’ll be easier by the end of 2013. And although writing is just one aspect of communication, improving that will lay a solid foundation for the others.
• Meet up with 2 old acquaintances each month
  Going from a company with hundreds of employees to working with a cofounder reduces the number of people you have contact with. By restoring my old relationships I’ll be able to connect with old friends and strengthen my network. Something I’ve learned over the past year of meeting with various folk in the NYC startup community is to end every meeting with an offer to help and I’m going to adopt that attitude as well.
• Develop 6 side projects
  This one’s here for a few reasons. One, I want to keep on improving and starting a project from scratch is a great way to work with new technologies and explore different approaches. There are many times that I want to go back to my existing code and rewrite it but why fix something that isn’t broken? Isn’t it better to put that energy into something new? Two, I want to give back to the community and putting these projects on GitHub will hopefully help someone. Three, this will just be a good outlet for when I need a break from the main gig. Four, I want to build my personal brand and having more more of my work publicly available will hopefully help.
• Start a hands-on hobby
  This one stems from a personal belief that I just need to do something with my hands since I spend so much time in front of the computer. This may end up being drawing, painting or woodworking but the goal is to find something that allows me create something physical and not digital. I’ve already dug up some colored pencils and drawing paper and am in the process of signing up for a woodworking class at a hands-on coworking space in Brooklyn called 3rd Ward.