A buddy and I had a ridiculous idea at 4pm Wednesday to create a simple site to collect new year's resolutions.<p>http://www.myresolutionis.com<p>We went from "dude, I've got this idea" to a fully-functioning production site in less than 20 man-hours (we still had to work our "real jobs" in the middle) thanks to the hacker community:<p>* A Linode credit from an AppSumo bundle from a few weeks ago - server solved.<p>* Ruby on Rails & FB Connect gems - back end framework solved.<p>* The HTML5 boilerplate & jQuery - front end framework solved.<p>* StackOverflow - "issues" solved.<p>Actual cost-to-date: $10 for the domain name registration.<p>The hacker community wins again!<p>PS, here's my resolution list: http://www.myresolutionis.com/jeff<p>edit: title for clarification :)
In 2009 I lost 50 lbs.<p>In 2010 I lost ANOTHER 50 lbs.<p>In 2011 I'm going to lose the final 50.<p>(...yes, obviously, I was pretty overweight to start with!).<p>I payed off my mortgage last year. This year I'd like to pay off my HELOC.<p>I took up guitar last year, and practiced for 45 minutes per day. Going to continue that, and upload a video of me playing one memorized song per month.<p>I've got a dozen more resolutions - most are SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely). Most are of the form "do 1 X per Y".<p>I've been making a list of candidates in a personal wiki all year long, and will spend some time later today figuring out which ones make the cut.
My goals for 2011:<p>Globally launch my new business book: <a href="http://personalmba.com/personal-mba-book-launch/" rel="nofollow">http://personalmba.com/personal-mba-book-launch/</a><p>Speak at SXSW, Authors@Google, and the RSA.<p>Start conducting live business training every few months in Fort Collins, Colorado.<p>Spend more time on physical fitness, including biking, pull-ups, burpees, and dips. (Sorely lacking while writing the book.)<p>Spend less time working, and more time relaxing and playing with my new daughter.
2010 was a pretty good year, professionally speaking. I think in 2011, my resolutions will be more personal: I'm going to try my best to bury the hatchet with those I have fallen out with over the years, and basically be a good guy.
In 2010 I lost close to 40 lbs, got my body fat down to 12%. ( <a href="http://paulstamatiou.com/programmers-startup-diet-how-i-lost-35-pounds" rel="nofollow">http://paulstamatiou.com/programmers-startup-diet-how-i-lost...</a> )<p>In 2011 I'm going to gain 15+ lbs of muscle.<p>Also going to get some of my finances in order. While I have a very limited startup income, I at least need to fix up the IRA/etc accounts I've been sitting on for a few years and not really doing anything with.<p>And more reading. Losing weight and reading more was on my agenda last year and I picked up a kindle and read everything from psychology books to finance and enjoyed it.
- Learn to build acoustic guitars, seriously jonesing to work with my hands more.<p>- Publish my next book on uncertainty, art and entrepreneurship<p>- Reanimate my digital publishing and book marketing brand<p>- Continue to be present with my wife and daughter<p>- Grow my revenue base via commoditized knowledge and speaking<p>- Enjoy what I've got when it happens.
Somewhat related while we're on the subject of resolutions: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2055937" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2055937</a> "Tell HN: New Year Resolutions? Shorter Iterations Needed"
I don't have any resolutions but it would be great to have the homepage randomly show resolutions others have made. For example, "XXX's New Year's resolutions include YYY. (Click to see more)"
In a nutshell, I need to make myself, my interests, and my life more of a priority. I tend to be a yes-man who helps everyone and anyone, then at the end of the day find I have no time left for myself and my own endeavours.<p>I'm happy to say I lost 50 lbs about 4 years ago and have gained very little of it back.<p>I need to<p>- Get enough sleep on a regular basis<p>- Hit the gym more often<p>- Fire some of my clients who are PITAs<p>- Travel more<p>- Balance my time better<p>- Knock more things off my life bucket list. This year I went snowmobiling and skydiving, woot :)
In 2010 I decided to fully focus only on what truly matters to me and became a music producer (<a href="http://soundcloud.com/alxander" rel="nofollow">http://soundcloud.com/alxander</a>) I wake up happy every morning and go to sleep excited about the next day, every single day.<p>In 2011 I'm going to keep cutting my path while plowing through pressures to commercialize my ideas.
- Increase revenue on <a href="http://onlineslangdictionary.com/" rel="nofollow">http://onlineslangdictionary.com/</a> by 100%.<p>- <i>Tremendously</i> increase work-life balance. Exercise. Pursue a hobby. Watch TV/movies somewhere other than at my computer desk. Take the weekends off unless I'm very eager to work.
-Get my first iPhone app published (So close right now!)<p>- Get my second iPhone app published<p>- Find a job before I graduate in April<p>- Maintain my website better, and try to blog interesting coding discoveries when I find them<p>- Improve my Javascript abilities<p>- Overall: Be 'Better' ( <a href="http://www.merlinmann.com/better" rel="nofollow">http://www.merlinmann.com/better</a> )
It's not that interesting, but my sleep habits have been pretty poor in 2010. My resolution for 2011 is to be in bed by 1AM every single day, and to be up at 8AM on every non-weekend day.
(linkbait?) I listed my targets for this year at <a href="http://blog.kapilkaisare.info/priore-anno-anno-ante" rel="nofollow">http://blog.kapilkaisare.info/priore-anno-anno-ante</a>
- lose some of the excess fat on my body<p>- make more time in my life for the people i love<p>- take up a physically exerting, mentally calming hobby<p>- generate more income<p>- constrain spending<p>- position myself to leave the country for more than 50% of 2012