14 Goals for 2014

Everyone seems to be writing about their goals and resolutions for the new year. I find goal is a better word than resolution as goals sound more measurable. An a example resolution could go something like ‘I must do better at this thing’, a goal would be ‘I must do this task’. My wife and I have decided to set ourselves 14 goals for 2014, so here are my 7.

Maintain a Blog

I have had a blog since April 2012 and written 4 blog posts. Writing is not my most favourite task which is why I think I have only written a few posts. So by writing at least one post a month for the next year I hope my writing skills will improve.

Contribute to an OSS Project

Last year I migrated my blog from Octopress to Sandra.Snow (blog post to follow). In that process I made a small pull request to the Sandra.Snow project, this was also my first contribution to any OSS project. This year I am going to get more involved with an OSS project, whether that is Sandra or some other project that interests me.

Learn a new Programming Language (or two)

The Pragmatic Programmer says,

Learn at least one new language every year. Different languages solve the same problems in different ways. By learning several different approaches, you can help broaden your thinking and avoid getter struck in a rut.

And in a step towards being a Polyglot Programmer, I have decided to master the interpreted languages Javascript and Ruby. Both I have used in the past, but I don’t have an in depth knowledge of either. My Javascript experience has pretty much been JQuery, Knockout and a smattering of fairly basic functions. When i was “maintaining” my blog in Octopress I picked up a little Ruby, and I started working through the http://ruby.railstutorial.org sample app.

Talk at Community Events

With some of the goals and projects I have got planned for this year, I should be able to share my experiences with the community. I am not aiming for conferences such as NDC or any of the DDD events, but more local user groups.

Finish all my Projects

I have a few half finished side projects, ranging from a face tracking web cam to a budget calculator. This year I will finish them, preferably before I start anything else.

Get Fit (again)

Since changing jobs and the arrival of my first child, I have hardly been to the gym or out running and have been slowly piling on the pounds. I am hoping getting fit again wont be much of a challenge as it is something I used to do regularly, so I am going to compete in a race, but not just any race, the 10k Wild Warrior Obstacle Race 12 mile Tough Mudder Obstacle Race.

Start Climbing (again)

You would think living in Yorkshire and being a keen climber I would go climbing regularly… No! I left university six years ago and the number of times I have been out climbing since, I could count on one hand. My goal here is to go climbing at least once a month and before the year is out lead a climb outdoors.

2013 was a great year for me, lets hope 2014 will be just as good for us all.