Well, I’ll be honest, 2017 is already getting off to an amazing start but that doesn’t mean there isn’t anything I want to achieve this year.

However, my new job has a big impact on all of this and some of my goals for this year are simply to continue existing things, but finding where to fit them around my new role.

Anyway, here are my goals…

• Work well. Only the 2nd job I’ll have had in 28 years as an adult and I’m damn excited about it. This is my priority and anything else is secondary.
• Lose weight. My diet isn’t too bad but it could be better. However, exercise is the key here. Now I’m not sat in the middle of an industrial park, getting out during the day should be a lot easier and I intend to make the most of it.
• Eat better. Unrelated to the diet, I want to ear better. I’ve already, for various reasons, changed my diet over the last year, reducing red meat, cheese and bread (the latter definitely seems to not like me at the moment). For this reason I want to have more veggie-only days, that way I can enjoy meat even more when I can have it (there’s always a method in any of my madness).
• Help more. With my new flexible work hours I want to give some time to my youngest daughter’s school. They need more male role models to help out during the week and this is certainly something I want to help with.
• Learn OO. Matt Mullenwegg has already challenged those involved with WordPress to “learn JavaScript, deeply” but my issue with JavaScript has already been its Object Orientation. Being an old-fashioned procedural programming kind-of-guy, it’s the biggest hurdle for me. So, rather than learn JavaScript (and struggle) my goal is to learn OO, mainly via PHP, and then advance to JavaScript.
• Keep developing! I don’t want my plugin development to stop so I want to try and find the time to continue this across the year. Indeed, I think continuing to keep “my hand in” with development will ensure I remain focused and knowledgeable on WordPress at a technical level and only enhance my role capabilities.
• Attend WordCamps. I’ve already got a ticket for WCEU but I want to do more – again, I’m not yet sure how this will work around my new job but is something I want to do more about.
• Listen to Podcasts. I already do but I do so when sat in the car, commuting too and from work each day. When that commute ends, I need to find the time to continue to listen to them. I can ditch the less relevant ones, but most of what I listen too are science and mathematical, and improving my knowledge is something I want to continue with. Hopefully I should be able to combine this with the “lose weight” goal, where I listen to them whilst “out and about”.

I’m hopeful that none of these will be too taxing to achieve and so, unlike many New Years resolutions, these are achievable. At the same time it’s always worth publicly stating what your aims are, if only to ensure you make whatever steps are required to ensure that they do happen. I guess we’ll find out in 2018 😉