Hey there! I know I don’t blog enough (see below), and that’s sad. However, I did think it would be nice to quickly write up a post with some quick goals for 2015 for my own reference, and maybe to inspire some others! I’d like to be able to come back next year and see how well I did.

Work/Life Balance:

This is the main focus for next year. While 2014 was an awesome year for my work life, I took a lot of time out of my personal life to make time for too many (but all great) projects. This year I’m going to try and be a lot better about taking time for myself, shutting the lid on the computer, and learning to better split up life/work time. With the new office, I hope this becomes easier. I’m hoping to maybe get up early, work out, go to the office, put in a “regular” workday, and come home to work on my own stuff, or just do nothing, and then go to sleep at a reasonable hour. In the last month or so I’ve started to get used to this schedule, and it’s been hard, but I’ve had so many less migraines by having a steady sleep schedule.

Be more active and spend more time outdoors:

I’m not “overweight”, but I also am not as active or physically fit as I could be, and I sure as hell can’t see my abs.

In the middle of last year I signed up at my local CrossFit Box and I’ve actually really enjoyed it. It pushes me further than I ever thought I would go, and the community is very tight and really supportive. I gained almost 20 pounds of muscle in the first few months of being there and I’ve gotten so much stronger that I noticed my posture has really improved. Working at the standing desk and not slouching while sitting is so much easier now! That said, I had to cut down to one day a week because of all the work I had, and I’d like to be able to bump that back up to two days a week so I can kick more butt! I take the occasional run with the dog, and I’d also like to amp that up. I’d like to either go to CrossFit or on a run at least every other day. Hana just started Yoga, so maybe I’ll go to that every once in a while too.

I also used to do a lot of road cycling, and I’d like to be able to bike to the office more, and take more time on the weekends to go on longer rides with my friends. I also have a few friends and clients trying to get me into mountian biking, and I really need to try it at least once, maybe I’ll get hooked.

Lastly, I live in Western North Carolina, and I need to go camping more often because it’s so beautiful here! I know I need to keep that in mind and maybe take a few weekend trips this year going “unplugged” with the dogs and Hana.

Blog more:

I forget how much I enjoy blogging until I actually start doing it. I really, really enjoy talking and why not do it on the internet because everyone cares so much? There are at least 5 unpublished drafts sitting on this blog with some pretty good content and probably another 10+ topic ideas in my head. I really need to just make time at the end of the week to re-cap something I learned or want to share. Last year I told myself that I’d blog at least once a month, and failed. I think if I up that frequency to twice a month, it might actually happen?

Travel:

Hana and I went to Europe (Spain, France and Italy) after we graduated high school and had an amazing time. While we tend to be people who also love staying home on the couch watching Buffy, Star Trek, Arrested Development or The Office and hanging out with the dogs, we need a break from it all sometimes and just go somewhere! So I’m hoping that this year we’ll be able to take another trip outside the USA.

There are a few conferences I plan on attending this year, including WordCamp Atlanta, WordCamp Asheville, and Converge SE, but maybe there are a few others I could attend. Anyone have any ideas?

Work smarter, not harder:

This year I worked too hard. I would never take 2014 back because I had the chance to work on some amazing projects with some amazing people but the volume of work I did and the hours I put in is pretty crazy. This year I’m going to be making an effort to learn to say “No” to some jobs that won’t directly advance my skill set or be something I’m interested in. With client projects this year, I’d like to focus on the jobs I do with my new business partner and friend, Corey Bullman, with our new Creative Agency, Craftpeak. We worked on some projects in 2014 that were amazing and helped us realize the type of work we think we’re best at. It’s going to be great.

For the work I don’t take, I’m going to try to do my best to refer people to skilled locals that might be a good fit. I’d also like to remain a resource for those locals who I refer, and if they have questions or need some help, I’d like to be able to give back so that they can advance their skill set, and keep those clients happy!

Give back to the community:

Taking time off of “work work” doesn’t mean that I can’t spend some more time working on things that benefit the local, open-source, or WordPress community. Starting this month I will be teaching a beginner HTML/CSS after school class once a week at Asheville Middle School, as part of the IRL (In Real Life) program. I was also recently added to the Roots dev team, and hope to spend time contributing to that project in any way I can. Of course, I’ll be on the organizing team for WordCamp Asheville 2015, and I’m really excited to see how we can make it even better than the last one.

Anyways…

I tend to be a bit ambitious sometimes with my goals, and I think that’s ok. I’m sure I’ll do the best I can to meet and/or exceed some, or all of these goals.

Cheers to a new year!