Goals for 2015

Hey, everyone. It’s a week into 2015, and it just so happens that one of my resolutions is to put more effort into this blog. So expect a post every other week or so. It may be a bit slow the next couple months, as I broke my hand and its going to take some time to heal.

Besides that, though, I have a list of goals for 2015. I think it’s going to be a very exciting year, I have a career to look forward to and I’m living downtown in San Francisco, which is a beautiful city. With the current weather in Chicago being what it is, I can certainly appreciate how sunny it is here.

So 2015 is looking like I’m definitely an adult now and its time for me to be a productive member of society. So here are is a list of my main goals for this year.

Goals for 2015 #

I’m going to go through these one by one, and talk about why they are important to me.

Get a Job #

This is kind of obvious, I just completed the curriculum at App Academy, which has been a very exciting chapter of my life. I met a lot of great people, and learned a lot, as well as picked up some great skills in a field I love. The next step is to obtain full time employment.

By the way, if you happen to be reading this and are looking to hire a Rails and Backbone developer, feel free to email me at Quasimonomial@gmail.com

Write 750 Words a Day without missing a single day #

750 Words is a neat little site that I’ve been using on and off for a couple years. The idea is to write 750 words a day, on anything- this comes out to about three pages. There are a couple reasons I do this. I feel this helps me both be a better writer and lets me type faster, and it helps me to sit down every day and just complete something. This is a nice habit that makes me take some time out of my day for self reflection

I have over 150k words on this site total, which I consider an accomplishment. I also have not continuously maintained a habit for a whole year, so this is something that would be an awesome accomplishment- the best I’ve gotten before was 186 days on 750 words, so I should be able to do 365.

Keep Track of my Habits, and be serious about maintaining them #

The one thing I’ve really seen help me succeed has been tracking things. I fell off a few habits during App Academy, and I’d like to get them back on track. I do 750 Words like I mentioned, but I also want to continue tracking my sleep, writing something creative every day (even if its small!), doing progress check-ins with my friend Ben Yu, and making sure I floss. (I’ve been terrible at remembering to floss since forever, much to the chagrin of my dentist.)

To help with this, Chains is a neat little habit app I used to keep track of these things. As long as I check it once a day, I tend to remember to do everything I’m supposed to. I recommend using it or something similar. Tracking whatever habits I want to pick up this year is so important, because its the only way I have found that gets them ingrained in me enough that I can actually do them.

Get out of debt. #

A lot of people have student debt. I’m one of them, and I also have a small amount of credit card debt. I hate carrying debt, its not something I want to do for any length of time- this year I want to make sure I budget to get debt free.

Continue to be frugal and track my money and spending #

I’m going to be a web developer in San Francisco. As a young professional, its kind of inevitable that I’m going to have a bit of a dramatic increase in wealth. The trap, of course, is spending it all - this ties back in with the item above. It’s very important to me that I plan for my financial future, so that requires getting into good habits early. I’m going to make sure that I keep track of my spending and that I live below my means for this year and beyond. I’ll also see where my money goals and be able to identify problem areas.

Write a novel of at least 50,000 words #

I’ve always wanted to do National Novel Writers Month but with App Academy being what it was that was completely untenable this November.

More than that, I’ve been talking about writing a novel since Freshman Year of High School to anyone that would listen, so I think its time that I actually sit down and do it. I think 50,000 is a fair goal, though I freely admit it’s completely arbitrary- I just picked what NaNoWriMo uses to classify a novel.

Get through Rosen’s Discrete Mathematics book #

I hate to admit this because I suck and failed, but for 2014 I had a bet with Ben Yu that I would get through this Discrete Mathematics book. I had $300 on the line, and completely dropped the ball. I have a bunch of excuses and reasons, of course, but the truth is I failed to consistently prioritize it. Which is a damn shame, because I find the subject fascinating. It also pertains a lot to algorithms and other things I’m working with as a programmer, so I plan to go back and put effort in to finish it up.

Build a Roguelike #

This is Nethack. Go play Nethack, its great.

Roguelikes are historically ASCII-based roleplaying games, and I think they are a lot of fun. I have an idea for a silly little roguelike I’d like to build with some friends, because I’ll learn a lot in the process.

I’m sure its a good thing to have extra career programming to keep yourself passionate or something, but honestly this one is just for fun.

Play a Long Term Tabletop Game #

This one is just for fun, too. I’ve always wanted to play some type of roleplaying game, preferably not D&D (I am not the best fan of the rule-set). I kind of get this is something that I’ll need to put a bit of effort into to make sure I have a good time. It should be very rewarding.

This one is for after I get a job.

Get Fit #

So I hate my body because I let go for a few weeks, and I was doing so well this summer. I’m kind of unable to do too much exercise at the moment, so its important I watch what I eat for the next few weeks.

I don’t have any super specific fitness goals, except to get back to being able to run a 5k without stopping, as well as bench 75% of my weight. I want to loose ten pounds (or at least get my BMI to a nicer percentage) and get back down to 170.

I have a gym membership, so this is mostly a matter of making sure I go 3-4 times a week and actually working out as much as I reasonable can while I’m there.

What’s awesome is that App Academy is full of ridiculously fit nerds, so I’m surrounded by people who make me want to go and lift heavy things.

Learn to cook Cheaply, Healthily, and Deliciously #

I found these last few months that I actually love to cook, and the things I like - stir frying veggies and lots of eggs- are decently cheap. I think with clever uses of spices and careful selection of ingredients means I can eat a variety of healthy food and not spend too much. I want to learn a few different dishes I like to cook and expand beyond the varieties of stir fry I’ve been playing with.

I’m using this blog post as a model when choosing groceries, it’s a great read.

Focus on the Friendships in my life #

I’ve met some awesome people in 2014, you know who you are. I’m sure that I’ll continue to meet awesome people in San Francisco.

I think, however, I’ve made myself a bit of a hermit, these last few months have been stressful on me. The people in my life are important to me, as is keeping in touch. So this year I’ll make more of an effort to keep track of my Midwest friends and family.

I think people take friendships a bit for granted, but I think they do require effort to maintain over time- without effort, they wither and die. I think I’ve not been keeping this in mind, and in 2014 I’ve not quite been as concerned about this as I should be, which is a shame. I’ve lost track of some of you. So part of 2015 is going to be keeping in touch with all the awesome people that I’ve had the pleasure of meeting through my life.

I think that’s about it. 2015 is going to be an exciting year, and I’ve got a full plate. It’s going to be the first year, hopefully, of my having a real adult job and that’s both exciting and terrifying. Its going to be a wild ride.

 
6
Kudos
 
6
Kudos

Now read this

Reflection on 2015 Goals

I’ve been putting this off. I had a bunch of goals that I posted publicly; of course, after a year, it’s only right I say how it went. Here goes. I will admit that I am a bit apprehensive about this; thing did not go as well as I hoped.... Continue →