Goodbye 2015. Hello 2016.

2015 was ok, but I’m more excited for 2016.  As I look forward, and not backward, there are still some things that I didn’t accomplish in 2015.  With the new year, comes some renewed focus but also some clarity.

For the past two years, I had some lofty goals that were never met, at all.  First of all, they were goals that were too big but also unrealistic.  This year, I still have some lofty goals but I’m breaking them into smaller chunks in order to reach them.

If you want to check out my New Year’s posts for the last two years, here you go!

• 2014, Happy New Year – 2014
• 2014, 12 Months, 12 Launches – I Failed Already…
• 2015, As a Person, 5 Things to Start and Stop doing in 2015
• 2015, As a Technologist, 5 Things to Start and Stop doing in 2015

This year, I have four projects (goals) that are on my priority list:

1. Complete and publish my information guide that’s been on the back burner for 2+ years.  As an added bonus, create the accompanying membership site.
2. Launch a dropshipping website.
3. Create and publish an iOS application.
4. Launch and start creating content for www.livingmilebymile.com.  This is going to be my main project for 2016 and parts of 2017.  More details to come.

I also have some other goals, but these are a bit more personal and are usually on everyone’s list:

• Drink more water (coffee doesn’t count!).
• Eat healthier (more vegetables, less meat, less processed foods).
• Get more sleep.
• Disconnect more.
• Dedicate more time to photography (not casual iPhone stuff but getting out and taking pictures that are meaningful to me).

To help me achieve these goals, I leverage some tools:

• Evernote, Google Apps, Trello, and my iPhone
• Weekly planning.  I while ago I wrote a post, Maker Time vs. Manager Time, about how I plan out my weeks and created a printable matrix.  Usually, on Sunday nights, I would fill this matrix out for the upcoming week.  Not only was I able to sleep better, because I wasn’t staying awake thinking of all of this, but I also had some direction when I started working in the morning.  Here’s the link to the Google Doc version or the PDF version if you want to use it.
• Weekly review.  Take the time (maybe 5 minutes) to reflect at the end of the week.  How did you do?  Did you make as much progress as you wanted?  What can you do better?

Ok, time to start working on a few of these and create some new Trello tasks.