2017 in Review

Missing Goals, But Doing Other Stuff Too

One of the most important steps in the goal-setting process is a review at the end. Did you do what you said you would? (Or do your goals need to be refined, given more time, or scrapped entirely?) In other words:

I looked back at the goals I set, and I’ll admit—I didn’t do a lot of what I planned in 2017, particularly around projects outside of work. Staring past-me in the face and thinking, “Oh yeah! I said I’d do X… and didn’t even start it” leaves a lot to be desired.

But rather than make this about the gaps in my progress or how to see things through to the end—better to just read Jon Acuff’s book Finish for that—I wanted to write a recap for myself of what I actually accomplished in 2017, even if not in the original plans:

• 💻 New job at Concur working on new web UI with React & Redux
• 📈 Noticeable salary bump, affording us more options for house & family
• 🗺 More small family trips away from homebound life with a baby
• 🛠 Small house projects (garage roof, doors, trim paint, baby gate)
• 🥃 Passed off Seattle Whiskey Collective ownership
• 💬 Significantly less time-wasting on social media and Slack
• 📝 Better task management and to-do list progress (thanks to Todoist)
• 🏂 Snowboarded a couple times after a 10-year hiatus
• ⛰ Hiked a few times even with a nap-needy baby

2018 Goals:

• Consume less; create more.
• Learn more web/JS technologies outside of work.
• Read (or listen to) 12+ books.
• Give a talk about technology I learned or something I made.
• Watch less TV.
• Exercise consistently.

If you read this, feel free to ask me how these are going. I hope to do better publicly documenting progress for better insights as I go.

Let’s make 2018 a rich year full of new adventures, deeper investment in things that matter, and doing things that might not work.

🙌 Here we go!