Hey everyone.
I've been meaning to write this post for a few weeks. It is time for me to recap the first quarter of 2017. Take stock on what I've done so far this year, and what I need to do in the next nine months to keep improving. To keep growing. To keep on making my time in this world worthwhile.
For context, you can read my 2016 year in review post. Or, if not context, at least a picture of where I was mentally at the beginning of this year, 2017.
Goals as previously defined.
The big part of this checkup is my goals as defined at the beginning of the year. They are as follows:
-
Improve physical health
- Stretch every morning
- Successfully complete a 5K
- Successfully complete a half-marathon
- Cook eight meals a week (Out of the 21 possible)
- Record all eating
- Join some sort of sports team
-
Put out content to improve the internet
- Take in revenue from one side project
- Write 200 posts in 2017
- Maintain a four post per week average on https://writing.natwelch.com
- Give five talks to groups larger than 10
- Get 100 websites on Onesie
- Try to get one #opsparty office hour a week
-
Grow your brain
- Read seventy books
- Go to four art exhibits, live shows or movies a month
- Read one non-fiction book a month
-
Deal with reality
- Find an interesting problem to solve with people you like (aka a Job)
- Dedicate one day a month to dealing with finances
- Reevaluate all investments, and define a general money strategy and tracking system
- Define what you want to be doing when you're 40.
So yeah... kind of ambitious. Lets see how I'm doing.
Improve physical health
I have been stretching on the regular, which has been great. I've started a very simple home yoga routine based off of Yoga Studio. I have not been running regularly though, but now that the weather is getting nice, I need to get on that.
I have been cooking often, but I haven't been recording my meals well, so I don't actually know how well I'm doing with that.
I have not joined a sports team.
Put out content to improve the internet
I am not taking in revenue yet from a side project.
My stats page is apparently broken (whoops...), but I've been posting about once a week. I need to try and get three more posts out... on what I do not know.
I am making a lot of progress giving talks. I gave a talk at SRECon and a talk at Hack&Tell on Onesie.
Speaking of Onesie, I've got a major bug that I haven't been working on, but I think if I spent an afternoon I could get it to a place I'm ok promoting it more.
For most of January and February, I had one #opsparty office hour a week. I've kind of dropped the ball since then tho. I need to start promoting that again.
Grow your brain
I have read nineteen books, out of seventy books for the year. Which means I'm on track! It's almost all been fiction though, so not meeting my non-fiction needs.
Go to four art exhibits, live shows or movies a month:
January
- Saw La La Land
- Whitney Museum of Art
- Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery
- Vancouver Art Gallery
February
- deYoung Museum
- The Met Breuer
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
March
- Pop-Up Magazine
- John Wick: Chapter 2
- PAX East
- Legion of Honor
- SRECon
- Field of Vision: Season 4 Launch Night
Averages out to be a little ahead!
Deal with reality
I found and started a job!
My finance goals were kind of amorphous, but I am dedicating a few hours a month to solving finances. I have done my taxes and am slowly figuring out where I want to put my money. I have not defined a tracking system nor have I reevaluated all of my investments, but I have defined my general investment plan based on my income (take about 35% of paycheck and spread it out across investments).
Define what you want to be doing when you're 40.
... I have not made a lot of progress on this front. I have really enjoyed the show Food Wars!, and in particular, near the end of season two, the main character is asked to make food that defines who they are.
This has me thinking about the software I write. The reason I am in software is because I enjoy the creative expression of the medium. What am I trying to express with the software I create? Am I expressing that to a wide audience, and am I doing that well? I'd like to think that I could get there before 40, but it's something I'm thinking about, which I think is part of this discussion.
End
So anyway, I have been pretty happy with Q1. Getting a job is pushing me in the direction of going back towards a normal life. I need to figure out what that means and where I am going, but at least things are progressing.
/Nat