New Years Resolutions for 2016 and 2015 Review

Last year was the first time that I published my New Year Resolutions online for the world to see. This year I am doing it again in hopes to continue getting better at them. Below you will find my 2016 resolutions and how I did in 2015.

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My 2016 Resolutions

• Continue my forward progress on blogging. Would really like to get 12+ posts out this year (1 a month).
• Improve my photography and start publishing photos to somewhere else besides Instagram.
• Become a contributor to a major open source project.
• Start to learn C.
• Speak at a national tech conference.
• Continue to give talks at my local meetups (I have a goal of 6 talks).
• Continue & Complete my React.js tutorial
• Participate and complete the 2016 NaNoWriMo.
• Finish 12 audio books.
• Become better at the game of Magic the Gathering.
• Lose weight.
• Beat my mother in a 5k.
• Ride the Seagull Century.

My 2015 Resolutions Results

Participate in a collaborative open-source project as a major contributor. I did a good job in 2014, but really want to step up my game in 2015.
Release the Android and iOS app of BeerLedge.
Continue to further my current open-source projects on Github. Archey-OSX has seen some activity lately and would love to continue that.
Become a pillar in the DC teck scene.
Be better at regularly blogging. (I want to post a blog entry at least once a month, weekly was just too hard!).
Improve my programming skill levels in both Javascript and Python. (I have purposely changed the order of these two; I really like Javascript.)
Have a talk accepted at a programming conference.
Continue to give a talk at my local meetup group. I gave 5 talks in 2014, would like to double that.
Continue the success of Node Night and set up more NodeSchool events after the very successful NationJS NodeSchool.
Lose weight. I really want to hit my target goal this year; I seriously went backwards in 2014 and now realize that this is going to be harder than I ever thought… I am not 20 anymore!
Read even more fiction books. Now that I have found audiobooks, I feel like this goal is actually attainable this year.
Participate and complete the 2015 NaNoWriMo. This is a goal I have failed at numerous times and really want to complete it!
Make more of an effort to see friends when back in Connecticut.

Conclusion

Here we have it. I completed 7 and missed 6; not too bad… I really enjoy the process of getting my resolutions out and doing a retrospect on last year. I think I will be more diligent in checking in on my progress throughout the year. That is also an excuse to not have all the goals right now, and have the ability to add more later on in the year. I did some great things for my personal growth in 2015 and hope to make even more strides in 2016. Here’s to a very Happy New Years to you and yours!