2017

My personal goals for 2017...

I love new year, it feels like a clean page and a fresh start. People are generally more positive and ambitious and it's a great time to put the issues of the previous year behind us. And there certainly have been a lot of complaints about 2016, now it's all but done, let's hope we can look forwards and make the best of 2017. Personally I'm going to be doing my best with the following few things.

More blogging

The #adventblogging challenge I set myself has massively helped me get back into writing. Even when I struggled for content I was able to at least find something to talk about. 24 posts back to back(ish) was a bit too much to be able to maintain enthusiasm and quality (I now have massive respect for people who write all day every day) but the self-imposed deadline coupled with my stubbornness was a big help.

I'm going to challenge myself to writing a post per week for 2017. Publishing something every Friday morning.

More Gamedev

I've flirted with hobby game development on and off for most of my life on one platform or another. In 2016 I took more of an interest in this than before and really enjoyed what I learned in the process. The highlight was attending Guildford Game Jam and working in a team and building something in a short space of time. It's not something I have any grand money-making plans for but is definitely a really enjoyable creative outlet for any spare time I can muster. I'm going to aim to participate in at least four Game Jams in 2017 and might even try to get something playable out into the wild to see what I can learn from the process.

A related aspect I dabbled with this year was 3D modelling. I didn't produce much, but learned a lot about the skill and found it really enjoyable to practice. I hope to produce at least one complete model of reasonable complexity within the year. It's not something I'll get to commit a lot of time to but will be something for quiet rainy days.

More cycling

In 2016 I cycled over 2000 miles, the most I've ever recorded which was a nice achievement. My riding and fitness has improved a lot and I entered a number of different events throughout the year. I let up a bit in the last couple of months of the year so I'm confident I can improve on this next year. I also want to get more balance of discipline by getting out on my mountain bike more than I did this year. My passion is mountain biking but road biking is far more convenient, I let that limit my off road adventures a little too much this year.

In 2016 I entered four mtb events which I intend to top in 2017 and overall ride 2500+ miles. I also want to do more social riding so if you're reading this and into cycling, get in touch and show me your favourite rides, I'm also always willing to show off my local New Forest routes.

Work internationally

I've kept these objectives non-work related as we tend to set our Moov2 business goals in line with our financial year. However something that is a personal goal of mine is to open up our services to an international audience and work on a non-UK based project in 2017. It's something I've been wanting to do for a few years and I feel now is the right time to look a little further afield for the right kind of projects. This isn't a monetary-driven objective, rather a desire for a new challenge that's not just "more" or "bigger" as is typically the measure of business success. Rather, I want myself and my team to experience new challenges, different people, ideals and preconceptions to really test our ability to empathise and problem-solve outside our perceived comfort zone.

Here we go!

So these are my goals for 2017, I've blogged them now so I can be held to account at the end of the year. Send encouragement/abuse to @dannyt to help me out. Supposedly writing down your goals makes you 50% more likely to achieve them than not, so why not give it a go too?