2017 is here. When the hell did that happen? In Part 1, I looked back at 2016. In Part Two I try to list out all the things I’ll focus on accomplishing in 2017. I couldn’t be more excited about what the year has to bring. We’ve got a lake house under construction, and our place in Reading has all the finishing touches. Things are humming along well business wise, and the wife and I have some big months ahead. Its going to be a time of rapid change, but my goals for the year are as follows:
Life:
- Become Father – Laura and I are bringing the next generation into the world in early May. I can’t wait, and am fully aware that the below list of priorities will likely look quite different post birth.
- Do all Dad-to-be Stuff – Create nursery, find new place to have office, etc.
- Volunteer 10 hours/ Month – No reason to stop now.
- Finish Lake House, Debt Free – We’ve been cashflowing so far but the temptation to spend too much is constant. Must be strong.
- Two Afternoons Fully Disconnected per Week – After my experiment this year, I wanted to make a clear path to do so more often on a regular basis. Instead of starting with a big detox, I’m going to try one weekday afternoon, and one weekend afternoon each week. First up, Wednesday & Sunday.
Travel:
- 14 Days Overseas – The aforementioned fatherhood is sure to put a dent in the travel abilities, but I’m committed both one trip pre-delivery and to raising a well traveled kid, so two weeks seems about right.
- Two New Countries – For all the travel in 2016, I only checked off one new country. Two per year is very doable.
- Take ASA 105 – I’ve taken the first three courses in the American Sailing Association blue-water curriculum. 105 doesn’t even require travel, no excuses.
Fitness:
- 2x Adventure Races – Again fatherhood is not highly conducive to adventure race training, or doing. But I’d still like to get at least one spring and one fall race on the books.
- Mountain Bike 20x times – Reading has killer trails, and I’ve got a group of buddies who ride here. Time to commit to a weekly in-season ride.
- 2x Overnight Backpacking Trips – I’d like to do at least one in an unfamiliar environment (e.g. out west)
Biznass:
- Expand with Intention – We’ve been roughly the same size for three years. I’d like to expand to service at least one additional client that we target aggressively.
- 21 Days Disconnected – This experiment went so well, I’d like to attempt to do something like it each year. It both allows me to gain a different perspective on business things, but also forces me out of my tendency to micro-manage.
- Optimize Client Communications – We’ve done a good job making our internal communication efficient and fairly meeting-free (thanks Slack), but we still fall into the email trap when it comes to clients. Meetings still take 3 cycles to schedule and we still sit through a web-ex more often than is healthy.
- Attend 1 Multi-Day Conference – I finally attended a conference this year, and really enjoyed hearing stories from other business owners. I need more of this.
How about you? What’s on your list for 2017?
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About my annual review: For the last 5 or so years, I’ve tried to look back at the year before and see how it stacks up, while also setting goals for the year to come. I find the exercise invaluable as a mechanism to be inspired to do more cool stuff. As categories, Life, Fitness, Business & Travel work best for me, but if you’d like to do your own I recommend checking out my buddy Chris’ Template to get started.
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