The 2013 Agenda
tldr; Finish grad school, start a company, three triathlons, bboying, cruise with friends, launch apps, code, code, code.
All the Stuff
Let’s take a look at the big stuff, additional stuff I want to get done, and the stuff that needs to change (in order to successfully get the things that I want done).
The Big Stuff
2013 is already looking to be a great year. I have five different of my lifetime goals on the list, with at least four of them as guaranteed to be complete.
Specifically, I’m already expecting to finish grad school in May. I’ll be finishing a double master’s: Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) and Master’s of Science in Computer Science (MS in CS).
June, July, and August, I’ll be completing the Boulder Tri Series. This entails a triathlon sprint in June, a triathlon Olympic in July, and a half-Ironman (Ironman 70.3) in August.
Finally, I’m launching a company with a friend. Actually, we’ve already started the company, but next year we’ll be launching our first web-based services.
Additionally, I’m planning on bboying regularly throughout the year. Unfortunately, balancing my last semester of grad school, training for triathlons, and launching a company will probably mean less time to bboy than I would like.
In October, I’ll be turning 30, which means I’ll no longer be a 20-something. But, I’ll be turning 30 on a cruise ship with some of my closest friends. I’ll also be running 30-miles the day I turn 30. That should be interesting.
Additional Stuff I Want to Get Done
In addition to the big stuff above, there’s quite a bit of other things that I’d like to get done throughout the year.
Design
This is going to be a big year of design for me. A friend of mine and I are starting a vodcast/podcast called “Developer Meets Designer”, where we’ll meet biweekly to discuss aspects of development, design, apps, business, and much more.
Additionally, I have a couple of really good design books that I’ve been meaning to read, and this year I’m planning on reading them. Next, I’ll have to step up my design skills for my new startup. Finally, I’ll need to work on my design due to one game a month (see below).
Learning | Reading
Last year I was very successful at reading a lot of books. This year, I don’t expect that to change. I’ll be aiming for fewer books, the current goal is 24, but the books will be bit meatier, such as programming books.
Code | Apps | Game Development
I’ll be getting back into a lot of web development this year, as I’ll be needing to for my startup. I haven’t touched a lot of web in the last three years, as I’ve mostly been in Mobile and Graphics land. So I’m pretty excited about that.
I’d like to release monthly updates to Ideal Tracker, and to launch additional apps as well. I’m not 100% sure what those other apps are, but I just know that I’d like to get more out there.
I’m going to be doing one game a month, with the intent on publishing 12 games throughout the year. The rules state (there are no rules) that it doesn’t have to be one per month, but just 12 throughout the entire year. Additionally, I’ll doing Ludum Dare just as I have for the past year.
Finally, I’d like to continue to post new screencasts. I have about 10 more that I want to do with OpenGL and I’d like to re-do my old ones in HD. After, I’d like to do GLSL, Cocos2d-iPhone, Cocos2d-html5, CocosBuilder, Android, and probably many others. I don’t expect to get much further than GLSL or Cocos2d-iPhone over the next year.
The Stuff That Needs to Change
In order to make this stuff happen, I’m definitely going to have to make some changes.
Stricter Time Management
With the abnormally high levels of Youtube and Netflix that I consumed over the last year, I believe that I can use a lot of that time to work on my own business, learning design, and coding… much more coding. Time that my wife and I would normally be watching mindless TV will be used to read aloud to one another, to have intimate conversations, and to just enjoy one another’s company more.
I’ve upgraded to RescueTime Pro, so I’ll be blocking sites using the get focused feature much more often. I’ll be using RescueTime with a solid Pomodoro app in order to successfully break the habit. This technique will help me to break the habits of checking Facebook and Hacker News all the time as well.
Better Eating
In general, I don’t eat too much. In fact, I forget to eat a lot of the time, generally when I’m coding all day. But then when I do eat, I don’t eat quality. So this year, I’m planning on stepping up the healthiness level of what I’m putting into my body.
I don’t tend to drink much, just a glass of Scotch two or three times a week. I think that’s pretty acceptable.
Bed Time
Once summer hits, I’m going to need to go to bed earlier so that I can train for my triathlons. I could train in the middle of the day, but training first thing in the morning will help my body adjust for the summer ahead. In order to train early, I’m starting now by going to bed earlier (between 10PM and Midnight, as opposed to Midnight and 2AM).
Here goes nothing.
In reality, I’ll be giving this my everything. I don’t like to do things at half capacity… so, here we go!