New Years Resolutions: January Progress

January is ending and most New Years resolutions have already been abandoned.

I am a firm believer of starting something immediately if you want to do something (and actually pretty crappy on staying on self appointed tasks I planned months in advance, if there aren’t other people involved – accountability and all that). So I tend to ignore New Years Resolutions and stuff. And this year was no different.

But then around New Year Trello posted a link to this Trello blog post on Twitter.

I am always interested in what Trello post. While I can’t apply everything to myself I use it regularly to get ideas about what others are doing with Trello. And where I could improve.
So I went and had a look.

The post sports a sample board you can copy and use. And after reading the post and having a look at the board I did just that.

I kept the cards of the sample board while copying and went on to archive (and delete) all the cards I don’t need. No I don’t want to go to Antarctica…
Some I kept or moved to other boards (very few…) and then I started to think about what I want to accomplish this year. I was already pretty hyped about Trello before (more about that later – as in a later post) so trying this was and still is fun.

The nice thing about Trello is you can change it.
Now normally you should not change your resolutions… I think (haven’t done this before) – but you know life happens.
And as it is online I can have access to all this on the go.
Truthfully most of my goals are not depending on being away from my computer. I would even then mark something as finished later in this board.

So before I gush about Trello any longer let’s get this show on the road. This is supposed to be a progress report after all.

But first:

Introducing my goals:

• Find a new job
• Write more blog posts
• Take part in Blogging U
• Visit two conferences
• CodeCademy
• Coursera
• Private Goals

Some of these goals depend on each other. Some I didn’t share with you (private stuff is just that private). Some may be deleted later.

Find a new job

Not much to say to that. Most important goal of the year.

Write more (and regular) blog posts

I have two blogs I never get around to write posts for and publish them. I have ideas but don’t find/take the time to write them down.

Goal: Publish 1 post a month per blog

Should not be too much (starting small here).
I also realised I want to write about my goals every month so actually have the one post per month down. Which wasn’t my intention.
As part of progress I will probably change other things on my blogs as well. We will see. But that’s not part of my goals at least.

Take part in Blogging U (by WordPress)

I actually found Blogging U in the middle of January or something – I definitely was not adding this in the beginning. I thought the February courses sounded interesting, but of cause missed the registration 😦

Correction: I actually found it in December but only added it to my resolutions on the 22nd January (Comment: “Register! In high demand!”) Thanks to all my services for logging dates.

The website mentions February Registration for March courses… We will see how that goes. And hopefully the courses I really want to take come back soon. (They are changing monthly.)

Visit 2 conferences

For tracking I have actually two different cards
This goal is really dependent finding a job and getting free time. For the second conference I don’t even know yet if it will take place or where or when.

Yes that’s right I actually know exactly to which conferences I really really want to go. Of cause more would be fun but without much money…

CodeCademy

I’ve been a member (it’s free) for years and have actually finished several courses already. But I always end up doing some and then doing nothing for a long time.

Goal: 1 course a month

Coursera

Coursera offers online university courses. You get video lectures, assignments, quizzes and stuff.

Goal: Finish 2 courses this year

Again I started small. I can always do more if I have the time. I can just add more courses I want to take later.

Private Goals

While I will not share them I will tell you one will take place later this year (hopefully) and the other is not yet specific enough to accomplish something – which bugs me enormously as it is important for me. I will have to change that in February and actually make progress there.

Okay, that was a short introduction.

Progress in January

Find a new job: No new job yet. I did move which made me unavailable for a while but that’s no excuse 😦

Write more blog posts: I published 1 post per blog. This will be actually my second one for this blog. And I started writing a new series for this one as well. (I am already a good part into the second post.) I want to post the first part in February. 🙂

Take part in Blogging U: I have setup a reminder for Blogging U. Let’s cross fingers I can register in February.

CodeCademy: I finished one course today. I know it’s late in January but not having access to a laptop, good internet and a few hours to kill while moving made this hard to do sooner.

Coursera: I selected a course today. It starts in February.

Private Goals: No progress possible and no progress made.

Well that’s not soooo bad 🙂

And because I can’t help myself, some more about my Trello board.

• I enabled the calendar power up and synced the board to my calendar. Now I get reminders for things I want to do.
• All due dates are scheduled to actually leave some time to still finish on time 🙂 Like writing this blog post in January (still some days left…).
• I set up a list “done” where I can move cards I finished to see progress rather than just to archive and hide done cards. I intend to archive all these cards every three months (so end of March is the first).
• I didn’t enable card ageing. Some of my goals are not possible before later this year. But ageing cards suggest I should have done something…
• I used lists and example lists (on the goals) to be able to copy them into new cards when I move along this year.
• I still need to refine some goals and add more cards for specific months especially for things which are now actually in progress.

And while my board may be called New Years Resolutions you can start when ever you want. And I may change the board name later on.

Just try it. If you don’t, you’ll never know if you may succeed.