2010 Goals.
I usually never write these thing but part of the new push is to write down goals, achievements, and failures, so as to ensure they are acted upon, instead of being lost as a thought.
2009 has been pretty good to me, despite many people being glad to see the back of it. I may have lost the job that has been my stability for the last 2 years, but it has been a welcome break. I had been getting stale in my industry and failed to take the opportunity to push myself forward when I could have. Nonetheless, I’m still sorry to have parted company with the best boss I’ve ever had, a paycheck that caught up a 401k, kicked off some financial independence, paid for a great apartment (or two) and most importantly, gave me enough spare change to get to Peru and most of the US covered. They say money isn’t everything – and it’s not – but sometimes it really helps to get you back on track for things that could take years (or never) if the finances aren’t in order.
My personal achievements last year were impressive to myself. One always gets to a point where they think they’re not moving forward and then on reflection, sees that the blur is caused by the fact the hours were well spent and not idled away. My list may not be impressive to many but I’m not trying to compete; the only person who matters here is myself and whether I know I didn’t waste my days.
One of my biggest discoveries about myself was that hiking is an integral part of my active throught process. By that I mean that I gain infinitely more focus when hiking a hill, or climbing a mountain. Inner visions are shared with my conscious and dreams and ideas flow. This was a revelation for me, as it effectively hands me a key to my productive being. This year I intend to make the most of that revelation and see if I can’t either push myself further, or find another gate that the key fits.
Financially, no huge leaps have been observed, although I continue to make good progress on money management. I’m finally in a financial position to be able to up sticks in a heartbeat and take a ride when given the opportunity. I still, of course, have a couple of major financial commitments (one being rent) but two manageable items is better than a laundry list of debt to cover. Not so much a revelation but an interesting footnote to my financial drive was that I really spend very little on myself. I’m living financially within my means (larger % of incoming opposed to outgoing) which ensures that I’m constantly putting something to one side for the next adventure.
So, what goals am I setting for myself this year?
1. Development of a consistent cash-flow, that doesn’t rely on being employed. Still wondering if I can get some inkling of a residual income from affiliate accounts. There’s the option of offering some cheap web-hosting and as time moves on, I’m sure I’ll find some other angles to add to the list of possibilities.
Development of an automated cash-flow is important for me now because I need to gain an element of financial independence from rent and the other single commitment. Covering these two items is the priority, mainly because I dislike being tied to having work relate to paying someone else for a portion of my time, to do something I don’t want to do. Life is obscenely short to be stuck in an office for a third of the day.
2. Hike a lot more and takes lots of video. It was so evident this past year how important both hiking and travel are to my mental health, that I’d be doing myself a disservice to not push harder. I’d really like to get videos of each hike up online, too, and see where we can go with a podcast series on (for now) washington hiking.
3. Ease myself out of the QA life. I’ve been doing it for 9 years now and it’s not something I could stomach another 9 years of. Sure it’s paying the bills but if I have to work, even in the short-term, I need to get into a job that I love, and ‘like’ isn’t cutting it. I’m in a 3-month contract now, that I’m really not enjoying or getting stimulated by. It cuts 40 hours a week out my happiness and turns it depressive and void of creativeness. In general, I feel better in life when I spend as little time with tech as possible; this is something I also need to digest and think about more.
What goals did I set that are ‘barring death or dismemberment’ not even remotely postponeable?
So far, two hiking targets that will not change; A night ascent of Mt St. Helen’s and 2 weeks hiking around the Hawaiian islands. I have penciled in two tentative hikes for Mt Baker and Mt Hood but these are dependent on hiking partners. I may love the hikes but I’m not stupid enough to go alone with the little mountaineering experience I have, in case I get into trouble.
