Aaron Eden

Last year I posted what my resolutions were for the year. I feel like I did make progress on them, but they were not completed. I think this year I need to make a few of the goals a little more concrete as well as make sure they are incorporated into my GTD horizon planning.

Here is a quick review of how I did on the goals I posted last year…

1. More time for family – Last year I promised that I would not miss out on any birthday parties, family events or small get-togethers unless there is a dire emergency that requires my attention. I feel like I did pretty good with this goal. I think the only area that I neglected was some of my friends. I feel like I did skip quite a few “going out” nights with friends, but I did make most of the family events and birthday parties. I also made time for a few trips out of town with the girls which were tons of fun. Additionally, I was able to help with taking Miranda to softball lessons and other events which I don’t think I would have made appropriate time for previously.
2. Get my home businesses moving – This resolution ended up being adjusted mid-year. We did focus on the home businesses quite a bit, but from discussions with mentors as well as reading some new books I decided that it was not a good idea to focus so heavily on these for now. I needed to find a business that would allow both Maria and I to do things we are already good at, rather than focusing on learning new skills at this point.

   To support this I’ve been helping a friend get his software development company going which aligns with my skills. Additionally, Maria and I have started Atrevete! which aligns very well with her skills. From a financial perspective we are probably in a similar position to where we were this time last year, but we’ve got a better handle on where we’re going which feels great.

3. Drop 15 pounds – I did ok on this goal at the beginning of the year, but in June when I began implementing the Getting Things Done methodology and properly tracking my progress I realized that I was way behind where I wanted to be. I have been able to keep myself at about 190 pounds which is only about 5 pounds short of my goal. It feels great to have gotten into an exercise habit which also gives me time to listen to lots of podcasts and learn plenty of new things.

   Getting this exercise plan in place has also helped me to realize that I was gaining most of my weight through alcohol. Sometime in late July I got a really bad gout attack and decided to see if the attacks were related to the alcohol. I pretty much stopped drinking at that point. Since then I’ve only had drinks on special occasions and have been doing a decent job of keeping those to only a drink or two. I plan to continue this pattern during 2010 as well.

4. Increase my Spanish skills – I was pretty vague about this goal and my current Spanish skills support that comment as well. I did take a Spanish class for a few weeks, but the timing was terrible and I ended up having to stop it. I have been practicing using Rosetta stone a little bit as well as listening to a Spanish podcast. Since we’ve been in Mexico for the last week I’ve definitely noticed that I understand quite a bit more than before and I’m able to have small conversations here and there. I definitely need to continue practicing and try to get more fluent…

Now I have to spend some time figuring out what I want to accomplish for 2010…

I can’t remember a year in the past where I ever came up with resolutions, but for some reason this year feels different. I feel like there are some things that I should be better about this year and in the future. I’ve also been debating as to whether I should share these publicly or not.   I decided that my friends and family that happen to see this can help hold me to these.

So here are the items I came up with:

1) More time for family – I know that I am a total work-a-holic and need to find better ways to balance my work and home life. I’ve definitely done a better job of this over the last few months and I plan to continue the trend and make sure that I’m not missing out on any birthday parties, family events or small get-togethers unless there is a dire emergency that requires my attention.

2) Get my home businesses moving – Both of these businesses are moving much more slowly than I would like. Maria and I have had good intentions for moving these along more quickly, but I would like to kick these into high gear so we can get ourselves debt free and increase our freedom. Initially I am working to get Maria up to speed on the details for both businesses and we are going to try to introduce 1 new person to either business every day which we feel should be a good start. We’ll see where they go from there.

3) Drop 15 pounds – I did a good job of sticking to my workout plan until right before I left for Mexico. Since then it’s gone completely to crap and I’m still about 15 pounds heavier than I would like. I’m going to get back on my exercise plan and try to get those other 437 miles of walking / running / jogging out of the way before Miranda’s summer break. If I can average 15 miles of exercise per week I can make this goal by June at some point.

4) Increase my Spanish skills – I have the perfect opportunity to get good at this. With my girlfriend and her daughter speaking Spanish fluently I would be dumb to pass up this chance to learn the language and have many opportunities to practice it. I’m thinking that I might try to get into an evening class or something similar to jump-start this. If any of you reading this can recommend someone, I’m happy to listen to suggestions.

I guess since I took the time to put this together I should probably do some follow-ups throughout the year to see how I am tracking against these goals. More later…