Well it’s that time again, another year flew by and now I sit at the start of the a new year with all the greatest hopes and dreams. Like most of you I am sure, the new year arrives and with it comes a kind of reflection period where you review the previous year and then start to set goals for the new year. For me the goals don’t always work, purely based on the ever-changing things in my life, from my work schedule to my family.
So as I enter 2018, I decided that I want this year to be one of change. Not that I am dramatically going to do something different, but this year, there will be a concerted effort to do better with some specific things. On the top of my list is to be at home more. As I have aged, I have come to realize more and more that being at home with my family is so much more important than anything else. Looking back on my career (almost 20 years), I can see the compromises that were made not for work but for family, when it should have been the other way around. So this year I am working on being home more, then everything else starts with that. I have already started the new year by spending time with my younger boys teaching them programming Raspberry PI’s, Arduino and soon DragonBoard (when it arrives). So far we have created electrical circuits, programmed LEDs, Motors and LCD Displays, so much more to do. I want to impart some of my geeky technical skills to my kids more and more, maybe one of them will become my computer nerdy protegé.
For other things, I am working with Christian Buckley, few Partners and BYU on a Cyber Research project which is great to be a part of too. Security has always been a passion of mine, from breaking and hacking things to actually implementing steps and processes to fix my breaking and hacking. This is an area I will spend more time in, especially as the conference season begins (once it gets a little warmer) you will see me speak about Security, Compliance and Forensics.
I am continuing to create video content for Pluralsight, and a few things for the OPSgility guys too. It has been fun to do some non-SharePoint stuff which has taken me back to my core Infrastructure and Security roots. I really enjoy creating this type of content so plan to see some new content this year.
This year will see me running more as well. I have a race in April, the Ragnar Trail race, I am looking at other races and might actually end up doing a few Ragnar’s run this year and get the mudslinger medal for finishing multiple of them. It does mean I am back in training again, and those of you who know me, know what that means. Right now it is T25 everyday, then a run, so painful times right now.
Anyway, this year is going to great, it is going to be fun and more important than anything else will be my 20 year wedding anniversary too 🙂
I want to wish you all a Happy New Year and all the best as you too, set goals for 2018!!!!!!!!
Being at home, and actually being “present” is one of my own goals. At the same time, I want to be more “present” in the community (hence my comment here), and while those things might seem in conflict I think it really comes down to actually scheduling and protecting your time with the right mixture of balance between our different roles in life. I suppose it is similar to balancing where you spend money where the currency here is our time. Easier said than done, but a noble pursuit!
It’s funny, I pulled out a T25 tracking worksheet as well and have aspirations to play in a tennis league this spring so I am in a bit of pain as well.
Good luck!