New Year's resolutions for 2020

Continuous learning: Software Development technologies change at a very rapid pace and you can get outdated in the blink of an eye if you do not keep up. This is not a big deal for me because I love both learning new things and Software Development. I’ve set a goal of taking a course (a short one) and attending one meetup or conference at least one a month. We are surrounded by information, and most meetups and talks are recorded to be easily watched at the convenience of your home. However, by attending the events physically, you can talk directly with the speaker and engage in interesting discussions with other attendees

Update my GitHub account: I’m often working in some stuff like programming katas, testing language features, PoC’s, frameworks or trainings, but I’ve always failed in managing this information properly. My goal here is to be more organized in this matter, pushing all this work to my GitHub profile. It can be handy in the future if I decide to resume some project, as a reference for the future, or to apply for a 100% remote position :-)

Coaching and mentoring: Beside technical skills, when you reach a to a senior level, it is important to share what you know with your colleagues. One way to accomplish this is by coaching and mentoring, thus, helping others to avoid errors you have made in the past and to become better professionals. I will try to work on this by scheduling regular one-on-one meetings and being accessible and honest to my coworkers.

Improve organization and productivity: I love reading on productivity topics and techniques, but I struggle to apply them in real life. My goal this year is to apply consistently some of them like using my Passion Planner and putting in practice at least one of these time management methods: Pomodoro, GTD or Personal Kanban.

Teach programming: we live in a digital world and programming can be a valuable skill. Not only because it can be an opportunity for them in the future but also because it is a creative activity than can provide them problem-solving abilities. I will try to introduce programming to my daughters by making it something fun and appealing. I’m happy if I get them to be able to develop a basic program in scratch for my younger and Python for my older by the end of the year.

Practice English with them: I’m not very fluent in English but I think it can be useful for my daughters to speak only in English with them 2 or 3 days a week, especially for my younger.

Spend more time with my wife: on weekdays, I sometimes go to bed early or get engaged in some programing project or training that takes me time away from sharing it with my wife. I will try to change this and reserve a time slot in the afternoon to spend quality time with her.

Hang out with friends once a month: we all live in a rush because of work, family and household chores, and sometimes it is difficult to find time to hang out with friends. I will schedule a weekday every month to have some beers and catch up with them.

10k steps daily: I’m currently walking 8k steps a day, but I want to increase this number to 10k on a regular basis. To achieve this, I will need to switch a part of my commuting from train to walking.

Jogging twice a Week: I would like to go out for a run at least twice a week, but I know from previous experience that this is not an easy task for me. I’m happy if I can do it at least once a week. This will help to keep me in shape both physically and mentally.

Complete health check: It has been several years from my last health check. I’m reaching an age where I should take care of my health more seriously. So I will get a complete health check this year.

Book reading goals: last year I read 17 books but I missed my reading challenge by 3. However, I think I could have reached the goal if I hadn’t neglected my reading habit on summer. For this year I have set my reading goal to 24 books. I know it is ambitious, but let’s see how it works. BTW if you are curious, you can have a look at what kind of books I read and my reviews here

Improving coffee brewing skills: I love tech-related stuff but I think it is essential to have a different hobby to be able to disconnect from routine. In my case it is coffee. I have read several books and I own a set of coffee gadgets at home. My goal is to keep on learning, improving cup tasting and perfecting my brewing skills.

24 posts in my blog: this is the first post of at least 24 I have planned to write this year. I admit this resolution is probably the hardest one, but I’m considering it as my side project for this year.

Improve home finance management: I have already tried to track my home spending properly but I have repeatedly been unsuccessful. I have to improve on this so I have planned to read some books on personal finance in order to be able to setup an effective family finance plan by the second half of the year

Sleep 7 hours a day: After reading Why we sleep (highly recommended BTW) I realized how bad is sleeping less than 7 hours a day. For this reason I will reserve the corresponding time interval to have a good sleep. I will measure and track my progress using a smart band.