A new year, a new beginning

I've always been one to not like New Year’s resolutions. I’ve tried to convince myself that I shouldn’t wait until the new year to change my life, rather when I have the thought of changing, that I immediately make an effort to change my life for the better. Whether it is personal, work or any other aspect of my life, there is always room for improvement. Yet despite my efforts of continually changing to better myself, I find myself stuck in the same type of plateaus.

Despite the fact that I do not like waiting until the New Year to enforce change, I feel especially positive about the turn of the year, leading into 2007. Primarily because I’ve been starting my new efforts prior to the year’s end.

Part of the reason I’m writing this is to document what I will change in this upcoming year, whether by 180 degrees or just marginal improvements.

One of the places I will improve on is my sense of getting things done. With the help of 2 really good books that I will write about soon, as well as the support of my loving wife, I will accomplish a self satisfying sense of accomplishment. Now let me get something clear: I get things done now. I want to get things done in such a way that I am not distracted by auxiliary tasks and other responsibilities. It comes for a sense of focus and determination to work on a given task without interruption, be it external or internal (distractions, such as email or other tasks to be done).

Continuous education in my professional life which includes learning a new language, not so much for applying it, but allowing me to keep an open mind about new approaches. Learn a new aspect of .NET, perhaps the new Vista technologies (.NET 3.0) and such.

Health is another aspect of my life that I hope to improve on. I will continue my martial arts training and start to attend a gym (that I currently pay for but don’t go to) and start eating better. In the process of eating better comes bringing healthy food to work instead of eating out.

There are other more personal items that I will disclose later, but I wanted to bring up three things that I think are essential in getting my business off the ground: focus and accomplishment, continuing education and the ability to perform my duties for my customers.

One final note: none of this is possible without my sense of faith. Without my faith I will not be able to complete anything noted above. Faith is what wakes me up in the morning, motivates me to finish things and gives me the inspiration to learn new technologies. This is a personal pillar of my life that I will sparingly share through these entries.