New Years Resolutions. You Heard Me.

I wish you all a very Happy New Year.

I think I somehow enjoy New Year as much as any celebration throughout the calendar. You’ve got that ability to make it what you want, and it’s a moment where you can sit back and reflect on what’s happened before, and plan for what happens next. I love that.

This year we were lucky enough to spend the festive period in Latvia and for once (apart from one slight blip) have been able to switch off from work almost entirely. That’s a testament to how far we’ve come as a company, and I’ve come as a person that we can, when planned right, really switch off. The office has been closed and our entire team has been able to enjoy time with their families.

I’m proud of that, but also aware of the privelage at play given all those that have jobs or work in sectors where they don’t have a choice but to work over the holidays, or, have no work at all. Having been in both those positions I have been thinking about how that was while looking back. For all those working through the holidays, thank you, and I hope it’s not something you have to do every year. For those in harder times I hope 2018 holds positive change for you and allows you to achieve the things you want.

So what about 2018?

I’m yet to work that out in its entirety, since my first day back to work proper isn’t for another three days. Myself and Ieva did have our yearly “review” of our resolutions. “Resolutions?!” I hear you say? So yes, me and my wife each year set a number of goals that we would like to achieve in that year. I’ve always found that setting goals helps you to achieve more, and gives you something to reflect on when regularly reviewed. Our goals are usually set on January 1st during a trip to the Angel of the North. This year however we were in Latvia so we had the alternative venue of Ieva’s brother’s room in her parents house. Not quite as picturesque but a whole lot warmer. And we had wine.

I’m not going to list off all our resolutions – apart from anything some of them are very personal and some of them would just bore the crap out of you. However there are a few that we’re aiming for and I’m going to mention them here as a means to publicly decree some of the plans this year.

See our friends more

Having got married, had a baby, moved house and much more in the last 15 months, we are seeing this year as a year of settling into our new home in Morpeth. With everything going on, we have been the worst mates you could imagine to some of our nearest and dearest so this year we plan on spending more time with our closest friends, hopefully seeing friends at least twice a month.

Get more sleep

This one is particularly aimed at me, but goes for both of us at different times. For the first 6 months of 2017 I actually did pretty well. With a new baby, a routine of sorts was easier to come by if for no other reason than we were constantly completely worn out. The second have of the year however seemed to sway back to old times… falling asleep on the sofa at 3am with my laptop imprinting key shapes into my forehead. This year I need to get back to more regular sleeping patterns. My goal is to aim for a weekly average of 7 hours per night – an average which currently sits around 5.5 hours.

Re-balance the work-life balance

Again in the second half of the year this slipped again. Anyone who runs their own business knows that the idea of being able to do 9 to 5, 5 days a week is not only a challenge but often near impossible. That said, getting the balance right is vital for yourself and everyone around you. This year we are aiming to have at least 2 hours per day of “family time” and ensure that each Saturday we go out somewhere together. For many people that may sound normal, for us it will require both organisation and discipline.

As you can see there is a bit of a theme developing. Family time. We’re planning to make even more of it, and be fresher during it.

We have some pretty excellent goals for the business this year too and we shared those with our staff before the New Year – I may blog about those in the near future. I’m excited about 2018.

One resolution of my own is to blog more. I managed to pick up blogging a bit in 2017 and I’m hoping to accelerate it somewhat over the next 12 months with at least one blog post a month. I’m going to cover diverse topics such as:

• Mentoring
• Business Lessons Learned
• Family
• Mental Health
• Drupal and Technology
• Politics
• Multiple Sclerosis

You know, the usual stuff.

Not sure if the above was interesting to read but if you’ve made it this far let me just wish you again a very Happy New Year. I hope you work hard to achieve everything you want in 2018.