Last year I read a book called SideProjects Book which was over 70 stories of people that had started businesses, all apps in this case, while holding down a day job. By the end of 2012 I realised that I had achieved that too with The Chubby Challenge.
I think that there is a danger of spreading yourself too thinly when working full time and having family commitments as well but at the same time I am constantly restless and find myself naturally flitting between tasks moving them all slowly forward.
I don’t intend to change in 2013 but have identified four areas that I do want to concentrate on, which are highlighted below. I should make it clear that these are not new years resolutions. I am not making a commitment to complete any of these in a given time frame. They are simply projects that I would like to spend time on during the year.
Personal Health and Fitness
My weight has fluctuated over the years but I am pleased to say that I ended 2012 lighter than I started it. I intend to continue that trend in 2013 to lose another 21 pounds and reach what is a good weight for me.
To help me with that I will be using The Chubby Challenge and even seeing if I can persuade myself to do some exercise too!
You can check on my progress on The Chubby Challenge blog:
http://thechubbychallenge.com/blog
The Chubby Challenge
By the end of 2012 I had The Chubby Challenge in a position where it was a workable product. Thanks to the help of a number of family and friends I was able to bash out a load of bugs to create something that I am pretty proud of. While a warm comfortable glow about getting a deliverable site is one thing to take that to the next level and get it regularly used and helping others would be another thing entirely.
So in 2013 I am going to start actively marketing the site and see where that gets me. I have some ideas of how I am going to do that but no inkling of how successful that might be.
Alongside that there is a list of enhancements that people have suggested to me during the beta phase that I want to include. Not least mobile clients for iPhone and Android. This will give me an opportunity to try my hand at something new on the development side too.
Books
They say that everyone has a book in them and I intend 2013 to be the year when I finally settle whether that really is the case for me.
For a few years now I have been writing an account of my time in a start-up and would dearly love to finish it. The book takes (I hope) a humorous look at my time with AppSwing and how we were hopelessly nieve in what we did.
I also have an idea for a travel log too which I need to get out of my head and onto something less transient.This will be based upon the blog posts I have already written and will be self published as that is so easy to do.
Family History
I first started researching my family history some twenty years ago but stopped when I ran out of steam. In the intervening years genealogy has been revolutionised by the internet and so I think that it is time for me to jump back in and see whether I can make more headway this time. However, with a surname as common as Thompson and a great-grandfather who was an orphan I am not confident of my ability to do much with my line.
http://www.thompsonhistory.co.uk
So four areas on top of all the other things that life entails, such as working, sleeping, eating, watching TV, reading books and magazines, visiting family and friends, shopping and so much more!