Whenever I hear the word “goals” I cringe a bit. I get the idea, it makes perfect sense to know what you want to achieve and then figure out the steps to get there. I just find life isn’t that simple. There are just too many variables for my brain to jump on that train.

That’s not to say I don’t have things I want out of life and business, but instead of having yearly goals, I find it more beneficial to focus on intentional improvements to a few core things. Basically, make sure the ship is pointed in the right direction and then figure things out as I go.

So, for 2017, these are the three areas of my life I plan on actively improving.

Gratitude & empathy

If I let myself, I can get cynical quickly. I don’t think I’m outwardly all that cynical, and I’m generally a really optimistic person. But I can certainly mentally be cynical. I’m finding I just don’t like how that influences the words I say, the thoughts I think and the way I treat people.

Instead, I want to actively have gratitude in every situation I can and look for the good in everything.

I also want to be really intentional about putting myself in other’s shoes…to understand their perspective, to learn about their struggles and to celebrate in their joys and comfort in sorrow.

Relationships

To put it bluntly, I think I’m probably a pretty crappy friend. I don’t think I take advantage of others…the opposite really. I can get so laser focused on certain things in life that I just completely forget about a lot of friends.

I can come up with all sorts of excuses (“I’ve got a company to run!”, “I’ve got like 47 kids!”), but honestly, at the end of the day, I’m just really terrible at maintaining friendships.

Hobbies

I’ve always tried to have a random hobby, but about a year ago I got deep in to hobby electronics. Like…turn-a-room-of-our-house-into-a-makerspace deep.

It’s been so rewarding and fulfilling in every way. So, I plan to hobby the freaking crap out of 2017.

Three specific hobbies I’m choosing to persue: electronics, data science/machine learning and handmade goods.

Maybe these are “goals” or “resolutions”…I don’t know. It’s all semantics, I guess. But that’s what I’m focusing on for 2017.