It is 2018 so it must be time to think about what my plans and goals are for the new year.

Buy a house

This a huge goal for me. For many years I was content with renting and thought owning my own home wasn’t for me, but then I went and started a family and my career started going in the right direction and my thoughts about this have changed.

It is going to take a lot of work to make this goal happen in 2018. First I need to save enough money for the deposit, which is far from easy with a wife and two children. Second I need to get our current place sorted ready to physically move which again won’t be easy. Third I need to make a decision which will affect where I live for the next 25 years. At the moment I am torn between the size of property and its physical location, I need to balance both of these and meet the requirements from the rest of the family.

I do think this is an achievable goal so wish me luck.

Progress in my career

I need to be careful how I phrase this in case past, current or future employers are reading. I have been working hard at my current role for over a year and I am starting to wonder what is next for me. I am not entirely sure what form this is going to take yet, I have a few ideas on the go and hopefully I can reveal more soon.

Another one that is very achievable, as long as I have it in the back of my mind as the year goes on progress should be made.

See more of family

I recently missed a family celebration due to the expansion of my own family and it reminded me that there are aunts, uncles and cousins that I haven’t seen in years and it would be nice to reconnect. Also as my own boys get older and are learning to interact it would be great if they could get to know my own family better.

I don’t have a clear idea how to achieve this one as it takes two but I am going to make more of an effort.

Celebrate 5 years of marriage

Wow how has it been five years since we got married? At some point in 2018 I will take time out from the usual and spend it with the wife away from the boys. I won’t give away more details as I want that to be a surprise.

Celebrate the birth of my two sons

I don’t want to get my boys christened as I would like them to make up their own minds when they are old enough, however I do want to celebrate all that they are with a thanksgiving service. Not sure when we are going to sort this, however it is my hope that it will be soon.

Family holiday

Not much of a goal but in the summer I will take time out to spend a week away with the family. In previous years we have done scotland, wales and northumberland. This year I am thinking of somewhere not too far away as Edward is still small, but maybe near where I grew up.

Lightning Talk

A lightning talk is a very short talk or presentation given at a conference or user group. Friends of mine are having lots of success talking about what they know about and I think it might be time for me to have a go. I am not a natural public speaker so this is a step out of my comfort zone, however I am going to start small and see what happens. At the moment I don’t know what my subject or topic is going to be, my suspicion is that it will be devops related as that interest me more but watch this space.