Happy new year, folks! And what better way to start 2008 than with a blog entry about new year’s resolutions, eh? I didn’t picture myself writing something like this, but after seeing Keith’s post on the topic, I was inspired to create my own. I’d love to hear you from you guys about your own goals for 2008; if they exist, feel free to link to your own blog posts in the comments.

By the way, before we get going, I realise that some people find these kind of articles extremely tedious, so if you want to wander off and do something far more interesting, I won’t hold it against you. This list is as much for my own reference (for when we reach the end of the year) as it is for public consumption. One advantage in writing this on the blog is that I can guarantee public humiliation should I fail to achieve any of these goals… so perhaps that’s a nice little incentive to get my arse in gear.

Release a new version of this site

It’s not going to happen for a few months yet, but the site is in need of a facelift; not because I’m bored of the design – because I’m not – but because the underlying structure of the site needs changing to better incorporate both the existing content and the new content I’m dying to put in there. So it’s going to be a complete re-think, and in a month or so I’ll write a post about what I’m planning to do; hopefully with the aim of getting feedback from you chaps before I go and start anything.

Unveil my top secret, super-sexy, uber-cool new project

I’m so excited! But I can’t tell you what it is yet because that’d spoil everything. It’s being worked on right now and all I can say is that I’m hoping it’ll be a fantastic source of inspiration for the web community. More on this very very soon!

Write a book, or a chapter in a book

Despite some warning stories from friends who are published authors, I’ve decided that the next step in my career as a design professional should involve writing a design-related book. I have a couple of ideas that I’m going to put to some publishers quite soon, although depending on timescale, budget, and the nature of the book itself, I might be content with just writing a chapter in a multi-authored book. We’ll have to see how this one pans out, as I have almost no knowledge of the book publishing industry. It should be fun!

Speak at least 4 events

Mid-2007 saw me venture into the world of public speaking and I spoke at four events in six months, so I think it’s fairly safe to take that number as a goal for a whole year. I’d see four as the absolute minimum and I’ll be aiming for a lot more. I’d also like to do as many overseas events as possible, so I guess a mini-goal would be to limit myself to no more than half of these in the UK, if possible.

Release another album (or at least an EP)

From time to time I’ve been known to call myself a musician, although whether this title is deserved or not is somewhat questionable. But this year I’m determined to get another album out, or an EP if time ends up being a bit short (which of course it will. Who am I kidding?). I’ve already made two key decision about this next one: a) it’s going to be entirely instrumental to save you from listening to my less-than-angelic voice, and b) it’ll be download-only, as I see little point in releasing a CD these days. The thought of all those production overheads scares me.

Work out

I’m not going to share all of my personal goals here, but this one’s an exception. When I saw the video of me speaking at FOWD I was rather ashamed at the belly I’d acquired, and as I’m fairly skinny everywhere else and only ever seem to put weight on my stomach, it had the result of making me look… well… pregnant. So now’s the time to really get in shape. I’ve been at it for the last couple of weeks and it’s working well so far; let’s just hope I can keep it up for a year.

And finally…

As I mentioned above, it’d be good to hear from you guys about any of your own goals for 2008. And if you’ve written a similar blog post on your own site, please feel free to link to it. Happy new year, everyone! Here’s to a creative 2008!