2013 List Update

In 2013, I made a list of some things I thought would change my life. Here's how it turned out. 

HTML/CSS - I haven't used this as much as I would like to, but I still consider it a win. I have an on and off relationship with web and computer programming. I enjoy it immensely and want to be awesome at it, but it's like learning to play a musical instrument. I need to completely immerse myself to get good and I just haven't had the time. I'm not giving up though, and am determined to make the time to take the next steps, which for me are Objective C and Wordpress.

Team Training - This one is a huge win. It's taken my fitness to the next level, forged some great relationships with teammates and coaches, given me some proficiency in Muay Thai, and increased my discipline and work ethic ten fold.

DIY - I did one more DIY project and fashioned a corner desk out of some industrial shelving. I'm pretty proud of it. It's light, cheap, and totally functional. If only I could say the same about everything else in my house (Henry, I'm looking at you). 

Office - I think the above post actually answers this one. When it's not 50 degrees down there, I like being in my man cave, so I moved back down. My new desk is a lot more comfortable

School - I stopped taking college classes half way through last year. I love learning, but had a hard time balancing scheduled classes with work and Jiu Jitsu training. I also don't know how beneficial a college degree will be for me. I already have a job that "requires" a degree, and ideally I don't want to work for anyone but myself, so what's the point? Everything I need to learn can be found online.

Focus - Focus has been paramount and has led to everything I've accomplished over the last year. Focus has allowed me to cut out the fat and feast on the meat. It's helped me skip hours and hours of TV watching, internet surfing, and general tail chasing, and replaced it with learning, fitness, and quality time.

Coming soon... 7 things that I think will change my life in 2014

Cyclops Gorilla

You may have noticed my new logo.

The Cyclops Gorilla has come to embody my current mindset. If it had a tag line, it would be "Put muscle behind your vision." I've come to appreciate hard work and intense focus and I feel these qualities are lacking in a lot of unhappy people. They were absolutely lacking in my life when I was the most unhappy. Discovering them allowed me to make a complete *360.

I was going to start a separate Cyclops Gorilla blog, but figured I'd give everyone the whole story instead of the glossed over version. When you need a good laugh, take a look at my older posts. They're a little embarrassing (so dramatic!), but they got me here, so they might be good for something.

(I had the Cyclops Gorilla commissioned by beastpop.blogspot.com and absolutely love it. Be warned, not all of his artwork is family friendly).

*The correct expression is "Complete 180" as my fact check Jared Totten has pointed out. :)

I'm baaaaaaack...

...in the saddle again.

I was cleaning off the desktop on my Mac the other day and found my list of 2014 Goals. One of those goals was to update my blog at least once a month. While I may be getting a late start, I figure if I post at least 12 by the end of the year, I'll have met that goal.

I assumed that since only a few people officially "follow" my blog through blogger, and since I don't usually try to advertise or market my posts, no one was actually missing anything, but apparently there are a few readers that I was not aware of. With my follow numbers officially approaching the double digits, I figure it's as good a time as any to start posting again.

For years I've come up with ideas here and there about blogs I'd like to write. I tried writing a personal finance blog, an entrepreneur blog, a goal setting blog, and a blog about my weekly obsessions. I experimented with wordpress, tumblr, blogger, and xanga, I tested different domain names, different blog styles, and different dynamics. Through all the experiments, this is the only blog that has stood the test of time.  

Most recently I've considered writing a fitness blog. Fitness and martial arts are a huge part of my life and I'm currently studying for my Personal Training Certificate so that I can start generating clients to train at my gym. Eventually I'd like to become a full time trainer, and was planning on using a fitness blog as a tool to build my business. The thing is, writing about fitness and nothing else is boring. Kinda like writing about personal finance and nothing else or entrepreneurship and nothing else is boring. I enjoy writing what I'm thinking about currently, and that's what I do here. I'm not constrained to one topic.

With that in mind, and in conjunction with the fact that I am building a business, I'm going to start writing more frequently and "marketing" my posts a bit more. The writing will mostly be the same, though I will be throwing in more mini posts, as well as fitness posts. I also bought joshkidney.com (cause I'm a narcissist) and may eventually build more of a website around the blog. 

All that said, I appreciate you reading. If you like what I write, tell your friends, and maybe mention it in the comments so that I know you exist :)

Coming soon: What I've been up to since my last blog post.