The new year is now in full swing and I’ve yet to start looking at how to improve myself. But the start of the new year is just an arbitrary point of time. But it’s as good a point as any to start.

So, after all of those lessons learned last year, what do I plan this year?

1. Continue with my list from last year.

My last plan of things to do differently in 2015 were great intentions, and I fully expect that they would lead to great rewards.

I have a little tweaking here and there, but otherwise, it’s a great list.

2. Restart the good habits that I want to create.

Getting up early. Writing. Reading.

When I did these early in the morning I felt a great deal of accomplishment. Like I was able to get some hard things out of the way.

My day felt more productive and I got a lot more done. Especially since I’m a morning person and get my most work done before lunch.

After lunch I feel spent, so I’ll use that time to do other tasks such as answer email, read and exercise.

3. Scrutinise my planned expenditures and spend less.

Consider whether something is truly worthwhile. And if it is, whether I’ll truly use it, and use it effectively.

Our economy in T&T is in a recession. The people haven’t felt it yet, but it’s just a matter of time.

I will be prudent in my spending. Although so far for the year I haven’t done too well (I ended up buying some books), I will make an effort to be prudent.

I will never stop buying books, training and kits, but I will do a better job this year in deciding whether to make those purchases.

4. Save something. Anything.

I didn’t get to save much last year, and in fact, lost some of my worth because of the vehicle purchase. But I plan to rebuild that.

So save, even if it’s $10, save a bit at a time.

I have no doubt that trying to save along with prudent spending, will go a long way in growing my wealth.

5. Make this a year of learning.

Time to ramp up my skills and capabilities.

It’s going to be a hard year, but that makes it a great time to grow personally.

I’ve allowed many of my skills to become obsolete over the past few years. Technology has grown so quickly that it’s outpaced me.

So I’ll take at least one hour in three days per week to learn something new in my field.

Don’t confuse this with resistance from my lessons learned. I’m not using this to stop me from doing my work, but instead using this to improve and expand the work I already do.

I will take advantage of all the training that I had already purchased, and I’ll challenge myself to do this training using much of the free resources as I can from Coursera and Udacity.

I may eventually purchase other training materials, but only after I’ve scrutinised it first.

6. Build something else.

Over the past few years, I’ve concentrated on building my consultancy business only.

It’s been okay, and I would like it to be better, but I want to build something else. Something world changing.

Call it purpose. Call it destiny. Call it mid-life crisis. Call it whatever name you might think it is.

I have no name for it.

I just want to do something more, and I plan to do it this year.

I don’t know what it is yet, but you can be sure you will see something.

7. Get back into electronics and get into the Internet of Things.

One of those kits I bought was an Arduino and a Raspberry Pi that I’ve done nothing with.

I don’t want to let them go to waste. I fully intend to get going with those things and make some cool stuff.

I’m one of those people that believe in the hype of the Internet of Things. I believe it’s going to change our world and I want to be in that change.

8. Learn a second language.

I’ve tried learning Spanish a few times, but never stuck to it.

Considering that my country’s closest neighbour, Venezuela, is Spanish speaking, it would be a good language to learn right?

So I’m going to try again to learn Spanish. I still haven’t figured out the best way how, but I’ll find some way.

9. Travel to somewhere other than the Caribbean.

Much of my recent travels have been within the Caribbean region.

I think it’s time to change that.

I need to expand my thinking and what I think are my limitations. And I think that travelling to another country, a bigger country, might be the best way.

I’m thinking North America, the UK or even China.

Not sure how I’m going to afford it, but I’m going to try.

10. Train my dogs.

We have three dogs; all female.

They’re good dogs. Not aggressive or anything. But untrained.

One of them is very tame and timid, even though she’s the largest of the pack.

The next is terribly wild. Will jump on you. Pull down clothes from the clothes line. And bite your hand when giving her a treat.

The last is just a puppy. I serendipitously found her one morning on the street while on my morning run. Here’s a picture of her:

A very sweet puppy, but she seems to be taking habits of the wild dog, even though she spends more time with the timid one.

I will train them so that they will be more manageable.

Now you?

What do you plan to do for 2016?