When I was in high school I used to write 10 goals on a piece of paper at the beginning of each semester.

I would then put them on a prominent spot of the wall in my room, so that I would be reminded daily of what I wished to achieve. I limited them to 10 goals, because it would help me to focus on the things that were most important, and would also increase the likelihood that I would achieve them. I continued this practice into my first and second years of college, but somewhere along the way I fell out of practice.

I thought I would bring this back, in a way that is open and concrete. This transparency will help to keep me accountable, encourage me to keep pushing, and hopefully will inspire some of you to make your own goals and KICK BUTT in 2012.

Here are mine:

1. Take care of my body.
I used to be a real athlete… football, basketball, track & field and martial arts. Now I’m just a has-been. I want my body back.

2. Write 2 blog posts a month
I recently read “12 Blogging Mistakes to Avoid” by Jeff Bullas (@jeffbullas).  I’ve learned  by working on this blog, and writing for YouNow’s blog, that in order to establish myself as a writer, I must write! (Sounds simple, right?)

Consistency is key. Maybe one day I’ll be like Fred Wilson (@fredwilson) of Union Square Ventures and post every day. Until then, 2 / month is a good goal.

3. Teach myself to build a basic mobile app by the end of 2012.
This will be a hard goal to achieve, but I am determined to do it. If you’d like to help me succeed with this goal, please reach out to me!

4. Monthly check-ins with my younger sister and brothers.
I am the oldest of four. When I went away to college, I wasn’t as active in the lives of my siblings as I used to be. It’s time to change that. I want to help them to achieve the goals they have for themselves, while also validating them, their individuality, and their self-worth. Their success is my success. I love them.

5. Secure a professional mentor, and become a mentor to someone else.
I believe that giving back is important… it’s something I learned through my participation in the Ron Brown Scholar Program, (@ronbrownscholar) a scholarship organization that financially supports talented & service-oriented African-American high school students in attending college.  Everyone should have a mentor, and I hope to be one to a young hustler in need.

6. Get some new threads
I often find myself wearing a hoodie that I bought my freshman year of college… 4 YEARS AGO. Womp.

While I believe in buying what I like to call timeless “anchor pieces,” (unique and versatile items that will last me for some time), I’ve decided I need some fresh gear. Time to hit the thrift stores.

7. Finish “Learn Ruby The Hard Way” by January 31st, 2012
This goal is a corollary from my blog post “Why I am Learning to Program.” In the post I resolved that I would learn how to code as a means of developing the discipline I need to achieve many of my personal and professional goals.

If I want to complete Goal #3 by 2012, I will need to accelerate my learning… so January 31st it is. LET’S GO!

8. Love my woman in the way she deserves.
Camille, my girlfriend, has been a tremendous blessing from God in my life. She is a humble and supportive hard-worker of whom I’m very proud! She has also taught me many things… including how to be gentle, loving, kind, and especially patient. I want to be all of these things to her and more. Love you baby!

9. Strengthen my relationship with God.
God has undeniably blessed me beyond measure, especially by giving me Camille. While my relationship with Him has grown tremendously, I still need to take more time for God.

10. Return to art.
I am an artist and musician. (see my art here.) Recently most of my creative juices have been going into my work at YouNow, and taking pictures via Instagram. At the end of the day, however, I still feel creatively deprived and unfulfilled. I am a creator, and I need to create.

What are your goals for 2012?
Let me know by commenting below, telling me in person, or writing a blog post about them!

After studying international development in Latin America, undergoing a number of various corporate experiences and graduating from college, I have officially launched myself into the NYC tech startup scene. Thanks to my dear friend John Exley(@johnexley), a fellow startup geek and Hashable (@hashable) intern, I am now working at YouNow (@younow), a new social platform for user-generated live video that allows users to broadcast live and curate content in a fun, game-like fashion. As Operations Manager at YouNow, I work alongside our CEO Adi Sideman, and am able to touch all non-technical parts of the business – which is to say, everything but the physical product itself. It’s a tremendous experience, and is preparing me to launch my own startup one day… but I’m missing one thing:

PROGRAMMING.

In my opinion, it is the single most significant thing holding me back from starting my own company. There are obviously many elements that go into building a successful business, but in an increasingly technological world, having negligible technicalunderstanding will make you practically insignificant.

I recently came upon a post by Fred Wilson (@fredwilson) of Union Square Ventureswhich encapsulates the feelings I’ve been having pretty well. It is entitled: “Program or be Programmed.”

For some reason “Program or be Programmed” makes me think of Vladimir Putin… lol

Fred’s post takes inspiration from Douglas Rushkoff‘s latest book “Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age”, postulating that “in the emerging, highly programmed landscape ahead, [one] will either create the software or will be the software.” Didactically, and with less of an alarmist tone, Fred encourages the nontechnical to get technical.

I think this quote pretty much sums it up:

“Dennis Crowley claims to be a terrible programmer. And yet he and Naveen built the first version of Foursquare together. Their third team member was Harry and Harry’s first job was to rewrite all of Dennis’ code. Dennis is the kind of technical I’m talking about. Learn how to hack something together so that you can get people interested in your idea, your project, your startup. If you can do that, then you have a better chance of success.”
- Fred Wilson, AVC

Dennis Crowley of foursquare

Fred’s thoughts only further confirmed for me the feelings I had already been having. You see, I’m an idea guy… always have been. I’m someone who lies awake at night, feverishly excited about the possibility of creating something that can change the world. Inspiration has never been my problem, fortunately.

Unfortunately, however, inspiration in and of itself simply isn’t enough to make one’s world-changing idea a living, breathing thing. My problem is my uncertainty… I’ve always seen the value of learning new things, but because I am unsure of which path I will take, and am constantly inspired by new things, I find myself unwilling to focus on mastery, instead caught up in another whimsical dream of what could be. For this reason I have resolved to learn how to code, as a means of making my startup ideas come to life.

While the hard skills I will acquire from programming will be a tremendous catalyst to realizing my aspirations, my determination to learn how to code is much deeper than that.

It is about:

1. Discipline
Instead of being spontaneously capricious, being assiduously dedicated to accomplishing my goals.

2. Persistence
Enduring and pushing to achieve success, rather than navigating to another “possibility” of success when perceiving potential failure.

3. Conviction
Having enough certainty and self-confidence to trust myself and believe that my dreams are worthy of pursuing whole-heartedly.

4. Creating
Turning possibilities into realities.

–
Apart from being a dreamer, I am also someone who is capable of great output once I put my heart and mind to something. Knowing this… I guess it’s time to just buckle down and GIT UR DUN.

On that note… I will stop writing and proceed to learn the beginnings of Ruby.