I don't do New Year's Resolutions, if you need to change some aspect of your life, a New Year is hardly an excuse for making the change. No, it is mere coincidence that I am coming to this conclusion.

The conclusion is that I am not fitting enough work into my day. 18 months ago, I was working every available hour on the Work Connexions project. Following that, I decided to "take a year off", ie. reduce the amount of work I do outside my paid employment. This also helped me keep a low profile while any negativity generated from Work Connexions could settle. Now, however, I am ready to poke my head over the parapet again.

I am interested in .NET development, collaboration, Social Media and Marketing. Whereas I have been able to enjoy input in a Marketing/Social media capacity in my previous job, my new job does not give me access to the same level of work. In order to keep myself in touch with this area, I'm going to have to increase work "outside of hours". My day currently starts at 07:00 and ends at 22:00. Between 18:30 and 22:00 I spend time with my wife. This, however, does not give me the time I need to work on a couple of personal projects I have going on and keep my fingers in the social media and marketing spaces. Balancing personal vs. professional life. Tricky. #There may be trouble ahead ...#

Here are my commitments for this coincidental resetting of the annual clock:

Instead of turning over at 0545 when my wife gets up, I am going to get up and find some work to do. I'll be listening to Radio 4 at this point, so beware of ill-informed rants in relation to the news. Maybe I'll use the extra time to go in to work earlier. (This also means there will be less traffic on the road for the days I ride to work on my bike.)

The tricky bit comes when I come home from work. I need to be able to spend time with my wife and be able to commit time (and energy) to more work. Solution: work late. This should also have the benefit of ridding myself of thoughts which would otherwise keep me awake. The strategy is to wear myself out intellectually and physically. ..... NEED .... MORE .... DIET .... COKE ....

I'm going to get in to the habit of blogging posts over several days. Many bloggers have the time to prepare and write blogs, but I just don't. It's not part of my job, and it's not part of my core skills. So, I'm going to blog over several days, maybe leaving half-written blog posts lying to see if further inspiration comes up or for me to have a cool-down period so I can realise I am just ranting rubbish.

With my "secret project" currently taking up my Saturday mornings, I am seeing less time I can work over the weekend while spending time with my wife. This will be tricky! Whereas I previously worked Saturday/Sunday morning (making up a full day) this timetable isn't really possible. I need to attain success in my secret project as soon as possible! Maybe I need to get back to the time machine project I was thinking about. Unfortunately. it's much too complicated for my 'ickle brain.