Before I start writing a post reflection on my resolutions for this year (2008) and next, I quickly searched the blog and found that I wrote one of these for 2007 / 2008. At least I’m consistent, I guess 😉 Which is ironic, since I’m in the middle of reading Cialdini‘s Influence (review coming soon) and he talks about the human need to be self-consistent.
2008 has been a great year. I met virtually all my resolutions for the year. The two main ones were to lose weight and continue growing personally and professionally.
I definitely lost weight: 14 lbs or so, getting to the target weight my doctor recommends. In fact I just had my annual checkup last week, and he’s psyched about my health, so I am too. Personally I still think I have a lot of room for toning, as well as losing a bit more weight, say around 5 lbs, so work remains. A lot of it. It stays on the list of resolutions for 2009, but I’m happy with the progress here, for once.
I also definitely grew personally and professionally. Professionally this year brought a lot of challenges: managing the biggest team I’ve had, in the fastest-growing company I’ve been a part of, means there’s almost daily scaling / growth bottlenecks, and lots of interesting challenges. Recruiting has proven to be a time-consuming bear of a task, but one where practice certainly makes better and the fruits of doing it right are well worth the effort.
HubSpot rocks, and I’m happy to be part of the team. We have a lot of work ahead, but I’m proud of what we’ve done so far. It takes a lot of different skills and different personalities to make a big success happen, and it’s hard to balance everything and everyone. It’s also something that needs constant care and attention, so that stays on the list for 2009.
Alli and I also set an ambitious personal finance goal for us as a family, in terms of saving and planning for the future. We were both very excited to meet that goal as of last week, so we can sleep better at night. And one of our resolutions for 2009 is to invest wisely in this down market. As Buffett says, “be greedy when others are afraid.”
A newcomer to the 2009 resolutions list is to dance more. Yes, that’s not a typo. I’m not a good dancer, but I want to improve, because I think the ROI is high in a number of areas. Ryles on Thursdays seems like fun, so I hope to give it a shot.
One of my ongoing resolutions, from back in 2006, is to try at least one 3-star Michelin restaurant every year. This year we were lucky to go to a couple of amazing places: In de Keuken and White Barn Inn, and a bunch of other fun restaurants. I haven’t gotten a reservation to el Bulli yet, but I’ve yet to give up.
2009 will be a great year. Happy new year everyone!
Yoav Shapira's Personal Blog 