Jason Hasselkus

It’s that time of year again, the same time where I luck out by not having to fight the crowds in the gym for the first three months of the year. But this year I decided to change things up a bit, and make a few resolutions that I think I can keep. I’m not trying to perform any miracles here, nor do I intend to blow anyone away with the ability to actually follow through on something. These are just a few of the things I would like to get done in the next 365 days we will call 2008. Hey with that many days I should be able to get a few things accomplished, don’t you think?
This list of course is in no particular order.

• Spend More Time with My Family: I put this one first, probably because it’s the more important to me. Last year was a stressful year. For the first time in my professional career, I really had a hard time being excited about going to work everyday. The political environment got to be too much. Every recommendation I put forth was turned down by those who had to rely on other to make a decision. This in turn meant that dad wasn’t so happy when he got home and needed a whole weekend to prepare for another week ahead. The holiday break probably couldn’t have come at a better time. So this year, when I’m dad, I’m dad, not someone who’s waiting for their pager to call them. I’m also going to spend my time with my brother and my parents, we live so close, yet I rarely see them on a weekly basis.
• Add customers to the Printing Business: As many of you know, my brother an I operate a printing business, mostly specializing in promotional product printing. Last year was a pretty good year, we were at least able to cover expenses and starting enjoying some of the profits. However we still kept it to a small scale, and this year I would like to expand it. So my goal this year is not profit based, nope, instead it’s going to be customer based. I would like to add 5 wildly happy customers each quarter to my business. My feeling is that a few happy customers are better than a lot of unhappy customers. So here’s to making customer satisfaction #1
• Expand my Blogging/Web Design Business: 2007 was another good year for me doing consulting for CMS (Content Management Systems) and web design. I would like to do more of that in 2008. I enjoyed the customers I got to work with, and appreciated the fact that many of them continue to ask for more services. One area I dabbled in at the end of 2007 was constructing websites with frameworks. Once I discovered the power of frameworks, in particular Django, I fell in love with a whole new way of bringing content to the web.
• Launch 2 new websites a quarter: I have a really bad habit of starting these projects and then launching them, only to later stop adding content to them because I get distracted. Whereas I might not be able to control my A.D.D., I can put forth an effort to not only launch the websites, but keep them maintained. Whether that means hiring someone to maintain them, or doing it myself, this year I’m sticking to launching 2 sites every three months, and maintaining all of them with fresh new content.
• Watch Less TV: In 2007 I became a Reality TV junkie. Yeah, I knew more about what was going on in Survivor that I did Iraq. Sad, I know, but it was the reality of my life last year. Although I think it’s good to have some “turn off your brain” time, I apparently had way to much of it. My DVR was on constant “Save Me” mode, to the point where I waited for smoke to spew from the sides. With everything else I have going on, I don’t see this to be too much of a problem.
• Exercise More: Notice I didn’t say: “Loose 20 lbs.” or “Get Rock Hard Abs”. Come on, I’m getting old and looking like I’m in my 20’s just isn’t going to happen. I don’t plan on loosing a bunch of weight, I just plan on being healthier. This means less eating out, and possible a little less coffee, but I’m not sure I can stick to that one. I know that I’m not going to be Atlas, nor do I strive to be a marathoner, so healthy is where I would like to end up about this time next year.
• Ride my Motorcycle More: One thing that I truly enjoyed last year, was taking Sunday Rides with my father. I would like to continue that, but would also like to have Yvonne get on the bike with me. She’s built for speed and I’m sure she would love racing down PCH, sitting on the back of my bike while I’m in complete control. It’s probably in my best interest not to present it to her like that, but you get the idea. I just want to get her on the bike so we can spend some time together without the kids and without staring at each other. Just flying by enjoying the ocean view.
• Learn a New Skill or Discover an Old Skill: One of the things I’ve noticed about myself is that over the past few years, I concentrated more on work than I have my hobbies. In fact I can’t say that I really have any hobbies at the moment. Sure I play some video games here and there, but I’m no hard core gamer. I’ve also completely lost my ability to play guitar and draw. Two hobbies of mine that I thoroughly enjoyed. I plan to pick one of them up again, at least for a couple hours a week, nothing major, but again, something to take me away from the computer. Most likely I’ll either get back into playing guitar or playing golf. I can doodle while I’m on conference calls
• Finish the yard When we moved to the new house in 2007 we knew there would be a ton of work to get done. We completed some of it, but with two small, very active children, sometimes life doesn’t allow for to many house projects, especially the ones that take a full weekend. Well this year I’m finally going to bite the bullet and get that yard landscaped like we wanted to. I’ll need the help of my father for sure, but that’s going to allow me to spend more time with family, so it’s a win win in my book. Who knows, maybe I’ll even discover a new hobby in the process.
• Get those eBooks published: I’ve been hounded by clients and friends to get those books I’ve been working on published. Hey, give the guy some slack, I had a lot of TV to watch last year, there wasn’t a lot of time. This year I’m finally going to get those books out the door and see what happens.
• Enjoy Life: I’ll be the first to admit, I’m a pretty blessed person. Last year I really made good decisions and surrounded myself with outstanding people. I may not be the quantity of close friends I use to have, but the quality sure has improved. In 2008 I want to make sure I enjoy life to the fullest, and I mean at every waking moment. And if there is a way for me to help someone else enjoy their lives a little more, just let me know, I’m in with both feet.

So I’m hoping that 2008 is going to be a great year, and if I achieve half of what I set out to achieve then I know that I’ve been successful in at least something. A little hard work never killed anyone, nor has it ever failed me in the past. Maybe I’ll update this blog with my achievements, maybe I won’t, notice I didn’t put “Blog More” as one of my goals. My updates will come naturally and I’ll update them here as I see fit. But for my friends and family that actually read this, well lets make 2008 another great year.