As 2023 comes to a close, I thought I'd take a few minutes to look back and see what I accomplished over the past 12 months. This way, I have something to reference later on.
Career
The past couple years have been a little more fluid that I prefer with multiple job hops, but I think things have finally started to settle down and become more stable again with my most recent position as a software engineer at PetDesk.
I also started KTech Farms in February, which allowed me to take part in my first season of farmer's markets, build an online store with Square, and take part in the Armed to Farm program.
Due to starting the farm business, I built an additional indoor growing area as well as a greenhouse and two raised beds. I also had the opportunity to take part in a 120 Day Tech Startup program to pursue a new business idea spawned from my experiences so far.
Health and Fitness
Overall, I didn't accomplish much in regard to health and fitness, but I did start tracking macros and body composition using the 1st Phorm app and began training BJJ again after a year or so break.
Maker
I feel like I ended up building a lot of things in the second half of 2023. I came across some plans for custom rolling tables and built those along with some new garage shelving.
I consolidated some of my 3d printers and now have an Any cubic 6K printer along with a Snapmaker Artisan, allowing me to 3D print, laser engrave, and CNC. Utilizing Fusion 360, I designed and created 5 new items including
- Filament shelf bracket
- Artisan build-plate mounting bracket
- Artisan module mounting bracket
- Artisan air inlet bracket
- Circle & square coaster holders
- Hat hangar
I also added the first new item to my Etsy store in over a year.
Personal Development
I spent a lot more time on personal development this year than I had previously, and started reading again - something I haven't really done for years. I read a total of (at least) 10 books, which included the following:
- The automatic millionaire
- Rich Dad's guide to investing
- Start your own corporation
- Rental Property Investing
- BRRRR
- The Urban Farmer
- Compact Farms
- Fearless Farm Finances
- The Lean Farm
- Good to Great
I also completed the 75 Hard program for the first time in March. I made several attempts prior to that and a couple after, but only completed it once.
Technology
This year, I started to make a move away from big tech and migrated to Proton. I also cancelled my Amazon Prime membership after having it for a number of years, and gained familiarity with NextJS, Vercel, and Tailwind CSS.
Writing
This year I created a total of 29 blog posts - 17 for this site, and 12 for KTech Farms. Out of those 29 posts, over 66% of them were created after September 1st.
Needs Improvement
There are always areas to improve, and I think a couple of the biggest ones for me are focus and discipline.
I definitely have "shiny object syndrome" and change what I'm working on way too often. A lot of times I'll start a project just long enough to prove to myself that I can do it and then move on to something else. Either that or I'll have an idea hit me and then I try to work on multiple things at the same time. In either case, nothing gets accomplished and I ultimately end up wasting time.
Discipline was a big focus for me this year and I've made decent progress, but still have a long way to go.
One final thing is I need to spend less time on the computer, or at least be more productive with that time. I've started to notice a trend similar to when I played too many games where I feel like I have to be on and doing "something", thinking that I'm being productive but not accomplishing anything meaningful.
