That’s right, it’s March 2024, just in time for some very late New Years resolutions/goals. I last posted my goals here in 2022, so I suppose I’m doing better than 2023, but after some time to consider everything, here are three things I’d like to improve every day, and one actual goal I’d like to pursue for 2024.
Daily Goals
- Physical Fitness – Over really the last decade I’ve lost 50 pounds. There was never really a point where this started, more a series of things that I did differently over time (started walking dog, largely gave up soda, cut out most weight lifting for cardio/body weight exercises).
My Current philosophy is work out every day at some level, do a really challenging class once a week, and weights once a week. At ~235 pounds (~6′ 4″), I’m in the best shape I’ve been in for the past decade-plus. BMI would say I’m 30 pounds overweight (“normal” is under 205), but that would seem to be way to skinny for me. That being said, I hope to get more toned, but will let the actual numbers on the scale fall where they may. - Practice Guitar – I received an electric guitar kit as a Christmas gift this year, and after several years playing the baritone ukulele, and bass guitar long ago, it’s actually been fairly easy to get to a not-quite-totally-ignorant level with it. A few minutes or more every day and I think I’ll be comfortable saying I can play guitar, if only at a low level. Maybe I’ll do a year progress post on my JCo Audio YouTube channel.
- Improve Spanish – For the past few years I’ve been listening to a Spanish learning podcast, and have tried other methods including Duolingo. It’s hard to get a grasp on how much I’m improving, but I seem to understand more and more. Being able to communicate in two languages seems like a good thing, and it helps me make better use of my time while working out, driving, etc.
An Broad 2024 Goal: JCo Audio
At the start of this year I had some time to think about what I’m doing, my business etc. I’ve been moderately successful, but It’s hard to see a clear path to expand beyond where I am now. Writing brings in most of my income, and my Jeremy Cook YouTube page has been a great outlet. However, it remains unfocused project-wise, and much less profitable that I’d like.
The question then is how can I bring my pursuits under one umbrella, in a way that’s consistently appealing to a certain niche, and that could be profitable?
My answer: I’ve always had some interest in music, and I had three videos nearly ready to go that were musical, but involved everything from 3D-printing, to machining, electronics, and more… A cohesive theme that a lot of people can relate to, which allows me to showcase a wide range of techniques. Plus I have a head start videos-wise.
So my goal for 2024 is to develop the JCo Audio channel, ramping up to 1000 subscribers, plus the 4000+ hours of watch time required from monetization. Early results seem promising, though I’ll need to do a bit better to hit that goal:
If you want to help, you can subscribe here, and watch as I learn to hack and play musical devices. Or something like that. I’m still working on a good tagline!
Of course, I’ll still be doing my normal writing and business pursuits, and there are many things I need/want to do that aren’t listed here family, finances, and otherwise. But this seemed like a nice way to sum up my current thinking. Hopefully I can report on some great successes next year!