You are your habits.

With 2008 now in the rear view mirror, there have been many predictions in my TweetDeck and my RSS readerthe about the upcoming year. Everything from predictions of the next big web-thing, to the next tech-breakthrough, to predictions that the economy will bounce back, or even worse, will collapse even more.

While I could lay down some of my predictions for the upcoming year, I like to have a more pragmatic approach. Chances are I really have no idea how 2009 will change the world for everyone else. I want to focus on how I will change my world, for me.

You are your habits.

I love the idea that I can learn a new skill, pick up a new hobby, or learn a new craft, just by making time in my schedule for it, and then
following through .

I don’t have any resolutions for 2009, but I do have some new habits I’d like to pick up. While they are modest, they are attainable.

- Meditate for at least 5 minutes nightly. I’ve long been enamored with tales of meditation. From it’s calming effect on one’s mind, to promises of richer everyday experiences & deeper appreciation of the people in one’s life, there just always seemed to be something there. 5 minutes a night is a modest start. Implementation strategy: Just do it until I ‘get over the hump’ & really begin to enjoy it & look forward to it on a daily basis.

- Floss. I know it’s good for me. I know all the rational reasons why I should do it. I just don’t do it, yet. There’s a famous Mitch Hedberg routine about flossing.

“Man, I can’t floss my teeth. People talk about how hard it is to stop smoking; I think its about as hard as it is to start flossing. ‘Hey, you look jittery.’ ‘Yeah, I’m about to floss.’”
Mitch Hedberg

This is a simple one. Implementation strategy: Just do it.

- Read nightly. I’ve long been enamored from afar with the craft of writing. As a student of philosophy, I’ve found a passion for the way some writers are able to put their most fluid thoughts onto paper in such a poetic way. I’ve always been very left-brained, analytical in a way that has dominated more expressive, verbal. In the spirit of expanding my horizons, I’m going to dedicate a half-hour nightly to reading offline. Implementation strategy: Make it a habit to find interesting content. Make it a habit to read before meditation & bed.

- Dedicate an hour per week to expanding professionally. This one is a little bit more abstract. I’ve long been obsessed with having both a
breadth and a depth of professional skills & knowledge. In practice, I find that a lot of my time is spent executing. I get much of the bredth in my daily work schedule, but not very much depth. Implementation strategy: Dedicate an hour each week to finding a new technology meetup to go to, explore twitter for interesting new technologies to learn about, or engaging in other non-immediate-work-related technology material.

My hope is that my new habits are both modest & realistic enough to become a part of daily life. I’ve always been a firm believer that you are your habits, so I’m looking forward to picking up a new few habits myself, in 2009.

Ignighter is a Finalist in the Mashable Open Web Awards!

The startup I work for, Ignighter, was just nominated for a Mashable Open Web Award. Please take a second and vote Ignighter:

From Mashable:

Mashable is proud to announce that voting has begun in the 2nd Annual Open Web Awards, a unique opportunity for the most accomplished websites and services to receive international recognition for their achievements.

During the nominations round, we received over 43,000 verified nominations. We narrowed down this huge pool to the 10 most-nominated sites and services in each category (where 10th place was a draw, we allowed more than 10 nominees in that category).

Please vote for Ignighter to win and pass it along to your friends and family members!

Mashable Open Web Awards

Reflections from an awesome Philly compa.

This past Saturday night I had the great privilege to host a group date at the Noddinghead Brewpub in Philadelphia, PA. As some of friends & colleagues already know, I have been working as the Lead Developer for Ignighter.com for the past 6 months. Ignighter is an online ‘group dating’ service, aimed at young people who have just left college, moved to a big city, and having a tough time meeting fun new young people.

I’d always knew, since I first sat down with Dan and Adam, that group dating as a webservice had major potential. It’s already a huge phenomenon in Japan, where young people go out on ‘compa dates’. I mean, on an intellectual level, it just makes sense. Meeting people with your group of friends is safer, less awkward, and more fun than one-on-one meetings.

But, this Saturday night, I realized, on a whole new level, how much potential there is for group dating in America. The date this weekend was fun. And, I mean, F-U-N. For the two years I lived in Philadelphia, my group of buddies had a very routinized nightlife. Every weekend, it was the same bars with the same group of friends. About halfway through my group date on Saturday night, watching my friends mingle with the group of girls we’d just met, watching the smiles, the high fives, the positive body language, I realized on a whole deeper level: this website could really change the way young people meet. Along with that realization, came a few other insights about Ignighter:

• It’s not about finding a life partner. It’s about improving your social life. – The group atmosphere doesn’t lend itself to much romance, but it is an opportunity to meet a whole new group of friends. Chances are, you’re going to hit it off with at least one of them
• It’s easy, I mean: really easy – All I had to do was send a few messages, pick a time and a place to meet, show up, and holy cow: I just met 5 new ladies who live in my town. And shit: they’re interesting too.
• No matter how you slice it, it’s a whole freakin’ lot of fun – If you have a social bone in your body, you love meeting new people.

I came away from this group date feeling energized about my job, and bullish about the future of online group dating. Perhaps even more telling, my roommate, who has been cynical about online social networking and dating, but reluctantly accompanied me on the group date, came away raving about how great of a time he had.

I’m interested in comments from readers. What elements of a night-out make it the most fun? How do you meet new people when you’re out-on-the town? Would you use a webservice that is designed to set you up with a group of young people in your area?