A new year is upon us, which means it's time to talk about goals again.

I started this in 2016 (review) and continued in 2017 (review). The scorecards aren't necessarily particularly impressive, but the act of reflecting alone has been fun and helpful.

I had initially thought about changing things up for 2018 by not limiting myself to five things, allowing for more if I felt so inclined, but decided against it. Setting more goals would've required more forgiveness for not meeting them, possibly begging the question of why even bother.

However, after some consideration, I've realized that instead of going with the usual five, I ought to set only one goal for this year:

1. Make PyBeach Happen

PyBeach is a Python conference I'm organizing in LA in early 2019.

While I'm (possibly foolishly) confident everything will be fine, the reality is that successfully putting on even a small regional conference is a big task. I'm also keenly aware that I've never done anything quite like this, and am therefore a poor judge of exactly how challenging it will be.

Realistically then, I should focus on making sure my confidence isn't for naught.

It's important to note that this in no way means I won't learn or accomplish anything else this year. I'm constantly learning new things, even unintentionally, and I've already got some traction with projects, with a much improved new major version of Autohook (which received a contribution, a first for me!) and the first public release of Keysort. I also have type hints for Parsenvy in the works, and I'm sure other small things will materialize in time.

But it's also important for me to be realistic and honest with myself, and I really want to make sure PyBeach is a huge success. And I have a great co-conspirator I can't disappoint!

So, be cool and check out the PyBeach website, sign up for the exceedingly-low-volume newsletter, and follow us on Twitter. And if you want to be super cool, join our Slack team and help us make it happen!