We all make New Year resolutions, and I usually forget or abandon them within a week. This year it's going to be different - I'm publishing them for the world to see, and I daren't lose face.

If you make year-end a trigger for planning what you're going to do and how you're going to behave next year, do you first take a look at what happened last year? It could be a good idea.

I don't mean just tick off the goals you achieved and the ones you missed, plus the associated self-congratulation and excuses. Some experiences change our attitudes, sometimes gradually and sometimes abruptly. Did anything traumatic happen to you last year?

At my age, I expect to see more people dropping off their perches or beginning to look a bit shaky. It's sad, but it isn't traumatic any more. All I can do is check my own state relative to that of my friends and colleagues. It's a bit like the way I play cards - I'm intelligent enough to understand how to improve the odds, but not intense enough about it to make it my only concern. If I did that, the stress would probably destroy all the gain, anyway. If life isn't here to be enjoyed, what else is it for?

If I were to sum up what changed in 2007, I'd say I've got a bit weaker and creakier physically and a bit more focused and determined mentally. I've torn a muscle in my side, shifting moderately heavy boxes at a silly angle - and I've started doing things about using the Web to earn money.

I'm the junior partner and technical director in the company that runs www.ropeysoles.com , a site that successfully sells espadrilles and berets so far, and will add other products as time goes by. I've started moving my two old hobby sites across to a new WordPress-driven blog site www.newfreebooters.com .

I've started creating Hubs, Squidoo Lenses and Ezine Articles (well, I've signed up, but haven't got round to writing anything yet). I've persuaded a professional author friend to produce material for e-brochures and e-books - but he's having trouble working out how to make MS Word save his stuff in a format less obscure than .docx, which Open Office can't yet read. I'll have to talk him through that in a day or so.

I've downloaded various tools for finding blogs and discussions on subjects that interest me, where I can enjoy myself by taking an active part in discussions - hopefully gaining a bit of credibility in the process. Then people may start to follow links to other things I'm involved in, includng the ones that are meant to make a bit of money for me or for charities. (My embryo Squidoo Lens will send any earnings to a society for the welfare of ferrets - I used to have to avoid being nipped on the way to the shower in an earlier life, but that's a story in its own right).

2007 had its ups and downs, but I detect the beginning of the end of dilettante amateurism in my approach to the web. That's got to be a step towards being able to top up my pension to compensate for inflation, if nothing more.

Have you read the first Retiring Disgracefully hub?

The first week has nearly gone already. Better get focused.

Resolution numer 1

Go for it. Don't get sidetracked. Whatever it is I set out to do. The clock is running - even if I'm active until I'm 90, that's only another 21 years.

Resolution number 2

Enjoy the ride.

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A Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year to you all!