My customary resolutions post. Late, but here. It might not interest any of you out there in the spacetubes, but to me it’s important to write this stuff down. Writing it down makes it real. It gives me a reference point. A way to evaluate myself at year’s end. A hard copy that can’t be rationalized out by my brain. In essence, this is why I do it. I am a firm believer in Kaizen: constant improvement. Every day you should strive to be a better person than you were the day before. Doing something small everyday will help you achieve you goals. That is really the problem with achieving goals. If you have a big goal in mind, break it down into manageable chunks. Taking something on that is huge and amorphous is setting yourself up for failure. Anyway, enough parables, onto my goalsolutions (goals and resolutions).
Get into shape.
This is pretty self-explanitory. Not only that, but it is the most tired resolution in the history of man. I have really been lax on this past year, or at least during most of it. There was a stint in the summer I was really making some headway, but then I lazied up. I want to get some definition and some stamina. It will happen. Also, this leads me into a two-year failed resolution:
Run a marathon.
Nothing I haven’t said before, but I really need to do this. It seems pretty arbitrary, but it’s a goal I need to reach. Two years I have tried and have not mustered up the motivation to get off my butt and train. Why is this year any different. Well, the overarching goalsolution should answer that. It’s going to happen. Are you pumped? I am so pumped.
Become a digital minimalist.
This one requires much more focus than just this little post. I will go much farther into detail in a separate post. In a nutshell, all my stuff is going digital, baby!
Be more adult.
No. Stop it now. I do not mean to be more adult (growl). I mean to grow up. Start acting more like an adult. I am definitely reaching that point if not already there and it’s not something that happens naturally, at least for me. So, I am making a conscious decision to do it. This is probably seems boring by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s something my generation sorely lacks. Let me try to explain this in more certain terms.
Stop whining about doing things that are not desirable.
Chores, things for the family, homework, studying, anything that is not completely enjoyable at the start. I am guilty of complaining when doing certain activities and that’s find for an adolescent. I’m an adult now and it’s time to stop bitching. Bitching stops. Do it and grow a pair. It sucks, but it needs to get done and if it’s your responsibility then do it. Really, it’s as clear as that. To achieve things in life especially your dreams you are going to need to do some undesirable things and put work into it, but the reward is far greater.
Become organized and stick to it.
Over the past year I have really gotten more organized. Everything is calendarized and listed. It has helped improve my focus immensely. This year I need to get even more focused. Everything needs to be filed away and not left to swim around in my brain. All my papers and important documents need to be where I know them. Again, it’s all the boring parts of being an adult.
No excuses.
Stop making excuses for not doing things. This ties into stop whining. Just do it. Stop being so flippin’ lazy.
Learn skills that will be useful later.
I have a pretty vast skill set that may help me down the road, but there is some things I want to learn still, especially about mechanical stuff. I am pretty well versed in the ways of electricity, but my knowledge of fixing mechanical issues with cars or bikes is limited. I need to change that. Always good to improve your knowledge base as well as save a few bucks along the way.
Record keeping/ Finances
I need to start recording my financial transactions better. I have all this stat knowledge now and I need to start evaluating how I spend money. Along with that I need to track repairs and certain other boring stuff so I can reference later. Most people never get to this point in their entire lives. I will not be one of them.
This makes adulthood seems super boring, but if I get systems in place that I can rely on that makes the grown-up stuff go by quicker, I can go be a kid doing fun stuff. It is all about balance and if you sway too much in one direction or the other life becomes unenjoyable or unsustanable. Here is to 2011. Let’s make it a great one!
ADDENDUM
Learn more Japanese.
This one kid of slipped my mind when I was writing this, but it is important. These past couple of years I have let my Japanese skills go by the wayside. Not this year. I plan on creating a plan to study a specific amount every day. Even if it’s only a kanji or two and some vocab. The little bits add up and by the end of the year I will have accumulated quite a bit. No more slacking on this. I need to buckle down. So, look for me to be a lot more annoying as I sprinkle in new things about Japanese I learned into everyday conversation. Ja ne!