2010 – New Year’s Resolutions

Happy New Year everybody! It’s 2010, so I’m looking to bust out a solid 10 resolutions.

1. Start (and maintain) a 365 Photography Project. (Can be found here)

I’ve long played around with photography, having purchased a D80 for a few study abroad trips a few years back and recently buying a D90.  Aiming to actually use the camera with this project, though.

2. Post here (bi)weekly.

I’ve become far too good at putting off finishing entries.

3. Reevaluate/stop paying for any (internet) service.

This was inspired by the recent price hike and new complicated membership scheme over at Dailyburn.com. Recently, I haven’t been using the service nearly enough, and upon taking a step back I’ve recognized flaws in how I use the system. There’s no point paying someone for a service that you can achieve – with more personalized results – for free. I’ll likely deal with this in a future entry.

4. Read a book (bi)weekly. (List can be found here)

The overwhelming, continual use of computers not only disturbs sleep patterns, but also encourages burning time on repetitively checking e-mail and social networking sites – something I could stand to do less of.

5. Pay more attention to diet/exercise.

One of the fun features in my keitai (Japanese cell phone) is a built-in always-on 3D accelerometer that serves as an activity tracker, which has been inspiring me to push the daily activities a little further. Want to push this forward.

6. Achieve functional fluency in Japanese.

I’m currently living in Japan, so this is a no-brainer. Really, I’d like to achieve this goal in the next six months (fluency measured by reading, writing, etc.), but will likely measure it by taking the Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT) in December.

7. Create a daily ritual.

Develop a series of habits to behaviorally automate what I want to do each day – stretching/yoga, meditation, working out/gym time, various meal times, reading, etc.

8. Write a book.

May or may not end up being a Nanowrimo work. Towards the end of 2009, I spent more of my downtime outlining a work I’ve had floating around for awhile; I’d like to get it on paper.

9. Smile more.

Can’t hurt, and a fair bit of research suggests that while you may smile when you’re happy, smiling can make you feel happier as well.

10. Make this year the best yet.

It’s true that driving specific goals should be a continuous process, and that anything else is often an exercise in futility, but I find that setting an overall feel – a direction – with a series of interrelated goals to be beneficial. The New Year provides an artificial moment in which we can redefine how we think about our current moments – if 2009 was a negative experience, for example, the New Year allows us to attach those negative emotions to the year and welcome 2010 as something more hopeful.

Whether the mood of the years actually change is another story.

My resolutions above are part of larger goals – on the order of varying 3-10 year plans – and provide a context by which to move into the New Year. I keep the resolutions deliberately vague to set a mood, not necessarily a to-do list – no point increasing the pressure of the coming year.

From these vague directions, I can derive more specific goals (increase body weight while maintaining body fat to xx kg by June, for instance) – these I can compile into a monthly plan. These can then help dictate my weekly activities, placed into a desktop txt file I can review often and use to track my progress.

In any case, 2010 is shaping up well so far. Best of luck to all of you!

Pura vida,

D

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