So, these are my 2010 resolutions. I have learned some lessons from last year’s exercise, and I think that 2010’s resolutions are better as a result – at least in the sense of being more specific and measurable.
First off then, following the miserable hell of November and December 2009, I am resolving to get ruthless about allowing access to my time (not ruthless in general as the picture might imply!). I intend to use my calendar, or a spreadsheet, or an OmniPlan file or some other tool to reserve time for everything I’m working on that takes more than about an hour. I will use this to ensure that I have time for stuff that I’ve said I’ll do, and also to make it a lot harder to add new stuff to my workload when I’m already busy.
In addition, I am resolving to keep a daily journal. This will help me to monitor some things in my life, including my progress on some of these resolutions, but mainly I am hoping that it will help me to reflect both on things that happen and things that I do, so that I can better learn from my experiences. It’s a bit experimental for me, however a lot of people maintain that it’s a very useful exercise, so I am going to try it and see. I haven’t yet decided whether to do it electronically, or on paper.
In the creative section at the bottom left of the mind map I have been much more specific, and have resolved to produce something, rather than just suggesting some areas to play with, as I did last year. Last year, my “creative output” was really only in the area of photography. In the other areas, I didn’t do anything that amounted to much more than messing around with the tools, which is fun but not that rewarding.
After the Great North Run last year, I decided that I wanted to keep on with the running, but then didn’t quite manage to follow through. The 500 miles that I have resolved to run in 2010 equates to about 10 miles per week, which should be very achievable. Having said that, I just fell over on some ice and hurt my ankle, which probably won’t be helping me get off to a great start.
Last year, I didn’t manage to consistently eat better or sleep more sensibly, so these resolutions are carried forward. It’s well worth continuing to work on those fundamental things.
I’ll report back in December 2010 when as a result of the above I will be happier, more accomplished, more healthy, and less stressed.
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Hello,
Found your blog when I searched for “2010″ on Twitter. Your 2010 pic came up, so I clicked through to your blog. Sounds like a very ambitious year ahead!
I haven’t made New Year resolutions for a long time, instead choosing to work on projects that run for days, weeks or months but that I don’t only think up when the New Year comes along.
If you want to achieve most if not all of your resolutions, I strongly recommend a more frequent review. If you get to December and haven’t done anything, there’s not much you can do about it, and it’ll seem like a failed year. But if you review your progress every 2-4 weeks, at least you can track your progress and make changes if some of the resolutions aren’t working out. Maybe even setting a clearer deadline for each objective would be worth considering – for instance, write a song by March 1st. Setting very long timelines for your resolutions increases the likelihood that most of them will be forgotten. Actually, I’m a composer myself, so if you need any tips just let me know.
What jumped out at me was this:
“Last year, I didn’t manage to consistently eat better or sleep more sensibly, so these resolutions are carried forward. It’s well worth continuing to work on those fundamental things.”
I stay up too late so I know where you’re coming from. But why do you think these resolutions didn’t work out? What are you going to do differently to make them happen this year?
I hope you don’t mind me writing this comment – I’m just trying to share some things that I discovered after making the same resolutions for several years running and never achieving any of them. If you look at one of the latest posts on my blog (“What I achieved in 2009″) you’ll see I did a lot last year. And I do have goals for this year. But I try to keep my list fairly short so I stand a better chance of success.
Hope this helps, Happy New Year.
Ben