The Day of the Ubermensch!
04/01/07 10:35 Filed in: Sordid Personal
Details
I am going to go on record and say that all of this is bullshit.
1 - why aren't you thinking about your life and the way it is going? You are leaving your happiness up to the fates and remaining passive about your circumstances.
2 - either you are one of the truly rare and blessedly happy individuals or you are settling / turning a blind eye to areas that can be improved. Just make sure you know which kind you are.
3 - resolutions often don't work out, but they aren't stupid. It is a chance to look at your life and see what you like and dislike. It is true that a year's resolution is often too much pressure and once it is broken even once the whole business falls apart. However, this can be solved.
4 - this is a hardass response from people with either a huge amount of willpower, or no resolutions to attempt anyway. I agree to a certain extent, but the good thing about New Year's is that it is like a reset button, a really really big one. You can wipe away past failures and try anew.
5 - these resolutions are essentially doomed. I was reading the top 15 resolutions over at 43 Folders and the majority of them lack the clarity to even know if you have succeeded or failed:
1. Read 50 books in 2007 - GOOD! Makes my list look short, but I have some stupidly big and hard books in there.
2. exercise regularly - BAD! What is exercise? What is regularly?
3. lose weight - BAD! How much? 2lbs? 200lbs?
4. drink more water - BAD! How much?
5. stop procrastinating - BAD! You can fail this by procrastinating even once.
6. start a photo journal - take at least a photo a day to represent my life - GOOD! Really clear.
7. stop eating sugar - BAD! Again, this is super easy to break.
8. Read more books - BAD! Undefined. See #1.
9. Practice Yoga - BAD! When, how often?
10. Read the entire Bible - GOOD... I guess...
11. Save money - BAD! How much?
12. make 2007 my best year yet - BAD! Totally vague! What does a good year mean to you? It must be defined.
13. get a job - GOOD! if a bit easy.
14. eat healthier - BAD! again, undefined, vague, breakable
15. meditate daily - Pretty Good, but how long, when?
In fairness this is just a list of titles. Some people may have more distinct details figured out. The point is, if you don't have a clear goal, you can't score. So, here is my list of tips I am going to try to use myself that I have picked up in my own reading:
1: Be clear. Know exactly what your parameters are. Drink 3L of water everyday. Save $100 a month.
2: Don't set yourself up for a fall. If your goal is "quit smoking" you've blow it the moment you light up once. The resolution becomes totally useless. "Cut down by 90%" is slightly easier, and it accommodates the occasional slip up, thereby preserving the goal.
3: Have a plan. Even the nice 50 books a year resolution can fall flat on its face if you don't have a schedule laid out, an idea of how many books you need to read a month, how many hours you need to read every week, or even an idea of when you are going to do all of this reading every day.
4: Positive visualization. If you find yourself dwelling on how much it sucks to do what you have resolved to do, you are one rainy day or stressful situation from cracking. Instead, remember why you made the resolution. Envision, Stanley Cup style, how rad it will be when you hoist that goal over your head.
5: Rewards. Lastly, the strongest visualization sometimes lacks the force of a cookie. Are you doing well? Reward yourself! It can be a spontaneous pat on the back when you start losing a little bit of steam, or it can be a semi-large reward at a fixed point. Are you sucking ass? Steel yourself, pick a small reward to put off for a little while, then push to get started again. When you finish you can savour your success and the cookie -- this is psychological gold.
6: Reset. The good thing about New Year's resolutions is that it forces people who would otherwise not look up from the grind to consider their situation and try to forge a new path. One big problem, however, is blowing it, often before the "worst day of the year", this year falling on Monday, January 22. (It is called thus because the weather is shit, xmas debt bills arrive, the party is over and most people have already blown their resolutions). Just remember: every single morning is a chance to reset. Look past the symbolism of the New Year's resolution and try out having one kickass day. Then add another. Repeat. If you blow one, start over like it didn't happen.
By now you must be thinking, ok smarty pants. What the hell are your resolutions? I am going to put my balls on the line here and post about my progress. So, the list:
--Quittez mon travail, locate new employ, generate more monetary units, labour less temporally (sorry, this is in code in case any of mes etudiants are reading)
--Fill one Moleskine journal with writing. I'll do original work on the right page, revisions on the left.
--Submit my writing once a month to magazines or journals, 6x poetry, 6x articles.
--Shoot 5000 photos on my new camera.
--Read the entirety of my Book List and write reviews for each book.
--Pay off $12000 of debt, Save up $1000 before I make my work move.
--Learn all of the meanings of the Basic 2000 Kanji
--Learn all of the vocab from the Genki textbook and Minna Text
--Kick the Japanese Proficiency Test's Ass (Level 3, that is)
--Use Joe's Goals - See the Sidebar - to track my progress in the following small or incremental goals: 10 Minute Showers, Clean 15 Mins, Write 30 Mins, Do Knee Exercises, Early for Work, Empty Email, Empty Inbox, Plan Tomorrow, Practice Kanji 15 mins, Read 30 Mins, Stretch, Study Vocab 15 mins, Woke Decisively (within 10 minutes), Write 30 mins
Now, I could say "I am going to write every day!" but that's easy to break because really, shit happens. With this set up, I have different weighs for each activity so there is more pressure to do some, and I have to do at least half of them each day in order to stay in the positive. I have just set it up, but I am going to try to keep my score at least +4, but I may fiddle with that yet.
I'll keep track of my progress in the sidebar and in updates - at least monthly. What are your resolutions? Leave a comment and I'll feature you and your quest!