So where do we go from here???
As I somewhat eluded to in my last post, the more I’ve thought about it there aren’t really a lot of changes in my resolutions from 2011 to 2012 – some because I didn’t exactly accomplish all that I had set out to in 2011, and others simply because they’re really good things to always be striving to improve on in general. Nonetheless, as a tradition I think it’s still always a good idea to rededicate oneself to these kinds of things from time to time, so without further ado, here’s what I would like to accomplish in 2012:
Continue working to lose weight
2011 was a good start with about 25 pounds down, but I’ve still got a ways to go. What I now need in 2012 is both acceptance that I’m going to need to reserve more of my time towards making this goal, and then also motivation to keep me pushing at it until I get to where I want to be. My guess without looking at a scale is that I have about 30-40 more pounds to go, which is totally reasonable in a year’s time or less if I can find the time and the drive…Make haste to wrap up my remaining creative projects from last year
So the number probably sounds worse than it really is, but I’ve got a total of 10 things leftover from last year that I need to finish up creatively before I can take on the new projects that I have planned for 2012. Some are bigger than others, and they might very well take all of the first quarter to finish entirely, but rather than jumping from one to another and spinning my wheels like I did a lot last year, my new direction is to work on these one at a time until each is done. If I feel myself getting excited about something else, I need to figure out how to channel that drive into finishing what’s already on my plate first or I’ll never get anything done! 😳Make strides to take on (and complete!) new creative challenges in 2012
Likewise, I also want to use that same approach for the new things that I want to do as well, and I do have some cool things in store for the new year once I get the old year finally packed up and on its way. I don’t want to say too much, but whereas last year involved a lot of building new things, my plan this year is to be very content-focused … meaning lots and lots of writing, and hopefully some other new avenues to explore that I haven’t necessarily tapped yet…Do a better job of managing my time, both personally and professionally
This one frankly applies to so many different areas of my life, it’s not even funny. Much like in years past, I want to do a better job of spending quality time with my wife (and Cleo!), I want to be able to devote more time to trying to lose weight, I want to make better use of my creative time when I’m trying to write … along with more time at Disney World, the beaches, and laying about time just for me as well! I think it’s mainly about learning to curb my dicking around and really focusing on the task at hand, whatever that may be.Baby steps on this one, but I do recognize it as an important one because it’s really the keystone to just about everything else on this list.
In addition to the big ones, I’ve also got a couple of other more manageable tasks that I’ve honestly just really been putting off for a long time, so it seems just as well to list those here while we’re at it…
Really Settle in and Make Our House Feel Like a Home
I don’t think we’ll be in the neighborhood to actually buy a house for ourselves for another couple of years, so in the meantime I’d like to make a point in 2012 to do some simple things around the house to really make it feel like our own – cleaning up and re-doing the massive gardens out front, finding some patio furniture and maybe even a pool or ping-pong table to make our backyard more inviting, and perhaps even finally finishing unpacking the last boxes that are still sitting around from when we moved in last spring! The sky’s the limit… 😉Backup. Our. Files.
Frankly, it’s a little embarrassing to be as big of a geek as I am and not have a reliable backup system in place, but this is just something that I’ve been putting off forever that really has to get done. A decade’s worth of writing, probably 50 GB of digital photos and another 150 GB of music and video … in this digital age, it’s just irresponsible not to have a fail-safe in place should the unthinkable happen. I need to finally take care of this once and for all in 2012.Find a new place to display my toys
Seriously! My legos are getting a little out of control again because I simply don’t have very many places to put sets once they’re completed … in fact, at this point I think I’ve got just about the entire series of Alien Conquest sets still sitting there in boxes waiting for me to put them together because I won’t have anywhere to actually put them when I’m done! I know that I need some shelves or something, but I kinda wanted to avoid just throwing up rows of shelves on a wall like I had in my bedroom when I was 12 … I’m 31 now, so I want something a little classier for my toy displays this time around…
So there they are – what do you think? Some are pretty ambitious, but standing here on day 1 with the full 365 days left to go, I think they’re more or less reasonable and should serve as a good set of guidelines to help drive my year. 