New Year
by Sunita
I wanted to write down my New Year’s goals somewhere public, so that I could go back to them down the road and feel bad about all the things I didn’t get done.
Wait, that sounds defeatist. Let’s try again.
I wanted to write down my New Year’s goals somewhere public, so that I could refer to them through the year and encourage myself when I’m starting to fall off the wagon.
Much better!
In no particular order:
Internet less. Everyone says this, of course, and we all mean it sincerely, with good reason. Online reading and surfing and social media are not the same as reading a book or magazine. They’re more like binge-watching TV, where your senses are bombarded without your cognitive capacities being used in a way that refreshes them. But following through on this goal is the hard part. So I’ve started writing down in my daily planner the times I spend too much time on the Internet. That’s what I call it: Too Much Internet. I write the words in red pen and I block out the hours I’ve spent. I’m hoping that logging my behavior will help me see it more clearly and make changes.
Read attentively. I started to type “read more,” but that doesn’t quite capture what I mean. I’ve written up my 2016 goals and challenges over at Booklikes, where I keep track of my reading. In 2015 I read more SFF and more general/lit fic than I had for a few years, and I really enjoyed that. Right now I’m reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which is accessible but which isn’t a book I can read in a weekend. I read it, set it aside, and then come back to it. I’m still reading romance and mysteries, but I want to read more books that are outside my comfort zone.
Lurk more, tweet less. I’ve faced the reality that I’m never going to give up Twitter, or at least not until it is much further past usable and enjoyable than it is now. I don’t know why; I don’t care about what I miss because I’m not on Facebook, but Twitter is different. I’ve stopped trying to understand and now I just accept it. That said, I’m more impatient with stuff in my feed than I used to be. It feels like it’s moving inexorably toward a mashup of Facebook and Instagram, two platforms of absolutely no interest to me. I do find, though, that if I don’t respond to the more performative and less interactive tweets, the subsequent exchanges (I can’t call them discussions) move on without me and eventually leave my feed (and if they don’t, the mute button is my friend).
Write most days. I stopped blogging in part because I felt as if it was taking away from my total writing time, but I’m starting to think writing is like affection; the more you have, the more capacity you have to generate it and the more you can produce. I don’t feel as good when I’m not writing and my brain doesn’t work as well. And I Internet more. So writing more is important to my mental health. I’m tracking it informally, but I expect I have Pomodoros in my future.
Knit more. From my stash. I used to knit a lot, and of course I bought a lot of yarn. Then I basically stopped, abandoning several projects in various states of incompletion. I think my knitting was replaced by internet time and social media, and it’s time to reverse the proportions. I won’t say I’m on a complete yarn-buying fast, because I love buying local yarn when I travel. But I have several lovely kits from La Droguerie and Habu that are dying to be knitted up, in addition to the aformentioned WIPs. I like knitting and it’s good for my brain, so it’s time to make time for it again.
Keep track of my time. A few years ago, when I had an administration position in my department and served on a bunch of committees and taught classes and advised, I kept a schedule so that I wouldn’t have to think about what I had to do next. It’s a useful process even when my time isn’t so precommitted, and I need to start doing it again, however scary it will be to find out how much time I waste. There are a bunch of different time-logging systems out there, I just have to pick one!
Spend time outdoors. Like a lot of people, I am more prone to depression in the winter months because of the cold and the lack of sunlight. A few years ago we gave up our on-campus parking and started taking public transit to work. For the last couple of years we’ve also walked home together (less than two miles). Both of these changes have helped me a lot in the winter, even when it’s cold and/or snowy. It’s not quite enough, though, and I tell myself every semester that I will walk around campus more during the day and find reasons to get out of my office. So here I am again, telling myself to walk around campus more, etc. Right now it’s cold and I’m exercising indoors, but that’s another way to get sunlight. I have all the cold-weather gear so I really don’t have a good excuse.
That seems like more than enough for a start. How about you? What are you hoping/planning to do this year?
ReaderWriterVille 
Very impressive goals! I especially hope that you manage the knitting one.
I am planning to be more organised about my time, to do my job as well as I can, to write a book, and to do more embroidery.
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Thanks! I’ve started on some of them already, in the sense that they’re ongoing from last year, so I’m hoping they won’t be too hard to keep up. How lovely you’re planning to write another book!
Time organization is difficult. I learned many years ago that if I didn’t track it, I would invariably over-estimate how much time I spent doing useful things and underestimate the rest. It’s OK to not get stuff done, as long as you’re trying to get it done. The problem comes when I’m avoiding it.
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Like Ros said above, time management is a biggie. I like your goals and they are reasonable. Social media, internet and all have their place but I will never let it monopolize my time. As with everything in life, it’s about moderation. I get mad at myself when I don’t do something productive in the free time that I have or get priority things done when I should have. I think writing down your behaviors in regards to time wasters is a good idea and you can get a good idea of what you could have used that time for, etc. But social media is fun but I’m not as addicted to it as I used to be but like you, until the service is flat out unusable is when I will probably exit too.
My hope is to continue to strengthen my career development and spend more time with family and friends and we’ve already started the latter. I also want to be more financially responsible and save more money and cut out a lot of spending. I do want to broaden my reading horizons and write more op-ed pieces concerning the genre that interests me and I want to make discussing books fun so I am looking at other ways of talking about books on the blog. So far, that’s it. Oh and always be mobile and get out of the house and get back to walking.
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You are very good at managing your online time. You read and watch movies and TV and enjoy them, and while I do some of that (more reading than movies), I want to do more. Mostly I don’t want to look up from the computer and find that two hours have passed and my brain is fried.
You are the one who has me reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and I’m most grateful. I’ve been trying to read that book since it came out! This time I’m taking it slowly and just enjoying it.
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I made myself do an hour of administrivia before I came and commented, because Less Internet.
I need to be better at both scheduling and tracking my time. My bullet journal helps but I don’t always prioritize tasks or look at it during the day (duh!), and I also haven’t figured out how to use it for blocking out small steps of big tasks. I was just thinking on the way to work about how I always try to teach/encourage Academic Writing students to plan their research paper time, and no matter what I try many of them don’t. But I don’t practice what I preach! Being Chair is full of small fires/urgent tasks, and I stay on top of those but put off bigger projects I care about. (sometimes with teaching too). So I’m looking for better balance.
Any tracking system needs to be simple for me to stick to it. I’ve never kept a food diary for more than a day, but I like this idea I just read about: draw 5 circles for the day’s meals and snacks. If you’re satisfied your choices were healthy, just cross off the circle. If not, note what went wrong and situation, so you can see patterns and triggers. Your internet use plan reminds me of that. I also liked that the author of this piece said the goal is not to track forever (which can also disorder your relationship to food/internet/whatever) but to be mindful for a while so good habits become mindless. That idea really appeals to me. (I have some specific goals, same as last year, for exercise and sleep habits that are aimed at improving my mood. Going outside is a good one. At this time of year it’s easy to miss daylight altogether on a work day).
My feeling about Twitter is that I stay because there are still some really positive interactions. I never have a conversation on FB (I check in on photos of old friends/family and ignore pretty much everything else). So my goal is to tailor my use and reduce my own reactivity so I can enjoy the good parts. I do think that’s gotten better for me over the last year.
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Oh, I love that food journal idea. I have pretty reasonable eating habits because I can’t really binge on stuff and I like vegetables and I don’t like to snack. But my resting weight in my middle age is too much, so I have to exercise (plus I need it for my heart, bones, etc.). I’ve done better with being less sedentary over the last couple of years, but I’m not quite there yet. That’s a topic for another post. But I agree it’s about cultivating habits; now that public transit and walking are habits, I feel annoyed when I have to drive to work for some reason.
I really like the bullet journal/modified ToDo system I use, but I need to be better about doing weekly reviews. I mostly manage to look at the list every day during the school year, but I slip during the breaks, and I have plenty I need to do then too. I used a Chronodex system for a while (http://scription.typepad.com/), just the illustration, not the whole diary setup. But I can’t hand-draw for beans and there’s no stamp. I do like the graphical illustration of time, though, and I’m working on an alternative. I need to SEE how I spend my time. And as you say, it’s especially important for big tasks. The GTD system has good tips for breaking down big tasks (as does the Zen to Done system). I should re-adopt those.
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Your goals are inspiring, especially in how broadbased they are.
I liked the GTD system and used it for a while, then gradually stopped. Maybe it’s time to pull out the materials from my office bookshelf.
My big goals this year are more professional and financial, less about reading and internet. Less about the latter mostly because I’m pretty resigned to the ongoing reading slump and my general ennui about what’s popular in both genre and mainstream fiction. But like Keishon, I want to make better financial choices; I’m saving more than in the past, but I don’t think I’m using those savings well enough. On the professional front, I’m kind of bored and don’t see an opportunity to learn or grow where I am. Unfortunately, the flexibility for details or secondments has frozen lately; if I try to move, it will burn bridges because my director holds grudges and blocks moves. (Of course, he’s an EEO suit waiting to happen. In fact, I’m pretty sure there have already been a couple filed against him. I’m not sure how he hasn’t been encouraged to go elsewhere.)
On the food journal front, I have used an app for calorie tracking for a couple of years, but I’ve found in the last year or so that I’ve slacked off on tracking. And the five pounds I put on in November and December are making me pretty unhappy, so it’s time to be more vigilant about what I’m eating. Adieu, pastries from Patisserie Poupon and lattes from DD and SBux.
On the knitting front, my goal is to learn how to knit a sweater this year. The local place I’ve been going to for various lessons (Building Blocks, hats, socks) has offered a sweater class, but it’s three hours each on a Saturday and Sunday with homework in between, and I haven’t been able to make it. Over the holidays, I was given several skeins of beautiful silk-merino yarn from Blue Heron, a family business on Maryland’s Eastern Shore; the family members who gave it to me bought that much specifically because they thought I’d like to make a nice sweater. (It’s true, I’m always cold and looking for good sweaters.) Which was a general goal, but now they are expecting to see me in their “gift” sweater in the near future, so…
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Thanks! My goals are components of organizing my daily routine better, or at least that’s how they appear to me. The older I get, the more I notice when I fritter away my time, and when it’s not that enjoyable on top of it, that seems even worse.
I managed to cut back on impulse buying a lot last year. I realized that oftentimes I was buying something that was just a slightly newer or different version of something I already had, so not only did I not need it, I stopped using the similar thing I *did* have because I got a shiny new version. I cleaned out my closet and I find dressing for work and pleasure easier now, not harder, because I can see what I have, I have fewer choices, and I like everything. The same thing has happened in electronics, books, housewares, etc. It wasn’t the physical shopping that was expensive, it was the online rabbit holes reading about new stuff. And there’s always new stuff! So I’ve cut expenses by reducing the shopping-as-entertainment aspect. Obviously that doesn’t work for everyone but it was easier for me than I expected.
On knitting, one thing that helped me when I was trying something new, or moving to a different level of skills, was to have a few one-on-one sessions with a teacher. This was especially helpful when I was trying to learn a new technique, like knitting a top-down sweater, or getting better at finishing techniques. There are great books and videos available, but having someone work with you on your individual technique is especially helpful. That yarn sounds beautiful!
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I really like reading your posts about you. 🙂
Health is my number one priority this year. I sustained a fall in August 2014 that hasn’t healed yet. Walking in hard, walking up/down stairs very hard and painful. We’re trying different things. Nothing’s been working so far. So pushing the doctors for keeping in trying different things and making it work is useful.
A downside of the pain is the sedentary nature of my life leading to, you guessed it, backside spread. So I’ve become very conscious of what I do and don’t eat. No grains. No sugar. That’s my first goal. We’ll see how that goes and if that makes any difference. If not, then I’ll need to make more changes.
Every year, I have one word for the year. Last year it was “writing.” This year it’s “courtliness.” I want to develop a more thoughtful, kinder approach towards myself and towards others.
I made reading goals here and have the same writing goals as last year.
I do have financial goals as well, so think very carefully what I am buying and to stop impulse buying.
And I have a giant organizing goal made up of many parts. It’s for the first half of the year. Hope I can accomplish it.
I’m also taking online courses in medieval manuscripts that I’m really excited about.
Then there are work goals.
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LOLOL! Me on me, what could be better. For me. 😉
I’m so sorry to hear about your fall and injury. I broke my wrist a few years ago (I slipped on ice and shattered it badly enough to need surgery) and it took two full years to bring it back to full usage, but I did see slow progress and that helped me cope with it. I hope the doctors can find a proper rehabilitative strategy for you, because that is incredibly frustrating, especially when you have small children.
I did the Magic of Tidying thing on my clothes closet in California last year, but I haven’t had the guts to do it on my main closet. It helped a lot in California, although it looks very empty now! But I’ve slowly been trying to organize my own spaces (our joint spaces aren’t too bad). I don’t do well with clutter and having less stuff/organized stuff makes my mind feel clearer. I hope you blog about your organizing progress.
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I can’t post any public reading goals because I never follow them. Those lists of books in my sidebar *to read* are a joke at this point. I’m not reading any of them anytime soon. Heh.
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It remains to be seen how many of my public reading goals I carry through with this year. I did a reasonable job last year. Hoping for better this year.
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I’m so sorry to read that you injured your wrist so badly. How in the world did you type and blog and do your work?! Sounds so difficult (and painful). Glad to hear that you’ve now recovered. Hope there aren’t any lingering twinges and aches.
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It was definitely painful, but it did eventually get back to normal, more or less, and I don’t have any residual discomfort. It takes longer than people really want to think about, but it eventually heals. I had a good surgeon, luckily, who was very careful and determined to give me back full mobility. I typed one-handed and tried various dictating programs, none of which worked for me, but luckily I broke it in early December so I had over a month before I went back to teaching. That helped, but I definitely didn’t write much for a couple of months.
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Sounds terribly difficult. Such a long recovery process in such a busy life. Glad it’s all behind you.
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