Every year around this time, in fact, exactly at this time, the Day After Christmas, I begin to compile my list of things to do in the New Year. I don't like calling them 'resolutions' as I prefer the term goals. I get very detailed. For instance, I'll have a section on guitar playing. In that section, I'll have things like 'be able to play this piece at this many BPM's.' I then break down how to get there. I'm not a huge Dr. Phil fan, but one thing he said always stuck with me. Basically, to paraphrase he said 'the commonality between successful people is they can each define what success looks like to them.' So, for instance, this year I am going to finish my book. In fact, I will be giving notice at my job on Jan 15, which will give my boss time to find someone and for me to train them. I then plan on taking 4-8 weeks off to work on my book. I have many more goals and as I compile them, I may throw them up here. FOCUS: What are your goals for the coming year? Trivial? Life Changing? Fun? Serious? Whatever, hit me with them.
Also quitting... but I dont know what the goal is yet. Longer term, I just want to save enough money for a down payment on a decent house. Im tired of living in cities, I want to move back to the boonies where I cant see my neighbors.
1) Increase passive income, decrease work. 2) Stop living in the stone age and learn more about computers. It is beyond sad, how bad I am at computers. Sucking at computers is not helping with goals 1 and 3. 3) File some patents. 2015 was a creative year for me, time to put some ideas out there.
1) outlive my mother (see numbers 2 and 3) 2) drop at least 15% of my body weight 3) go at least three months without drinking most of a bottle of scotch/bourbon/vodka at one sitting 4) spend as much time as possible with my daughter while she still wants to actually be seen with me.
1. Stop giving people the benefit of the doubt. Despite being overall a cynical person, I still have hopes for the best in people, but that keeps coming back to bite me in the ass. Time and time again I'll think something could be interpreted a different way, and it always, always, always turns out that no, that person is just being an idiot, an asshole, or both. I keep telling myself to stop doing that and I don't, so to stop wasting my own time, energy, and feelings that's my one big resolution for the new year. 2. I'm starting a website, and even though it's been a little bit of a struggle to decide on spending so much time and energy on something that won't pay me, I want to at least stick with it through the first year. I'm really excited about the idea and who knows where it could lead, but I can easily see myself throwing in the towel because I'm too caught up in other things. (For example, I'm already lagging with getting it going because my phone and iPod were stolen two days ago and a really amazing interview I did for the site and hadn't yet transcribed was on the iPod and I keep catching myself thinking maybe that means I shouldn't even bother starting*.) 3. Redefine my idea of success. Things have already greatly veered off the path I had expected to take while in high school/college, and for a while I've just been kind of simultaneously pursuing a bunch of things at once. I'm finally settled in one thing and for the first time ever am solely doing things I love to do, but my main job is still part time, and partially from home, and I combine it with a bunch of freelance stuff to collectively make a living. Part of me is still tired of cobbling shit together and just wants the full time job with benefits I always thought meant being An Adult, but lately I've been wondering if that's even what I actually want. Since I am interested in so many things and live in a place where I can do so many things, and I like a lot of the perks that comes with not having a full time schedule, maybe my version of my best life is just keep doing this, just better. So I'm going to figure that out and work towards whichever one I pick. I had a super, super shitty 2015, but things more or less worked out in the end and now are actually better than where they were at the start of the year. (Minus the getting robbed part. 2015 just had to get one more punch in.) I'm pretty confident things are just going to keep getting better. * anyone by any chance know if it's possible to get that back? I always hear miracle stories about Apple recovering data, but I don't know if that's just from broken devices you still have. It was a voice memo
1.Have more sex. 2. Set up my Europe vacation. This should be easier than the others. 3.Hit 100k in productivity savings for my department relative to the previous fiscal year. I'm on good track, but need to improve to hit this. I want to apply for either a transfer or promotion in 2017. If I can do this, after doing really well in previous department as well I'll be in excellent shape. 4. Become close to fluent in Spanish. This will be pretty hard. At the moment my Spanish is barely conversational and given my work hours this will be hard to squeeze in. 5. Quit smoking. Haha, good fucking luck. 6. Exercise more. Again, limited time. If I have to choose between keeping a social life and more gym hours I'm going to have a life. 7. Read more. Only got through 15-20 books last year. Not enough. 2015 was very good to me so for the most part if 2016 is more of the same I will be happy.
1. Finish my masters program. If everything goes according to plan then I will be done in May. 2. Go on more dates (if things don't work out with the current girl). Nothing has worked out long term (yet), but I had more dates in 2015 than in any previous year. I just hope that it was not a fluke. 3. Get back in decent shape. My weight hasn't actually changed much, but my double chin has come back and my clothes aren't fitting as well. In the past I have only done weightlifting, but I have cut it out pretty much entirely and added cardio (in the form of martial arts), which has made my appetite explode and my cravings for junk increase. I need to find a way to keep it in check. 4. Move. Seriously, Atlanta is pretty much all I know and I really want to make a change when I am done with school. Some cities in which I plan to job hunt are San Francisco, Portland, and pretty much all of the major cities in the Carolinas that aren't Columbia. 5. Even if I am not able to move, just find a better job. 6. Take at least one vacation, to a city in the U.S. that I have not yet visited. 7. Go to at least as many concerts as I did this year (I think that I went to 8). 2015 was not a good year for me at all. It's a shame, because 2014 was one of the best of my life. 2016 will be a big one, for better or worse.
8. I forgot, finish paying off all my debts other than student loans. I should add student loans as I think I could make it if I try. Plus, the interest is straight ass rape. I graduated 5 years ago and have paid back $5100 over those 5 years. Less than $700 of that has gone to the principal. The rest all to interest. What a fucking joke. My fault for being a dumb ass, but then again preying on 18 year old kids with shitty options is .. well, shitty. Now that I'm finally eating into the principal it should go down relatively quickly. I borrowed 10k. I can't imagine how the fuck people graduating in the recession like I did could stomach 6 figure debts.
We cry in corners occasionally. In 2016 I will have a child. That one is already developing. Aside from that: - Finish my CLU (Chartered Life Underwriter). It's a professional designation somewhat akin to a Masters coursework in life insurance. - Hit a more stable income level. Right now a good month can be very good but a bad month is very bad. - Have a more predictable schedule - Get my Series 65 - Have more sex and threesomes - Win a multi day poker tournament - Get a d/b/a - Go to Vegas
One of my goals is to not argue with people on internet forums anymore, no more TiB for me come 2016.
I've been arguing with people online for twenty-one years now. How about instead of quitting, not letting it get under your skin? I never have. We need more blood here, not less. Focus: Lose weight, put it back on as muscle. Have more sex. Finish the fucking book I'm trying to write.
For me for 2016: 1. Finalize terms of partnership 2. Secure funding through SBA or PE 3. Have doors open on first location before start of 2017 4. Be home more
I, for one, promise not to give you shit about it. No, no. Stay on TiB, just instead of arguing, post pictures of naked women. One of my goals for 2016 is to read Clutch's book.
1. Finish paying off Husband's student loan. 2. Get this fatass cat off the insulin. 3. Read higher quality books. After graduating, I've gotten into the habit of only reading junk. Junk has its place, but it's time. 4. Have more sex.
1. Complete my first Olympic length triathlon by June. 2. Guide my team to actually meet our annual quota. Over 3.5 years in start-up land, I have learned so much about managing a sales team and the business has seen great growth, but we have yet to hit our stated plan either. This year we have got to make our whole year's number. 3. Have more sex . . . . . . . . . so that we can start a family.
1. Start writing again. I have never once had someone say my writing was not good. It's time to stop fucking around and embark on the career I've always wanted. A year and a half in and I'm already bored with nursing. It would take at least 5-6 more years of schooling to get where I would really like to be, and at my age I see it as a huge waste of time and money. If I was 36 I might be more inclined, but at 46 it seems like a waste and a much bigger expense than I want to bother with. 2. Start saving money and investing again. 3. Exercise more.
Beat depression. It's just gotten worse and worse since it started. I have no direction in life. I've lost all of my friends. I haven't talked to anyone in my family in months. I hate my job, or at least the people I work for. I honestly have no idea where to start. Therapy hasn't helped.