Well, you know that apparently, talking about your goals is one the best ways to not make them happen! Here’s a great TED talk about how talking about your goals can sabotage them.
If you don’t feel like watching the video, the premise is simple: if you talk about your goals then you get atta-boys from your friends which fill you with a sense of accomplishment, then the fulfillment you experience replaces the joy of accomplishing your goals so you never do them. Makes sense, if you think about it. Why get that runner’s high when you’re already high on good intentions? Besides, running makes you sweaty and if you’re not running from something to save your life, like a grizzly bear or a nun, then what’s the point of doing it?
I am the worst at following good advice so I’m going to list my New Year’s resolutions here. Let’s let peer-pressure guide me into being a better person. Peer-pressure guides people into bad habits, so maybe it’ll work on good habits!
1. Practice Ruby / Rails for at least 3 hours a week but strive for longer – This doesn’t seem like a lot of time. However, I am familiar with the concepts of web development. I went from knowing very little PHP to creating a mission-critical, PHP-driven application that monitored the status of over 600,000 devices in less than a year, just from my knowledge of Perl and Active Server Pages. Bragging aside, I’m having fun with the Rails framework so far. It feels like Ruby on Rails was cooked up by people who understand how to cut through the BS and deliver content quickly. I don’t love it yet, and yet I’m drawn to it… I understand the appeal.
2. Practice Blender 3D for at least 2 hours per week – As inexperienced as my college professor was on this subject, I have to say that I really enjoyed the class. I can see myself doing great things with it. You may see some of my projects on this very web page.
3. Study French and/or Spanish for at least 4 hours per month – This could include reading websites and books in French or Spanish, watching films, etc. Je parle français comme une vache espagnole. Se me esta olvidano el español y me da pena.
4. Read one book every two weeks – My main complaint about college was that it cut in on my reading time. I’m done and there’s no longer any excuse. My first book this year is Mort à crédit by Louis-Ferdinand Céline (a.k.a. the early 20th century French Charles Bukowski) and I plan to do a serious excursion into the work of the brainy Russian writers. Tolstoy. Nabokov. Chekhov. I’ve also wanted to finish Gravity’s Rainbow. Man, that book is dense.
5. Exercise for at least 2.5 hours per week – This seems like nothing, and yes you get healthier by doing more exercise than this but the best bang for your buck is in the first 150 minutes of exercise per week.
I think this is a decent list. Just please, don’t congratulate me on any of it or I’ll stop doing it!