[Mentalist]

Ok, so I'm finally getting over the hangover, I've spent the last 40 mins staring at my bookshelves updating the "to read" resolutions thread, and it's time to reflect on how my life's actually been moving along:

Last year's post:

Mentalist, on 10 January 2016 - 02:10 AM, said:

Now that the post-New Year festivities are over, and I'm more or less able of cogent thought again, it's time to do this. I've discovered past year that I'm very much a "list person", so writing stuff down helps to figure out life.


trying to make these S.M.A.R.T. goals. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound)

General/lifestyle Both goals have been generally a success.
-Turn off PC 11:30 PM on a work night. Go to bed no later than 1215 on a work night.
-to ensure no conflicts with parents- clean room/washroom once every 2 weeks on the weekend



Health and fitness
-Ensure to swim at least once a week
-Do a quick (under 5 min) abs workout every morning when I wake up. (If hung over- do it after taking a shower)
-Do a full workout at least twice a week First 3 I've been mostly regular about
-work on shooting in soccer: with the beginning of next season, ensure to take at least one accurate shot on net per game. Move up to 2 shots per game in the summer season, 1 goal/season by the fall. In addition, once the weather gets better, spend at least an hour a week practicing shots in the park.
This one was all over the place: In indoor I've actually become more confident, and playing more of a passing game, less straight-up clearing and blasting teh ball out. But in outdoor, i've been put to play central D instead of wing, and I've actually become even more of a "stay back in our half" type of player.

Leisure
-update and follow a "to read list" Great success, averaged about a book a week, discovered lots of great new authors
-make and follow a "to play" list for games Middling success, the backlog remains huge and daunting

Social
-one of my friends wanted to start a weekly meet-up to play pool. Follow-up on that (though it'll probably be a bi-weekly thing) Completely forgot about this
-meet more people- go out at least once every 2 months, ensure to actually meet at least 1 interesting new person each time As the year went on, I actually became less social (not counting all the soccer). This is probably something to addrress at some point
-Continue the podcast series on the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Ensure that it's a byweekly thing at the least
-In the same vein, by February check out all the common blog hosting services, to start a blog about the topic, aim to update with a weekly summary. Actually, I completely dropped off about this sometime in the spring, as the situation back home became tepid and stale. Plus, additional focus on work


Career/Job/Professional development
-Figure out if I want to stay with this job by May. If not, commence job search. Biggest success of the year, as not only does my firm really want me to stay, they also want me to think about becoming a partner in the not-so-long run. Probably the most significant thing to have happened this year
-every month, spend at least 2 hours on one weekeend making my Linkedin better, and catching up on CBA/OBA literature Ended up rushing to gt my CPD stuff done last month of the year, total fail on this one
-Every week on the weekend, spend either one hour, or one chapter (whichever's longer) on French lit to improve French This was going strong until around May, where life, work, and sports started to eat up all my free time
-By May of this year, arrange for driving lessons. Once the winter ends, spend at least an hour each week driving with my father. Aim to take the exam by end of the year. This goal fell by the wayside as well. Need to print and post a reminder to myself

Financial
-Look into planning a European vacation. Decide by April if that's happening this year. Have at least 3.5 k in spending cash set aside for that. mostly complete
-not counting the money above, amass at least 10k by end of the year to be available to reduce student loan/put aside as downpayment on real estate. Ensure if this money is spent, there's still at least 5 k banked. Have a decent chunk of money available, but the real estate situation suggests this it nowhere near enough. Did do some mortgage pre-approval stuff, however, so WIP, and I did hit the money goal

9 mostly successful goals, and 6 not so successful. Basically, really good year work-wise, but pretty abysmal in terms of any "social advancement", as mostly I was just chilling with same people and relaxing from all the work-related stuff.

For 2017, I need to focus on breaking a lot of bad habits concerning my social and personal life, since work-wise I seem to be in a fairly good place.

Personal/organizational goals
1) Maintain proper sleep schedule with no staying up late on work nights for no good reason
2) Beyond general byweekly cleaning, at the end of each month, review all correspondence and paperwork at home
3) Also, once a month, review all things related to PD, and spend time working on linkedin. Make that a stated goal and keep reminders
4) Once done recovering from the injury, speak to my father about driving
5) Actually manage to stick to reading in French this time, since I've been writing this goal down for at least 5 years now.


[ Health and recreation
1) Make sure to swim at least once a week- goal should be to swim after every soccer game.
2) Ensure to continue exercising in the mornings, as this will help with motivation for proper sleep schedule
3) Aim for 2 full workouts a week
4) Continue playing soccer, but take it easier in the summer (4 teams was a bit of an overkill). Ensure to warm up and stretch properly before all games, and not be pressured into rushing to play, as I need to avoid injuries
-work on shooting, at least once a week. Improve control and touch with the left foot, and lose the fear of playing on the left.
5) This goes without saying, but still: get my elbow fixed up, regain full ROM.

Social
1) Keep in touch better with friends and family back home- make sure to speak to them at least once a month (with a new phone and Skype, this should be totally realistic)
2) Continue involvement with charity pool tournaments and trivia groups. Make sure to meet new people there each time
3) Actually speak to my friends about doing a regular outings to play pool
4) work on actually meeting new people and expanding my social circle. Since my brain likes to make excuses about "my life not being inn order yet" to put social stuff down the priority list, work on figuring out the real estate situation.

Leisure
1) Stick to the "to-read" list. Try to top this year's 52 new books read
2) Stick to the "to play" list. Try to play at least 15 games to completion this year
-Do not buy any new games unless I've completed at least 3 games for one new one bought

Work/financial
1) Plan to go back home this summer to see my grandmother before Alzheimer's makes her forget everything. Have a decent amount set aside for that.
2) Get a proper mortgage pre-approval
3) Reduce student loan payments. bank 15 extra k by end of the year
4) Plan a good 30th birthday, and have a chunk of cash set aside for that.
5) Continue with good work habits, especially going over all WIP every 2 months, since it seems to be working.

This post has been edited by Mentalist: 02 January 2017 - 05:45 AM

[Andorion]

I had:

Quote

Serious life-oriented stuff

1. Lose weight (a lot): Did not happen

2. Focus more on academic/career aspect - finish at least 2-3 chapters of thesis and finish gaining qualifications for full time college job: Definite progress here, but a lot more work needed

3. Work on relationship and take it to the next level: Done


Hobbies, recreation and relaxation

1. Expand scope of reading - read more classic authors, try out other genres: Some progress here

2. Learn to draw: Not even close

3. See more movies than my current annual average of 1 show and 3 movies: Not even close

So my resolutions for 2017 are:

Life

1. Lose Weight: Seriously - fix a diet, get an exercise routine and follow this - cut sugar intake to minimum

2. Focus on and finish a significant part of the thesis, get qualifications

Recreation


1. Continue to diversify reading

2. Learn to draw

3. See some movies and shows, possibly play 1 computer game

[Andorion]

Mentalist, on 02 January 2017 - 05:07 AM, said:

Ok, so I'm finally getting over the hangover, I've spent the last 40 mins staring at my bookshelves updating the "to read" resolutions thread, and it's time to reflect on how my life's actually been moving along:

Last year's post:

Mentalist, on 10 January 2016 - 02:10 AM, said:

Now that the post-New Year festivities are over, and I'm more or less able of cogent thought again, it's time to do this. I've discovered past year that I'm very much a "list person", so writing stuff down helps to figure out life.


trying to make these S.M.A.R.T. goals. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound)

General/lifestyle Both goals have been generally a success.
-Turn off PC 11:30 PM on a work night. Go to bed no later than 1215 on a work night.
-to ensure no conflicts with parents- clean room/washroom once every 2 weeks on the weekend



Health and fitness
-Ensure to swim at least once a week
-Do a quick (under 5 min) abs workout every morning when I wake up. (If hung over- do it after taking a shower)
-Do a full workout at least twice a week First 3 I've been mostly regular about
-work on shooting in soccer: with the beginning of next season, ensure to take at least one accurate shot on net per game. Move up to 2 shots per game in the summer season, 1 goal/season by the fall. In addition, once the weather gets better, spend at least an hour a week practicing shots in the park.
This one was all over the place: In indoor I've actually become more confident, and playing more of a passing game, less straight-up clearing and blasting teh ball out. But in outdoor, i've been put to play central D instead of wing, and I've actually become even more of a "stay back in our half" type of player.

Leisure
-update and follow a "to read list" Great success, averaged about a book a week, discovered lots of great new authors
-make and follow a "to play" list for games Middling success, the backlog remains huge and daunting

Social
-one of my friends wanted to start a weekly meet-up to play pool. Follow-up on that (though it'll probably be a bi-weekly thing) Completely forgot about this
-meet more people- go out at least once every 2 months, ensure to actually meet at least 1 interesting new person each time As the year went on, I actually became less social (not counting all the soccer). This is probably something to addrress at some point
-Continue the podcast series on the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Ensure that it's a byweekly thing at the least
-In the same vein, by February check out all the common blog hosting services, to start a blog about the topic, aim to update with a weekly summary. Actually, I completely dropped off about this sometime in the spring, as the situation back home became tepid and stale. Plus, additional focus on work


Career/Job/Professional development
-Figure out if I want to stay with this job by May. If not, commence job search. Biggest success of the year, as not only does my firm really want me to stay, they also want me to think about becoming a partner in the not-so-long run. Probably the most significant thing to have happened this year
-every month, spend at least 2 hours on one weekeend making my Linkedin better, and catching up on CBA/OBA literature Ended up rushing to gt my CPD stuff done last month of the year, total fail on this one
-Every week on the weekend, spend either one hour, or one chapter (whichever's longer) on French lit to improve French This was going strong until around May, where life, work, and sports started to eat up all my free time
-By May of this year, arrange for driving lessons. Once the winter ends, spend at least an hour each week driving with my father. Aim to take the exam by end of the year. This goal fell by the wayside as well. Need to print and post a reminder to myself

Financial
-Look into planning a European vacation. Decide by April if that's happening this year. Have at least 3.5 k in spending cash set aside for that. mostly complete
-not counting the money above, amass at least 10k by end of the year to be available to reduce student loan/put aside as downpayment on real estate. Ensure if this money is spent, there's still at least 5 k banked. Have a decent chunk of money available, but the real estate situation suggests this it nowhere near enough. Did do some mortgage pre-approval stuff, however, so WIP, and I did hit the money goal

9 mostly successful goals, and 6 not so successful. Basically, really good year work-wise, but pretty abysmal in terms of any "social advancement", as mostly I was just chilling with same people and relaxing from all the work-related stuff.

For 2017, I need to focus on breaking a lot of bad habits concerning my social and personal life, since work-wise I seem to be in a fairly good place.

Personal/organizational goals
1) Maintain proper sleep schedule with no staying up late on work nights for no good reason
2) Beyond general byweekly cleaning, at the end of each month, review all correspondence and paperwork at home
3) Also, once a month, review all things related to PD, and spend time working on linkedin. Make that a stated goal and keep reminders
4) Once done recovering from the injury, speak to my father about driving
5) Actually manage to stick to reading in French this time, since I've been writing this goal down for at least 5 years now.


[ Health and recreation
1) Make sure to swim at least once a week- goal should be to swim after every soccer game.
2) Ensure to continue exercising in the mornings, as this will help with motivation for proper sleep schedule
3) Aim for 2 full workouts a week
4) Continue playing soccer, but take it easier in the summer (4 teams was a bit of an overkill). Ensure to warm up and stretch properly before all games, and not be pressured into rushing to play, as I need to avoid injuries
-work on shooting, at least once a week. Improve control and touch with the left foot, and lose the fear of playing on the left.
5) This goes without saying, but still: get my elbow fixed up, regain full ROM.

Social
1) Keep in touch better with friends and family back home- make sure to speak to them at least once a month (with a new phone and Skype, this should be totally realistic)
2) Continue involvement with charity pool tournaments and trivia groups. Make sure to meet new people there each time
3) Actually speak to my friends about doing a regular outings to play pool
4) work on actually meeting new people and expanding my social circle. Since my brain likes to make excuses about "my life not being inn order yet" to put social stuff down the priority list, work on figuring out the real estate situation.

Leisure
1) Stick to the "to-read" list. Try to top this year's 52 new books read
2) Stick to the "to play" list. Try to play at least 15 games to completion this year
-Do not buy any new games unless I've completed at least 3 games for one new one bought

Work/financial
1) Plan to go back home this summer to see my grandmother before Alzheimer's makes her forget everything. Have a decent amount set aside for that.
2) Get a proper mortgage pre-approval
3) Reduce student loan payments. bank 15 extra k by end of the year
4) Plan a good 30th birthday, and have a chunk of cash set aside for that.
5) Continue with good work habits, especially going over all WIP every 2 months, since it seems to be working.

Ment, you forgot to add "Avoid breaking body into little bits as I am not a terminator"

[Mezla PigDog]

Mezla PigDog, on 10 January 2016 - 05:23 AM, said:

No resolutions for me. I'm pretty sure I'm going to finish 2016 fatter and with a lot less money than I start it with.

Hey go me! I did it.

[Mentalist]

Andorion, on 02 January 2017 - 08:32 AM, said:

Mentalist, on 02 January 2017 - 05:07 AM, said:

Ok, so I'm finally getting over the hangover, I've spent the last 40 mins staring at my bookshelves updating the "to read" resolutions thread, and it's time to reflect on how my life's actually been moving along:

Last year's post:

Mentalist, on 10 January 2016 - 02:10 AM, said:

Now that the post-New Year festivities are over, and I'm more or less able of cogent thought again, it's time to do this. I've discovered past year that I'm very much a "list person", so writing stuff down helps to figure out life.


trying to make these S.M.A.R.T. goals. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound)

General/lifestyle Both goals have been generally a success.
-Turn off PC 11:30 PM on a work night. Go to bed no later than 1215 on a work night.
-to ensure no conflicts with parents- clean room/washroom once every 2 weeks on the weekend



Health and fitness
-Ensure to swim at least once a week
-Do a quick (under 5 min) abs workout every morning when I wake up. (If hung over- do it after taking a shower)
-Do a full workout at least twice a week First 3 I've been mostly regular about
-work on shooting in soccer: with the beginning of next season, ensure to take at least one accurate shot on net per game. Move up to 2 shots per game in the summer season, 1 goal/season by the fall. In addition, once the weather gets better, spend at least an hour a week practicing shots in the park.
This one was all over the place: In indoor I've actually become more confident, and playing more of a passing game, less straight-up clearing and blasting teh ball out. But in outdoor, i've been put to play central D instead of wing, and I've actually become even more of a "stay back in our half" type of player.

Leisure
-update and follow a "to read list" Great success, averaged about a book a week, discovered lots of great new authors
-make and follow a "to play" list for games Middling success, the backlog remains huge and daunting

Social
-one of my friends wanted to start a weekly meet-up to play pool. Follow-up on that (though it'll probably be a bi-weekly thing) Completely forgot about this
-meet more people- go out at least once every 2 months, ensure to actually meet at least 1 interesting new person each time As the year went on, I actually became less social (not counting all the soccer). This is probably something to addrress at some point
-Continue the podcast series on the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Ensure that it's a byweekly thing at the least
-In the same vein, by February check out all the common blog hosting services, to start a blog about the topic, aim to update with a weekly summary. Actually, I completely dropped off about this sometime in the spring, as the situation back home became tepid and stale. Plus, additional focus on work


Career/Job/Professional development
-Figure out if I want to stay with this job by May. If not, commence job search. Biggest success of the year, as not only does my firm really want me to stay, they also want me to think about becoming a partner in the not-so-long run. Probably the most significant thing to have happened this year
-every month, spend at least 2 hours on one weekeend making my Linkedin better, and catching up on CBA/OBA literature Ended up rushing to gt my CPD stuff done last month of the year, total fail on this one
-Every week on the weekend, spend either one hour, or one chapter (whichever's longer) on French lit to improve French This was going strong until around May, where life, work, and sports started to eat up all my free time
-By May of this year, arrange for driving lessons. Once the winter ends, spend at least an hour each week driving with my father. Aim to take the exam by end of the year. This goal fell by the wayside as well. Need to print and post a reminder to myself

Financial
-Look into planning a European vacation. Decide by April if that's happening this year. Have at least 3.5 k in spending cash set aside for that. mostly complete
-not counting the money above, amass at least 10k by end of the year to be available to reduce student loan/put aside as downpayment on real estate. Ensure if this money is spent, there's still at least 5 k banked. Have a decent chunk of money available, but the real estate situation suggests this it nowhere near enough. Did do some mortgage pre-approval stuff, however, so WIP, and I did hit the money goal

9 mostly successful goals, and 6 not so successful. Basically, really good year work-wise, but pretty abysmal in terms of any "social advancement", as mostly I was just chilling with same people and relaxing from all the work-related stuff.

For 2017, I need to focus on breaking a lot of bad habits concerning my social and personal life, since work-wise I seem to be in a fairly good place.

Personal/organizational goals
1) Maintain proper sleep schedule with no staying up late on work nights for no good reason
2) Beyond general byweekly cleaning, at the end of each month, review all correspondence and paperwork at home
3) Also, once a month, review all things related to PD, and spend time working on linkedin. Make that a stated goal and keep reminders
4) Once done recovering from the injury, speak to my father about driving
5) Actually manage to stick to reading in French this time, since I've been writing this goal down for at least 5 years now.


[ Health and recreation
1) Make sure to swim at least once a week- goal should be to swim after every soccer game.
2) Ensure to continue exercising in the mornings, as this will help with motivation for proper sleep schedule
3) Aim for 2 full workouts a week
4) Continue playing soccer, but take it easier in the summer (4 teams was a bit of an overkill). Ensure to warm up and stretch properly before all games, and not be pressured into rushing to play, as I need to avoid injuries
-work on shooting, at least once a week. Improve control and touch with the left foot, and lose the fear of playing on the left.
5) This goes without saying, but still: get my elbow fixed up, regain full ROM.

Social
1) Keep in touch better with friends and family back home- make sure to speak to them at least once a month (with a new phone and Skype, this should be totally realistic)
2) Continue involvement with charity pool tournaments and trivia groups. Make sure to meet new people there each time
3) Actually speak to my friends about doing a regular outings to play pool
4) work on actually meeting new people and expanding my social circle. Since my brain likes to make excuses about "my life not being inn order yet" to put social stuff down the priority list, work on figuring out the real estate situation.

Leisure
1) Stick to the "to-read" list. Try to top this year's 52 new books read
2) Stick to the "to play" list. Try to play at least 15 games to completion this year
-Do not buy any new games unless I've completed at least 3 games for one new one bought

Work/financial
1) Plan to go back home this summer to see my grandmother before Alzheimer's makes her forget everything. Have a decent amount set aside for that.
2) Get a proper mortgage pre-approval
3) Reduce student loan payments. bank 15 extra k by end of the year
4) Plan a good 30th birthday, and have a chunk of cash set aside for that.
5) Continue with good work habits, especially going over all WIP every 2 months, since it seems to be working.

Ment, you forgot to add "Avoid breaking body into little bits as I am not a terminator"

But... But... that's actually my nickname amongst my friends.
besides, I wrote down avoiding further injuries. That should cover it.

[Macros]

ah foolish niave macros

Quote

get mmy finances back under control, save some money
learn German
Get fit again
drink less

I think thats a pretty solid fail across the board.
fitness is at the same level, my finances are somewhat more stable but still abysmal, still drink entirely too much, am not fluent in German at all.

That said however I was pleasantly surprised with how much German I do actually know, was in Berlin for new years eve and was able to patter through basic conversations with strangers who had little/no english. All very basic stuff granted but I'm chuffed sort of with how well I am retaining what I have learned.



This year -

Master the use of my fancy new tablet.
Push on with the German
Drink less
Save money (drinking less would likely help with that)
Healthier diet, I'm fairly good with avoiding soft drinks and the like but crisps are still a major binge problem for me.
Build a driving range (this one sounds absurd but I think its a very viable business plan, we live less than half a mile from the golf course, and are right on the edge of town, so location is superb and the only other driving range in town closed last year after being damaged by a storm and the guy is having so much grief from local residents he's not going to re open)

[worry]

I'm gonna die of old age.

[Cause]

Learn a programming language! Probably Python


Then the obligatory be healthier, lose weight, exercise more one

[Nicodimas]

My goals are simple:

Master new job this year, to put myself into a place to move up.
More concerts.
Meet new different group of friends at new job.
Prep differently
Save
Attend 12 blacksmithing this year: forgeweld, Damascus and make a badass picture frame I keep redrawing.
Travel to Prague.
Hike.
Keep dating.
Move to master degree/ or another professional degree

[Macros]

Now that January is nearly over and traditionally this is when new year's resolutions fall apart, how are we all doing?

I've definitely drank a lot less than normal, although a heavy workload is partially responsible, this weekend will be the real litmus test o. That one.
In concert with that I am considerably better off financially than I usually am come the end of January, considering I've had a few outlays that were unexpected as well.
I haven't eaten a single crisp yet this year, and haven't substituted them another junk food either. I think if I can hit the two months on this front I'll have the crisp monster beaten into submission.
I'm still chipping away at my German, vocabulary is slowly expanding and I'm starting to remember more of the silly rules easier.
No movement on the fitness front but I intend to play a lot more golf when I start working back home again. But I am spending 5/10 minutes every morning stretching properly (kind of a mixture of different yoga for beginners videos), have been doing this for a week now and am trying to make it an automatic part of my daily routine.
Will be having a meeting with a town planner hopefully this weekend regarding the driving range


All in all I'd say this is probably the most productive and positive start I've had to a year since... Well since becoming an adult anyway

This post has been edited by Macros: 26 January 2017 - 07:26 PM

[Mentalist]

1) sleep schedule all over the place. Work productivity suffers somewhat, but I'm still on top my deadlines, and my schedule's busy, but not unbearably packed.

2) focusing on elbow rehab right now. Basically stuck round the "missing the last 10 degrees of active extension) mark, but exercising it, and seeing Physio twice a week so getting better slowly. Started swimming at least once a week regularly (and got one of my friends to start going too); soccer twice a week, generally going well.

3) social life is non-existant, besides soccer, but that's par for the course in the winter months. It's not a good thing, but it's no worse than usual.

4) have not had the resolve to dig back into French, OR into reading UA politics again.

Overall, could be doing better, but right now most focus is on health and recovery, so I'm ok with other stuff dropping down for a bit.

[LadyMTL]

I don't have a ton of resolutions, and it actually took me a while to come up with a few that I felt I could stick with.

1 - Cut back on frivolous spending. I have a wee bit of an online shopping obsession so I want to cut way way way back on that. (Exception: books. Because duh).

2 - Try and eat less sugar, especially added / refined sugar. It's not easy, because I am a sugar junkie and that stuff is in everything, but so far I've been able to make a few changes just by paying more attention to nutrition labels.

3 - Be a bit more sociable. Right now my life is 99% solitary, as I work from home and so don't get out all that often, am single and have no kids, etc etc. I want to start with adding two social activities per month, and if that goes well then I'll hopefully increase it a bit more. I know I'll never be a social butterfly, and I love my alone time, but I feel right now that I'm walking the line between being alone and being lonely. I've noticed over the past few weeks that I've been feeling low / depressed and I think part of it might be because I need to get out more.

So far, I think I'm doing well, especially with the shopping thing. I haven't made one online purchase since the end of December 2016, other than groceries. The sugar thing trips me up now and then, because it's cold here and I love my hot chocolate, but I'm making progress. The sociability thing...not so much. I am apparently much more of a homebody than I wanted to admit.

This post has been edited by Maia Irraz: 27 January 2017 - 05:36 PM

[Macros]

regarding the social aspect, google for things you are interested in/ enjoy doing and see if there's any societies or groups around.

or, if you are willing to wade through the (this is purely speculation on my part) horde of people you have no desire to meet, you could try Match dot com, not for the dating side of things, but judging by their adds on the TV they do large social gatherigns as well, you could be surprised and meet like minded people who just want to hang out and shoot the shit

[LadyMTL]

Macros, on 27 January 2017 - 07:47 PM, said:

regarding the social aspect, google for things you are interested in/ enjoy doing and see if there's any societies or groups around.

or, if you are willing to wade through the (this is purely speculation on my part) horde of people you have no desire to meet, you could try Match dot com, not for the dating side of things, but judging by their adds on the TV they do large social gatherigns as well, you could be surprised and meet like minded people who just want to hang out and shoot the shit

Very good idea, I didn't even think of that! Many thanks.