How well did you do on your New Years Resolutions/long-term goals this year? (+ goals for next year)

[Hulavuta]

Every year around the same time, we get a New Years resolution thread where everyone shares their goals for the new year. But we never really get any follow-ups on how well those things went. Since resolutions are pretty notoriously dropped a few months in, I'm curious to see how well everyone kept up their resolutions and which resolutions had to be dropped.

Some people "don't believe" in waiting for the New Year to start something new, which is totally fine. So if you started any kind of commitment or long-term goal this year, even if it wasn't around New Years, feel free to share how that went (or is going).

I'll paste over mine from the thread last year:


1) Become more fluent in Vietnamese.
Unfortunately, one I neglected. It's one I try every year and never really manage, but that just means I'll give it another shot this year! I was recently introduced to some good resources by my cousin, who is also trying.

2) Finally learn to read music.
This is one that I actually achieved and then actually dropped off a bit as time went on. I don't remember all 12 key signatures anymore, and I didn't learn every single time signature. But I would say it's been achieved to a satisfactory level, even though I still have a bit more to go.

3) Compose at least 3 pieces of at least 12 measures each.
This one I ended up actually revising a bit; I wanted to focus on making 1 full-length arrangement of an existing piece first rather than composing original stuff. That way I have a complete piece, and it's a better practice of #2. Unfortunately, I am not done as of this year, but I do hope to finish in January.

4) Be able to do 6 pullups at a time.
This one definitely fell off. I think I can actually do fewer pullups than when the year started. lol

5) Get employed.
This is perhaps the most important on the list, and I'm happy to say it was achieved. I started doing substitute teaching just to keep busy, but I only worked for 2 days before getting an interview for the real job I wanted, teaching community college. I started teaching this semester. I'm amazed I got it so quickly, but I'm also grateful.

6) Finally get started on my novel/serial.
I mentioned in the original thread that this one was a lower priority, and yeah, it kinda did take a backseat.



There was one goal that I decided starting in February, and that was to learn one new piece/song on piano each week. "Learn" was defined as me basically reducing it to the melody and chord progression and then playing it as my own arrangement as simple or complex as I could play. There was only one where I tried to stick almost verbatim to the original arrangement (Lightning's Theme) since it was a (mostly) piano piece to begin with (and it took me two weeks! lol).

I did miss weeks and tried to make up for them later; if I'm doing my math right I do have the correct number of pieces for all of the weeks, minus one vacation. Here is the complete list, if you were curious!

Hide

Feb 7: Wicked Child
Feb 14: Tifa's Theme
Feb 21: On Our Way
Feb 28: None. :(

March 7th: Bullet Drive
March 15th - Gourmet Race
March 22nd: JENOVA
March 29th: Fisherman's Horizon

April 5th: In the Past (Tsuioku)
April 11th: Reincarnation
April 19th: The Promise
April 26th: Simon's Theme

May 3rd: Not Alone
May 10th: Lightning's Theme
May 17th: Took me two weeks to learn the above :'(
May 24th: The Moon AND Edge of Dawn
May 31st: The Ecstasy of Gold

June 6th: Windmill Hills
June 13th: Wishes
June 20th: Noel's Theme
June 27th: Super Mario World Overworld

July 4th: Garfont Day
July 11th: Lazy Afternoons
July 18th: Somnus - vacation this week
July 25th: Somnus

August 1st: Rydia's Theme
August 8th: Aoi
August 16th: The Amazing Ryu
August 23rd: Shivre City
August 30th: Green Greens

September 6th: None :(
September 13th: Mer Stadium
September 20th: Go Go Naruto!
September 27th: Futurama Theme

October 3rd: None :(
October 10th: Straight Ahead AND Butter Building
October 17th: The Amazon
October 24th: Heart Wave

November 1st: Trail on Powdery Snow
November 8th: None :(
November 15th: Mirai e Tsuzuku Kaze
November 21st: Sandgem Town + Funeral Home
November 28th: Sunyshore City

December 5th: Kimi ni Todoke
December 12: Final Transmission & The Real Folk Blues
December 19th: You Can't Go Back
December 26th: Vivid Dream & The Grand Finale

Anyway, I am very interested to see how you guys did last year. It ended up being about a 50 - 50 for me, which is not bad at all! Always next year to keep trying, after all.

EDIT: Feel free to talk about next year as well, since there doesn't seem to be a thread for that yet.

 

[Ununhexium]

I don’t remember if I did any last year, but I accomplished some goals in working a summer internship and improving my cooking skills

this year I want to start running again, find a full time job after I graduate college, and continue to improve my cooking skills.

nothing too wild or crazy because I want to manage my expectations for myself and set achievable goals, but this is what I’m tryna do

 

[Darkinium]

Didn't really have many specific goals from last year. I guess I did always want to learn piano, and I've learnt how to play the chords to songs I'm learning, which was pretty much what I was wanting to do. I can get through my scales but my technique is pretty terrible. Admittedly, though, I'm not sure if I care enough to put in the time to get it up to par.

Over the last couple weeks I've been writing down New Years resolutions in my notes app as they pop into my head. Some of them are stuff that I've already been doing and I'm just trying to keep them ongoing throughout next year, some is stuff I plan to do but haven't started yet. A lot of my resolutions are goals related to my musical endeavors, so I'll split things up into my music goals and my other goals.

Music Goals

Be able to sightread alto and mezzo-soprano clef by the end of the year - Right now I'm pretty fluent in reading bass, treble, and tenor clef (and in a similar vein Bb and Eb treble), so I'm trying to round things out by learning alto and mezzo-soprano as well. Even though I'm not sure I'll ever really use them, it's always better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it. Alto clef is in case I ever have to read alto trombone or viola music, and mezzo-soprano is for music transposed to F, i.e. french horn stuff. Being able to transpose to more keys while reading the same sheet music is always useful, too.

Transcribe improvised solos from two albums by the end of the year - As a jazz enthusiast trying to get my playing together, I've been going through albums by my favorite players and learning their solos from each track. The last album I did had 9 tracks and 45ish minutes of music and it took me about 6 months to do the whole thing. I've already started working on my next album, which has 6 tracks and 35ish minutes of music. Although I don't remember how long I've been working on this one for, as of tonight I finished learning track 3. Since this album is shorter and I'm already halfway done, by the end of the year I might change my goal to 3 albums depending on how I'm doing.

Learn a new jazz tune every two weeks - Similar to above, I've been trying to learn enough tunes so I can play together with other people. Some tunes are easier to learn than others (I learnt my most recent one in less than a week), but I'm shooting for about one tune per two weeks on average so I can get a usable library of stuff together.

Go to a jazz jam session by the end of the year - This is really meant to be the end goal for everything I've been working on. I've always wanted to go to one but I don't know that my playing is good enough yet; at the moment I'm just trying to get enough tunes and vocabulary under my belt to get by. I'm not at all opposed to learning by doing, but I'm just trying to get to an acceptable level before I show up.

Practice my singing daily - I guess I've always been able to get by at singing, but these days I'm starting to actually practice it. I've never been formally trained in voice, so most of my practice just consists of singing along to drones and trying to sing more in tune. I'm kind of self-conscious about singing so I reckon if I practice it more I'll have less reason to be. I also think singing and using your voice enhances your musicality when playing an instrument. Although I don't think I'm making bad progress, sometime this year I'd like to take a lesson with a voice teacher who can give me some pointers.

Other Goals

Exercise daily - This is one of the goals I've already been doing for the past two-ish months, but I'm trying to make it a habit throughout next year. I've been pretty good with this so far, the only times I remember skipping are when I've had a pretty big supper, since I usually do it in the evening before I shower. Since I've already been doing it, instead of just trying to maintain, by the end of next year I'll try to plank for 3 minutes (currently at 2m30s) and do 30 consecutive pushups (currently at 20). I'm not sure if these are too lowball for one year of progress, but if I achieve it before then, then I'll just move my goalpost

Learn to bike by the end of the year - Pretty self-explanatory, I've never learnt to do it but it seems like one of those things everyone knows how to do so I think I ought to get on it as well.

Carry a conversation in Russian by the end of the year - I've been trying to learn Russian for cultural reasons (everyone in the family speaks it fluently except me and my brother). I've also been wanting to learn it so I can communicate better with my grandparents, who aren't fluent in English. I guess I've always been surrounded by the sound of Russian but I've just never learnt to speak it: when my mom and grandparents converse I can generally get a feel of what they're talking about, and when I learn new words and phrases it's usually stuff I've heard before. For goals on the smaller scale, I've been trying to speak Russian and learn a new word / phrase daily. I'm pretty invested so this hasn't been a problem. I also wanted to learn the Cyrillic alphabet by the end of the year, but I ended up doing it in twoish weeks (the first time I ever recited the entire thing from memory was after drinking with my family at Christmas lol.) I guess the goal now is to be able to write and read Russian fluently, which has been much more challenging in terms of motivation.

Do French-related exercises daily - I've been in French immersion my whole life, but basically never worked on it or used it outside of school. I've decided I no longer want to be someone who speaks a language crappily and clearly hasn't put effort into learning it. I can't really surround myself with French in the same way I do with Russian because no one speaks it at home, so starting today I'm going to do listening comprehension exercises daily. My French teacher always told our class about these but I never really took them seriously until the week of a test. Now I remember all my French teachers up to this point telling us we have to surround ourselves with a language to get good at it, but starting now I'm actually going to take that advice to heart.

Cook and learn a new recipe bi-weekly - Cooking is just a really useful life skill to have, but one I haven't really done much of. Partly because my mom's always been the one who does it around the house, but also I haven't had much initiative to do it. I've been trying to get started on this goal but for the same reasons I stated I haven't been doing it much, so I'll have to get more serious about it.

 

[antemortem]

I’ve decided that resolutions don’t provide much for me except set up strict boundaries that my ADHD-ridden recognizes as obstacles rather than achievable changes. My therapist and I had a conversation about, instead, beginning to model my every day life in small, conquerable chunks. If that involves waking up slightly earlier so I have time to stretch/do yoga before meetings, followed by implementing gradual improvements to my cooking skills (Ununhexium we should talk), etc. then that’s what it’ll look like. I do have a list of short-term goals, of course, but they’re more like intentions than anything. That way, when I inevitably don’t tick every box, I can give myself the grace to fail.

4) Be able to do 6 pullups at a time.

Be like me for maximum success and try just adding 1 pullup to your routine per year… keep your expectations low.

Practice my singing daily - I guess I've always been able to get by at singing, but these days I'm starting to actually practice it. I've never been formally trained in voice, so most of my practice just consists of singing along to drones and trying to sing more in tune. I'm kind of self-conscious about singing so I reckon if I practice it more I'll have less reason to be. I also think singing and using your voice enhances your musicality when playing an instrument. Although I don't think I'm making bad progress, sometime this year I'd like to take a lesson with a voice teacher who can give me some pointers.

Not sure if you’ve ever heard of Patsy Rodenberg, but I refer back to this excerpt from The Right to Speak whenever I begin to self-sabotage or just need a boost of serotonin/motivation:

I don’t pay much mind to any of the religious undertones. The woman that inspired this particular chapter has a level of spiritual connection and practice that informs her point of view, so it’s moot to try to invalidate that. I think, even devoid of spirituality, this is really empowering and humbling so maybe it’ll be a reminder to just keep singing lmao.

 

[Hulavuta]

Be like me for maximum success and try just adding 1 pullup to your routine per year… keep your expectations low.

I agree with this, which is why the first year, I actually set my goal for literally only 1. I deleted the full context from all of this year's in the post to remove clutter, so I'll say: 6 actually was already the super-lowball option. I even said

So it's lowballing but I haven't been able to lift much or eat as healthily since the quarantine, so once again I think it's better to undershoot than overshoot.

I didn't expect to fall off that badly for sure lmao; losing the routine of school was a real killer. But hopefully now that I'm employed, the routine of work can get me back somewhere close. The goal for next year may be even just to get back to where I was, and not even +1 more!

 

[Rain Moon]

I forgot what my resolution for 2021 was, which means I either integrated into my life so well that it's perfectly natural or I failed utterly. I feel like it just might be the former rather than the latter...

Anyway, my resolution for 2022 is to keep to my word. Too often I find myself idly saying "oh yeah, I'll do that" and then never doing it. I want to do each and every thing that I said I'll do. This means I'll need to be more careful about what I am saying and only say something if I actually intend to do it, and of course it also means I need to stick to what I said and get it done without procrastination.

Hope everyone has a great 2022, and GL to all with following their resolutions!

 

[Martin]

I don't usually do new year's resolutions, but I've felt really stagnant since losing my job to COVID, so I figured I'd try it this year. I've got a lot of them, and I know I probably won't end up doing most of them, but hopefully laying them out formally will motivate me to do at least some of them.

I've loosely ordered the skills section by priority but the other groups are unordered.

Skill Goals:

• Properly focus on learning Japanese and achieve at least N3–4 equivalent level speaking/reading/listening ability and/or reach a point where I can read a significant amount of Cardcaptor Sakura without dictionary reference (the fact I've been doing this on and off for 5–6 years now and made almost no progress is, frankly, embarrassing)
• Complete the Scientific Computing with Python certification on Free Code Camp and program a simple turn-based RPG battle system and/or fighting game and/or text adventure
• Achieve at least one 3-2 record at a fighting game tournament
• Reach a steady chess.com rating of 1000–1200 (or whatever the equivalent of that is on Lichess) and begin attending amateur over-the-board events and/or clubs
  • Achieve competence when using at least two or three of the Italian, Ruy Lopez, Catalan, London System, Queen's Gambit (accepted and declined as white, declined as black), Slav Defence, Sicilian Defence, Caro Kann, King's Indian Defence, Nimzo-Indian Defence, and Queen's Indian Defence
• Begin learning piano and/or button accordion and achieve an intermediate level of competence (low priority)
• Achieve some level of drawing competence (low priority)
• Seriously learn a Pokémon doubles format (low priority)

Lifestyle Goals:

• Improve my sleep, hygiene, fitness, eating habits, and mental health
  • More specifically, reach a point where I'm sleeping at normal hours (I'm nocturnal), exercising at least 2–3 times a week (currently 0), and never forgetting to eat (I am a stick man); I expect these 5 things probably influence each other a lot
• Overcome my fear of commitment/decisions and reduce the resultant procrastination
• Overcome my fear of applying for jobs and achieve a (somewhat) steady income
  • Use the money to buy a good desktop PC
• Start and grow a video-essay YouTube channel and/or gaming stream
• Stop watching porn/masturbating (I hate doing it and basically only do it when I'm putting stuff off and bored)

Consumption Goals (low priority)

• Get back into watching seasonal anime and watch more old shows (rather than mostly rewatching stuff)
• Read at least 20 novel-/novella-length books and/or graphic novels/manga series
• Watch more western TV dramas and movies (no capeshit though; brainless action films with American sitcom-tier one-liners are lame as fuck)
• Game more
• Fix my music algorithms and/or discover a wider range of music

Here's to 2022 (hopefully) not completely sucking!

 

[antemortem]

I didn't expect to fall off that badly for sure lmao; losing the routine of school was a real killer. But hopefully now that I'm employed, the routine of work can get me back somewhere close. The goal for next year may be even just to get back to where I was, and not even +1 more!

Yeah I’ve found that ending a workout streak is just as easy if not easier than starting one.

I used to run a mile or two with my partner in our undergrad workout facility at the time every other day for a couple semesters straight, and when the pandemic started, it took one week of us missing our routine (and not trying too hard to relocate/reschedule it…) for me to… completely drop it lol. I‘m a dancer and stretch on the regular in my own time, but I don’t have a formal exercise routine because the intensity of workout/fitness culture is toxic as fuck and I try not to drink poison straight from the source if I can avoid it.

I forgot what my resolution for 2021 was, which means I either integrated into my life so well that it's perfectly natural or I failed utterly. I feel like it just might be the former rather than the latter...

Anyway, my resolution for 2022 is to keep to my word. Too often I find myself idly saying "oh yeah, I'll do that" and then never doing it. I want to do each and every thing that I said I'll do. This means I'll need to be more careful about what I am saying and only say something if I actually intend to do it, and of course it also means I need to stick to what I said and get it done without procrastination.

Hope everyone has a great 2022, and GL to all with following their resolutions!

Have you looked into any sort of techniques for getting yourself on the right track? I find, since I think I’m ADHD—more on this in a couple of weeks after I get an assessment for the first time in my life—writing any and all ideas, even if I’m not sure if I want to follow through with them or what they’ll become, on sticky notes and putting them on my wall keeps them in my periphery. That way, I don’t drop that shit as soon as it comes back to mind. You probably are doing fine, but don’t you deserve to make those changes for yourself?

I don't usually do new year's resolutions, but I've felt really stagnant since losing my job to COVID, so I figured I'd try it this year. I've got a lot of them, and I know I probably won't end up doing most of them, but hopefully laying them out formally will motivate me to do at least some of them.

I've loosely ordered the skills section by priority but the other groups are unordered.

Skill Goals:

• Properly focus on learning Japanese and achieve at least N3–4 equivalent level speaking/reading/listening ability and/or reach a point where I can read a significant amount of Cardcaptor Sakura without dictionary reference (the fact I've been doing this on and off for 5–6 years now and made almost no progress is, frankly, embarrassing)
• Complete the Scientific Computing with Python certification on Free Code Camp and program a simple turn-based RPG battle system and/or fighting game and/or text adventure
• Achieve at least one 3-2 record at a fighting game tournament
• Reach a steady chess.com rating of 1000–1200 (or whatever the equivalent of that is on Lichess) and begin attending amateur over-the-board events and/or clubs
  • Achieve competence when using at least two or three of the Italian, Ruy Lopez, Catalan, London System, Queen's Gambit (accepted and declined as white, declined as black), Slav Defence, Sicilian Defence, Caro Kann, King's Indian Defence, Nimzo-Indian Defence, and Queen's Indian Defence
• Begin learning piano and/or button accordion and achieve an intermediate level of competence (low priority)
• Achieve some level of drawing competence (low priority)
• Seriously learn a Pokémon doubles format (low priority)

Lifestyle Goals:

• Improve my sleep, hygiene, fitness, eating habits, and mental health
  • More specifically, reach a point where I'm sleeping at normal hours (I'm nocturnal), exercising at least 2–3 times a week (currently 0), and never forgetting to eat (I am a stick man); I expect these 5 things probably influence each other a lot
• Overcome my fear of commitment/decisions and reduce the resultant procrastination
• Overcome my fear of applying for jobs and achieve a (somewhat) steady income
  • Use the money to buy a good desktop PC
• Start and grow a video-essay YouTube channel and/or gaming stream
• Stop watching porn/masturbating (I hate doing it and basically only do it when I'm putting stuff off and bored)

Consumption Goals (low priority)

• Get back into watching seasonal anime and watch more old shows (rather than mostly rewatching stuff)
• Read at least 20 novel-/novella-length books and/or graphic novels/manga series
• Watch more western TV dramas and movies (no capeshit though; brainless action films with American sitcom-tier one-liners are lame as fuck)
• Game more
• Fix my music algorithms and/or discover a wider range of music

Here's to 2022 (hopefully) not completely sucking!

I like that you categorize and prioritize your resolutions… this might actually be something that‘s helpful for me, too. Like I said, I’m not really doing ”resolutions” in the classic sense because they can be lofty and unrealistic or not very motivating just to put down on paper in all their inexcusable generality. But categorizing them makes them more digestible and also reminds you there are various facets of your life that you can focus on.

I’m curious, though, which of these you consider “high priority,” specifically, for yourself? Like if you had to put everything not “low priority” into an even more consumable format?

 

[Fishy]

i left an extremely toxic relationship before my birthday in 2021, which is the one thing i resolved to do for that year around christmas 2020, so hell yes

i also finally got my dream tattoo, which took 8 hours in one sitting and let me tell ya, i am so relieved i never have to do that again!!! been trying to do that the last 5 years, nailed it for my birthday last year!

this year, hmmm, my fitness is my main focus, if i had to quantify a goal i would say being able to comfortably pancake, improving the strength and flexibility of my back has become paramount to my happiness!!!!!

 

[Rain Moon]

Have you looked into any sort of techniques for getting yourself on the right track? I find, since I think I’m ADHD—more on this in a couple of weeks after I get an assessment for the first time in my life—writing any and all ideas, even if I’m not sure if I want to follow through with them or what they’ll become, on sticky notes and putting them on my wall keeps them in my periphery. That way, I don’t drop that shit as soon as it comes back to mind. You probably are doing fine, but don’t you deserve to make those changes for yourself?

Hahahah, yes, I am a huge fan of sticky notes, or just notes in general. I keep sticky notes on my desk for short-term reminders, a daily to-do list for miscellaneous small tasks, and a pocket-sized day planner for scheduling commitments and important things. I also try to jot down any "unfinished thoughts" I have so that if I am doing something that requires focus I won't have a bunch of random things churning in my head. Putting them onto paper lets me safely forget them and then I can just go and check my list whenever I've got a bit of spare time.

 

[antemortem]

i also finally got my dream tattoo, which took 8 hours in one sitting and let me tell ya, i am so relieved i never have to do that again!!! been trying to do that the last 5 years, nailed it for my birthday last year!

What is that tat/inspiration?? Did you sit straight through or were there any breaks or anything?

Hahahah, yes, I am a huge fan of sticky notes, or just notes in general. I keep sticky notes on my desk for short-term reminders, a daily to-do list for miscellaneous small tasks, and a pocket-sized day planner for scheduling commitments and important things. I also try to jot down any "unfinished thoughts" I have so that if I am doing something that requires focus I won't have a bunch of random things churning in my head. Putting them onto paper lets me safely forget them and then I can just go and check my list whenever I've got a bit of spare time.

I fucking thrive in “unfinished thoughts” territory, you should see the Notes app on my phone… just on the cusp of sleep, my best ideas come to me, so I’ll knock things off my side table trying to find my phone to type it out really quickly. But then I’m lucky to revisit it. Something about the object permanence of not always having those notes visible makes it really easy for them to slip into a liminal space.

How do you keep yourself coming back to those things you don’t keep readily available on your desk?

 

[Fishy]

What is that tat/inspiration?? Did you sit straight through or were there any breaks or anything?

i got as many of Jinx's clouds (LoL) as i wanted/could feasibly stand for one sitting, my friend Carlos put them on me and actually tried to accept $0 for it (i refused that) but i suspect it's because he knew i had been trying to get it for so long!!! he did an AMAZING job of emulating the style of Jinx's clouds as they appear on her in the Get Jinxed music video!!

no real breaks, brief pauses to ingest some food for my blood sugar or bathroom breaks, that was about it! the last hour was pretty intense because i wasn't able to distract myself anymore, no matter where the needle was it felt like the same level of pain. the absolute worst area i was not expecting was my stomach!! tattooing is much more painful over soft/fatty tissue than bone in my experience!

the clouds were also done in a way that the interior of them is just my natural skin! i love negative space ideas so it's a totally cool manifestation of my idea and i couldn't be happier with the outcome. if the clouds were colored in, i would have sat for maybe 4-5 max lol, vs. the... 11 that i have i think ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

 

[antemortem]

i got as many of Jinx's clouds (LoL) as i wanted/could feasibly stand for one sitting, my friend Carlos put them on me and actually tried to accept $0 for it (i refused that) but i suspect it's because he knew i had been trying to get it for so long!!! he did an AMAZING job of emulating the style of Jinx's clouds as they appear on her in the Get Jinxed music video!!

no real breaks, brief pauses to ingest some food for my blood sugar or bathroom breaks, that was about it! the last hour was pretty intense because i wasn't able to distract myself anymore, no matter where the needle was it felt like the same level of pain. the absolute worst area i was not expecting was my stomach!! tattooing is much more painful over soft/fatty tissue than bone in my experience!

the clouds were also done in a way that the interior of them is just my natural skin! i love negative space ideas so it's a totally cool manifestation of my idea and i couldn't be happier with the outcome. if the clouds were colored in, i would have sat for maybe 4-5 max lol, vs. the... 11 that i have i think ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʕ•̫͡•ʔ•̫͡•ʔ

First of all, just listened—DOPE music video—and secondly, is it essentially just the backdrop of this shot?

Hide

If I had to relate a resolution to this, I really want a starter tattoo, like an ankle tat or something on the forearm that’s easy to hide if I ever need to. Not that I’m afraid of missing any work based on tattoos, but my tastes are often too mercurial to be married with a concept for long enough to get it tattooed.

 

[Fishy]

First of all, just listened—DOPE music video—and secondly, is it essentially just the backdrop of this shot?

Hide

View attachment 397115

If I had to relate a resolution to this, I really want a starter tattoo, like an ankle tat or something on the forearm that’s easy to hide if I ever need to. Not that I’m afraid of missing any work based on tattoos, but my tastes are often too mercurial to be married with a concept for long enough to get it tattooed.

LOOOOL so far i have also tried to remove two tattoos (i went to a super shitty place and after three sessions they're both VERY visible still so fuck it) but whether it was the place i went to or what, lasers are significantly more painful than needles, hoo

 

[Martin]

I’m curious, though, which of these you consider “high priority,” specifically, for yourself? Like if you had to put everything not “low priority” into an even more consumable format?

I didn’t organise the lifestyle category just bc a lot of them are kinda intertwined and resolving one or two will have a domino effect that resolves others. Fixing my sleep/eating/fitness will improve my energy levels, which will improve my mental health and motivation levels, which will lead to less downtime in which I find myself procrastinating/masturbating and will help me confront the stuff relating to my life and future that terrifies me. Similarly, curbing my masturbation habit will itself improve my mental health and curb self-loathing, which will set off the aforementioned domino effect. So I guess in a sense those two bullet points are top priority? It’s a bit vague though.

 

[antemortem]

LOOOOL so far i have also tried to remove two tattoos (i went to a super shitty place and after three sessions they're both VERY visible still so fuck it) but whether it was the place i went to or what, lasers are significantly more painful than needles, hoo

If I paid cold hard cash for a laser to burn my regrets from my skin and there was still anything recognizable left… lawsuits on lawsuits. What did you get removed…??

I didn’t organise the lifestyle category just bc a lot of them are kinda intertwined and resolving one or two will have a domino effect that resolves others. Fixing my sleep/eating/fitness will improve my energy levels, which will improve my mental health and motivation levels, which will lead to less downtime in which I find myself procrastinating/masturbating and will help me confront the stuff relating to my life and future that terrifies me. Similarly, curbing my masturbation habit will itself improve my mental health and curb self-loathing, which will set off the aforementioned domino effect. So I guess in a sense those two bullet points are top priority? It’s a bit vague though.

Fair enough. I wonder this a lot myself how I’m expected to turn around so many things all in the same period of time, you know? Trying to imagine getting my diet, sleep schedule, and exercise routine all on the same page at the same time is a bit of an overwhelming, but also silly thought. Can we really do it all at once? It seems like when I get my food situation sorted—Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and all that good stuff—I can then figure out where to ingest caffeine, sugar, etc. throughout the day to lead to my best sleep patterns, which then leads to me figuring out the best schedule for morning routine such as including time in the sun, getting oxygen, or whatever the case is. And it does end up taking shape as the domino effect you mentioned! But I’d be screwed if they were all their own individual beast to conquer.

There are also people that give up on resolutions after a certain point in the year as if there were a timeline or deadline at stake. Again, too much pressure… We really think we gotta be perfect at new things immediately or they’re not worth seeing through to fruition.

 

[Martin]

If I paid cold hard cash for a laser to burn my regrets from my skin and there was still anything recognizable left… lawsuits on lawsuits. What did you get removed…??

Fair enough. I wonder this a lot myself how I’m expected to turn around so many things all in the same period of time, you know? Trying to imagine getting my diet, sleep schedule, and exercise routine all on the same page at the same time is a bit of an overwhelming, but also silly thought. Can we really do it all at once? It seems like when I get my food situation sorted—Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and all that good stuff—I can then figure out where to ingest caffeine, sugar, etc. throughout the day to lead to my best sleep patterns, which then leads to me figuring out the best schedule for morning routine such as including time in the sun, getting oxygen, or whatever the case is. And it does end up taking shape as the domino effect you mentioned! But I’d be screwed if they were all their own individual beast to conquer.

There are also people that give up on resolutions after a certain point in the year as if there were a timeline or deadline at stake. Again, too much pressure… We really think we gotta be perfect at new things immediately or they’re not worth seeing through to fruition.

I think it’s important to remember that, at least in the case of new-year’s resolutions, you are essentially giving yourself a full year to “resolve” something in your life. And year is a long time (as much as it feels like it isn’t), so you shouldn’t feel the need to resolve it all in one big chunk. If you resolved to (e.g.) improve your physical fitness, eat more, and fix your sleep patterns, you can look at the implications of your goals and use that to figure out the correct order to do it in that will let you achieve it in 12 months or less—in this example, that might mean working on eating more high-energy foods and protein first, which gives you the energy to do your daily exercise, which will leave you tired earlier in the day —> you sleep earlier, which then means you’re waking up earlier and more refreshed, which might give you the energy to work on a more balanced (rather than energy-focused) diet.

This isn’t a great example because it’s a pretty direct domino effect, but if you then paired it with other goals (e.g. reduce daily screen time, learn a language, read more books etc.), you can look at what directly influences that domino effect (screen time affects sleep, meaning you need to resolve it earlier in the year), what depends on the outcome of the domino effect to succeed (learning a language successfully depends on your body clock and energy levels being in good order), and what is secondary to the linked resolutions (reading more books is something you can start or stop whenever for the most part) and budget your time accordingly. You will find that even the unrelated goals become easier to achieve the more “domino” goals you achieve because goals that domino into each other tend to indirectly result in more hours becoming available even if you’re technically sleeping the same number of hours, sorta like how you get more Activity Points when your Professor Level increases in FE: Three Houses.

This video is written in the context of fighting games, but I think it’s a very good, concise explanation for how to start forming an effective time budget to approach your goals in a constructive way, so I think it’s worth a watch (or rewatch if you’ve already seen it):

That said, you’re right that deadlines can be scary and counterproductive, but at the same time I feel like, if you don’t set loose time scales, you often get the same problem manifesting in a different way bc there is no end in sight at all. Ultimately, it depends on how you function best, but if you have (e.g.) ADHD, Asperger’s, or something similar it may help to set some time scale (even if it’s not a year) to help create structure so that you can feel more in control.

(Yes, this post is more me coaching myself and convincing myself that I can do this rather than an attempt to help anyone else lol)

 

[Rain Moon]

I fucking thrive in “unfinished thoughts” territory, you should see the Notes app on my phone… just on the cusp of sleep, my best ideas come to me, so I’ll knock things off my side table trying to find my phone to type it out really quickly. But then I’m lucky to revisit it. Something about the object permanence of not always having those notes visible makes it really easy for them to slip into a liminal space.

How do you keep yourself coming back to those things you don’t keep readily available on your desk?

Wellllll, the thing is that sometimes I don't, LMAO. Or at least, not for a while. I like to keep all my stuff organized, so from time to time I will go through and purge all my unneeded papers/digital notes/etc. which is usually when I find old stuff I'd forgotten about.

 

[Pyro]

I avoid not keeping to my resolutions by not setting any resolutions.

I am terrible at them. Get in shape, write more, work harder at my job... all dropped.

 

[antemortem]

I avoid not keeping to my resolutions by not setting any resolutions.

I am terrible at them. Get in shape, write more, work harder at my job... all dropped.

Well, that depends on what “work harder at my job” possibly means? Idk about you, but if my paycheck don’t reflect an increase in productivity, there won’t be an increase in productivity.

 

[phoopes]

Every year my resolution is the same: "Do better, be better."

In the last year, "do better" was tough, I'll call that a failure. Definitely took some regrettable actions but I'm hoping to "do better" this year.

"Be better," however... I'm making progress. My mental health is getting better and better for the most part so I'm happy about that. :)

 

[antemortem]

Every year my resolution is the same: "Do better, be better."

In the last year, "do better" was tough, I'll call that a failure. Definitely took some regrettable actions but I'm hoping to "do better" this year.

"Be better," however... I'm making progress. My mental health is getting better and better for the most part so I'm happy about that. :)

What defined “didn’t do better” for you? Like can you point to specific instances where you wished you had “done better” or is it a general feeling of things you know you can still “do better” this year? I’m proud of your mental health progress and happy that you’re able to acknowledge it to this point and that you’re optimistic about continuing.


I was listening to a podcast today where the hosts dropped a brilliant idea (well it’s new to me anyway): time release reminders, i.e setting a reminder on a device or whatever for later in the year. Uh, obviously? Not sure how I’ve never thought of this, but… Rain Moon is this what we need in 2022 to get literally anything done? Maybe so.

 

[phoopes]

What defined “didn’t do better” for you? Like can you point to specific instances where you wished you had “done better” or is it a general feeling of things you know you can still “do better” this year? I’m proud of your mental health progress and happy that you’re able to acknowledge it to this point and that you’re optimistic about continuing.

Yeah there are definitely points in the past year where I made decisions that I now regret. Stuff like repeating the same old mistakes that I've regretted before which is aggravating. I'll leave it that but yeah, I feel like back around Thanksgiving I officially entered a new chapter in my life and I've been "doing better" since then. It's only been like two months but I feel happy with how I've been "doing better" so far. Just gotta not repeat those same mistakes again.

Thanks for the kind words about mental health, it's much appreciated :)

 

[antemortem]

Yeah there are definitely points in the past year where I made decisions that I now regret. Stuff like repeating the same old mistakes that I've regretted before which is aggravating. I'll leave it that but yeah, I feel like back around Thanksgiving I officially entered a new chapter in my life and I've been "doing better" since then. It's only been like two months but I feel happy with how I've been "doing better" so far. Just gotta not repeat those same mistakes again.

Thanks for the kind words about mental health, it's much appreciated :)

Idk about you, but for me, the holidays/winter in general usually ends up being weirdly emotional, whether it be positive or negative or whatever, and I walk into the spring with a ridiculous level of clarity. Clarity about what I want, clarity about what I need… and actionable steps to take to make those things happen. Is that kind of where you’re at?

And for sure! I had a stupidly revelatory therapy session a few days ago that culminated in me unearthing and sitting with a lot of repressed memories/traumas. This is the beginning of a longer series of conversations, so she ended our meeting with a real eye-to-eye reminder of who I am and the potential I contain in spite of the traumatic experiences I’ve had.

The power of your mental health—your mental wellness, more specifically—being acknowledged is unmatched. Just to know that someone sees you and understands what you’re going through. So if I can pay that forward, I do it every chance I get.

 

[Rain Moon]

What defined “didn’t do better” for you? Like can you point to specific instances where you wished you had “done better” or is it a general feeling of things you know you can still “do better” this year? I’m proud of your mental health progress and happy that you’re able to acknowledge it to this point and that you’re optimistic about continuing.


I was listening to a podcast today where the hosts dropped a brilliant idea (well it’s new to me anyway): time release reminders, i.e setting a reminder on a device or whatever for later in the year. Uh, obviously? Not sure how I’ve never thought of this, but… Rain Moon is this what we need in 2022 to get literally anything done? Maybe so.

HMMMMMMMMM, not a bad idea. Not a bad idea at all.