...and to try and resist the urge to answer every question with a bad joke.
Quarter 1: Jan-Mar
* Get down to 12% body fat (lose ~10kg) - easily doable on keto diet, already lost 11kg last 2 months.
* Sleep earlier
* Spend my weekends more meaningfully instead of just sitting around at home. Explore London while I'm still here and before I move to SF.
* Learn advanced Git.
* Learn more Objective C/iOS development.
* Start a blog
Quarter 2: Apr-Jun
* 10% body fat
* Learn to swim and become a pro at it (follow gym programme)
* Learn basic French (Michel Thomas audio course) and reward myself with a weekend in Paris
* Try out Shotokan karate (complete 8 lesson course)
* Learn something tech (depends on interests at the time), perhaps Lisp.
Quarter 3: Jul-Sep
* Learn something tech (depends on interests at the time)
* Learn something non-tech (depends on interests at the time)
Quarter 4: Oct - Dec
* Learn something tech (depends on interests at the time)
* Learn something non-tech (depends on interests at the time)
* Improve my english
* Learn math - I have graduated only high school and I have been scared of math my whole life. Time to change it!
* Learn as much as I can about data mining. - After reading http://guidetodatamining.com, I found it really interesting.
* Learn Python.
* Improve work/fun time management.
In most dialects of English (notably British English), the short form of the subject is "maths". In North American English, it is "math". In all dialects, the full form is "mathematics". In all dialects, both the short and full forms are singular and accept singular verbs. For example, "mathematics IS the study of numbers and patterns".
If you like to tailor to your audience, you may consider using "maths" for a British audience and "math" for an American audience.
Bonus: typing feels much better with smooth nails than with awful bitten fingers.
* write and publish : I have two short stories and few blogs articles that my wife finds interesting, maybe others would be interested as well.
* get fit : I used to be MA instructor, but because of my (now-closed) start-up, I let it slide. 100 push-ups, 1 hours run, -10 pounds, etc.
* double my income : I don't really care about the money per se, but this keeps me away from doing things nobody cares about.
* learn & use monads & monads transformer (haskell)
* master the javascript ecosystem.
* publish my 3d procedural modeler.
* move to another city.
* Do more for others. In that vein, I'm contributing to a local co-working setup by helping people with Product Design.
* On a bigger experiment, I'm planning a Product Design Tour[1] of Silicon Valley.
* Don't judge others
Learn Python.
Actually put my homepage on the internet (wow, wouldn't that be something!)
I'm probably going to try the same thing again since it worked so well a year ago. I'm 20b away from my High School weight but a bit leaner.
[] Learn any functional language (I tried to learn Haskell, now I'm looking at Clojure);
I don't disagree with your notion, but I think a lot of people reflect on themselves and what they'd like to accomplish when the year is ending, set their goals, and it perpetuates itself.
As anecdotal evidence against this, my 2013 resolutions[1] were both unimportant and resounding successes. The trick, I think, is that they were just different ways of doing things I already did, not new things to do every day. They required some willpower but no planning or time, and they were difficult to ignore or forget about.
That is a fairly limiting description, though, and I did stumble onto it by chance. It will inform my future resolutions, though. I probably won't decide to "write a little every day" because it's too easy a promise to break. On the other hand, something like "no using the tablet in bed before dinner" will probably work.
1: use my non-dominant hand for everything, and always stand under the shower when I turn it on.
A new year is not entirely "arbitrary". Sure – from the point of view of geology or global history, it's irrelevant. But it provides a very obvious psychological "clean slate" – a fresh start and obvious break. It usually provides a little holiday, some time spent with family, and an opportunity for reflection.
Yes, most resolutions fail. But people aren't perfect, and if we were all able to commit wholly to self-improvements at the drop of a hat, the world would probably be a much better place. Since we can't, I don't really see the harm in a little psychological boost once a year.
The fact is, if we can resolve to change at the beginning of January then we can commit to self-improvement at the drop of a hat (assuming the 'drop of a hat' means a time when we have the necessary resources, time, inclination, etc). The date makes absolutely no difference at all. Why not a birthday resolution, or easter, or mid-summer (surely a far better time if you're going to be more active or eat more healthily)? I have no data, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to see people who resolve to do things at times of the year other than New Year are much, much more successful than anyone who'll make a change next week. Their reasons (a choice rather than a tradition) will be more inclined to success.
I've found this to be a lot more motivating, since the finish date is relatively close... Three months isn't a long time and being able to say you've succeeded feels great!