A belated declaration of my goals for 2013 (starting from January 15th).
1. Read at least one book per week. 2. Write at least one (meaningful) blog post per week. 3. Sleep before midnight.
Read at least one book per week
This is distinct from "read 52 books this year". The goal is to consistently be engaged in reading books throughout the year. I draw this contrast since last year, I had months where I read zero books and months where I read more than 10 books. (I read 48 books last year)
Write at least one (meaningful) blog post per week
Early last year, I experimented with writing one blog post every day. There were some benefits to this, but I was not pleased with the unoriginality and shallowness of many of my posts during this time. This year I want to spend time focusing on writing more thoughtful and meaningful posts, rather than striving for volume.
Sleep before midnight
I am quite productive in the morning, yet tend to defer waking up until the last possible minute. By sleeping before midnight, I aim to facilitate an earlier start to the day. I lead a rather hermit-like existence for someone my age, so I am fortunately (?) not frequently faced with the challenge of balancing a night out with this goal.
Parting words
All three goals are easily attainable for me. I don't have to move a mountain to achieve them; in fact, my existing routine meets these goals about 70% of the time. All that I need is a mild strengthening of my already rather disciplined lifestyle.
On January 21 2013 10:19 Agama wrote: you should post in your blogs what books you read and your thoughts on them! would be interesting.
I'll definitely be doing a 2012 book review entry soon .
On January 21 2013 11:10 Najda wrote: What kind of books will you be reading, any restrictions? Or are you just reading whatever intrigues you.
Some authors I've read recently:
Malcolm Gladwell / Michael Lewis / Daniel Pink / Peter Singer / Seneca / Kurt Vonnegut / Neal Stephenson / Haruki Murakami / Barton Biggs / David Einhorn / G.H. Hardy / Shinichi Hoshi / Dan Ariely / Steven Levitt / Richard Feynman / Steve Wozniak / Lawrence Lessig / Nietzsche
On January 21 2013 09:15 thedeadhaji wrote: I lead a rather hermit-like existence for someone my age, so I am fortunately (?) not frequently faced with the challenge of balancing a night out with this goal.
be sure to sprinkle in some fun once in awhile. I didn't pick up much excitement in your post, which is the whole reason for goals - to make you excited!
On January 21 2013 11:44 Spiffeh wrote: be sure to sprinkle in some fun once in awhile. I didn't pick up much excitement in your post, which is the whole reason for goals - to make you excited!
Well I have interests outside of my new years resolutions that are more along the lines of "fun". These include weightlifting and cycling.
Actually, reading is a really enjoyable way to spend time for me. It's not a "chore" at all
On January 21 2013 12:27 docvoc wrote: I haven't seen you post in a bit, it is good to see you back in the blog section though .
Thanks I think my new found motivation (particularly respect with my desire to write more thought-provoking and critically considered posts) is at least partly related to the recent death of Aaron Swartz (whose quality of writing was quite inspiring).
If you read one book a week, won't they kind of get...forgotten? I think the trick to this new year's resolution is to make sure the intricacies of each book don't get overshadowed by the massive amount of reading, and to really put in the effort with each book to make sure you actually understand it instead of glossing over them and just getting the general concepts.
EPT
