Goals for 2009
I don't do New Years resolutions. They just don't seem to have much motivational force. By the time May, or even March, rolls around, the people who you now see pounding the pavements or sweating it out in gym are nowhere to be seen... probably they're putting in overtime at the office or already lazing around at home with a lukewarm, half-eaten Big Mac and a beaded bottle of Coke sitting next to them.
Anyway, my birthday is close enough to the beginning of the year (just 10 days in) to use it as an opportunity to set some goals for the coming 12 months, as well as evaluate the accomplishment of my goals over the past year.
You get those people who insist "Life is a journey, not a destination, so enjoy the ride." I agree. Kind of. Life isn't a destination. It's multiple destinations... And those multiple, spaced-out destinations are goals to work towards, giving you direction as you continually strive to improve yourself, your situation and your quality of life. The worst thing you can do is settle into a rut and slip into auto-pilot, because, bang, before you know it, yet another year has passed by in which you've accomplished nothing.
Here's what I had listed last year:
- Try really, really hard to be more positive.
In some areas I think I succeeded more than others.
Work for example. I battened down the hatches and got on with things, with little to no complaints. Well, at least that's how I remember the year.
In terms of life in South Africa, well, the government and assorted other groups and events just plunged my belief in the country even lower in 2008: Eskom and the economy-destroying load shedding, xenophobic attacks, Zuma the Corrupt's rise to power, the continued escalation of violent crime, surges in fuel and food prices, street name changes, mediocre Olympic performance, municipal deterioration, and the general prevailing spirit of apathy and lawlessness.
I generally don't trigger ranting discussions about these things.... but deep down I'm not positive. I want to leave. Not necessarily forever. But I need change, a breath of fresh air - a chance to live in a country where I can go to sleep at night with my bedroom door unlocked because I don't need to worry about a violent home invasion in the middle of the night, where I don't have to live with thick ugly bars over every door and window, and where I can wake up in the morning and not have to suppress my anxiety about possibly being involved in a killer road accident on my way to work because the traffic lights haven't worked for 4 days.
- Get my own space/place. Ideally with the bf, so our 5 year relationship can move beyond the puerile "seeing each other only on weekends" stage.
Epic Fail... much to embarrassment. Out of all my coupled friends we've been together the longest - 5 and a half years in February - yet we're the ones who don't even live together or really share a life.
Towards the end of the year I had the opportunity to move into a flat with another girl, which I was all ready to do until the moving conditions changed. The rent was steep but I was willing to suck it up as the place was amazing and fully furnished. When the goalposts suddenly changed, and I needed to supply major appliances, well, I just didn't want to make that kind of financial investment if I'm not sure about my future in the country. Although I'm 27 and still live at home, at least I pay rent, and my accounts and medical aid are all my own, so I don't feel like a complete sponge.
- Sort out my portfolio/personal website and devote more creative time to getting Girlz 'N' Games more solidly established with a web presence.
Ha, so these tasks have been on my To Do List for a full year already. Actually I did make moves in both areas (behind the scenes), and Girlz 'N' Games became more regularly updated. Now I just need to get to actualise my already-planned changes and get them uploaded.
- Bite the financial bullet and bring my geriatric PC into the dual and quad core age so I can play newer games in all their intended prettiness.
Done. A very worthwhile investment.
- Attempt to get back into regular fiction writing.
Fail.
- Get at least one World of WarCraft character up to level 70.
Done. My beloved Affliction Warlock Euridycce is already 2 levels short of the new level cap of 80... and is currently working towards the Explorer title achievement.
- Have another overseas holiday.
Done. My UK and European Contiki tour was the highlight of my year.
- Move closer to achieving my blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Done. Got it.
- Seriously investigate emigration options.
Well, I didn't go to any talks, but the UK portion of my holiday was a scouting trip to see if I could cope with life in England. I think I could. I didn't experience any major culture shock and I put this down to the fact that, with a British mother, I have been raised with a strong familiarity with English culture and traditions. I didn't feel like an outsider there.
- Read the Bible (knowledge is power when you want to take on Bible bashers).
Fail. I got as far as to put it on my bedside table, but other books got piled on top. I think I need to set smaller goals in regards to Bible reading, like a chapter a day.
- Do something physically extreme/perilous (e.g. sky diving, white water rafting, bridge jumping, scuba diving etc. Hell, right now I'd settle for the "safer" option of the Karkloof Canopy Tour.
Hmmm, nothing on the list above, but I did climb a high chain ladder during a trip to the Drakensberg in early 2008. And I'm off to do the Karkloof Canopy Tour for my birthday tomorrow.
So, moving onto goals for 2009:
Obviously all the failed goals listed above will carry through to this year. If anyone is looking for a flatmate in Durban in June-August, let me know because that's when I'm looking at moving out. I can't take my fucking commute anymore and have reached the point where I'm actually even willing to live on my own with just my PC, desk, an inflatable mattress, bar fridge and microwave if I have to... just so I don't have to endure the 45 minutes+ of stop-start-stop-start driving and a tense daily detour through crazy Calcutta. Plus, I'm tired of waiting for the bf to decide what he wants.
Anyway, I did come across the following list pinned to our office notice board, and thought it intersected nicely with a lot of my health-related goals for 2009 - it comes from the book The Power of Full Engagement by personal energy gurus Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.
1. Go to bed early and wake up early
2. Go to sleep and wake up consistently at the same times
3. Eat five to six small meals daily
4. Eat breakfast everyday
5. Eat a balanced, healthy diet
6. Minimize simple sugars
7. Drink 6-8 cups of water daily
8. Take breaks every ninety minutes during work
9. Get some physical activity daily
10. Do at least two cardiovascular interval workouts and two strength training workouts a week.
Many of these things I do already, but I really need to improve the amount of sleep I get. I'm guilty, like many people I'm sure, of staying up late on work nights to do the fun things I couldn't while I was stuck all day behind a desk. Not only does it affect your mood and ability to concentrate and cope with stress, but it runs down your immune system. As for exercise I do plenty of strength training but I really need to work on my cardio and stamina. I hate running and cycling though so I've been getting into 20-30 minutes of skipping on alternative days.
Otherwise in 2009 I want to be more generally assertive (I'm actually quite shy offline), and do some more traveling, this time in the United States - which I haven't visited since 1996.
This bloody global slowdown (how can you have a skills shortage and a recession at the same time?) has temporarily cooled my emigration ambitions. However, I'm currently attempting to organise and bargain a 2-3 month unpaid sabbatical, so I can go and do something completely different, get out from behind a desk, get out of the country for a while and get some life experience (kinda a necessity for writer types): I want to go work as a Summer Camp counselor, and end my trip by traveling around and visiting friends.
So those are my big plans for 2009. Now it's your turn to tell me your activities and aims for the year.
Oh, and before I forget, happy birthday, me!
Anyway, my birthday is close enough to the beginning of the year (just 10 days in) to use it as an opportunity to set some goals for the coming 12 months, as well as evaluate the accomplishment of my goals over the past year.
You get those people who insist "Life is a journey, not a destination, so enjoy the ride." I agree. Kind of. Life isn't a destination. It's multiple destinations... And those multiple, spaced-out destinations are goals to work towards, giving you direction as you continually strive to improve yourself, your situation and your quality of life. The worst thing you can do is settle into a rut and slip into auto-pilot, because, bang, before you know it, yet another year has passed by in which you've accomplished nothing.
Here's what I had listed last year:
- Try really, really hard to be more positive.
In some areas I think I succeeded more than others.
Work for example. I battened down the hatches and got on with things, with little to no complaints. Well, at least that's how I remember the year.
In terms of life in South Africa, well, the government and assorted other groups and events just plunged my belief in the country even lower in 2008: Eskom and the economy-destroying load shedding, xenophobic attacks, Zuma the Corrupt's rise to power, the continued escalation of violent crime, surges in fuel and food prices, street name changes, mediocre Olympic performance, municipal deterioration, and the general prevailing spirit of apathy and lawlessness.
I generally don't trigger ranting discussions about these things.... but deep down I'm not positive. I want to leave. Not necessarily forever. But I need change, a breath of fresh air - a chance to live in a country where I can go to sleep at night with my bedroom door unlocked because I don't need to worry about a violent home invasion in the middle of the night, where I don't have to live with thick ugly bars over every door and window, and where I can wake up in the morning and not have to suppress my anxiety about possibly being involved in a killer road accident on my way to work because the traffic lights haven't worked for 4 days.
- Get my own space/place. Ideally with the bf, so our 5 year relationship can move beyond the puerile "seeing each other only on weekends" stage.
Epic Fail... much to embarrassment. Out of all my coupled friends we've been together the longest - 5 and a half years in February - yet we're the ones who don't even live together or really share a life.
Towards the end of the year I had the opportunity to move into a flat with another girl, which I was all ready to do until the moving conditions changed. The rent was steep but I was willing to suck it up as the place was amazing and fully furnished. When the goalposts suddenly changed, and I needed to supply major appliances, well, I just didn't want to make that kind of financial investment if I'm not sure about my future in the country. Although I'm 27 and still live at home, at least I pay rent, and my accounts and medical aid are all my own, so I don't feel like a complete sponge.
- Sort out my portfolio/personal website and devote more creative time to getting Girlz 'N' Games more solidly established with a web presence.
Ha, so these tasks have been on my To Do List for a full year already. Actually I did make moves in both areas (behind the scenes), and Girlz 'N' Games became more regularly updated. Now I just need to get to actualise my already-planned changes and get them uploaded.
- Bite the financial bullet and bring my geriatric PC into the dual and quad core age so I can play newer games in all their intended prettiness.
Done. A very worthwhile investment.
- Attempt to get back into regular fiction writing.
Fail.
- Get at least one World of WarCraft character up to level 70.
Done. My beloved Affliction Warlock Euridycce is already 2 levels short of the new level cap of 80... and is currently working towards the Explorer title achievement.
- Have another overseas holiday.
Done. My UK and European Contiki tour was the highlight of my year.
- Move closer to achieving my blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Done. Got it.
- Seriously investigate emigration options.
Well, I didn't go to any talks, but the UK portion of my holiday was a scouting trip to see if I could cope with life in England. I think I could. I didn't experience any major culture shock and I put this down to the fact that, with a British mother, I have been raised with a strong familiarity with English culture and traditions. I didn't feel like an outsider there.
- Read the Bible (knowledge is power when you want to take on Bible bashers).
Fail. I got as far as to put it on my bedside table, but other books got piled on top. I think I need to set smaller goals in regards to Bible reading, like a chapter a day.
- Do something physically extreme/perilous (e.g. sky diving, white water rafting, bridge jumping, scuba diving etc. Hell, right now I'd settle for the "safer" option of the Karkloof Canopy Tour.
Hmmm, nothing on the list above, but I did climb a high chain ladder during a trip to the Drakensberg in early 2008. And I'm off to do the Karkloof Canopy Tour for my birthday tomorrow.
So, moving onto goals for 2009:
Obviously all the failed goals listed above will carry through to this year. If anyone is looking for a flatmate in Durban in June-August, let me know because that's when I'm looking at moving out. I can't take my fucking commute anymore and have reached the point where I'm actually even willing to live on my own with just my PC, desk, an inflatable mattress, bar fridge and microwave if I have to... just so I don't have to endure the 45 minutes+ of stop-start-stop-start driving and a tense daily detour through crazy Calcutta. Plus, I'm tired of waiting for the bf to decide what he wants.
Anyway, I did come across the following list pinned to our office notice board, and thought it intersected nicely with a lot of my health-related goals for 2009 - it comes from the book The Power of Full Engagement by personal energy gurus Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz.
1. Go to bed early and wake up early
2. Go to sleep and wake up consistently at the same times
3. Eat five to six small meals daily
4. Eat breakfast everyday
5. Eat a balanced, healthy diet
6. Minimize simple sugars
7. Drink 6-8 cups of water daily
8. Take breaks every ninety minutes during work
9. Get some physical activity daily
10. Do at least two cardiovascular interval workouts and two strength training workouts a week.
Many of these things I do already, but I really need to improve the amount of sleep I get. I'm guilty, like many people I'm sure, of staying up late on work nights to do the fun things I couldn't while I was stuck all day behind a desk. Not only does it affect your mood and ability to concentrate and cope with stress, but it runs down your immune system. As for exercise I do plenty of strength training but I really need to work on my cardio and stamina. I hate running and cycling though so I've been getting into 20-30 minutes of skipping on alternative days.
Otherwise in 2009 I want to be more generally assertive (I'm actually quite shy offline), and do some more traveling, this time in the United States - which I haven't visited since 1996.
This bloody global slowdown (how can you have a skills shortage and a recession at the same time?) has temporarily cooled my emigration ambitions. However, I'm currently attempting to organise and bargain a 2-3 month unpaid sabbatical, so I can go and do something completely different, get out from behind a desk, get out of the country for a while and get some life experience (kinda a necessity for writer types): I want to go work as a Summer Camp counselor, and end my trip by traveling around and visiting friends.
So those are my big plans for 2009. Now it's your turn to tell me your activities and aims for the year.
Oh, and before I forget, happy birthday, me!
Comments
And thanks for sharing your 2009 plans, Terrance. You're much braver than me thinking about the whole "English teacher in the Far East" thing. I know a good few people who did it though and really got a lot out of the experience... once they got over the Culture Shock.
I haven't quite decided whether 2009 will be a long or short year yet. 2008 just flew by.