Like many people, I set new years resolutions and then end up breaking all of them. It’s embarrassing, but to know I’m not alone should comfort me. It doesn’t, though.
I’m one of those people who plans and plans and plans and fails to execute. I procrastinate I delay, I defer, and I drop various initiatives with abhorrent regularity. At age 37 I should have achieved more in life.
But I have to remind myself that I’ve been beset by serious family (in-law) difficulties, difficulties with my marriage (despite it still standing strong), and have been on the mends for the last decade from chronic mental illness and have only recently recovered my ability to operate in uncomfortable environments despite anxieties and paranoias that are largely unfounded.
At the same time, I’ve made some achievements. Last year marked improvement in my social skills and fitness/nutrition knowledge due to my participation in a program at Mass General Hospital. With the confidence of that, I got a job at Amazon in a warehouse. And despite it being manual labor, and me having been trained in software development and business with advanced degrees from good schools, I enjoyed it, became more comfortable in my skin, and started becoming less paranoid of the world at large.
From the end of last year through the beginning of this year I participated in a twelve-week data science immersive program and regained some of the rusty programming knowledge I once had in strength.
Then, just before COVID-19 took over the world, I graduated that program, and after having dinner with an old boss who was turning his company from an analytics service firm into a SaSS firm, was offered some contract work.
I've done the outline of my novel and written key scenes and written my full first draft of it and submitted it to a screen writing coach.
So, I’ve progressed. But it’s time to get out of low gear and make more happen. Judging by the increasing grey in my hair, I’m definitely not getting any younger.
I’ve heard mixed opinions about telling people your goals, in an effort to be held accountable mentally should you fail and it is public, and keeping goals to one’s self as some studies indicate “Skunk Works’ed” goals to have a statistically higher level of success associated with them. So in this entry, I’m going to take a mix of that advice.
I’m going to say what I’m planning with some stuff while keeping other stuff close to the vest.
BLOGGING
I gave blogging a try this year and last, but didn’t stick with it to near enough regularity and never mustered many views or claps (for the Medium platform). Some of that is due to me not interacting enough on Medium and making poor use of my social media channels. A bigger part of that is not writing enough. So this coming year I’m aiming to maintain a few different publications:
Medium.com: With the title data scientist it would only make sense that I deliver some useful insights into our data drenched world. My hope would be to do this on a weekly basis and be entertaining. I’ll be watching Malcolm Gladwell’s course on Masterclass.com to gain some insights into how best to do this.
ChrisVPowers.com: I’ve kept a diary for quite a while, but I’m beginning to think that I should be using the time I spend doing that writing instead of on a blog on my life and how I see things and problem solve. Of course, I need to exhibit less, being a public medium, but I think that spending my time blogging daily will help me become a better writer knowing it’s going the permanent record of the internet. The traffic generates from this likely won’t be high, as I’m not giving people much value other than the internal perspective of the man-boy I am. But doing this will force me to put more polish and thought about how I communicate. This would be a daily publication.
ZoeyChronicles.com: In the last few years I’ve been putting together a screenplay and beginning a novel. While I wanted to get stuff going for National Novel Writer’s Month, I’ve decided I need to give myself more time learning the trade, tools, and techniques.
RebuildingStronger.com: I intend this to be a blog on the means I’ve used to overcome or mitigate the damage my mental conditions cause me, how I remain effective, as well as things I’m trying to improve my overall wellness and life. From cognition to meditation, from organization to self-discipline, and from what I am doing to get my body healthy and my mind sharp.
READING
I plan to make the next year a year of learning. To begin with, I want to build a solid foundation for my great joy, creative writing. Here are some of the titles I'm looking to:
As well as these:
And along with this a book coming out by a blogger, professional author, and professional editor I follow in November:
Blank Page to Final Draft by Bryn Donovan
And I’ll be following along with David Mamet, Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog, Aaron Sorkin, and James Patterson’s Masterclass.com courses.
IMPROVING MY THINKING AND SPEAKING
I’m hoping that I can find a Zoom Toastmasters club to join as well.
This is the primary stack of books I'm looking to ingest right now...
FAITH
I’m not a terribly good Catholic, especially in terms of the knowledge of the faith that I was essentially born into. I feel uncomfortable claiming to be a Catholic but being ignorant of what I am actually buying into. To show I’m not above Dummies books, these are on my list…
Plus, these and some competing views for good measure:
DEEPENING BUSINESS KNOWLEDGE
I want to read these for starters (some of them I'll be rereading):
EXERCISE & NUTRITION
With the educational and experiential program last year I know much of what I need to know to become healthy. The hard part has been doing it. I’ve found however the following steps to be helpful in overcoming the weakness of my mind to choose comfort over good habits:
Have my shoes and clothes ready in the morning in my chair so I can head right downstairs and start my exercise program. My family has a nice gym in the basement which my younger brother funded as a postal worker along with equipment my mom was gifted, like a treadmill, by people looking to free up space.
Have my water bottles ready chilling in the fridge
Have healthy snacks ready in Rubbermaid clear bins in my fridge. I don’t go downstairs for snacks when healthy choices (that I like) are stocked in my fridge
Watch 45-50 minute shows while I ride the stationary bike—it makes the time fly by
Learn to cook healthy meals with the Gordon Ramsay Masterclass.com course watched via my iPad.
What's most helpful about this to know is that I was successful before in all of this and I can be again. It's a reminder I'm going to need to pound into my skull as much as possible.
MENTAL HEALTH
Over the last decade, anxiety, paranoia, and suspiciousness have ruled quite a bit of my life. I've learned a lot about how to combat these through reframing, journaling, breathing methods, and most importantly exposure therapy. But I need to add more to my tool box.
I'll go into this more in another entry but here's the reading list...
Additionally, the skills of using positive self-talk and creative visualization are likewise going to be added to my repertoire.
OTHER GOALS
Sleep 8 hours every night. I’ve tried less, it just doesn’t work and I fall asleep in my chair.
Use the Pomodoro technique, where I set a timer for 25 minutes and work until it goes off, taking a 5-minute break. And being really strict about it.
Theming days (creative, contract work, software development, data science skill-building, upkeep)
Keep the score with spreadsheets to ensure things get done and I’m making progress
OVERALL WHO DO I WANT TO BE?
A person with strong morals and an informed Catholic (though there are things in their doctrine I’m not exactly in-line with; that I’ve got to find a way to deal with)
A screenwriter and novelist
A data scientist with some good case studies
A more social person who can be open with people
An entrepreneur, not a wantrepreneur
A more manly man (who can cook) and less of a man-boy (I’ll save that discussion for another day).
A physically, nutritionally, and mentally healthy individual
So that's it. That's the basic plan for the new year, in an entry I've typed up rapidly while my wife impatiently waits for me to play Stardew Valley with her online. Hopefully, Grammarly has picked up all my mistakes.
Now off to an early start on the new year!
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