New Year Resolutions 2009
Thu Jan 1 22:24:17 GMT 2009
I was wondering what that whooshing noise was, then I realised: it was the sound of 2008 rushing past me like a river around a rock. It is a cliche to say that the time has flown by, but nevertheless it is true. I suppose it is in the nature of Christmas and New Year to reinforce that feeling of a year gone in the blink of an eye: something about the comforting predictability of the celebration harks right back to the previous December, discarding the interleaving months like so much padding. Whilst this sense of headlong descent into the future can be overwhelming, it does provide a convenient emotional and cognitive framework for reviewing the previous year's themes and trends, and for putting a few guiding principles in place for the coming twelve months.
This time last year I had committed myself to some five resolutions. In no particular order these were:
- Book our wedding. This one went well! The wedding is indeed booked, and many of the important elements of the bash are arranged. As the Mactaguester whispered to me as we rang in the New Year this is it now and indeed it is: by this time next year we'll be married.
- Learn to drive. I've made good progress on this: although I failed my second test in early December I am getting there.
- Stop swearing so much. I think I've done this, so some degree. I'm sure there is room for improvement, though!
- Develop a five year plan. I have spent a lot of time and effort on shifting my career on a stage this year: after nearly ten months of searching and interviews I started a new role with DBAM Systems in November. I think it's been a fantastic move for me, and I'm looking forward to growing into the position in the coming year. In addition to the new job, the job-hunting process has helped to inform my thinking on how I want to shape my career over the longer term, and whilst I don't have a rock-solid five year plan as such I do have a much clearer idea of where I'm going and how I aim to get there. I'm counting this resolution as a resounding success.
- Fifty press-ups and sit-ups each morning by September. I actually got there early, so I was very pleased. Unfortunately my new morning routine with my new job has thrown something of a spanner in the works since November, but I believe I can get it back on track without too much trouble. Again, I'd count this as a success.
To summarise the my New Year resolutions for 2008 I think I'd say I succeeded, to some degree, in all of them. If I were to be completely fair, I should temper that by admitting that at least two of them were somewhat foregone conclusions (wedding and driving), and one was a bit of a throwaway (stop swearing), but nonetheless I'm pleased with myself - 2008 has been a good year!
With 2008 all wrapped up then, it's time to look forward to 2009, and my resolutions for the coming year. If there is one pithy message I'm taking away from 2008 it would be about the power of arbitrary deadlines. Throughout the year I've seen the effectiveness of small, regular contribution of resource to a project: over time these add up to something worthwhile, whether it be learning to drive, writing a novel, putting charity money into the change jar, or getting fit.
- Get my album recorded. Whilst album is rather too grand a phrase, I do have a set of ten or so songs I wish to record and group together as a body of work, and I have been dragging my heels over this for months. As such, I'm setting myself a target of recording one song a month in 2009 until the record is complete.
- Become a better musician. I've been learning to play the congas for most of last year, and I've got an immense amount out of it. However, it is getting to the point where I really need to start committing more time to playing in order to progress further. To do this, I think I need to start at least matching my three-hour class a week with three hours of practise on my own. What's more, I want to get onto this right away, so we can start gigging: I'm going to aim to meet the target of three hours practise a week by the end of April.
- Work on my writing. After finishing nanowrimo in November I realised that I still love creative writing as much as I ever did and that I'd like to make it a larger part of my life. As such, I want to build upon the good foundation that nanowrimo laid. Following the theme of arbitrary targets I am aiming to do at least 30 minutes writing a day this year, in whatever form that may take.
- Play live!. I write music and play it to myself, and generally I stagnate. This year I want to take my songs out and play them live to people, even if it's only down at the local open mic nights.
The more astute reader may well note a certain theme to this year's resolutions: not only do I have arbitrary goals, I am also concentrating entirely on my creative endeavours. This is largely because it is what feels right at this moment in time; but I think it also reflects one conclusion of last year's five-year planning: however much you plan and look to the future, the only time you have to actually carry out your plans is now, today, this very minute. Shelving a project is almost the same as killing it off, and I don't want to shelve my creative side any longer. 2009 will be the Year Of Art, and it starts right here.