Category: resolutions

• Watch less TV / movies
  I spend too much time watching TV shows and movies. When I’m ready for bed, I end up watching Netflix, instead of reading a book, or doing something that might be more valuable. There are still movies that I want to watch when they come out, and shows that I will keep up with (Game of Thrones came to mind, immediately). But unless something is a big deal, I won’t watch it, and I’ll just write down the title for future watching.
• Read at least 2 books a month
  I need this on my list to make sure I always read. At least 50% of the books need to be nonfiction. This isn’t too hard.
• Read to Grace every night
  I make an effort to read books with her, but I’m not consistent enough.
• Write more
  I’m less psyched about writing every day, but I’m going to set a goal of writing at least one blog post a month (that isn’t a review of how I’m doing on my resolutions). I’m also planning on doing some sort of journal, still not positive what. I might just do the Five Minute Journal.
• Cook something nice for Steph
  Hot dogs and/or eggs don’t count. I need to make something nice.
• Less social media
  Facebook, Twitter & company are such a worthless timesuck the majority of the time. There is very little useful information that you actually get out of it. And to consider all the hours I’ve wasted on it. Days of my life.
• More photography
  I’m trying to take more photos, and making it more of a personal habit. I’ll probably be getting a used iPhone, and will be able to take better quality photos. My phone’s camera is currently pretty bad, and I don’t really like walking around with a camera in Chile.
• Work on Rancagua.net
  Started working on this with my brother at the end of the year, and I want this on my list of resolutions so that I can continue to add content on this. Not worrying about traffic, results ranking, or profitability right now. Just focused on adding as much useful content as possible.
• Earn college credits
  I haven’t continued studies since before my daughter was born. Still need 39 credit hours, which will be approximately 13 courses worth 2 credit hours each. It’ll still take me a few years, but I’m hoping to get at least 6 courses out of the way this year, which will be 12 credit hours.
• Keep track of resolutions
  This is still on my calendar at the end of each month, to remind myself to provide an update on my resolutions. Failed after a few months last year, but still an important part of actually having resolutions.

I was debating whether to even have resolutions in 2017. Lots of mixed opinions. But I find for myself that having resolutions is good, because it is a constant personal reminder of things that I should probably be doing less.

First update for my 2016 resolutions since… June 1st.

Let’s take a look at my list and see where things went wrong.

• Learn to play the guitar: FAIL
  I was off to a good start, and it lasted several months. Ultimately all I have are excuses. The main one was that I liked to practice at night, but certain people would complain about the racket. I still have my guitar, still want to play, and have it right next to my desk, although it’s out of tune.
• Write more: FAIL
  Didn’t write all year, wrote a decent outline for Nanowrimo. Got off to a good start.. I made it 9 days, and I wrote 14,822 words. But then I just started hating what I was writing. Once you get a little behind of your writing goal, you really lose all motivation for Nanowrimo.
• Better communication: Not great
  Did Skype, but it is hard coordinating. I found it easiest if I just skyped peoples’ phones, instead of trying to get both of us on Skype at the same time. Grace didn’t do it as much though. Need to do better.
• Read at least 2 books a month: Yay
  I think I did this, I didn’t do a great job of keeping track of my reading, and in the last month or so, I’ve mostly been watching Mad Men at night instead of reading, but I got a decent amount done.
• Watch less movies / TV: So-so
  I don’t know if I watched movies / TV, but I tried to be more selective about what I watch, so I watched better movies and tried not to watch garbage TV, and watch good shows (Mad Men and Stranger Things come to mind).
• Develop blog about Chile: FAIL
  Did nothing but think about this… still got ideas, and nothing to show for it. Lame.
• Exercise: Not really
  I’ve been more careful with my eating in the last few months, and I definitely do more physical activity playing with Grace, but not actually going out jogging, or anything scheduled. I should do more.
• Keep track of my resolutions: FAIL
  I only kept track of my resolutions up until May, so yeah, I failed this.

I may just keep my resolutions the same for next year, so that I feel guilty when I don’t do anything.

May has come and gone.

• Guitar
  Finally picked it up, and tuned it.
• Write more
  After watching L.A. Confidential, I was reading about the author of the book, James Ellroy, and something I thought was interesting about him was that he writes very long outlines before he writes his book. An outline worked well for me when I did NaNoWriMo last year, so I’m working on an outline now for an idea that I have, and hopefully that will help me write more.
• Skype
  I think I skyped once with Grace. Need to more.
• Read
  I’ve been reading a variety of stuff, including How to Fly a Horse: The Secret History of Creation, Invention, and Discovery and I’ve been reading stories in the anthology Press Start to Play. I finished Ruthless: Scientology, My Son David Miscavige, and Me, and right now I’m finishing up HEX by Thomas Olde Heuvelt. Fun modern twist on a town cursed by a witch.
• Watch less
  Trying to watch quality over quantity, now that I’m working on the the IMDb top 250 lists. I’ve watched a lot of great old movies. My favorites would probably be It’s a Wonderful Life, Seven Samurai, and L.A. Confidential.
• Exercise
  I haven’t been exercising, but we’re almost on week 4 of a low-carb diet. So I’m actually doing something about my health, and getting into shape.
• Duolingo
  20+ day streak currently. Just doing a little bit of French every day. I don’t think that I’d be able to speak it at all, but I do know that I’m learning new words all the time.

What happened to April!? The weather in Rancagua is starting to not be so nice.

Let’s see how I did on my resolutions (spoiler: bad).

• Guitar
  Barely picked it up. Now that I’ve forgotten how to play (mild exaggeration), I’m ready to pick it up again, and relearn everything. This time, with a trusty metronome right in the mix of things so I can learn rhythm.
• Write more
  I did write some more. Not fiction, but I do have some drafts of things. We’ll see if they ever see the light of day.
• Skype
  Yes! I managed to Skype again, and tentatively made Skype plans with other people that haven’t happened yet. The Skyping is important for Grace.
• Read
  I actually read a few books in April, including Disrupted: My Misadventure in the Start-Up Bubble, Making Simple Automata, and The Idea Machine. I need some more fiction in my queue.
• Watch less
  I probably watched less. Although Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley and Veep started up last Sunday so..
• Exercise
  I’ve realized the importance of this, which counts for something, right? Especially since we’d like to take a short vacation down south, in the near future, and being fat and unable to hike much definitely limits what you can do.

I updated what I’m doing now.

March has come and gone. Let’s see how I did with my resolutions.

• Learn to play the guitar
  My playing has slowed down lately. I blame work which has been so busy that I haven’t taken breaks and played a bit. Need to get back on track.
  Learned the G7, C7, B7 chords, as well as F Maj7. I finally bought a metronome, after putting it off way too long. I know I don’t have great rhythm, and this is probably one of the reasons that my practicing has slowed down (I also know that this is just a cop-out).
• Write more
  Nope.
• Better communication
  I remembered to Skype. Grace has a good time doing it. At least with this resolution, I am remembering and trying to coordinate, although it doesn’t work out.
• Read
  Making terribly slow progress on a few books, although I actually read an entire book, #AskGaryVee: One Entrepreneur’s Take on Leadership, Social Media, and Self-Awareness. It had some topics I was interested in, and the Q&A formatting made it very easy to get through. I read it just sitting at my computer.
• Watch less
  Nope. When I’m tired and ready to sleep, I find myself watching a show instead of reading a book. Started Suits on Netflix, and have been enjoying that.
• Exercise
  Ugh, nope. I know something needs to change.

March is upon on us. Let’s see how I did on my resolutions for the month of February.

• Learn to play the guitar
  My fingers don’t get sore anymore. This was a great development, and makes practice much easier. Last month, I was only on the E, A and D chords. Since then, I’ve also done Em (E minor), Am, Dm, C and G. The minor chords were easy, but C and G were a little harder. Especially C. A lot of my practice is just doing chord changes between C, G and the other chords.
  I’ve spent a lot of my time doing the chords for Hey Ya by Outkast. Although what I play, I don’t really recognize the song too much. I’ve also spent a lot of time on Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison, and a part of my playing of the song is actually recognizable. I’ve also been doing What’s Up by 4 Non Blondes which has a different strumming pattern that I’m trying to get used to.
  Upward and onward. I’m practicing for short amounts, probably 5-6 times a day. I like to practice in the evening, maybe watching something on my computer.
• Write more
  Didn’t write more, unless writing a Chrome extension (that removes spoilers from TV shows on IMDb) counts.
• Better communication with distant family
  Grace and I did Skype with a few different family members. Need to keep doing this.
• Read at least 2 books a month
  No paso nada. Didn’t make any progress on books. Maybe the weather has been too nice for reading?
  I did just get my Kindle Fire setup and working with my ebooks. I started The New Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. I read the original book years ago when it came out, and enjoyed it. Looking forward to reading this updated version of the book. I think part of my lack of reading is from not having something interesting that I could immediately pick up and read for it.
• Watch less movies / TV
  Last weekend, I spent many hours working on the Chrome extension, and I guess I could have been watching TV, so that’s good? Although I did watch all 10 episodes of season 1 of Mad Dogs. Fun show. I saw Deadpool in the theater, and was very entertained by the meta.
• Exercise
  Went jogging a few times early in the month, but didn’t keep it up. Need to start eating better and getting out of the house.

It’s already February. Let’s take a look at the resolutions that I set for 2016, and see how I did in January.

• Learn to play the guitar
  Bought a nice guitar. And my fingers seem to finally be getting used to the steel strings. I try to practice for 5-10 minutes 4-5 times a day. I’ve finally gotten the E, A and D chords down, and my chord changes aren’t too lagged, and seem to slowly getting better. The first song that JustinGuitar.com tries to teach you is Three Little Birds by Bob Marley. When I try to play this song, my playing does not sound anything like a song. While I may have finally gotten some of the very basic chords, now I’m worried about the fact that I have no rhythm.
  Overall, good progress with learning the guitar.
• Write more
  Other than the posts that I’ve written for this blog, I haven’t written anything else of substance. So despite the easy goal, I haven’t made any progress yet.
• Better communication with distant family
  Well, we did Skype with one of my sisters, but it was because she reminded me that she hadn’t seen Grace in awhile. January is a busy month, since it’s the middle of the summer. I want to make sure I Skype more next month.
• Read at least 2 books a month
  I didn’t finish any books in January. So much for getting much reading done. I went to the flea market in Valparaiso on Sunday, and picked up a copy of Llampo de Sangre by Oscar Castro. This is the first book in Spanish that I plan on reading. It’s a fictional story about a mine that produces a lot of wealth, and all of the drama surrounding everybody at the mine. I also picked up a few thin books, also in Spanish, in a series about Chilean history.
• Watch less movies / TV
  Didn’t really keep track so I’m not sure how I did. I didn’t watch a lot. There were probably even a few times where I chose to do some genealogy research, instead of watching something — so progress?
• Develop blog about Chile
  Didn’t do anything with this, except for think about it a bunch. I might have shared my ideas with a few people too. The domain is LifeInChile.com, and it’s just sitting there undeveloped while I do nothing. This month, I need to get it hooked up to hosting, and figure out a good WordPress theme for it. I think my main focus on the site will be for tips for gringos in Chile.
• Exercise
  If eating is an exercise, then I exercised a ton in January. Otherwise this was a bad month for exercising.

I just happened to read this article about building great habits by making small changes, as opposed to making drastic changes that you can’t keep up with. Good read.

• Learn to play the guitar.
  I’ve always regret not caring about learning to learn the guitar when I was put into guitar lessons in the 3rd grade. Grace is interested in learning the guitar (yeah, she is only 3) and if she sees me learning, it might help maintain her interest, and I could probably help her. Setting a goal to record myself playing something intelligible by the end of June. I’ll need to set weekly practicing goals, but not sure what they’ll be yet.
• Write more.
  I completed NaNoWriMo in November, but didn’t do much beyond that. Set a very low goal of 3000 words a month (only 100 per day).
• Better communication with distant family.
  I’m pretty bad about communicating with people, and usually just rely on Facebook chat or emails, so I want to make sure I call more, especially with Grace, so she can see them. Skype at least twice a month.
• Read at least 2 books a month.
  I managed to read over 24 books last year. Important to keep this as a goal though, because it is easy to slack off, and not get any reading done. At least 50% of what I read should be nonfiction. I intend to read at least 2 books in Spanish this year.
• Watch less movies / TV.
  I actually didn’t watch as much as I have in previous years, but I should be accomplishing other goals, before watching something. More guitar and writing. More than a goal, this is a reminder to myself.
• Develop blog about Chile.
  I registered a great domain name last year. I just have to set it up, and then start posting. Get website setup by February. And then start coming up with at least one post a month. The post should be useful and/or interesting.
• Exercise.
  Gotta put this on here so that I feel guilty.
• Keep track of my resolutions.
  During the year, see where I’m at with my resolutions, and post an update.