Monday, February 02, 2009

Too Late for Resolutions?

It's been a super busy year so far. And I just realized a couple days ago, that it's the end of the first month and I haven't come up with any new years resolutions yet. I think it is important to make resolutions in life, even though the new year thing might be a little overrated. If you do your best to stick to them or achieve them, they give you a reason to push a little extra and get more done than you would have, otherwise.

So, is 2nd Feb, too late to be making resolutions for the year ahead?
I think it depends. If you're like me, you might be fine! You see, I don't just "make" resolutions on a yearly basis. I try to add to my existing resolution list, because I believe that good resolutions shouldn't end in just one year. Or at least all of your resolutions shouldn't be so short term. Since I am adding to my list, I am not really without resolutions to begin with and hence the exception!

OK, so now that I have established that it is fine for me to set my "additions" for this year, what are they going to be? Well, I'm obviously not going to share the whole list (the usual... work hard, make more money, help more people, have more fun, manage time better...) out here. What I will share are those specific ones that, I think, anyone can add to their own lists. And I will try to keep them to a realistic number, and define them clearly, so that they are actually maintainable as habits:

I. Be "Greener": Now there are obviously going to be those global warming "non-believers". To them I say, sure, you may have your reservations about some of the things I am about to say, but then again, no one can deny the fact that wasteful use of resources (whether they impact our environment or not) is generally considered bad practice. OK, with that said, what can I do on a regular basis to make myself "greener"?
A. Reduce the amount of plastic I use and throw: I will do my best to carry a reusable bag to the grocery store. I will do my best to re-use water bottles on runs etc.
B. Reduce fuel consumption: I have already made the switch to riding my motorcycle a few days a week, so that reduces my commute fuel consumption by about 1/2 right there. I am hoping that once the daylight time gets longer, I can alternate that with riding my road-bike, to completely eliminate driving my car, during the week.In addition, I will do my best to carpool as much as possible, on the weekends.
C. Conserve water (courtesy: Nitya's comment): This is particularly important for San Diegans, given we live in one of the driest places around. Some research suggests, maximizing use of the dishwasher, does help and so does, washing you car less and small things like that. I'll try my best to do some of those.
C. Increase awareness of things like A, B and C: I guess, in some sense, I am already working on this resolution :). But, more specifically, I will try be blog more actively about such stuff on the blog I had dedicated to this effort.

II. Read/ Write more:
To this end, I will do my best to blog more regularly (while trying to distribute content evenly among my three blogs). On the reading side, try my best to read one new book a month... or wait, let's make that a more realistic 5 new books for the whole year (and if I beat that, all the better). Oh, actually, here's an even better plan - let's link them both! "I will try to read at least 5 books and post reviews of them on my blog", as and when I finish reading them. There. Now we have a solid resolution!

III. Overcome
More challenges
By challenges, I don't mean, those hard to solve problems in "life" or the hours spent debugging code in the lab. I mean serious "fun" challenges, that you knowingly set yourself up for.
A. Half Marathon Triple Crown : If you read the last few posts I wrote, you probably already know about my resolution to run 3 half marathons this year - I am going to one up that now by saying "I will try my best to better the time on my first half, that I ran about a week ago". That is going to be pretty challenging given that, the Carlsbad half was a "relatively" easy course and the weather was as good as it gets - but, we'll see... :)
B. Climb Tallest Peak in lower 48: I am hoping to climb Mt. Whitney this year and if possible do some other serious hikes in preparation for that, or otherwise.
C. Some comparable goal that involves a non-physical activity (more mentally challenging): TBD. Will try to finalize something interesting soon. If you have any ideas, let me know!

So, there we go, that's what I like to call "additions" for this year - specific, achievable, not too wussy, fun, and something most can add to their own lists!
Any suggestions, comments, criticisms?


9 comments:

Chaitanya said...

For your mental challenge, why not start learning a foreign language?

Si, Habla Español!

-Chaitanya

Anil said...

Gracias Señor, Reddy!
Excellente Idea!
Apart from achieving the foreign language goal, that is almost like a second language in San Diego :)

Anonymous said...

Love the on-going resolution list idea! Whew am I glad you mentioned hiking! I was afraid you had only running on your mind now.
Reddy's foreign language idea is great but you could also think about dance lessons Anil:D

Anil said...

Nitya... is that supposed to be a indirect opinion on my dancing ability? :)
Not a bad idea... but for some reason it doesn't seem to be as "mentally" involved as I was hoping for (if I didn't already have the physical challenges full, I would have, for sure).
Maybe, I'll add it to my physical activities for next year and maybe you should add it to your list for this year :)

Ashwin Swaminathan said...

Hiking up Mount Whitney is a really good idea! That's a nice challenge to take up for a resolution.

Anonymous said...

Add water conservation and spreading its awareness to your list. It's on mine!

And yes, I think you have a mental block again dancing (just like me) that's why I suggested it as a 'mental' activity:P

Anil said...

Ashwin: Yep... nothing like being on top of the (our) world!

Nitya:Added water conservation to list.
Mental block huh? Interesting take on it. Maybe, but for some reason I think it is more a lack of talent, on my part, than anything else ;-)

FSN 3.0 said...

@Anil: Haha. That speaks volumes to your level of self awareness.

I think dancing is a mental thing too - in one of two ways.

1) You mentally follow the music and let your body flow

2) You do whatever comes and people think you're mental.

-V-

Anil said...

Vik,

I liked the way you put it in #1, and #2 is plain HILLARIOUS!

Aside: I didn't know you blogged... I had a quick peak and it looks like awesome writing... will have to read more!