It’s time for the annual Happy New Year thread! What are you up to in 2016? What do you hope to make happen or achieve?
It’s time for the annual Happy New Year thread! What are you up to in 2016? What do you hope to make happen or achieve?
Happy New Year!
I don’t have any specific goals for 2016. Recently I’ve taken up goalless living and so far it’s been working out really well. It’s not goalless in the sense that I just wander around aimlessly or pursue nothing but hedonism - I’ll still work on projects that are interesting at the time, but I’ll pursue these projects for their own sake, rather than because of some goal to complete a specified task. As soon as the project becomes boring or uninteresting, I’ll put it to one side. Things may get completed or not, but the priority is that the process is rewarding in-of-itself even if an end goal is never met. This is outside of paid work/basic household chores of course.
What are your plans for 2016, @UrbanReflex?
Happy new year!
Personally, I’m probably taking the opposite approach of Solo Wing, in the sense that I’m more goal focused than before. For various reason, I’ve spent too much time not doing things I wanted to. A lot of that has to do with me being an introvert. I was glad just to able to function in society, so to speak. I felt bad not being able to socialize with people, and felt even more bad because I couldn’t act on the “advice” people (extroverts) gave me. In retrospect, that was so stupid. But I’ve changed a lot since then, and I’ve learned a lot more about myself. What I thought were bad points weren’t actually bad at all. Not that I’m where I’d want to be, far from it, but I’m growing more confident and ambitious now. I’ve also come to realize that time passes by quickly, and I need to figure out what I really want to do.
One of my goals is learning Japanese (again), and I have no intention to quit this time. Simply put, I need to spend time on it every day of the year. If I do that, I should be able to get reasonably far by the end of the year. Not that I’d move to Japan or anything like that, but it’s just something that would be immensely valuable for my work on Segalization. It’s still surprising how much of a language barrier there is between the West and Japan.
Aside from that, I’m spending more and more time with Wordpress. While it uses PHP, it’s just getting more and more popular and that’s difficult to ignore. And learning Linux is also a plus.
So yeah, learning is basically what I’ll be doing. Learning, and hopefully finding some answers along the way. The challenge will be finding time between my job as a developer, household chores and all of the stuff I’d like to learn/do. I’ll be busy.
Happy anniversary @Shakespeare. It can be hard to motivate yourself to go to the gym, but let me give you piece of advice that has worked for me. Once you’ve decided on a routinue for the gym, in my case two days per week, always show up at the gym two days per week. It doesn’t matter if you complete a full workout, or give up after 10 minutes on bad days. Stop the session as soon as you can no longer tolerate it and don’t feel bad about it. The important thing is keeping the routine going so that it becomes a habit. I also build walking into my daily commute, approximately 40 minutes per week day. But I don’t have any specific exercise goals, just habits that I ensure are upheld.
Regarding Steam backlogs, at the end of the day it’s the developer’s job to hold your interest, not your own. Don’t feel bad if you give up on a game that doesn’t hold your interest (even it’s a highly acclaimed title), or you spend a lot of time on one special game, or if you skip games in a series and go straight to the more exciting looking sequel. The same goes for any entertainment: it should be entertaining.
You could argue that my approach is a bit wishy washy. How do I get anything done? But looking back at when I used to be more goal-oriented, I actually spent a lot of my time procrastinating or feeling bad when I didn’t achieve what I set out to do. So my approach now is just to do things, and to keep reevaluating whether they’re providing positive reinforcement so that I can focus on things that do. Perhaps this approach will actually help me achieve more in the long run, but it really doesn’t matter. By shifting the focus of my actions away from a specific outcome, I’m instead building a collection of (hopefully more positive) experiences with some non-specific results as a natural side effect. The freedom from todo lists has absolutely increased my well being as I can now focus on moments without being distracted by hypothetical future events which may or may not ever happen.
Another point on this topic: I think we often underestimate the importance of “unstructured play” in our lives. This is the way that learning and creating things is naturally performed by young children, yet society teaches us that as adults we must apply a rigorous structure based around goals and success when it comes to these endeavors. What do we lose in process?
My horrible memory has held me back from a lot of things; so I’ve just been trying to stay focused. It’s kind of funny; I guess I’m like a real life inpector Clouseau from the old Pink Panther movies! At times I seem intelligent but also extremely absent minded as well. I’ve found that I can put myself in such a state where I can actually retain things; but it’s incredibly exhausting! I guess I’m just more imaginative/eccentric than most people…At this point I’ve just come to the conclusion that it was just something I was born with and can do nothing about…
Also, I’ve always worried about not having a career, when my normal job is just fine, I have plenty of responsibility, a roof over my head, 2 best friends, and a loving family. So, I just have to chill out and stop worrying about things obsessively…The things I went to college for have just turned into hobbies I do in my spare time. Concerning web design; It’s hard to be creative when you’re designing for someone else rather than what you’re passionate about.
I’ve also been trying to learn Spanish a little bit each morning. Although, it’s an ongoing process. And I’ve also dedicated myself to working out again. Like you said Solo, it’s best to just try to do it as a habit. I’ll at least work out 2 days a week as well.
@legaiaflame I can completely relate to your points on forgetfulness and it being hard to be creative when you’re working for someone else. In our defence, a lot of smart people have been absent minded and independent. When you’re brain is buzzing with your own ideas it’s hard to find room for thinking about the mundane.
Happy Late New Years!
This year I am working on exercising more. I make excuses like I have no time due to having kids and being in school again for my Masters, but really it is more of a prioritization thing. I can make time, I just have to want to do it.
Another big thing I want to work on this New Years is being more present, especially with my kids. I have been easily distracted by things that don’t matter. I have the two most amazing daughters. While I know I am a good dad, I can do better by giving them more time now. They are only going to be this little once and I don’t want to regret a moment of it.
I would also like to start taking archery lessons and stargaze more. I keep talking about these and just haven’t done it yet. I am not getting any younger (40 isn’t far away.)