And I was just getting used to writing “2010”…
January 2, 2011
It’s that time of year again…time for goal setting, promise making, and resolution vowing. I have a few reso’s myself this time. I think I usually do. I don’t recall last year’s. I suspect that means I didn’t keep them. Anyway, here’s the list for 2011.
- Lose a pound a week. Sounds small enough until you do the math and see it leads to dropping 52 pounds. And while my aim is to average a pound a week (don’t want to void a resolution by gaining a pound in late February or something), if I drop five in a week, I’ll still aim for one more the next. I have plenty to lose. Trust me, 52 pounds will still leave me well above my not-so-perfect target weight. Like Kevin Spacey in “American Beauty”, I just want to look good naked…or have enough of a view to know how I look naked. (There are supposedly feet down there, too. Too much? Let’s move on.) The diet (Weight Watchers) starts Monday.
- Write 100 words every day. Paltry? Yes. Profound? Definitely. I’m installing a triple-count penalty for missed days; if I miss a day, I write 300 the next day — not just 200 — to compensate. No building up ahead of time either. If I write 2000 tomorrow, the next day I still need my 100. I just need to get writing every day. (I confess, I didn’t do it yesterday, so it’s 300 today…but I’ve not yet made it to bed to separate the days, so let’s move on.)
- Read a novel and two shorts each month. I’m a slow reader. Now that I have my Kindle, though, I’ll be able to keep my stuff at my fingertips and make progress. No reading = no writing…or at least poor writing.
- Exercise twice a week. I leave the definition of “exercise” vague because I’m not expecting miracles. Beginner’s yoga, a walk, the elliptical, strenuous ping-pong…anything better than the walk-to-the-fridge routine I’ve been on.
- Get organized. I’m a scattered individual. “Chaos Out of Chaos” is pretty descriptive of me. I need to clean out my car, my classroom, all my closets, and redo my computer files…and that’s just January. I need to start filing instead of piling and get papers graded in less than a week.
Five resolutions. That’s a lot for a guy that has never followed through with one before. I guess it’s like planting a lot of seeds hoping one or two might grow.
Scott W. Baker: Chaos out of Chaos 
Your goals sound like mine, man. My target weight loss is 90 lbs. Of course, that’s pretty radical…I plan to do it over the course of 1-2 years, and gradually. The gluttony and general laziness has to stop for me, or else I’m doomed to continual weight gain.
I also am a slow reader, depending on my commitments. Two semesters ago, I developed the awesome habit of going to the library between classes and reading for an hour and fifteen minutes 3 days out of the week. That really added up, when you take into account that typically I’d rather write than read late at night. Although I’m a night owl, I prefer to do my reading during the day.
The Kindle has definitely helped so far. I’ve read half of a novel (along with a slew of short stories and portions of various nonfiction works, magazines, etc.) all in the short time span between today and Christmas — ten days? Eleven? That’s pretty good for me. Kindle makes it easy and comfortable, and for that I don’t think I could’ve dreamed of a better device.
Hi Scott.
I have very similiar goals as well.
Mine are as follows:
Read four books each month (1 technical/1 novel/1 anthology/science.)
With this one goes another (read a new author each month.)
Write 500 words/day with 2 days off for a total of 2500/week.
Editing is placed on a weekly schedule. So are submissions. Also, in my editing I have a goal to edit two short stories per week on the OWW.
I’m going to lose 70 pounds in three months without any muscle mass loss (in several competitions and this is the easiest of my goals.)
I have it in my mind to complete 100 percent a short each month. My big goal of the year is to publish a short in a professional publication. My five year goal is to publish a novel (possibly anthology.)
Keep me informed how you’re doing!
Clint
Scott:
I thought this would be a great place to post this.
If you’re wanting to make some goals and stick with them like the above poster, theres a book for you. It’s called Booklike by Jeff Vandermeer. It won’t be quite what you expect, and there may be parts you can’t use just yet, but if you’re looking for a good starting point on goals and how to set (and stick) to them then that book is for you.
When your done, check out his other work. Wow!
Also, I’m going to start my blog back up.
Cheers!
Goal update – 2 weeks in. #1 is solid. I may be down 10 pounds by Monday. #2: not even close. Haven’t written much of consequence. Been weird around here, only going to school 2 days out of 2 weeks, but that’s a terrible excuse. I’ll likely reset and try again. On pace for #3. Not even close on #4. A bit of success on #5 thanks to cabin fever and a wife; school organization will come once I get back there.