Are you a fan of making New Year’s Resolutions?
I have not been a fan for a long time, but this year I am actually making some New Year’s resolutions. I just do not want a repeat performance of my 2008, a really half-ass year.
So, here are two resolutions I am strongly committed to:
- I will immerse myself in GTD best practices information, and implement it to the point of becoming a GTD Black Belt. To help me do this, I am signing up for the GTD Connect Annual Membership. By paying for the annual level, instead of the monthly subscription, I am making a commitment, which will ensure that I give this my best, instead of a half-hearted effort. (I also get two months free, by signing up for the annual membership … but the main thing is I am making a commitment.) It should also lead to my making more GTD-related posts here.
- I will use my talents more effectively. For example, I am a talented guitarist, but have been letting that talent pretty much go to waste. To keep me from continuing to waste it, I am committed to recording at least one tune per month, and to do my best with it.
And, I am almost ready to make two more resolutions: to quit smoking, and to make a habit of meditating.
These are very major decisions for me, though. Obviously it would be good if I could do both starting right now. However, I have been smoking for about 38 years, so by neuronal circuits have been very much hard-wired to support and encourage my habit. I have read that quitting smoking is harder than breaking a heroine or cocaine addiction. To make matters worse, I keep thinking about several people I knew who quit smoking and then had a heart attack six months later, or were diagnosed with lung cancer six months later. And, so I wonder if that would happen to me. All for the benefit of adding maybe 5% more to my life. Hum. I know I need to quit, but …
So, you can see I have to work on myself to get me to commit to quitting smoking, despite knowing the importance of doing so. It is very much on my mind, though. As is meditation. Now, you might think it’s easy to commit to the latter, but I just cannot get myself to picture meditating as “me.”
Anyway, those are my resolutions and almost-resolutions. Feel free to share yours if you’d like, or to comment on mine.
No resolutions, but I’m working on formulating some goals for myself for the year. Always like to read about goal setting BTW.
Re GTD have you seen this?
http://www.markforster.net/blog/2008/12/22/new-developments-testers-wanted.html
Don’t know if it’s something you would want to check out or not but it looks like an attempt at simplifying GTD. I picked up the link from the MyLifeOrganized Google Group.
And re smoking: Quit. Quit now. I’m an ex-smoker myself (15 years) and broke the habit almost 20 years ago. Wish I could give you some tips but it really boils down to putting them down on the table and never picking one up again. It ain’t easy and there’s no way to make it easy. But after a week or 2 the physical cravings will be gone. Just keep yourself busy and try to stay out of situations that triggered the desire. Good luck. It’ll be the best thing you ever did for yourself and your loved ones. Not to mention you’ll have more coin for gadgets.
Thanks for the link, John. Looks interesting.
Thanks also for the advice regarding quitting smoking. Of course you are right: the only way to do it is to do it. Just motivating myself to do so is what I am wrestling with. I expect to go ahead and do it pretty soon.
Whoops. I see you have “Get Everything Done” in your list of links.
Nevermind.
John,
Please never be bashful in recommending a link, even if you think I might have seen it … I tend to forget about some of them from time to time, as there is so much to keep up with, so a reminder never hurts. Thanks again.
My dad tried for years to stop smoking and always failed. One day, he thought he had a heart attack in the shower. Turns out he didn’t, but he stopped smoking cold turkey that day. He’d been smoking for probably 50+ years by then. I’m sure you can kick that habit if you want, Bruce.
It’s never too late to be in better health. For example, there is the amazing story of Sanford Bennett, who wrote the book Old Age: Its Cause and Prevention. He was given months to live in his early 50′s and ended up living to over 70 (died due to an auto accident). He developed a series of exercises that could be done in bed and ended up becoming fit because of it. So, think of the positives of stopping smoking (money that could be spent on your GTD Connect membership, on your family, etc.) than the potential negatives. That may help with your goal.
I think the fact you put these out here publicly are great, Bruce. Maybe you could do quarterly updates on your progress.
Thanks for the encouragement on quitting smoking, Thomas, and for the discussion about your dad. Thanks also for mentioning Bennett’s book.
I will certainly do some updates, although I do not have a specific, planned frequency in mind.