Over the years I have kept a single to a New Year's Resolution I made many years ago - not to have New Year's Resolutions. Times have changed and I think it worthwhile to make some commitments 'out loud' in the hope that I will honour them. Here we go.
- Sort out my life balance - sleep more (but not in teleconferences!), work more effectively, and make time for my rapidly growing family.
- Growl less at my kids. Love them more and help them learn.
- Exercise - urk, the mere term makes me feel ill. However without exercise I will become physically ill. Need to find something I can live with and perform regularly. Swimming? Cycling? Power walking?
- Do something useful with my commuter time - fortunately less than 1 hour a day in my Toyota Prius, and thanks to hybrid technology that's less than 2 litres of petrol a day (37 km round trip @ 5.2 litres/100 km) - learn a language (brush up my Italiano), enjoy audiobooks, or getting into podcasts.
- Take more risks, make more mistakes and learn even more -- not yet sure whether that should extend to trying my hand (or rather my dodgy ankles) at snow skiing - the Victorian snowfields are less than 2 hours away.
- Stop wishing for the perfect system for implementing Getting Things Done (GTD) and just implement it using DEVONthink. Merlin @ 43Folders has been leading an excellent discussion on tools for GTD and has also conceded that tool de jeur has proven a challenge.
- License all of the shareware I now depend on - URL Manager Pro is the top candidate. Support more of the outstanding Mac software that abounds by a) buying it and b) using it. Top candidates - the Omni apps - Omni Outliner, OmniGraffle
- Love my enemies - Dubya, I am hoping your second term will be a great improvement on your first. As the most powerful man on the planet our future is your hands.
- Love my friends even more
- Get out more - I live in a fantastic part of the world (eastern fringe of Melbourne, Australia) and really should enjoy the Great Outdoors so much more. The Walkabout Guides are a great start. It's also a fantastic chance to get back into photography.
- Finish reading all of the books I already have before buying any more. But first I need to unpack all of the books we moved from Sydney - our old home.
- Master 20 new vegetarian recipes - even harder, find well balanced ones that the kids love
- Contribute more to helping those in need - the survivors of the Indian Ocean Tsunami are top of mind at present.
- Be thankful for all I have and not waste my time/energy contemplating more
- Not make more resolutions than I can reasonably complete - so I'd best stop here.
Happy New Year everyone.