Because, like I said, “resolutions” are crap. But by the Grace of Spreadsheets, all Things are Possible.
- Read 2 books a month.
- Go hiking 18 times.
- Practice yoga four times a week, and YES this is a lofty goal; however, I’m loosening my standards to include basically anything and everything – 20 minutes at home? 90 minutes in the studio? Yin? Power Vinyasa? It takes all kinds. With a 3-month unlimited pass to Yoga Pearl already purchased, I’m off to a good start. There may or may not be a meditation goal attached to this, with even laxer standards (10 minutes of sitting quietly with eyes closed? Sure, why not.)
- Cook dinner 3 nights a week. I used to be much, much better about cooking when I lived with RV since there was an impetus to make food to share with her in the hopes of having her share her dinners with me, thus cutting my overall cooking time. I just need to get back in this habit of making stuff, even simple stuff, rather than heading out somewhere or, sigh, eating a sandwich and a bag of popcorn.
- Go camping at Crater Lake! See below for why.
- Various and sundry financial goals that aren’t really relevant here, but amounting to “Save More and Pay Down Student Loans”. But a smaller goal that I think is worthy of your consideration — and which I’ve already put into place — is to save up $10 a week in an online savings account, and donate it to a charity at the end of the year. Having worked in nonprofits I know that $10 and $20 donations to a smattering of organizations might make you feel good, but it’s almost the same as giving them nothing at all, as they have to then process that small payment and get you into their database and mailing list. Better to save up a larger chunk and focus it on one charity that’s especially compelling to you. $10 a week isn’t a huge amount, but it’s large enough that I feel the hit to my budget. SmartyPig is an online savings bank with a decent concept – when you sign up, you have to state a specific savings goal and schedule automatic transfers from your checking account, and they basically won’t let you cancel it or withdraw the money until you’ve met said goal. Their interest rate is 2.01%, quite a bit higher than ING, and the site has some social networking features where you can invite others to view and contribute toward your goal. If behavioral economics gives us nothing, let it give us a scheme of voluntary forced savings that’s directed toward worthy goals.
Good list! Believe it or not, I’m actually already finding meditation to be one of the more difficult items on my list. I’ve only been able to do it for 7 minutes max so far before I feel like I’m going insane. But hopefully I’ll practice every night. Good luck! Crater Lake looks amaaaazing.
[...] 2010 Goals: I am on track for my hiking, reading, and yoga goals — which is awesome, especially that yoga one. I gave up on the meditation and cooking-dinner goals; the former is going to have to be a longer-term project for me, and the latter is one I was failing because of how I counted up my home-cooked dinners. The point is, I’m cooking a lot more these days, and eating the leftovers too, and baking, so it’s all good. But being out and about so often means that three good solid prep-requiring, time-needing dinners per week just isn’t happening, especially since I’m at J.’s at least 1-2 nights per week. [...]