Resolve and Betterment

Page content

January is as good of an arbitrary marker as any to change the things I dislike. The beauty of age is that I’ve realized that most of the things I dislike emanate from within myself.1 I also tend to be realistic in my endeavors.

I’d love to be less cynical, but at the same time, I enjoy my cynicism immensely. I’d really like to take big risks but I have adult responsibilities. There’s still plenty I’d like to fix in my daily life so I picked a couple that I can commit to.

Don’t Be a Dick and Don’t Bother with Those Who Are

One thing I’ve noticed is that I am very curt and easily provoked online. It wasn’t always this way, but after blogging for nearly 8 years I’ve fallen victim to trolls. That’s a small victory for the worst part of the Internet. So this year my plan is to be more judicious and contemplative with my interactions. I’ve made great acquaintances through Twitter and the comments on Macdrifter. Some of those have become friendships and born fruit unachievable on my own.

My plan to overcome this cultivated defect:

  1. Be kind as I would want a stranger to be kind to my family online
  2. Block, mute and delete without comment. There’s a lot of fish in the sea. There’s no sense struggling with one or two
  3. Talk to people I like more than people I don’t enjoy
  4. Make time to respond to every good intention

Complete More Stuff I’m Proud Of

My second least favorite part of me is that I meander more than I’d like. I’m a big proponent of fiddling. All of my favorite things came out of fiddling. But I’d like to fiddle more constructively and actually finish things more often than not. I’m too easily excited and frustrated.

My plan to overcome this cultivated defect:

  1. Make a plan before spending more than 10 minutes on an idea
  2. Write down the goal before making a plan
  3. Work on the plan every day for a week (if it takes that long)
  4. Avoid scope creep and stick to the plan
  5. Choose the projects wisely and review them often

> 12 Months

Both of these projects sound obvious and easily accomplished. But they haven’t happened on their own so I must need to prioritize them higher. The hardest part will be to make them permanent changes. Isn’t that always the hardest part?

  1. Hey, look at me. I’m on some kind of philosophical path. ↩︎