Excessive Opinions

I think I’m gunna make some “January the 9th Resolutions.”

Fuck new years resolutions, that’s overrated; the ninth is where it’s at. It’s a Saturday and I’m watching YouTube; I can’t make videos so I gotta’ use written word. People were talking a lot about resolutions the last week or so (I would guess around nine days ago specifically) and people seem to be very focused on it being a NEW YEARS resolution. What’s with that?

The ninth of January resolutions are all about the “SMART targets-resolutions” and is actually just a term I made up around seventeen seconds ago. See, from my expansive knowledge of business I know that to best set your goals you should use the SMART system. Basically, just be sure that they’re Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time constrained. This makes them actually likely, helps efficiently use your resources and is generally a good idea when setting objectives and the like. I know: I’m a tool.

But from this, it leads to an actual practical use; by making a set of SMART resolutions each and every year on January the 9th, hopefully I can improve my way of life somewhat. Most people will agree that self reflection is important, but unless you act on those reflections it’s just as useless as a New Years resolution. “I’ll lose weight” or “Be Healthier” are things we should strive for, but by just telling yourself on the 1st of January that it’s something you’ll think about, it’s not going to happen. My January the 9th Resolutions are more efficient, and I implore you to make up at least one. Make sure they’re SMART, think about why you want this resolution and what good will come of keeping to them. Don’t make a resolution unless you’re actually going to keep to it.

My ninth of January resolutions are as follows:

“Once, each week of 2010, I will make the concious choice to not spend money I otherwise would, specifically when purchasing non-essentials.”

This is basically for stuff I don’t necessarily need or use, but might buy anyway. Quite often I buy pens or sweets, I’ll get a large coffee when really I only need a medium, buying a drink on the way home when I could wait until I’m actually home, the third pint at the pub or even just going large on the lunch front. I’m going to be sure that at least once a week I make a concious choice to keep change in my pocket throughout the year of 2010. This will be something I hope I just don’t simply forget, as it does last all year.

“I will reduce my fast food intake by at least 33% during January and February of 2010.”

Fast food is the devil, literally. It’s hot, cheap and easy, I can’t quite give it up completely and it offers me eternal happiness quickly followed by the horrible horrible want for more. But not any more! Dropping by 33% over the next two months might be hard, but with my also quite annoying drop in income it may naturally work itself out. This resolution is a lot better than the generic “get healthy” ones as it means I can still drink coffee and eat chocolate, =D. In order to ensure it’s also actually achievable I’ve limited this to two months, further on in the year my financial situation is going to take two major changes so it’s simply unrealistic for me to try and influence my eating habits from all the way back here in January.

“I will complete the main storyline of ‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’ before the end of the 2010 fiscal year.”

This is solely to prove to myself that I do actually have spare time. If I can complete this game’s storyline it will help me to know that next year I won’t need to worry so much about getting things done. This may seem like bad logic to you; but knowing that I’ve taken time out from everything else and just sit and beat up bad guys, to the point that I completed the game and get to the final cut scene will help with my anxiety about being rushed constantly.

So there you have it, three perfectly SMART January the 9th resolutions. (I was going to put images in this post but seeing how much I’ve written I don’t think it’s a wise use of space.)