GHD Resolution Review Day 3
Two months and two days ago, I adopted David Seah’s Ground Hog Resolution Day idea, and made a list of my GHD resolutions. The idea is not to try to make resolutions for New Years Day, when exhausted and hung over from the excesses of Christmas and New Year’s eve, but to wait until Groundhog Day a month and a day later on 2/2, and then to review progress every month-and-a-day after that, 3/3, 4/4 etc. I didn’t join the party until 4/4, so I’m a bit behind Dave, and everyone who started on Groundhog Day proper, 2/2. Even so, now that 6/6 has arrived, I get to shame myself in public again by reviewing any progress I’ve made on my resolutions.
How’d it go?
1. Keep a regular morning routine
In the middle of last month, I let my morning routine slip while working late to finish an article I’d missed the deadline for, and getting caught up in a 3 hour commute for an Apache Security course. This month, in amongst my normal 30 hours of contract work each week, I had to write the second part of a lengthy tutorial for IBM’s developerWorks Linux Zone. Worse, my only means of running Linux (my beloved macBook) was having major surgery under warranty for the middle two weeks of the month, so I had to write much of it without the benefit of a dedicated Linux machine to break. So much for having a lighter workload than last time…
Getting out of a routine is so much easier than getting back into it again, and I haven’t managed to pick up the slack again yet.
Result: Failed Miserably 
2. Read a book every week
I should have read four more books by now. I finished The Doors of Perception a few days into the period. I also read Journey of Souls, though I’m not sure I’ve taken in all the information it contained, and might grant it another reading later in the year to soak it up properly. I’ve read less than another hundred pages of the giant
Result: Failed
3. Set aside time for martial arts
See (1). Having let the habit slip, I haven’t been able to get back in the saddle. With the prospect of moving any day now, I wasn’t expecting to go anywhere with this resolution this month. I’ll either find a club in Florida after we’ve settled in, or else build some self-training time into my schedule to save turning into a couch potato.
Result: Not even trying!
4. At least 2 blog posts per week
I count 12 posts, including this one since the last review. No problems here.
Result: Success
5. Weekly Reviews
I’ve totally fallen off the GTD wagon. I have a lot of random lists that need much love and care to get my system humming along again.
Result: D’oh!
What went wrong?
More of the same problems from last month. There has been a lot of organising to fit in around my paid work, and it’s been an effort to even make time to socialise let alone keep a weather eye on my resolutions. After the last review, I decided that trying to nurture all 5 resolutions at once was too much for a mere mortal, so not letting 2 or 4 slip, while working at another was the task I set myself for this review. I don’t think I did too badly, although I read a bit less than last time and posted fewer blog entries, my commitment overload didn’t improve.
So, the lesson I need to take away from these reviews is that I’m overcommitted, and have to make more time for my goals rather than sapping all my energy on prior commitments. So, while keeping all resolutions in mind, I don’t want to let myself get sucked into worrying about trying to achieve everything here.
What to do about it?
While I have my book contract demanding attention, and now that I’ve finished all the freelance articles and teaching gigs I had promised, I won’t be taking on any more casual work. I expect to spend a good part of my spare time next month organising the reimport of my Harley’s into Florida, and moving house to Orlando, although thankfully most everything is sorted out with that now, so I just need to turn up at the right time for everything 
In order to feel like I’m making some progress, I’m going to aim at a post every 2 days on average, so thats 15 posts by the next review. I’ll have some jetlag to contend with too, so I’m going to concentrate on getting back to a regular morning routine, and hopefully improve on this month’s reading.
Check back in a month-and-a-day to see how I’m doing.
I’m taking 5 days off while I attend Download, and go on an internet fast, and then I’ll be flying out to Florida more or less as soon as I get back, so I probably won’t post too much for the next few days.
2 Responses so far
2007.06.08@11:32 am
Hey, keep at it! One minor change I would make is to rephrase your status in cumulative terms…for example, instead of saying “failed” for your Read a Book goal, I would have said, “some progess”. You DID read more, which is great! I think of resolutions as being bonuses that improve my existing life, not weightstones that drag me down when I don’t get to them. I suppose if guilt helps motivate you, it would work, but for me I find it rather draining.
Good luck!
Dave
2007.06.09@1:24 pm
Hi Dave,
Thanks for stopping by
And thanks for the encouragement. I agree about resolutions being a bonus, and although I don’t feel guilty about not finding the time to tackle all my resolutions at once, I really like that the GHD review days help to keep my focus on them rather than them moving ever further out of my sight as January recedes into the distance!
My plan is to build on each resolution one at a time, so that hopefully by the end of January, I’ll have nailed most of them and can pick a new set to work on next year!