I’m obviously nearly a month early, but I want to get this posted while I’m thinking about it. (Which argument incidentally applies to some of the resolutions. I keep thinking about them when I can’t act on them, but then I let myself get distracted by other things when I can.)

Also, as some of them apply to social media itself, I want to get my to-do list for next year done early so that I don’t have to think about making it once it’s time to start acting on it.

 

Anywho. My “New Year’s Resolutions” for 2021:

 

Have $10,000 in my bank account.

Okay, fine. $10K should be doable on my current wages if I completely stop spending money, but even if I exercise more self-control, there is still the matter of the new car and the old student loan. Not to mention the need to buy food and gas once in a while….

$5K is a much more realistic goal… especially since I specifically said “have in my bank account,” not “add to my bank account.” (Honestly, I feel like $10K could work with that criteria, but I digress.)

 

Get through my YouTube backlog!

Previous plans had included shifting my gaming-themed unboxing videos from my main channel over to the gaming channel (decluttering the main just a little bit more while adding quasi-relevant content to the channel that has almost nothing), but I will admit part of me is tempted to just drop those videos entirely. Especially since the only new content I’d be making on that score is for the Elder Scrolls Loot Crate boxes; I just don’t know enough about the lore, constantly forget the names of the Daedra etc, and it shows in the videos and I don’t have the patience to redo them after the fact.

As far as that goes, that same part of me is tempted to cancel my subscription–if I act on that temptation, that would also contribute to the two goals of saving money and decluttering the house.

 

Get in shape.

Lose… hmmm… well, technically the goal is to lose about 60 pounds, but for a single year’s resolution and the fact that I spend way too much time sitting in front of the computer, I’ll ease into it with a much lower milestone of 10 pounds (with plans to shift the goal as I go). Or if I round that off based on the target weight instead of the target loss, I want to get my weight down to 180 pounds.

This one kinda works with the YouTube plans–and with the second reason for posting my resolutions early–because I have several fitness-based games that I plan to showcase in a themed playlist on my gaming channel. These include some of my VR games, RingFit Adventure for the Nintendo Switch, Wii Fit U for the Wii U, even Link’s Crossbow Training for the Wii, and maybe I’d occasionally add footage from this Stealth game I have that’s all about doing planks. In addition to all that, I’d expect to post my progress on here (probably on a monthly basis) in the form of:

• embedding relevant videos from my channel
• uploading before-and-after photos (gotta figure out what clothes will work best and whether I need to add to my wardrobe for the purpose; if nothing else, the tank-and-shorts combo I normally wear as summer pajamas might work)
• and providing screenshots of my progress in games that I can’t record like Zombies, Run.

With my work schedule (full time, two days off per week) and the variety of games to choose from, I’m debating on whether I’m better off doing multiple games in a single day versus alternating games each week, though I should at least do ZR on each of my days off regardless of whatever else I play.

 

Write more fiction.

Finish writing the Flash/Legends of Tomorrow prequel fanfic “What Could Have Been.” Or at least the last two chapters from the original timeline.

I had a technical issue that stopped me from using my phone to work on it a year ago, so I dropped off writing during lunch breaks, but instead of working on it at home I just kept letting myself get distracted by social media. And not even creating for social media, but merely browsing it. The result is that the two chapters that I had left at the end of NaNoWriMo 2019 have still not been completed.

A follow-up resolution would be to continue writing/finish the original novel The Graft… and any other original and theoretically salable work.

I suppose I also ought to try posting another newsletter while I’m at it. I originally came up with the idea a few years ago during a moment of cold- (or cold medicine)- induced lunacy, so I thought it was weirdly appropriate that it was during another cold that it occurred to me to write my third newsletter. Trouble is, I hesitated on posting it (I forget the reason, but I think it had to do with trying to decide which book to feature in the “reading” section), and here it is, several months after starting that issue, and I still haven’t finished it.

 

Declutter the house.

This one is a more ongoing, perpetual problem than a specific goal for the year, as no matter how much stuff I get rid of I always seem to find something else to get rid of once the previous junk pile is gone.

Decluttering, therefore, ranges from selling more stuff on eBay (which obviously depends on other people wanting to buy what I’m offering) to simply finding stuff I’m willing to donate to the local thrift store.

Incidentally, most of the stuff I had on eBay in years past ended up going to the thrift store–I just got to the point where reclaiming that space (if only temporarily as I keep replacing my old stuff with new stuff) was a higher priority than getting money for it. Especially now since I’m trying to arrange for more floor space for the VR games. I figure I’ll continue donating anything I find in those Loot Crates that I personally do not want to keep. My parents, on the other hand, have found some motorcycle gear that they would far rather attempt to sell than donate anywhere.

Decluttering also translates to reading through that 10-foot pile of books I’d collected from the thrift store and other sources over the course of a year, and redonating (and replacing with digital any titles that I really want to keep) as I go. Anybody who’s curious can check out the “reading” portion of my progress on GoodReads; the bookshelf titled “Print Collection” lists the vast majority of physical copies I plan to be rid of once I’ve read them (along with one or two that got added before I decided to use the list that way). The curious can likewise visit my BookCrossing profile for the “redonating” portion of my progress, which leads me to another goal/resolution: get that map created for my blog!

 

So what about you, my readers? Any plans for the new year? Specific goals that you want to accomplish before the year is out? More general goals that you want to work on as time goes on?

And which of your goals are dependent on you (e.g. fitness, saving money, etc) versus those that require the cooperation of other people (e.g. selling stuff)?