First resolution, quit procrastinating.

checks date

Oops.

Joking aside, “quit procrastinating” is a big part of my resolutions, both what I need to fix and why they so often fail. But it’s also too vague; I’ve found I’m the sort for whom “New Year’s resolutions” are not about making new goals year after year, but reaffirming old goals, making another attempt at ones that fell by the wayside and, especially when hard numbers get involved, adjusting the goals as I deem necessary.

For instance, I need to try to:

Upload a video every week. This was a goal from last year. And like last year’s goal, it doesn’t matter which channel, just get something in my backlog edited and uploaded on a regular basis until I start recording regularly enough again to change this schedule.

Have at least $5,000 in savings (of course to work as a goal I need this at the end of the year, not at any random point after which it can get spent again)… without relying on cash advance cards to provide the balance. Also without having any (noticeable) debt besides my car and student loan–while I’ll inevitably have bought something that won’t be paid off before December 31, this means no paying the minimum balance and owing interest on cards for the sole purpose of boosting my savings.

Fit into my 32-waistline jeans so I can start wearing them to work. (Preferably before the holes forming in the pockets of my 33-waistline pants forces me to replace them again.)

These resolutions intentionally have shifting goalposts; I don’t plan to change them until I’ve met them or, like the “recording regularly,” some other factor makes it logical to change them. But they are designed to be changed.

Goals that I don’t intend to change (unless I’m actually forced to by unexpected factors) are longer-term in nature. Instead of “lose one pant size” (from what I am now) it’s “weigh x pounds” (130, give or take, based on my body type). Or paying off the aforementioned car and student loans.

Or they’re vague like “eat healthier.” Easier said than done when I take the lazy approach to packing lunches, but I have noticed my baby steps of a dietary change seem to be helping with my migraines. Switching from Coke for the “sip at a caffeinated beverage” routine to tea and/or Cirkul’s own caffeinated line seems to have put a major dent in them… not enough to eliminate the need for painkillers, but enough for me to seriously consider drinking tea in the mornings like some people start their day with coffee. (In fact, when I’d woken up with a migraine recently I did that two days in a row before I even touched any medication, and while again I still needed Excedrin later in the day, the pain faded far faster after drinking the tea than it ever does with pain pills.)

Back to the laziness, so far I’m mostly drinking the pre-bottled stuff like Pure Leaf and Gold Peak (really want to find PL’s green tea with honey just to see if I like it, but I guess it doesn’t really matter if it’s going to be hard to buy more) but at some point I’m going to have to pick a tea to cold brew and just start keeping a batch in the fridge. It should be healthier to make it myself instead of relying on the shelf-stable options and I can always add my own honey to sweeten it.

Now if only those baby steps would noticeably help with digestive issues. I’m mostly convinced I’m at the “it’ll get worse before it gets better” stage of my body getting used to the changes (especially regarding fiber and probiotics) but I did recently learn that those same digestive issues can be a symptom of migraine….

Or another vague one, “practice photography.” (I’m doing a digital declutter right now and part of that is deleting whatever photos I don’t want that Microsoft’s daily image feature thinks is suitable for a wallpaper. They’re great photos, true, but I just don’t want that many… and for goals purposes I should eventually be trying to see if I can take any myself that I’d be willing to stare at every time I boot up my computer.)

Oh, and one “it might never happen” goal: In the continued interest of giving myself more floorspace for VR and other exercise-friendly games, I’m debating on replacing my desk with a smaller model (yes, I know, buying a new desk for the sole purpose of having a smaller one violates any kind of “save money” goal). But to make that change, I have to be able to declutter the contents of my current desk. Or declutter a whole lot else because the extra floorspace just isn’t going to happen without getting rid of some piece of furniture in my bedroom.