New Year's Goals
I have grown to not believe in resolutions. Resolutions imply that you WILL do something. And since none of us have fully mastered our clarvoyance (and if you have, please meet me. You will know where.)
Instead, I hearby announce my New Year's Goals. Things that I wish to strive for. I shared them with my girlfriend Teresa and my brother James as the clock struck midnight and we set off fireworks, and I now share them with you, along with steps I plan on taking to get them done.
Get my shit together
Given certain... events of the end of the last semester, this one is important. I am not the most organized person in the world, and I need to take up my part. To wit, I'm going to get myself on the Zen to Done system:
I'm trying to implement the habits three at a time so I don't fall into Resolution overload syndrome. Currently I'm working on
1. Capture. I'm using my phone and it's Evernote, RTM, and Google Calender apps for this
2. Inbox decisions: iCal, Evernote, and RTM for this. Check in with them at my computer and don't let things slide. If I let things rest in my mind, they are consigned to the black hole of my memory.
3. MITs and Big Rocks. This is a big one. I sit down and decide each week and each day what are the most important things to be done. Two or three things, max. What MUST be done vs. what can be done. I knock out the must dos early on, and if I have time, I can get the can dos later.
Gain 20 pounds of muscle
Anyone who has seen me knows that I'm kind of scrawny, and I am working on this.
1. Calorie counting. Or, perhaps, more accurate, meal counting. I'm not sure I have the patience to actually do the full calorie count, but I think if I record what I'm eating, I'll do a better job of eating the amount that I should be to gain weight.
2. Exercise regimen schedule. I already have an hour of martial arts on Thursdays and Saturdays, but I think I can supplement that on other days, including a full work out on Tuesdays. My main guide is Nerd Fitness. In particular, the nerd in me likes the Online Fitness Guide. I'm thinking dual-classing Ranger Monk.
Get Published
This is a tricky one. Specifically, I want to publish a short story somewhere and get paid for it. It's part of Chuck Wendig's Operation: Your First Motherfucking Sale, and that's the... semi-guide I'll be following. The first step, of course, is writing a story. I've got one I started in July for the Operation. I'm going to finish it and see where it goes from there. I'm starting to build quite a stable of story ideas.
Have a screenplay I can submit to the Austin Film Fest
Inspired by my good friend Chris Csont. Part of what I'm doing in Grad School is building a CV that I can shop around for work and send to agents. I have two TV episodes (which I have no doubt could use some work and prodding), but I could use a feature or two to put in there. My two current features aren't up to snuff.
Cape Killers, I think, needs to be shelved for a while. I don't think I'm a good enough writer yet to tell that story. Or, perhaps, I think it's a story that needs to be told in a different format.
Silverlode, on the other hand, has promise, especially after I powered through to the end. I'm thinking that I'll use it for the Rewrite class, get it up to snuff.
That being said, I'm also looking at two other options. For Screenwriting IV, I'm thinking about starting a whole new script. A New Orleans crime drama. I've also got the option of working on "The Whistling Room" adaptation I started this semester. I'm pretty sure it's public domain, so I don't need to get the rights.
Here's to things getting better each year! Got any interesting goals?
Instead, I hearby announce my New Year's Goals. Things that I wish to strive for. I shared them with my girlfriend Teresa and my brother James as the clock struck midnight and we set off fireworks, and I now share them with you, along with steps I plan on taking to get them done.
Get my shit together
Given certain... events of the end of the last semester, this one is important. I am not the most organized person in the world, and I need to take up my part. To wit, I'm going to get myself on the Zen to Done system:
I'm trying to implement the habits three at a time so I don't fall into Resolution overload syndrome. Currently I'm working on
1. Capture. I'm using my phone and it's Evernote, RTM, and Google Calender apps for this
2. Inbox decisions: iCal, Evernote, and RTM for this. Check in with them at my computer and don't let things slide. If I let things rest in my mind, they are consigned to the black hole of my memory.
3. MITs and Big Rocks. This is a big one. I sit down and decide each week and each day what are the most important things to be done. Two or three things, max. What MUST be done vs. what can be done. I knock out the must dos early on, and if I have time, I can get the can dos later.
Gain 20 pounds of muscle
Anyone who has seen me knows that I'm kind of scrawny, and I am working on this.
1. Calorie counting. Or, perhaps, more accurate, meal counting. I'm not sure I have the patience to actually do the full calorie count, but I think if I record what I'm eating, I'll do a better job of eating the amount that I should be to gain weight.
2. Exercise regimen schedule. I already have an hour of martial arts on Thursdays and Saturdays, but I think I can supplement that on other days, including a full work out on Tuesdays. My main guide is Nerd Fitness. In particular, the nerd in me likes the Online Fitness Guide. I'm thinking dual-classing Ranger Monk.
Get Published
This is a tricky one. Specifically, I want to publish a short story somewhere and get paid for it. It's part of Chuck Wendig's Operation: Your First Motherfucking Sale, and that's the... semi-guide I'll be following. The first step, of course, is writing a story. I've got one I started in July for the Operation. I'm going to finish it and see where it goes from there. I'm starting to build quite a stable of story ideas.
Have a screenplay I can submit to the Austin Film Fest
Inspired by my good friend Chris Csont. Part of what I'm doing in Grad School is building a CV that I can shop around for work and send to agents. I have two TV episodes (which I have no doubt could use some work and prodding), but I could use a feature or two to put in there. My two current features aren't up to snuff.
Cape Killers, I think, needs to be shelved for a while. I don't think I'm a good enough writer yet to tell that story. Or, perhaps, I think it's a story that needs to be told in a different format.
Silverlode, on the other hand, has promise, especially after I powered through to the end. I'm thinking that I'll use it for the Rewrite class, get it up to snuff.
That being said, I'm also looking at two other options. For Screenwriting IV, I'm thinking about starting a whole new script. A New Orleans crime drama. I've also got the option of working on "The Whistling Room" adaptation I started this semester. I'm pretty sure it's public domain, so I don't need to get the rights.
Here's to things getting better each year! Got any interesting goals?