Resolutions for 2016.

A basic principle of military strategy with plenty of civilian applications: No plan survives contact with the enemy. Incomes, relationships and personal interests all change; accordingly it behoves one to construct their New Year Resolutions with adaptability in mind. It is for this reason that this year's edicts will, like last years, be free of measurable goals and progress plans. Sure, such things are beneficial to achieving short term success but over the course of something as unpredictable as a year they're more likely to turn out to be just frustrating and restrictive.

The second stratagem I will be implementing was first iterated to me by one of my undergraduate philosophy lecturers: Do Less, Achieve More. I possess a habit of developing amateur interests in an ever expanding range of activities. I find this habit to be both practically inconvenient and terribly rewarding. It's a trait that I'm quite proud of: one of the few figures of history who I consider to be a role model is the designer William Morris (a pioneer of the Arts and Crafts movement and also an avid dabbler). Despite sharing his appetite for using a wide variety of mediums, I need to give my work some focus. In light of this my New Year's Resolutions will be matched with an inverse of 3 New Year Executions.  Happy 2016!

New Year's Resolutions for 2016.

1.  Reading, Writing and Running.

Last year I successfully expanded the range of written work that I consume and diversified my musical palate. My fitness goals however were not met with similar success and my writing sessions were also largely sporadic - I only really wrote when I needed to meet a deadline that I had set myself. This resolution is a promise to integrate writing, both non and fiction, and running, or exercise in general, into an "almost-daily" routine. The plan is to focus on sustainable long-term regularity rather than intensity or productivity.      

2. Get Techie.

Our world is mediated by computers and understanding them confers not only practical advantages, in terms of cyber security and gadget proficiency, but also in understanding the quintessentially modern philosophical problems of digital space. I want to know how my computer, the internet and my smart phone work and I want to be able to take better advantage of them. I also want to learn some basic coding skills by December; maybe C#.

3.  Get Foodie.

In the last six months I have discovered a pretty intense love of food and drink and have begun developing skills to match this interest. This resolution is simply a proof of intent to continue this trend through 2016. Health and general utility abound!

The 2016 Temporary Hit-list.   

1. Video Games.

 The thought came to me recently that I'm more in love with the idea of video games than I am with games themselves. There are a handful of titles that I love in theory and in execution but most of the games I enjoy, I enjoy primarily for the sake of the concept. Likewise the idea of a digital interactive space as a communicative platform is really exciting but most video games tend to disappoint my expectations of them as far as "art" is concerned. I'll keep playing Minecraft and perhaps dip my toe here or there but for now I'm content to give up trying to finish the classics or look out for cool new titles.

2. Video Editing and Production.
I have a youtube channel where I upload things related to video games. It's mainly an exercise in video editing and presentation and has been a fun side project. Regardless, video editing is time consuming and I have better things to focus on.

3.  The Misc Clause.

No wood-work, painting, electronics, amateur engineering etc: this is a general resolution to not pick  up any new hobbies, at least until my other resolutions succeed. It refers both to hobbies I have outside of the now sanctioned cooking, writing, reading and running quartet and also pre-emptively excludes any new hobbies from my life for the foreseeable future.