New Year; New Update

One of the things I do like about the end of the calendar year is the opportunity it naturally presents to think about where you are. Am I content with my relationships, myself, my friends. Am I doing something about the things which need to be changed? Am I relaxed about the parts of my life which can be left alone?

You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will

Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, 2000

This is one of those accountability posts. You know the type. The blogger sets out some of the things they would like to do over the next few days/weeks/months and then they try to both do some of those things and write about them too. I’m feeling a bit ambitious so this year, I have categories. Why not? And so, in no particular order I present you with…

Mandarin

Learning Mandarin is something I have been doing for a while now. My gf is Chinese and that has certainly added some more impetus to what has been a reasonably casual study program so far.

Here are some of the tools and resources I’ve found useful.

DuoLingo – Vocabulary app

Skritter – Vocabulary and handwriting app

iQIYI – Closed Caption shows website and app

Taking a few days to plan out a schedule and lay out a routine for myself seems sensible. So this week some time will be spent thinking both about how much time should be spent and when it should be spent on this goal. I have found routine super useful when it comes to having a sense of whether or not I am investing in something in the way I wanted to.

Health

This does include my mental health. So there’s going to be some art, travel, cooking and other activities which will contribute to my sense of good health. But… it wouldn’t be New Years were it not for a health-oriented aspiration or two. Unsurprisingly my goals here are:

• Get to 110kg
• Be able to do a muscle up
• Develop a visible chest (manliness upgrade 101)

Business

It’s easy to have ideas which you don’t pursue. This year my goal is to realise at least one business idea. Doesn’t need to be a huge success or anything like that. But one of the ideas needs to be put into action. I started writing down my entrepreneurial thoughts a couple of years ago, but that’s a trap in some ways as it has led (so far) only to day-dreaming rather than concrete action. It’s time to pick one of them, spend the time and the money and make it happen.

Perhaps something involving trays…

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