It seems to be the done thing amongst folk with blogs to do some kind of “year in review” or “the year ahead” type post around New Years Eve. As that auspicious event was last night, and I am one to stay hip with all the trends, this is my New Year post. The past year was eventful, busy and went really quickly. I achieved a lot, but am always left with the feeling I might have achieved even more, had I watched a little less TV, or just focused on a task a little harder.
This year I hope to achieve at least as much. But I am not going to lay it all out here. Firstly because I really hate saying I am going to do something and then not doing it, for whatever reason. It just makes me feel bad. But secondly, and most importantly, because I want to set achievable goals and focus on them one at a time.
I am going to share two goals with you today, because they are the kinds of goals where I need an audience to “keep me honest”.
My first goal for 2013 is to lose some weight. I am not a huge guy, but I am not a tall guy either, and I have one of those stomachs that projects well forward of my belt buckle. For the last fourteen or so weeks I have been attending Weight Watchers and lost about 10 kilograms, which is awesome. The first few weeks were amazing, and the knowledge that I would have to “weigh-in” every week was a real motivation to eat healthy and get some exercise in. But as the year has drawn to a close work got really busy and I got really lazy and slacked off. My last couple of weigh-ins saw a weight gain, undoing my hard work, and I didn’t even attend this week because I knew it would be another step backward. I am 172cm tall and currently weigh 93.1kg. I want to get to mid or low 80’s and be able to take a short jog without losing my breath, or a long walk without suffering from painful ankles for the next 48 hours. I will check in each week. You don’t have to say anything (but by all means do), but I need to “put it out there” and believe someone is paying attention. If there is anyone else out there needing a little motivation or collaboration to shed some unwanted flesh, let me know!
My second goal for 2013 is to write more fiction and non-fiction, as opposed to game rules. I love game design but over the past couple of years I have committed more and more time to games which has distracted me from the other forms of writing that I love. While I am not giving up game design (Not a chance!), I am going to be making a concerted effort to produce other kinds of writing on a more regular basis, and share them rather than allowing them to languish on my hard drive. This will mean more regular updates on this site, and hopefully other places, too! My plan is to track my writing time so I can see how I am going. I will share this info with you, too!
Happy new year, everyone. I am sure it will be a good one!
– Nathan
I really hope to write more this year as well, mind you that has been my hope for the last however many years. Slowly slowly I guess each year I am writing more but it is never enough. I perish the thought of your words languishing on your hard drive so please make sure you share more of them. Fairy wishes and butterfly kisses