New Year's Resolutions 2020
So it's that time of year again and I figured I'd publicly join in and hope that helps keep me honest. I've split the goals into Primary and Secondary. Secondary is a catchall for things that would be cool but I'm not super motivated to do and for things that I'll do naturally and really shouldn't count (like reading fiction).
Primary
- Get in running shape, run 2-4x/week, bike ~1x/week
- Calisthenics 3x/week, weight lifting ~1/week
- Program 20+ hours a week (not counting paid work)
- Update website at least once a week (not necessarily a blog post)
- Continue to learn SQL and Scheme/Racket, use in/for several projects and possible paid work
- #ProjectEuler100 Challenge
Secondary
- Learn and do some projects in Rust and Javascript
- Finish at least 12 fiction books
- Finish 12 non-fiction books
- Get 500+ stars on one of my Github repos
- Get a project into the Debian repos (and maybe the AUR?)
Obviously some are very broad, there's some overlap and there are a lot more specific goals I have that will be covered/accomplished through say Primary 1-3.
This is kind of the whole Systems vs. Goals thing that Scott Adams and others have been on for several years. I think it's a false dichotomy; a system is a goal and most goals are systems. More than that, there's a chain for large, long term goals. For example, say my goal is to run a marathon. I'd start a year before the race with a plan to run 4-5 times a week working in a speed every other week. I'd do 5Ks, then 10Ks, and finally half-marathons every other month. Those are all systems, or (sub)goals in their own right. Even finer grained, I'd have systems for sleeping and eating right in service of those systems/goals. Basically until you get down to things that can be accomplished in a day or 2, every goal has systems. Even something done in a weekend like a game jam benefitted from goals and systems that came before (learning the tools, general experience and prior game jams) and you might have your diet and sleep specifically calibrated for a 48-72 hour develoment marathon as another system.
Sorry, that was a tangent, but it's always bothered me the whole Systems > Goals. It's just semantics and perception.
