What are YOUR 2009 New Years’ Resolutions?

Another year has come and is preparing to leave us behind just in time to welcome a bright new day (or year). As such we’re often prone to make promises we cannot keep, yet for some reason don’t feel guilty about. I’m not one of those people. Why not? Because I don’t make “New Years’ Resolutions” - I set goals. With that in mind, here are my goals for 2009.

• Go to bed no later than midnight. I’m done staying up until 9 or 10 in the morning some days while going to bed around 11 at night on others. I’m going back to a regular sleep schedule whether my body likes it or not.
• Waking up 8 hours later. Yes, I’m committing myself to a full 8 hours sleep each night. Lately I’ve been lucky to average 2-3 hours a night (or day depending on when I sleep), and it’s really starting to affect my health. I don’t drink coffee or caffinated teas, nor do I drink soda, so there’s got to be another reason for my lack of sleep. Perhaps a doctor’s visit could help figure out what’s wrong…
• Setting up and committing myself to a regular work schedule. As a freelancer, I tend to work when (and where) want. Trust me when I say it’s one of the worst mistakes you can make. People are creatures of habit, and when they break out of their routines, bad things tend to start happening. So, what does this regular work schedule look like?
• Two five hour shifts, four days a week. 9-2 and 6-11. That’s 2 five hour shifts with a 4 hour break in between. The days I’ll be working will be Monday and Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. That leaves me Wednesdays off so I can take care of paying the bills, buying groceries, cleaning the house and whatnot… so I don’t have to on the weekends.
• 2 hours of steady exercise per day. Not the same exercises mind you, or all at once, but I’m thinking a half hour to start, then an hour, and finally a half an hour at the end. I’ll have to ease into this, but I’m figuring if I start with half the time in each “session” and work my way up, I should stop looking like I’m growing into a human bean bag by the end of the year and shed most (if not all) of the weight I’ve put on the past three years I’ve been freelancing.

These are just a few… obviously I won’t be sharing them all, but by making the most important ones public, I’m hoping someone will nag me publicly (perhaps by leaving a comment here from time to time) to help me keep them. The important thing to remember here is I’m not going to consider these “Resolutions” but instead “challenges” or “Goals”. Not only do they sound better and more reasonable, but I hate failing to win challenges or meet goals - which just gives me that much more incentive.

And with that said and done, what are your New Years’ Resolutions for 2009?

PS: I’ve also promised myself to clean up the horrible train wreck that’s my site design. You can see a preview my progress (home page only) here if you like: Home Page Redesign.