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mistressofmuses) wrote2024-01-02 07:50 pm
Tentative goals for 2024
As I say every year, I know that the new year is a perfectly arbitrary measure. Time is fake! It's all a social construct! Even so, it's still a useful period of "cultural reset," and it's a convenient time to look at having a sort of clean slate, to reassess things, to decide on a course to focus on.
I tend to do some goal-setting, which feels different (though maybe only semantically) from setting "resolutions." Though as a couple people have pointed out - several on tumblr, galadhir here, as well as others - too often "resolutions" wind up being about working more, or denying ourselves things we enjoy, or pushing harder into the productivity and grind mentality... I'd rather aim to do things that are fun, or that I enjoy. At the very least, I want them to be things that improve my life. Even if they aren't "fun" per se, I want them to be the sorts of things that make my life better, make my environment more enjoyable, are a gift to future-me, etc.
For this year... it looks very much the same as last year, honestly. Last year's goals were sort of a mix in terms of success. I did well at some stuff, some stuff I did not touch, some stuff I tried a bit and then crapped out on. So this year, the aim is mostly "keep doing the good stuff, and try again at the stuff that I didn't manage last year."
I'm still planning to track the same habits on a weekly basis. While I had a couple stretches last year that were a struggle with the tracking, it's still much more valuable to me than it ever is annoying. It helps to keep me on track, to see where my time is going, to set short-term goals. It also helps me to look back and remember things I've done. I have a terrible conception of the passage of time, so it's good to look back and see what I've done! (I also have some emotional blindness when I'm having a rough patch. It's nice to look back and be able to tell that I haven't always felt like crap!)
Much like last year, I've sorted my goals into categories based on the habits I track.
Work [days I spend at work]
I hope to continue trying to improve at the metrics success is measured by at work. I've done better, but not always up to the level they're looking for.
Household Maintenance [cooking, cleaning, chores, general "adulting" tasks]
I'm going to try and resume doing small weekly cleaning and organizing projects. Along with that, I'll be trying to maintain any that I do complete, so it's not a cycle of just redoing the same tasks over and over.
I want to display more art and decorations. I have a few posters, my board of enamel pins (plus at least one more to put together), and things like that that I'd like to display.
I hope to get a new fire-bellied toad, maybe a little bit down the line. Broccoli Cheddar Bomb made me very happy, and I'll miss having him.
Physical Activity [doing anything that gets me moving around more than usual, or that I'm doing on purpose]
I will try, yet again, to find and stick to a stretching routine. "Moving more" is in general a good aim.
Wrote 500/1000 Words [generally for first-draft fiction, or for reviews or topic-focused posts]
I signed up with both ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
getyourwordsout and inkingitout with goals of 75k words this year. While I blew past that number last year, this year I'm hoping to better balance writing with other hobbies, even if that means less writing.
I want to finish (FINALLY) those last five fics for last year's AUgust.
I'd like to find a project that I'm able to really focus on. I haven't had one of those in a while (the sort of borderline obsessive "always on my mind" type of project) and I miss that!
Wrote on 2nd+ Draft [also measured in 500/1000 word increments, for rewrites]
Nothing specific in this category.
Meta Work [all the non-writing parts of writing; research, planning, posting, etc.]
I'd still like to try out Scrivener as a program (maybe I can buy it as a birthday gift for myself?)
I also want to do some better organizing of my tag system here. (I'd say tumblr too, but that's probably a lost cause.)
I want to download media that I particularly like and would be sad to lose access to. Things like favorite fics I've bookmarked, as well as the short stories I subscribe to Patreon for, yet have so far only printed for my mom.
Personal Writing [journalling, either here on Dreamwidth or by hand]
Nothing specific, though I intend to continue posting regularly here. However, I don't want to push myself that I have to post every day. I want to post because I have something to post about, ha.
Other Creative Things [art, photography, etc.]
I hope to find more opportunities for doing artistic things, and then actually take said opportunities.
Once again, it'd be nice if I can find a way to display some sense of style and "who I am" via my clothing choices and such. Last year that wasn't financially viable, but maybe I can manage some worthwhile thrifting this year.
Reading [any on-purpose reading I do, whether that's books, ebooks, fanfiction, nonfiction, etc.]
I want to read at least 20 books this year off my TBR list, and track them in my tracker.
Attention to Media [actually focusing on TV shows, movies, podcasts, music, etc., rather than having it as background noise]
Nothing specific in this category.
Video Games [playing games, either on my own or with someone]
Make time to play them! This is always the thing that gets put off in favor of other things, until I spend weeks or months without touching a game, despite it being a thing I really enjoy. Along with that, I want to stop feeling guilty for "letting" myself play.
Social Interaction [in-person or online interactions, as long as they're more active than just "liking" a post]
I want to be more participatory in communities here, while also keeping up on friends' journals. However, I also need to limit how much time I spend on it each day, because I've realized how sometimes I really am spending hours here every day, to the exclusion of anything else. Not sure how well I'll strike that balance, but that's part of what I hope to figure out!
Here's to a year that I hope is good, peaceful, and kind to all of us.
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I hope it's a good year for you too! If you're looking for media to put into the 'watch media' list, I can recommend 'Mr.Queen' on Netflix, which is a sort of historical romance/comedy where a top male chef in modern Korea ends up bodyswapping with a queen of the Joseon era and slowly falls in love with the king he is married to, while scandalizing the court with his modern manners. It is in Korean, but if you don't mind subtitles, I found it refreshing and fun and even touching at times.
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things that are fun, or that I enjoy
(Not.)
Re: things that are fun, or that I enjoy
Re: things that are fun, or that I enjoy/such an unhealthy way
Re: things that are fun, or that I enjoy/such an unhealthy way
Re: things that are fun, or that I enjoy/such an unhealthy way
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I really do feel like I've got to figure out a better balance! I want to do things but not burn out, and I want to have the chance to relax without it turning into complete inaction. There's gotta be a way to balance it, right??
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It's that whole "Productivity grinding is toxic! People need to take time to relax and should indulge in the things they most enjoy, without feeling guilty! Not me, though" thing, haha. I am hoping to really get better about feeling "bad" for taking time to do things I find restful and fun.
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