My New Year's Resolutions

It's about time I got off of my butt and put my New Year's Resolution(s) out on the internets for everyone to see. Hopefully the act of writing and publishing this will make me more apt to follow through on the goals I've set for myself in 2009....a little accountability if you will.

The theme here is Minimize and Maximize. There are a lot of things I need to do more of and definitely things I need to do less of. I have listed all of the biggies here. There are definitely more things I need to work on but this list is just long enough that it will be very hard to make noticeable changes. Here it goes:

• Minimize the amount of food I eat in general, including all of the fatty food, junk food and stuff that is just plain bad for me. It isn't enough for me to just knock out the bad food, but I have to cut down the sheer volume of food I eat...I mean, pistachios aren't bad for you but 1.5 lbs at a sitting is definitely not good. I am getting older, have a young family and I have a lot left to do in life so killing myself with food is not a wise thing to do.
• Maximize the amount of good food I eat. I need to eat more vegetables, some more fish, more salad etc. I'm going to try to do my own combination of Weight Watcher's and the Glycemic Load Diet.
• Minimize the amount of Diet Coke I drink this year. I drink way too much Diet Coke but I love it so much. I can't cut it out completely but I think no more than 3 12oz. cans or equivalent in a day will be good for me. One for breakfast (I'm not a coffee guy), lunch and dinner should do nicely.
• Maximize the amount of water and green tea I drink. To replace all of the Diet Coke that I drink I need something else to quench my thirst. Water all day and Green Tea at night should do just fine. I also want to try to get a glass of red wine in 3-4 times a week too for the resvertarol.
• Minimize the amount of crap that I own. I still have tons of stuff from my teens and early twenties that I need to get rid of. I carried this stuff around with me through several moves with the thought that I can't possibly part with any of it. I started to sell off some of this stuff in 2008 and used that money for some really nice stuff that I really wanted (tools and camera gear). I still have enough stuff in my basement to buy a new lens or two for the camera. The nice side effect here is that I will make room in the basement so that we can finally finish it. If I can't sell this stuff this year, I'm giving it away or throwing it out. It has to go this year. This item also includes buy less crap. I need to really think about what I need and what I want. There is a fine line here that I can very easily cross and before I know it, my Amex bill is up.
  
• Maximize the amount of quality stuff that I buy. This goes hand-in-hand with getting rid of my crap. When I get any cash for that, I'll turn it into stuff I want, I'll use and is of high quality. This is something my wife and I have been doing for years: buy the best we can we want to buy something. Nothing is worse that cheaping out and having something break down. You end up replacing it sooner than you want to and spend more in the long run than just buying the best at the start.
• Minimize the amount of video games I play. I usually play 2-3 hours a day on a weekday and 4-5 hours a day on the weekend. Mind you that I am a video game addict and love them too much to give them up. Besides, after a stressful day at work, I love nothing more than play some games. It is also one of the few outlets I have to spend time with my friends that are all over the country or have family obligations so those few hours in the evening are the only time I get to spend with them (pwning n00bs of course).
• With the free time gained from my lessened video game time, I would do the following:
• Maxmize Sleep Time. I get about 5 hours of sleep a night and usually try to get 10 hours on Saturday or Sunday morning. I need to try to get at least 7 hours of sleep a night. This will be hard since I only go to bed when I'm tired. If I'm not tired, I tend to stare at the ceiling. If I'm tired, I fall asleep in about 1.5 seconds. This will be tough.
• Maximize my writing time. I need to get in the habit of writing at least 30 minutes a day. This can be blogging, twittering or some more creative writing. I have a ton of book ideas mapped out. Maybe I'll finish one and write my book.
• Maximize my reading time. Right now, I only read for about 20 minutes a day. When I was younger, I read about 2 hours a day at least and finished 1-2 books each week. Now it takes me 2 weeks to get through a 700 page book. Not acceptable with all of the stuff I want to read. Plus it keeps my mind from turning to mush.
• Maximize my photography time. I need to take my camera with me more places and take more pictures. I might like to take a class or two. I also need to make more out of the Photoshop/Photography training site I'm a member of. I also need to spend more time post processing my photos and try to publish more to the web and maybe print some. I would also like to try my hand at selling some on iStockPhoto.
• Most of all, I would like to Maximize the time I spend with my family. I would like to get the kids involved more in photography, gardening and some other stuff. They are getting to the age now where we can have a lot of fun together. My wife has been pushing me harder and harder to do more stuff as a family and I think this year I'll take a more proactive approach to it.
  

There you go. This is what I'm going to try and improve on this year. It is a lot to do and I'll need some help but with blood, sweat and tears, I think I can pull it off. If I'm successful, I think it will make me a better person.

Cheers and have a great 2009!!!

-Ffej