Resolutions
Yeesh, I feel like crap lately. I’ve given up on exercise of any kind until next week, so I may as well make productive use of the time. It’s about time I actually did some New Year’s resolutions. Maybe something about laziness or procrastination?
The easiest category for goal-setting is physical stuff. For starters, I want some benchmarks for physical strength. The deadline for all these goals is the day before my 25th birthday (December 17):
1. 75 pushups (Current: 58)
2. 16 wide-arm pullups (Current: 12)
3. 20 chinups (Current: ?)
4. 130 lbs max shoulder press (Current: ?)
5. 60 capo squats
Another aspect I really need to focus on is cardio. That’s always been one of my strong suits, so it’s been really strange to see it flagging.
5. Run 10 miles without stopping
6. Run 3 miles in 18 minutes
7. Sitting heart rate of 65 bpm
I also need to set some martial arts benchmarks, even though it’s not very amenable to qualitative goals.
8. Red belt in Karate
9. Full side splits
10. Qualify in ground fighting at Elk River school
11. Read “The Tao of Jeet Kune Do”
12. Read “Science of Stand-Up”
I need to get some fundamental Christian disciplines in place, although I’m finally back on a Bible reading schedule.
13. Read the Bible cover-to-cover (Current: Leviticus 23)
14. Memorize the book of Romans (Roughly one verse per day)
15. Read “12 Disciplines of the Christian Life”
Some musical goals…
16. Play with worship team at least once
17. Lead guitar cover of “Sequoia Throne” by Protest the Hero
18. Lead guitar cover of “Marianas Trench” by August Burns Red
19. Dual-cover any song with Mike
20. Vocal cover of “Sequoia Throne” by Protest the Hero
21. Write a song at least 4 minutes long
I’m a little worried about being able to get the Protest guitar cover done, as it’s out of my league at the moment. But I’ve improved a lot since last year, and I didn’t even try hard, so I’m still hopeful.
My intellectual development is at a really crucial moment right now, because my prefrontal cortex only has a couple more years of development before cognition peaks. I want to stretch the peak capacity as high as it will go before the denouement.
More on that in this old post.
In light of this goal, I need to focus on my dysfluency in a couple of areas: physical/mechanical reasoning, programming, abstract mathematics, the process of system building, and- perhaps most importantly- theology.
These are pretty easy to plan for, though. To learn a language, you just gotta use it!
22. Read “Statics and Dynamics” and work all exercises
23. Read “Introduction to Computer Organization” (again) and work all exercises
24. Read “Modern Algebra” and work all exercises
25. Read “Summa Theologica” and write a book report
26. Read “Mathematical Methods in the Physical Sciences” and work all exercises
27. Read “Introduction to Java” and work all exercises
That’s a pretty hefty list, even for my huge penis brain. Ah, but it should be pretty fun, too.
Recreational intellectualismnastics:
28. Read 60 books
29. Write 300 blog posts
30. Complete formal notation system
At work…
31. Get a raise
32. Get promoted
33. No tardies
If I think of any other areas where I need to set some goals, I’ll make a note and update this post.