Since twenty fifteen was about a day ago and today is the start of twenty sixteen, here's a little note to myself about seven goals I wish to achieve in this year. I honestly find myself committing to about 4.2% more to something if I write them out and about 5.8% more if I broadcast them (to about three fans). Altogether, I guess this will make me achieve them 10% more if I write them here.
2015 to me, honestly, was a bust, with my IGCSE exams, I felt I procrastinated way too much and I didn't put in as much as effort as I would have liked and I could have done. Thus, I guess as of now, the thing I dread the most this year is getting back the results. However, I guess the good thing about now being that is that now I have the drive to improve and kick the IB program's butt. I believe that if I put in enough hard work and manage my time well, I will be able to achieve my full potential. With that in mind, I'm honestly very eager to begin twenty sixteen. Okay, I should stop rambling and actually write my resolutions now!
In twenty fifteen, another one of the ways I procrastinated a lot was by constantly using my phone. Part of me blames this for the reason why I think I was very distracted during the IGCSE period. Texts constantly poured in with questions from physics formulas to the historical context of the Victorian era and I kept checking my phone after each buzz. Not only that, I prolonged the time I spent on the phone by checking out Instagram and watching YouTube clips. It wasn't until I had a few exams that I downloaded a self help app to keep me from getting sidetracked. I regret doing this now and I wish I had got it at the start of twenty fifteen. The app is called Forest (you can check their site here) and it plants a tree within the time you set it and if you use your phone during the time, the tree is being planted, it will be killed. (*sigh* I bet this makes zero sense). As you can see above I had been planting a tree (and it is currently the cute Christmas edition). Another thing I lacked a lot in twenty fifteen was the fact that I was very unobservant, very inert because I constantly used my phone. This year in twenty sixteen, I also want to observe more. I want to observe more in the sense that I want to notice things. In some ways, I want it to be like an adventure to explore, hence, the cap and the fjallraven kanken. I want to invest in a journal to sketch, to write, to doodle so as to destress from the heavy taxing IB course. This will also encourage me to find new hobbies, which I'm currently lacking.
YouTube and TV shows have been notoriously the number one on my list on where I procrastinate the most. In twenty sixteen, I aim to watch only three TV shows and only watch an episode during the weekends after completing homework and to not watch it on binge. I have decided to stick to only watching Game of Thrones, American Horror Story and How To Get Away With Murder. I will probably only watch Survivor if it's good. As for YouTube, I will only watch about twenty minutes a day of it, if I have finished all my homework and got notes and additional mathematics problems done.
2015 to me, honestly, was a bust, with my IGCSE exams, I felt I procrastinated way too much and I didn't put in as much as effort as I would have liked and I could have done. Thus, I guess as of now, the thing I dread the most this year is getting back the results. However, I guess the good thing about now being that is that now I have the drive to improve and kick the IB program's butt. I believe that if I put in enough hard work and manage my time well, I will be able to achieve my full potential. With that in mind, I'm honestly very eager to begin twenty sixteen. Okay, I should stop rambling and actually write my resolutions now!
ONE. READ MORE
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| Psych101 and Magnus Chase. The former was lent to me by a friend. |
In twenty fifteen, I barely did any reading and I guess you could blame it on the fact that I spent too much time on IGCSE yet I had pockets of time to read yet I spent most of it either sleeping or procrastinating by staying up and binge watching TV. My goal for twenty sixteen is to read about twenty books this year, it may not seem like a lot but with IB being taxing, I'm not sure if I'll be able to do it. You can keep track of the books I have read this year, here!
TWO. TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS
My parents very kindly bought me the Canon AE-1 for Christmas but knowing me, after a few snaps, I will grow bored and leave the camera to collect dust. However, this year, I'm going to use this camera and write down notes about every photo I take – their aperture, shutter speed and setting. I just inserted a roll yesterday and already have started to snap some pictures. I'm really hoping when I develop them, they turn out okay. I may even make a blog post about it.
THREE. BE MORE ORGANISED
As mentioned earlier, twenty fifteen was mainly a bust because I mostly procrastinated. However, I think one of the main reasons why I procrastinated so much was because I was not organised. This year, I want to be on top of things, and heck, if need be, get a Moleskine for it. Like for mathematics, I want to practice more questions on the topic and not just do homework and call it done. Or for chemistry and geography, I want to write out notes, get a notebook and write concise notes.
As A.A Milne once said, "Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up."
FOUR. TEXT LESS, OBSERVE MORE
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| Fjallraven Kanken, iPhone 5 and Van Gogh Museum cap |
FIVE. WRITE MORE FREQUENTLY
This is probably my fifth blog that I have made in the last four years. I find that I tend to always give up or not follow through with my blogs. Hence, I think I should make it a pact to at least blog once every month. This should also be done in order to destress and also at least be consistent with a blog for once. These posts do not have to be filled with text and can just contain photographs taken on my camera. Thus, I guess this kills two birds with one stone whereby I take photographs as well.
SIX. WATCH LESS YOUTUBE / TV
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| Ignore my dusty screen, a Mark E Miller video was playing |
SEVEN. DO MORE EXERCISE
In twenty fifteen, I barely did any exercise and probably managed to do only about thirty two days out of the three hundred and sixty five days exercising. This year, I plan to exercise more mainly so I will feel less lethargic and hunch less. I want to at least run once a week and join tennis in school. I also believe by doing this, I will be able to destress (most of these are about destress oops) from the IB life (I'm imagining the IB to be a big lump but it may not be, I hope it isn't). I recently got a new pair of running kicks so I'm hoping that this will be able to motivate me to get more fit. Plus, this will help me in two years when my National Service comes (where all nineteen year old men have to serve the army for two years I think). I'm so not looking forward to it but I rather go in healthy than to go in unfit. I also want to start eating healthily and not binge on frozen pizza before dinner time or eat two packets of chips before I go to sleep. With a skinny physique, I hope by doing this, I will gain about three kilograms (I'm not sure if this is unrealistic). Although work may be heavy, I want to be healthy too by getting as much sleep as possible and hence, I will have to forgo naps which was what I constantly did in twenty fifteen.
I hope to make the most out of twenty sixteen and kick some butt. I hope your twenty sixteen will be as fruitful as mine and you achieve all your resolutions. Frankly, if I manage to ace half of these resolutions, I will be really pleased considering how most years, I just managed to let them slip pass me and before I know it, it is already the new year. And lastly, have a happy new year and may it go smoothly for you!
Peter J.
camera used: Nikon D90
all photos here are taken by Peter J.
