Resolving resolutions

First of all, I think I should offer an apology for the holiday hiatus; I’ve been really busy doing two things which work generally leaves me unable to do: socialising with friends and travelling with family. Meanwhile, hyalineskies has continued on without me: since I’ve been away, Hacking a GTD Moleskine went somewhat viral; appearing on del.icio.us/popular, Lifehacker and lifehack.org, not to mention tens of personal blogs. It seems (in an ironic sort of way) that my modified, simplified version of David Allen’s GTD is gaining a tiny cult following of its own.

Back in the same article, I promised to check in at the beginning of 2007 to say whether or not my system ended up working out for me, and I’m rather disappointed in myself. In the lead-up to finals, I wasn’t disciplined enough and let the GTD Moleskine collect dust on my desk. Oddly enough, however, I picked it up after finals, and the book has made itself into a staple in my life. The Moleskine now tags along on most of my ventures in my coat pocket, and it has proven invaluable in helping me manage my freelance load. It’s really very useful.

The Moleskine method has not been without its pitfalls. I have been lax on processing tasks into their proper positions, processing the inbox only every three days or so. That said, my productivity has greatly increased; the reason I find myself so lax on processing is that by the time I actually get around to process, I’ve got most of the tasks completed. I’ve also taken down to writing just about everything in the list, from mundane tasks such as “vacuum kitchen area” (note: my kitchen is really small) to much more complex things involving freelance projects. I’m certainly busy, but GTD is leaving me with schedule-able time to meet with friends or go to parties/clubs, something that become largely impossible at times when I juggled multiple projects.

The GTD system has also helped me with something else: making my new year’s resolutions. With “become more organised” on the list, it’s obvious that the system is helping. However, I have two more resolutions that GTD can’t help me with, and that’s where I’m turning to the experiences of, well, more experienced “lifehackers.”

Resolution Two: Be more punctual.

I am one of those absent-minded, easily-sidetracked people that will be late for my own funeral. I consistently arrive everywhere 15 minutes late; in fact, my doctor has taken to scheduling my appointments later than they tell me so that I arrive on time. While I always make it somewhere, I rarely make it there early.

I’m not sure what it is that causes me to be late to everything, and for that matter I doubt that one thing can be held responsible. It seems that however much I plan ahead or try my best to be early, the stars align to stop me from getting where I need to be on time. In one example, I left for a meeting at work an hour earlier than was necessary to be there on time; I happened upon a massive traffic jam and got to work roughly ten minutes after my colleagues had left in the carpool to corporate headquarters. None of us were particularly pleased. This trend still continues on a daily basis, and I am not sure what — if anything — I can do to be more punctual.

With that said, I’m still trying. I’ve started setting my alarm clock an hour and a half early in the morning (as opposed to one hour) to improve my chances of punctuality to the first of my day’s tasks, to which I am always the latest. I’ve taken to trying (rather unsuccessfully) to go to sleep earlier than my usual 2-3 AM, although in doing so I only seem to lie awake until that time range, regardless of the sleep I may have had the night before.

Resolution Three: Be healthier.

This seems to be everyone’s resolution in some way or another; after all, the biggest New Year’s Resolution is to lose weight. Oddly, my resolution is the exact opposite: gain weight. My ultra-fast metabolism, be it a curse or a blessing, leaves me much thinner than most my age; in some cases I could still pass for a high-schooler at 21 and a half. I’m not really sure how to resolve this other than to do the same thing the fat burners are doing: eat well and work out a lot.

I’ve certainly been eating healthier. I’ve been working on a high-protein, high-vitamin diet and have almost entirely cut trans fats, the supposed leading cause of ischaemic heart disease in the United States. Much to my own surprise, I even gave up my usual grande no-whip mocha for a papaya protein shake.

Like most other Americans, I find myself horribly non-committal to the gym. The oddity of the situation is that if I can actually get myself to go, I have plenty of fun; the issue is motivating myself to walk the 3/4 mile to the recreation building. However, like most people, American or otherwise, I also greatly dislike losing money. That’s where my plan comes into play: instead of just schlepping to the gym, bag in tow, I’m actively investing in athletics. I’m buying the proper nutritional supplements, gear and locker fees in hopes that I’ll deter myself from being lax on my gym attendance. After all, it’s really simple microeconomics: if I can make the cost of not going outweigh the benefit, I’ll inevitably go. Once I get there, I don’t want to leave.

Meanwhile, I’m attempting to learn a lot about exercise methods. While I’m looking to build some mass, I also have the seemingly counterproductive goal of increasing physical endurance for medium-distance running. Hopefully I’ll be able to balance the two.

The resolution resolution

To help me achieve these goals, I have started a log for them; seeing progress seems to be the best motivator for me. I’ve realised that the GTD Moleskine seems to cater to this almost superficially: while I do get plenty done, I’ve taken to writing small next actions which solve little necessary purpose and exist more to make it seem like I’m doing a lot.

On the punctuality front, my school notebook now contains a record of how late I am to each class every day, giving me a metric that I can see trends in. Out of all this metric obsession-compulsion, the exercise log is the most swamped. I am keeping a record of total caloric intake and weight just as a weight-loss dieter would, trying to sway myself away from the screw-lunch-let’s-have-coffee mentality to eating the proper foods.

Just as I did with the GTD Moleskine, I’ll post about my results of my newest “life hacks;” this time, however, I’ll check in in May due to the long-term bias of these goals. Meanwhile, hopefully this post will serve as some inspiration: will you stick to your own goals this year?