2012 Resolutions for the New Year

Before this year’s resolutions, a review of resolutions for 2011:

• Be Precise
• Ask More Questions, Learn About What Knowledge is Worth Having in RAM
• Build Tools for Helping People Remember the Right Answer
• Be a Gentleman

Honestly, I did not improve in any of these categories over the past year. In fact, I made no personal improvement of any kind in 2011. Wow.

Goals for this year

Increase extracurricular learning.

As our company has grown from 5 to almost 20, I have learned much about building culture, recruiting, managing, leading. In order to do my job well, I must, of course, continue to improve and learn every day, so just “learning more” would set the bar too low for a resolution (though, given last year’s embarassing performance on my resolutions, I was tempted to throw in a freebie). Instead of only setting out to acquire more knowledge and skills, I am resolving to devote more time to learning outside of work this year.

I wish I had, upon writing this, already begun narrowing this goal to a particular field, like piano or gymnastics, but because I have not yet done so, I will have to devote some time early in the year just to identifying a field of study. So far my only inclination is to study something musical or requiring a degree of physical finesse.

Eye contact.

Someone told me this year that I have shifty eyes, someone else “a thousand yard gaze.” Being rather introverted by nature, I have always struggled to make direct eye contact during conversation. When the gravity of discussion has compelled me to overcome this aversion, I have realized how powerful direct eye contact can be. I’d like to be able to use eye contact without hesitation, so I’m going to make a conscious effort to practice. (Warning: don’t get freaked out if I am staring you in the eye next time we get together.)

Yoga 1x per week.

For the past few months, I have barely been to yoga class at all. Now, my muscles take longer to stretch and I’m just not as lithe or comfortable as I am when I’m practicing yoga consistantly. For a lot of 2010 and the beginning of 2011, I was practicing 2-3 times per week, and I think I got burned out. Once a week feels like enough to keep my body feeling good, but not so much that I get bored. (Side goal: I really want to go on a yoga retreat at some point this year.)

Be graceful.

Grace encompasses (or is encompassed by, I’m not sure which) my annual goal “be a gentleman.” While both entail a high degree of consideration for others, I like that grace also implies a style of movement, a way of carrying yourself physically. This is a hard one, so I’ve set a reminder on my home screen.