In years gone by I have had a tendency to scoff at the notion of New Year’s Resolutions, but I’m increasingly coming to see the value of a clean break and an obvious opportunity for reflection (which is offered equally well by a birthday, a new academic year or moving into a new flat – there’s nothing special about January 1st). This year I have a few goals which I shall now proceed to share with you.
1. Paying For Online Services I Use
I suspect this one is inspired by Jeff Atwood somewhere along the line, but I’ve decided that in a struggling economy it becomes even more important to pay for what you find useful. Sites like Wikipedia, ToodleDo and Flickr add immense value to my life, and they rely upon paying users to keep them running for the long term. Just because we’ve got used to having stuff online for free doesn’t mean that’s a sustainable state of affairs.
2. Finishing a Puzzle Overview Document
I’ll probably blog about this one in a bit more detail some time, but I hope to finalise the list of puzzles and solutions for my first Bible-teaching computer game within the next few months. It may be hard work, but it helps to have goals!
3. Learning To Live Sustainably
No, I don’t mean I want to “go back to the land” and learn to grow my own vegetables (though having said that…). By “learning to live sustainably” I mean getting out of the mindset that leads to short-termism and burnout. Years of disposable accommodation lived in for 12 months and then discarded, along with the housemates I shared it with, has led to all sorts of bad habits. Moving regularly could be considered the brute force solution to an aversion to cleaning, but it’s really not sustainable in the long run. Similarly, the pattern of overcommitting yourselves during the term, massively overdoing it and then crashing during the holiday break from Bible-studies and so on might work if you only expect to be at the same church for a year or two, but if you’re staying long term then something has to change. In 2009 I wish to learn to live sustainably.
4. Investing in Christian Community
This is another one that I eagerly hope to blog about at more length, but I have been thinking a lot lately about how to build true Christian community with genuine, deep friendships, and I hope to start putting some of that in to practice in 2009.
What are your goals for 2009?