Ask HN: What Are Your New Years Resolutions or 2018 Goals? - kreeWall
======
Kaivo
I decided to note on a daily basis what I learned over the day. To commit to
it, rather than being a note in a note book, I made it as a blog[1] on which I
post daily. It is badly written and really incomplete but as it is mostly for
myself, I have no issue with it.

The ultimate goal is to see what I learned over a year so I can better
appreciate the progress I made, rather than only base my retrospective on
feelings. It might also be useful to find what I learned but can't put the
name on it, or find links to interesting things I found several months ago.

To help staying focused, I decided to fix goals and rewards. The first reward
is on January 1st if I haven't skipped a single day from when I started.

[1] [https://today-i.netlify.com/](https://today-i.netlify.com/)

~~~
LearnerHerzog
I need something like this. Maybe I'll whip something up in rails to get a
blog template started.

What did you use to set your blog up (language/framework/web-builder)? How
long did it take you? It looks nice.

~~~
Kaivo
It took me about an hour. I used hugo [1] with netlify [2] to publish and
forestry [3] to edit, and everything is on github [4].

[1] [https://gohugo.io/](https://gohugo.io/)

[2] [https://netlify.com/](https://netlify.com/)

[3] [https://forestry.io/](https://forestry.io/)

[4]
[https://github.com/GuillaumeRochat/today-i](https://github.com/GuillaumeRochat/today-i)

------
kirubakaran
I'll skip the usual suspects. I successfully made several positive changes
this year. I'm going to improve upon it further next year.

\- Launch the webapp that I'm working on. I plan to do it in January.

\- Be mindful, especially of how I spend my day. I made
[https://crushentropy.com/](https://crushentropy.com/) to make this easier. It
has been working out great. I can see that my productivity has gone up, my
attention isn't scattered, and I feel more content by the end of each day.
I'll do more of this in 2018 and add more related habits and routines.

\- I read 33+ books so far this year:
[https://kirubakaran.com/bookshelf/](https://kirubakaran.com/bookshelf/) This
is my current personal best and I'll try to beat this in 2018. Most of the
time for this came from cutting back on Hacker News and Reddit, which don't
relax me as well as reading a book for 30min does.

\- I couldn't travel as much as I wanted to in 2017. I plan to compensate for
this in 2018 ;-) I also plan to hike, snowboard, and play racquetball more
than I did in 2017.

------
swombat
I’ve found that committing to a single meaningful word for the year works
better than resolutions.

Two years ago the word was “space”. I made more room in my life for growth and
change that year.

This year the word was “presence”. I went on quite a personal development
journey and being more present, particularly with my emotions and physical
body, was definitely a strong element of that journey.

For next year I’m thinking of breaking my rule and having two words, because
it feels like they will work best together: “patience” and “flow”.

I’m curious if anyone else can think of a word that seems to be calling to
them this coming year.

~~~
Kaivo
Given what I started and how I've been thinking, maybe "aware". Being aware of
what's happening around me, of the thoughts I have, of the progress I make,
doing the mental process of noting things rather than being passive about
what's going on. Does that make sens?

~~~
swombat
Yep, definitely makes sense! I guess it’s similar in meaning to if you chose
“conscious” or “present”...?

~~~
Kaivo
Maybe, but I see "aware" as noticing things external to myself as opposed to
"conscious" or "present" where it has a more spiritual, intra-personal
meaning.

Or maybe I'm not understanding the terms the right way as I'm not a native
English speaker and may put concepts and meanings from my native language into
these terms.

------
wishinghand
1\. Read a book a week. This is doable if i dedicate an hour a day to reading
and I pick books that end up being page turners.

2\. Play my electric guitar for an hour at least every other day.

3\. Put $1000 a month away in my savings account.

4\. Learn to implement some basic computer science algorithms in JavaScript. I
don’t know how to do binary trees or hash tables and I’d like to be able to
teach them at the Javascript fundamentals meetup I run once a month.

~~~
lunchables
>3\. Put $1000 a month away in my savings account.

I don't want to assume your financial goals but you might want to talk to a
financial planner before just sticking it in a savings account. Unless this is
a repository for cash you need short term and with immediate access this is
the worst place to put it.

~~~
wishinghand
My boss just recommended a tax person to a bunch of us new hires- we're all
1099 contractors. He said basically the same thing as you. I want to start
doing things like maxing out Roth and Sep IRAs, or whatever will end up making
sense for my position.

------
gglitch
This is the year I'm finally going to learn front end, just enough to
prototype. Don't roast me alive, but I'm thinking of starting with jQuery. It
seems much more learnable for a web stack beginner, and probably serviceable
for a long time to come for someone who mainly prototypes ideas that need an
elemental gui.

~~~
thecolorblue
I would learn react or angular first. I think the barrier to entry is the same
(depending on your background) and you will get much more out of it.

Beyond that, I would suggest learning how to take a psd website design and
turn it into HTML. This is a great skills to have. Adding functionality on top
of the HTML with react or angular is easy once you know how to break a website
down into digestible pieces.

That being said, it is your resolution. I'm not trying to force you into
anything. Just giving advice from my experience.

~~~
chubot
I think jQuery is better for a beginner because there's less stuff there. It's
closer to learning raw HTML/CSS/JS, which will serve you well in the future,
once the next thing replaces react/angular.

You can also just drop a single CDN URL into your web page without worrying
about a JS dev environment, which is not simple to set up these days. That
stuff is useful eventually, but I think it's distracting at first and obscures
the fundamentals of how the web works.

~~~
gglitch
Thanks. These observations confirm my asssumptions.

------
rbonvall
Mine is to write at least two articles per month on my blog
[http://mez.cl/a](http://mez.cl/a)

~~~
dktp
Do you know you have 99/100 Google Page Speed score? Fix "Compressing
[http://mez.cl/a/](http://mez.cl/a/) could save 1.4KiB (59% reduction)." and
you're good.

Due to a personal project I've been quite obsessed with Google Page Speed
lately and this could be the 2nd website I've come across in the wild to have
a 100/100\. Shoutouts to
[https://principles.design/](https://principles.design/) being the first one.

~~~
rbonvall
Thanks for the tip, this is indeed something I'd be proud of :)

I decided arbitrarily to make every post self-contained inside a single HTTP
request, and it's nice to see this single decision is already 99% of the job.

------
kuhzaam
Get my personal finances in order. I have no debt, a good savings going, and a
decent chunk in a 401k from a previous company. Other than that, I have done
basically no investing and I know I'm leaving money on the table.

~~~
hullsean
s&p 500 + real estate if you can.

~~~
vwcx
Real estate is not a passive investment and not something to get into casually
because you have money and want to grow it.

~~~
hhmc
You can passively expose yourself to real estate if you wish - there are
plenty of real estate ETFs for example.

------
hliyan
Shift focus from building products to building the people who build the
products.

I've found that as your leadership/management scope increases, there just
isn't enough of yourself to tackle all the big/complex technical problems. You
can't scale as a person. At first you try to throw technology at the problem,
and then process. Finally you realize that the basic building block you need
to work with is the person. Get that right and everything else will fall into
place. Only problem: coming from an engineering background, this doesn't come
naturally to me. So I plan to devote the coming year to master that aspect.

------
kiliantics
Graduate my PhD and get hired in industry. Hopefully in a job that affords me
enough leisure time to work on personal projects, of which I have many cooked
up but undeveloped at this stage. Exercise more regularly.

------
LearnerHerzog
No...

... soda, red meat, ice cream

... alcohol/cigarettes (even though I don't drink or smoke often anyway, there
is just no good reason to do them at all)

... sleeping in on weekends

... computer for first and last 60 minutes of the day

Yes:

\- Meditate >10 min/day

\- Exercise >5 days/wk

\- Run 3-4 day/wk

\- Better-learn and practice good nutrition

\- Work >80 hours per week (job + take action on personal startup project)

\- Write (morning): My definite goal and detailed plan as per rules of "Think
and Grow Rich"

\- Write (morning): Anything of importance that may come to mind (and/or
possible subconscious breakthroughs from sleep)

\- Write (night): What I learned/did that day

\- Write (night): the next day's 3 major tasks

------
devgoth
Wake up earlier. Get to the gym before 7AM instead of at night. have an
investment plan and stick to it.

------
roryisok
My goals: do everything in this thread :)

But seriously, nothing major. I just want to incrementally improve my writing,
coding and health and reading.

------
lobo_tuerto
I have had a couple of techs I've been wanting to try out and now I finally
have the time and drive to do it.

For starters, I'm in the middle of a complete blog rewrite (running away from
WordPress), using: Hugo and Bulma.

I'm also upgrading my fullstack tech-stack to: Elixir, Phoenix, Vue.js,
Ansible. Used to do: Ruby, Rails, Angular.

------
yodsanklai
Spend less time on the computer. Everything else will follow!

------
chubot
Keep on making releases of my shell, to the point where people actually use
it. Right now I see that there are some downloads, and a lot of people read my
blog, but there's not a whole lot of usage.

Latest release:
[http://www.oilshell.org/blog/2017/12/22.html](http://www.oilshell.org/blog/2017/12/22.html)

A few people have asked me what it is, and I answered with some links and
comments here:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/7lsajn/oil_shell_03_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/7lsajn/oil_shell_03_release/)

tl;dr It's a bash-compatible shell that treats shell as a real programming
language.

------
fokinsean
\- reduce reddit intake (and don't just replace with HN)

\- read 2 books a month, I hit my goal of 1 book/month this year!

\- become more present and mindful

\- more physical exercise!

Also stop visiting /r/conspiracy and /r/collapse. It has taken a toll on my
mental health and always puts me in pessimistic mood.

------
sarreph
Adhere to a filesystem... Right now all my files are a mess — often getting
saved in random places... I know I can find them with a quick spotlight
search, but it tends to bite me a bit when I need to locate a document from
several months ago.

That, and keeping a journal of some kind.

~~~
lunchables
You should do it! I just looked at mine and I've been keeping notes since June
2007, so earlier this year was 10 years. Hard to believe. I just set a
calendar reminder and each sunday I jot down a few things from the week. It
really forces me to look back and reflect on the week and helps everything
seem like less of a blur. I'd just write what happened at work, or
health/fitness updates, what I was listening to or watching, how my
relationships were going, that kind of stuff.

Anyway I'd highly recommend it, it's not only cathartic in the moment but it's
also a lot of fun to be able to look back on ten years of it. What a different
person I was 10 years ago!

~~~
sarreph
Thank you for the inspiration :) I think the Sunday-alarm is a great idea.

I always try and do daily-notes and end up getting demotivated after missing a
few days... that and all my notes ending up as a stream-of-conciousness...

Will try that system out!

------
rybosome
I developed some good habits over the last few months such as a more balanced
savings/investment plan, quitting Facebook and practicing yoga three to five
times per week, so I’d like to continue those consistently for the whole year.

These changes (plus others that I had already made within the last year or
two) have left me feeling the healthiest that I have felt in years, both
mentally and physically. I feel so much less anxious and more in control of my
life, my asthma no longer troubles me and I have lost ten pounds.

------
k1ns
Building my current project into a profitable business. I've been pushing
myself completely out of my comfort zone with this one, can't wait to see how
far I can take it.

------
bent_that_way
I'm hoping to make a concerted effort to both meditate and journal every day.
I began meditating this past year, and it has been a surprising boon to my
overall well-being.

~~~
somic
+1, hoping to somehow fit meditation in my life in 2018

------
sidlls
I have a few: complete my transition to management, help my wife double the
revenue of her side business, be consistent about my workout routine and lose
another 50 pounds.

------
punchingpeople
I decided to stop caring so much about the world and others, and pay more
attention to my needs and desires.

I will start drinking daily and become an alcoholic, want to see how far can I
go while still functioning in society. The moment my drinking becomes too
much, I will just quit society and disappear.

To show I mean business, I started today.

------
HalcyonicStorm
2017 was a great year for me professionally, where I shipped a few initiatives
that I'm proud of. I now work in elixir full-time, which was a goal of mine.

For 2018, I plan on branching out into new hobbies. I'm in danger of becoming
a one dimensional person. I think about code most of my waking hours and most
of my friends are engineers too. I plan on picking up biking, taking dance
classes, or improv classes to meet new people.

------
simonebrunozzi
These will probably be my 2018 goals:

1\. No sugar foods in Jan/Feb 2018 (and limited sugar afterwards; one dessert
per week?)

2\. Exercise for 10 minutes, 6 times/week

3\. Medidate for 10 minutes, 6 times/week

4\. Write a journal for 10 minutes, 6 times/week

5\. Walk for 60 minutes, in the morning, 3 times/week

6\. Eat well

7\. Sleep well (at least 7 hours/night, possibly 8 - 6 times/week)

8\. Every month, write a summary of the month just passed.

------
thecolorblue
Build a profitable side business. I have a couple started and in a couple
months I plan on picking one or two that have the most potential.

------
owebmaster
Live in a tent the whole year, camping and trekking

~~~
dirtyaura
Where do you plan to camp?

~~~
owebmaster
I'headiamin the south coast of Brazil now (Florianópolis) heading northeast
coast

~~~
dirtyaura
Sounds awesome! Any stories to share already?

------
bonniemuffin
I want to have the goal "be more accepting of things I can't change", but I'm
not sure how to make it actionable or measurable. How will I know if I'm
achieving it?

In past years I've had very measurable goals and have generally achieved them;
things like "have a conversation in japanese with someone in japan" or "get a
new job".

------
themodelplumber
My 2018 goals are intentionally vague. "Be more of the kind of guy who..."

In early 2017 I set these very specific goals that all revolved around some
kind of measured productivity: Learning, doing, making. Then, (my theory is
it's because I was on vacation at the time, feeling rested), I set and almost
immediately _increased_ the expected output. Memorize a word a day in German?
No problem! That's only 365 words...let's ramp that up to, say, five words a
day? I can do that with mnemonics...

Well, I gave up on that goal within 10 days, after returning to my normal
hectic life. I couldn't even let myself dial it back; I had to quit it
entirely (so idealistic, so brittle an approach).

Fortunately, I had also calendared monthly check-ins on my resolutions. I
analyzed my progress and realized:

\- I should just trust myself to make up little goals as I go along. My
interests changed enough throughout the year that a few single, hard
commitments were more like a distraction from my normal, fluid mode.

\- I achieve a _lot_ even excluding any resolutions. I decided to track my
accomplishments starting this year (and backfill previous years as best I
could remember) in a milestones.txt file. So in 2017 I finished 10+ different
personal web projects, completed my 15+ year-delayed university bachelor's
degree, started a new business, became an Extra class ham radio operator after
starting in the hobby 2 months previous, bought crypto for the first time,
learned to use a transceiver and had my first QSOs, got into AMSAT and
(attempted to communicate with the pileup that is) Fox-1B, downloaded Russian
SSTV images from the ISS, invested in individual stocks for the first time,
became a certified handwriting analyst, joined the National Space Society, and
finished two other certifications. So with all this, exactly why did I think I
needed any new year's resolutions?

\- Any resolutions I have should probably be general directions. This will
hopefully prompt me to be more flexible and make needed course corrections
along the way, rather than heading toward some fixed point.

Finally, the huge outcome for me was realizing that all of this productivity
results in higher anxiety and higher chances for depression (just based on my
journals). So I pay a price for achievement. It should be obvious, perhaps,
but like a moron I just thought that to achieve big things meant to become
happy. A risky thought! There's much more to it.

------
eurticket
Create more tiny habits that pair onto activities I already do. Mostly
Exercise, sit ups every time after I brush my teeth, stretching every time I
press snooze on the alarm clock.

A TED talk by BJ Fogg on the subject.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdKUJxjn-R8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdKUJxjn-R8)

~~~
rybosome
I’ve wanted to improve my yoga practice (especially balance) for awhile, so I
started doing trees and other one-legged balance moves every time I brush my
teeth. I don’t remember when I started, but it has made a big difference! I
can now hold poses that were impossible for me to perform at the beginning of
the year.

------
Sylphine
"What Are Your New Years Resolutions or 2018 Goals?" Too not have a new year
resolution. I don't need the start of a new year to make goals that I am
already working on. I enjoy being flexible and free. However I am committed to
learning every day. I have a plan to keep track of and hopefully I will
achieve my dreams one day.

------
darrenf
I _love_ making resolutions.

• In 2014 my headline resolution was "have a pint in all 48 ceremonial
counties of England"

• In 2016 it was "go/be abroad at least once each month" ️

• In 2017, "be under 90kg on Dec 1st, or drink no alcohol in 2018" ️ (phew!)

For 2018 it's "do something 'cultural' in every borough of London".

~~~
rev_bird
>"go/be abroad at least once each month"

This is such a dramatic departure from my experience as an American. I'm
almost 30 and have left the country once.

------
egypturnash
More exercise

Get back to drawing something every day. Preferably the big comics projects.
But anything is far better than nothing.

------
sedtrader
More intermittent fasting. The health benefits are well documented.

[https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-health-benefits-
of-i...](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-health-benefits-of-
intermittent-fasting)

------
aaronbrethorst
Run a 5k, help flip Washington’s 5th and 8th congressional districts, get
better at baking.

------
sodafountan
I'd love to get a job in NY writing React, I'm currently employed in
Philadelphia and a move to the NY area would push me out of my comfort zone
drastically. Hopefully I'll be able to achieve it by June.

------
tylerwhipple
Sleep.

I feel much of the difficulties that I face in life are due to not getting
enough sleep. Sleep deprivation has made me less productive, less healthy, and
most importantly, less happy.

------
msadowski
Take more risks - I feel like I've been far too careful with my life choices
recently.

Spend way more time outdoors, especially in the mountains.

Start posting regularly to my blog.

Learn a bit of Rust.

------
weego
I'd like to have slightly shorter hair I think.

------
afpx
Rehab - after slowly burning myself out over two back-to-back startups, I’m
taking a year or two break.

------
PappaPatat
Less social media

More cooking

Less apps on phone

More foosball

Less angst (jealousy)

More sharing (Polyamory)

Less work

More toying with locks (lockpicking)

Less flying

More camping

Less beer

More wine

Be less frugal

Support more people with (financial) needs

Weed out the car collection

Do one or two plastic surgeries

Less coding

Collect more art

Less different accounts

More krav maga

Less phones on me

More using different languages

Correct a wrong

------
hullsean
o continue to grow my meditation practice o pickup an aws cert o close 5x new
projects o travel 3x

------
newusertoday
my resolutions are

\- exercise 10 mins every day.

\- reduce sugar intake to 1 tbsp/day

\- start a blog

\- generate 10k in profits with saas.

\- learn swimming

------
codeemperor
I plan to finally get in great shape in 2018 with fitness.

Despite being already 30 years old...

