Ask HN: What's your new year resolution? - ceekay
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forktheif
1280x1024

...and to try and resist the urge to answer every question with a bad joke.

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ozh
Stop caring about unwanted git commit messages ("merge with branch" because I
merge/rebase something old or "oops typo" because I didn't amend previous
commit to add an extra change in it) because in the end, it's the current
state of `master` which is important. To me.

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derwiki
Not speak badly of anyone. Not because I'm worried it would get back around,
but because I want to try to not be in a mindset like that.

~~~
kenkam
I have a similar resolution. I find that I excessively judge others internally
(even though I don't voice it) and that places irrational pressure on myself.
I judge because of various reasons, but I think mainly to make myself feel
that I'm better. This illusion ended when I realised I'm not actually that
good at anything. I wonder if I am the only one.

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visakanv
Sleep earlier. Started yesterday, midnight instead of 3am. Plan to at least
hit 11pm every pre-workday of January.

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NomenNudum
I will be doing my new years resolutions in bursts of 4 (quarters), as I feel
this motivates me to keep going and it doesn't feel like such a long time.
Plus being able to tell yourself you've done something earlier than you were
supposed to feels GREAT! I usually review my goals on the last weekend before
the end of the quarter and review what I have (or haven't) achieved and carry
it over to the next quarter and add new goals. Plus, It's a lot harder to fail
something 4 times compared to 1.

Quarter 1: Jan-Mar

* Get down to 12% body fat (lose ~10kg) - easily doable on keto diet, already lost 11kg last 2 months.

* Sleep earlier

* Spend my weekends more meaningfully instead of just sitting around at home. Explore London while I'm still here and before I move to SF.

* Learn advanced Git.

* Learn more Objective C/iOS development.

* Start a blog

Quarter 2: Apr-Jun

* 10% body fat

* Learn to swim and become a pro at it (follow gym programme)

* Learn basic French (Michel Thomas audio course) and reward myself with a weekend in Paris

* Try out Shotokan karate (complete 8 lesson course)

* Learn something tech (depends on interests at the time), perhaps Lisp.

Quarter 3: Jul-Sep

* Learn something tech (depends on interests at the time)

* Learn something non-tech (depends on interests at the time)

Quarter 4: Oct - Dec

* Learn something tech (depends on interests at the time)

* Learn something non-tech (depends on interests at the time)

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vojant
I thought about my life latey and I am starting today with my New Year
resolutions.

* Improve my english

* Learn math - I have graduated only high school and I have been scared of math my whole life. Time to change it!

* Learn as much as I can about data mining. - After reading [http://guidetodatamining.com](http://guidetodatamining.com), I found it really interesting.

* Learn Python.

* Improve work/fun time management.

~~~
contingencies
In support of point 1, point 2 should be "learn more maths". Use of the
abbreviated, antiquated adjective 'mathematic' as a plural is a peculiarity of
American English and is probably not something you want to emulate. Have fun
:)

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vojant
Thanks

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currymesurprise
I believe the grandparent's comment was a bit misleading if not wrong.
([http://xkcd.com/386/](http://xkcd.com/386/) ..)

In most dialects of English (notably British English), the short form of the
subject is "maths". In North American English, it is "math". In all dialects,
the full form is "mathematics". In all dialects, both the short and full forms
are singular and accept singular verbs. For example, "mathematics IS the study
of numbers and patterns".

If you like to tailor to your audience, you may consider using "maths" for a
British audience and "math" for an American audience.

~~~
vojant
Thank you for detailed explanation

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ozh
Also, stop biting my nails. I've got myself a simple little manicure set (the
little scissors and a nail file) and whenever I'm on the phone, I gently grind
& shape a couple nails.

Bonus: typing feels much better with smooth nails than with awful bitten
fingers.

~~~
ggreer
I've never had that problem myself, and I don't know if you've already tried
it, but I've heard of people using bitter nail polish. It seems like a clever
way to change that habit.

~~~
ozh
I don't want to trick myself into not doing something. I'd feel stupid. Plus,
I don't want extra hassle of putting something onto my nails. I bite my nails
just because I've never really worried about it, but now I feel like I should
stop and I don't want any "lure" to achieve this :)

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LBarret
* ace my current project (a medium/big rearchitecture of an application stack : move to web front-end, data analysis, software quality, etc)

* write and publish : I have two short stories and few blogs articles that my wife finds interesting, maybe others would be interested as well.

* get fit : I used to be MA instructor, but because of my (now-closed) start-up, I let it slide. 100 push-ups, 1 hours run, -10 pounds, etc.

* double my income : I don't really care about the money per se, but this keeps me away from doing things nobody cares about.

* learn & use monads & monads transformer (haskell)

* master the javascript ecosystem.

* publish my 3d procedural modeler.

* move to another city.

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enos_feedler
Optimize my decision making around building and maintaining relationships with
those who are important to me. I am basically tired of living with the anxiety
of _knowing_ certain relationships are important and _wanting_ to do something
about it but not _committing_ myself to building those relationships. I spend
a lot of time doing things that I now realize are much less important.

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Brajeshwar
* Learn more, lot more by working with people smarter than me.

* Do more for others. In that vein, I'm contributing to a local co-working setup by helping people with Product Design.

* On a bigger experiment, I'm planning a Product Design Tour[1] of Silicon Valley.

1\. [http://design-tour.brajeshwar.com/](http://design-tour.brajeshwar.com/)

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dazoot
I'll travel in a new country every month.

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apapli
Get the time balance right between my full time job, my startup and my wife
and child.

~~~
ozh
That definition of "right" is going to be tricky...

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matthewmacleod
Got to try and get back on the Paleo wagon, or at least move in the right
direction. Good time of year too - the lunch time street food market near our
office isn't back until February, and that's often my weakness!

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milhous
To work harder and smarter in school, panic less on tests, and use my free
time to work on interesting and progressively difficult hacking projects.

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kenkam
* Don't worry about others judging me

* Don't judge others

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Moto7451
Loose 20 pounds. I actually accomplished that (and 10 more) last year :).

Learn Python.

Actually put my homepage on the internet (wow, wouldn't that be something!)

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jervisfm
Any tips on how you accomplished your first goal ?

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Moto7451
For six months I exercised three times per week with a personal trainer at set
appointments to make sure I would go. Lots of weight lifting. That provided
the fastest results. I also improved my diet though my sweet tooth remains.
I've been far more sedentary (though still getting some light exercise,
walking around the neighborhood, going up and down a 7 story parking
structure) and have been able to maintain my weight which is a good sign.

I'm probably going to try the same thing again since it worked so well a year
ago. I'm 20b away from my High School weight but a bit leaner.

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japhyr
Work hard. Be strong. Don't complain.

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daGrevis
[ _] Improve my English,

[_] Learn any functional language (I tried to learn Haskell, now I'm looking
at Clojure);

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phaedrix
Watch less TV, go to bed earlier/get up earlier and read more nonfiction.

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binarysolo
1 project (hardware, software, art, self-improvement) of 5+ hours per week.

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onion2k
And if you have one, why are you waiting until an arbitrary date to start?

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matthewmacleod
Someone always has to say this, but it's a little bit tired.

A new year is not entirely "arbitrary". Sure – from the point of view of
geology or global history, it's irrelevant. But it provides a very obvious
psychological "clean slate" – a fresh start and obvious break. It usually
provides a little holiday, some time spent with family, and an opportunity for
reflection.

Yes, most resolutions fail. But people aren't perfect, and if we were all able
to commit wholly to self-improvements at the drop of a hat, the world would
probably be a much better place. Since we can't, I don't really see the harm
in a little psychological boost once a year.

~~~
onion2k
Making something a resolution to change something at New Year is giving
yourself permission to fail. Everyone breaks their New Year resolutions, so
why shouldn't you?

The fact is, if we can resolve to change at the beginning of January then we
_can_ commit to self-improvement at the drop of a hat (assuming the 'drop of a
hat' means a time when we have the necessary resources, time, inclination,
etc). The date makes absolutely no difference at all. Why not a birthday
resolution, or easter, or mid-summer (surely a _far_ better time if you're
going to be more active or eat more healthily)? I have no data, but I wouldn't
be at all surprised to see people who resolve to do things at times of the
year other than New Year are much, much more successful than anyone who'll
make a change next week. Their reasons (a choice rather than a tradition) will
be more inclined to success.

~~~
NomenNudum
Personally, I make a plan before Jan 1st of what I want to achieve the
following year in burst of 4, starting from January 1st.

I've found this to be a lot more motivating, since the finish date is
relatively close... Three months isn't a long time and being able to say
you've succeeded feels great!

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sect2k
Take over the world!

~~~
howlett
Not if I do it first!

~~~
contingencies
[http://larsoninstitute.com/quotes/](http://larsoninstitute.com/quotes/)

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donniezazen
Become a good Android developer.

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antonapa
Focus on family and friends.

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pouzy
Learn spanish.

