In pursuit of true change in my life, rather than letting a resolution fizzle out, I initially chose not to do a resolution for the new year. As everyone knows, New Year’s Resolutions never work out. I happen to think that this is because the New Year is just an arbitrary point of change. No one feels different because an arbitrary quantum of time has passed, but rather because they feel a sincere and deeply held conviction to change. No, I’m not Neil DeGrasse-Tyson in disguise.

I think that CGP Grey put it well in his video on the subject. Rather than framing the new year through a negative lens (i.e. “I’ll lose 10 pounds”, “I’ll get rid of excess things in my life”) which are bound to create a negative perspective and thus, you’ll lose motivation and you’ll probably end up failing. But you can frame those expectations in a positive way which will lead to real change.

That is the basis of the theme as he conceives it.

So, to hold myself accountable, I’m putting mine here. My theme is “The Year of Moderation.” I’ve noticed that I tend to spend money on things that aren’t that important in the long run. I eat out too much. I buy random things on Amazon too much. In my vision for 2020, I want to teach myself how to spend less money, and also how to use the resources I have in a more responsible way.

I think I’ve made progress so far, but one of my most proud accomplishments is getting a new job during the school year. I’m taking the fewest credits in a semester that I’ve ever had, and it’s only going to get easier for me (I’m planning on taking 12 and 6 credit hours for my Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 semesters, respectively) so the free time that I’ve been essentially squandering on useless things is being converted into multiple things: money, which is nice to have more of; experience, which I can always use more of; and a sense of usefulness. In all areas of life, adding more work on my plate has actually led to me being more productive.

I’m not sure how this really happened, but I think it’s because I spent so much time doing nothing that I let that lack of productivity almost turn into a sort of bystander effect. Because I felt like I had tons of time, nothing was urgent. But now, with less time, I actually take advantage of the time that I do have during the week to actually do the work that I need to do, which mostly lets me enjoy my weekends and get more meaningful free time.

Is my life a bit more frenetic now that I’m running around town from classes to work to team time for Design Studio? Yes. Am I being more productive than before? Yes. Am I wasting less time on things that aren’t meaningful to me? Yes. Where am I going with these questions? They were facetious, and meant to show that I’m doing good.