2016 - My Resolutions

December 31, 2015

I'm having a fantastic time in Hermanus, as always! It never disappoints.

Happy New Year! May 2016 always be a very fond memory for you guys. I look forward to it being one of my best years, and I hope it's the same for you.

Before I list my resolutions, let me quickly review what I once learned to be a SMART goal.

Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time-bound

I might not have put down the specific details in full of each and every goal, but ALL of these are far more than just pie-in-the-sky, trust me.

Without further delay, my list:

Count the Calories

I aim for 1800 calories a day, and track this using the Health app on my phone. Before my next meal, I make sure that I'm up-to-date and have added the data manually. Even estimating the calories is better than just munching haphazardly, and makes you more aware of what's going in your body.

Join Virgin Active

I've been putting this off for long enough, but I have no more excuses with the gym in my office park combined with my Discovery Vitality membership.

10000 Steps a Day

More Apple Health app tracking, but this time it's automatic. I think this is a great way to maintain overall health and seems challenging, but realistic based on my 9000 average over the last month or so.

Vitality Apple Watch

I've been made aware of a deal where you can get this for a ridiculously cheap price and just have to set and reach your goals over a period of time. It obviously makes sense for Discovery to promote this, and I'm someone who would actually have the self-discipline to stick to my goals.

Prototype #Grog1699

I have come up with some solid ideas over the December break, and wanna put this into action.

Play 50 New Games

I wanna take my developing role as game designer far more seriously than before, and I have to get to know the market for this to succeed.

Theory/Design/Play

A further complement of my game design goals, I want to work through The Rules of Play and spend an hour designing every week.

Get a raise by the end of May, or start looking for a new job.

I do enjoy my job and it's incredibly stimulating, but I earn very little compared to my peers and especially considering my skill-set.

Renovate and sell my flat

This is part of the mission of living on my own again. Although the flat's been in the market for nearly two months now, there's a lot of little things I can fix cheaply which should make it far more attractive to potential buyers.

Cook 10 Banting recipes from Low-Carb is Lekker

I received an awesome recipe book for Christmas. This coincides with my health and lifestyle goals and learning to cook Banting food properly also gels with living on my own again. Makes sense.

30 29 Blog Entries

I definitely want to write more. It's helped me in the past and it can help me this year. It's fun with the correct approach and completes me as a human being. Win-win.

30kg Bench Press within 3 months

I want to focus on 3 exercises above all the others I do, the deadlift, bar squat and bench press. This is to develop overall body strength. I don't have much experience with the deadlift and bar squat so it doesn't make sense to set goals for them now. I currently bench 24kg for 35 repetitions. I know this seems like very very little, but I maintain perfect form and trust me, it's DIFFICULT for me to push the bar up from touching my chest. I can think of a number of reasons why, but none of those matter.

The only person I need to be better than, is the person I was YESTERDAY. :-)