New Year’s Resolutions

Happy New Year to you all!

Now it is custom at this time of year to set some personal goals for the year ahead in the form of resolutions. This is not usually something I do, but this year I do feel that I have things I need to change and improve, so am publicly declaring them for the added pressure of achieving the targets.

1) Improve Time-Management 

Whilst I am enjoying my Masters year more than I ever imagined and getting generally geographically-enthused by an array of topics, conferences and happenings – I don’t feel that I have been that focused, efficient or productive over the last 3 months. I do not think there is an inherent problem in this, but I certainly would like to ‘produce’ more over the next year (or at least not have a mad dash to get things complete by deadlines). 2014 is shaping up to be a very interesting year, I have a couple of national conferences I’m presenting at, I am going to the AAG in Tampa, hopefully attending the RGS-IBG in August and submitting my first paper as well as completing work for my MA, including a dissertation and then starting my PhD. I really want to give my all into every aspect of this and not leave some to the last minute or feel that I could have/should have done better so it is definitely a good point at which to dramatically improve my time-management and productivity.

As of yet, I am not quite sure what my strategy for doing this will be – a case of trial and error I’m sure. I am certainly going to take up planning on a short term, medium-term and long-term basis to ensure all the individual tasks as well as larger projects are coming along as they should be. I am also going to impose a ban on checking emails / twitter etc. until I have completed at least 2 hours of work and I am committing myself to working much more in libraries than at home. I hope that this will allow me to do everything I want to, do it thoroughly and still plan in time to enjoy life and achieve that elusive work-life balance. Hey, I may even manage to post more on this blog (many posts are already in draft form, just need completing).

2) Run more

Another aspect to incorporate into my weekly planning is a lot more running. I have been beyond slack since I moved to Guildford in August and completed only a handful of runs. Not only am I missing the sport and tangibly feeling the disbenefits of not running, I am also reliant on my ability to run to conduct my research – so really need to start doing it and doing it seriously.

3) Stop drinking Coca-Cola

Lastly, I need to stop drinking Coca-Cola. I have an unhealthy (yet totally loving and committed) relationship with Coca-Cola (I don’t drink coffee so often use it as my source of caffeine) and really need to stop consuming it in the quantity I do, and hopefully all together. I don’t think it is doing me any good.

So there are my personal targets for 2014, I hope I can achieve them and they stick around longer term and beyond 2014. Either way, 2014 is shaping up to be an excellent year and I am now fully recovered from Christmas and New Year ready to jump straight in and embrace it.

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