In the spirit of avoiding subtly-terrifying “resolutions” and “goals”, what’s at least one intention you have for 2024, and what habits will you practice to help you realise it?
I’ll start.
Intention: Buy and listen to music more intentionally.
Habit: Consider quality over quantity.
Intention: Journal every day, about any topic of any length.
Habit: Take journal to breakfast, and don’t finish breakfast until you finish journalling.
I’d love to come back to this thread at the end of the year and see how folks fared. Something something accountability…
The first intention, and one I have already done, is to delete the X/Twitter app from my phone. Simply cannot take the bile anymore, it feels like I have kicked an incredibly addictive and harmful drug.
I did this about 5 months ago for the same reason, it really does make a difference - have found my general outlook on life is more positive, probably due to being exposed to less of the hate and bile you refer to. I did initially feel that I was missing out on things (not entirely sure what, but that’s the feeling I had) but that feeling soon faded away.
Have also found my “screen time” has dropped dramatically, turns out I was mindlessly scrolling through Twitter more than I realised.
I just hope I can be healthier this year. Need to drop about 10kg, I’ve done it before it just takes a lot of concentration and habit forming. Need to eat better and exercise more, which obviously is easier said than done. I have an app on my phone that connects to my scale and helps me keep track of everything, so I have to start daily weighing and keep at it until I see the number I want. Hope I can do it.
this year i intend to (literally) get my house in order. i need to do some roof work, clean the gutters, new paint inside and out, and do a ton of yardwork. my landscaping situation is legit embarrassing.
so, i’m searching craigslist for an extension ladder and renewing my seattle tool library subscription.
Lose weight and increase my flexibility. Years of sitting all day long for work with no stretching or breaks have caught up with me in a big way. I am like a ball of tightness and it now hurts to do basic tasks - mainly hip/core related. I’ve been saving basic stretching reels on IG and will start them today as this is ridiculous - 53 with the flexibility of 73.
I bought the New Scientist guide to exercise in the summer. It was excellent. I turn 50 next year and one of the most important things I learned was about the percentage of muscle mass that steadily decreases from around the age of 30 (it’s very roughly around 5% per decade).
I need to do strength training again. Only a little bit. The best gains are when you go from zero of anything to ‘some’.
My cardiovascular fitness is brilliant - I jacked in the gym around 8 years ago due to a serious back problem and replaced it with cardio - classes, plus running and cycling.
Anyway, I didn’t want it to be a January thing so I got ahead of the curve and joined a new gym in December.
Intention: Stop chasing the never ending tail of new releases I will only listen too a couple of times.
Habit: Dig deeper into old favourites. Psych and Garage revival round my gaff so far this year
And…
Intention: No more hours scrolling Reddit, Insta and random forums. Just TP. I’ve already deleted the Reddit and Insta bookmarks and i’ve made it a couple of days.
Habit: Use that time to actually make some music and do something productive.
Watch more movies.
Forgot to add… no more news sites either. Far too depressing now.
Do a full year booze free (had a few over the holidays while back in UK, after 6 months without, but just not enjoying it like I used to so feeling confident I can achieve this one).
Once and for all stop smoking, this should be easier after caring for my dad this Christmas, terminal lung cancer, literally days left, never smoked at all yet here he is. It’s going to be tough finding something else to do during breaks instead of smoking but needs must.
Music wise, I’ll be dabbling with AI stem separation, voice model AI tools, extending my Bitwig skill set and generally trying to speed up the writing/production process.
And the most difficult: getting in shape… dreading this one and not sure how to approach it as I’m such a lost cause.
