2014 Resolutions Wrap Up

As the year draws to a close, it's about time to see how I fared in keeping my resolutions this year.

Resolutions wrap up

Major resolutions

1. Go to the gym three times a week

This lasted until about halfway through the year - around the time we had to move to Newcastle - and while I've started riding to work (reasonably regularly), I still don't think this quite counts as being kept. Better luck next year, I guess. 

2. Drink less alcohol

I think I could count on my fingers the number of times I've actually been drunk this year, and even when I've had a few drinks socially, I have definitely cut down on the quantity. I've shifted to fewer, better quality drinks - craft beers and international brews. Yes, that makes me sound like a hipster douchebag, but on the upside at least I can chalk this resolution up as being kept.

3. Pay back the wedding by 30 June

You know what they say - better late than never. My half of the wedding was 'paid back' in September, the savings of which are now going towards our house deposit. You can read more of a recap back here.

4. Complete the 26 Fortnight (52 week) saving challenge

Done and dusted. I covered this not too long ago here, and made an Excel creation for anyone who wants to do the challenge next year.

5. Practice mindfulness

I have made a good start on my journey to mindfulness. I have covered the app I have used to guide me through the practice here and, more recently, my stats so far here. I think this resolution has made the most impact on my wellbeing this year; I believe it has made me more resilient and able to cope with changes throughout the year. I am looking forward to continuing the practice next year.

6. Be a better friend - remember birthdays, think of good gifts, enjoy your social life

I am not sure whether I have fulfilled this one or not - I hope I have. If I have been in touch with you throughout 2014, for a birthday or just catching up, I hope that I have made that moment with you enjoyable and special.

7. Get recording studio going, learn to use ProTools, keep up the good work with the band!

Most of this resolution didn't really get off the ground due to relocating to Newcastle. But on the positive side, I did keep up the good work with the band. My Canberran band Tortured got a bunch of stellar gigs this year, supporting a lot of great local and renowned international acts. While I can't possibly remember every gig we've played in 2014, among the highlights were sharing the stage with Carcass, Coroner, Sinister, Hypno5e, Psychrist and Cruciform, and tearing it up a East West Deathgrind Fest again this year. While I never expect that I'll make it big playing death metal, it's definitely rewarding to look back and appreciate some of those moments.

Minor resolutions

1. Music Tuesday and rudiments practice

A good idea that was slightly spoiled by moving back to Newcastle. On the plus side, I've started jamming with some good mates on a Tuesday night now - you can check out some of their work here.

2. Mind expansion Sunday

Another good idea, but I didn't stick to it too well. Here's some things I've put my mind to this year: Stuff You Should Know podcast episodes, re-learning statistical techniques, learning how to code in SAS, modern monetary theory, and trying to understand trends in technology and the internet. Next year, I think I'll try doing an online course on Coursera or something similar.

3. Writing this blog

This post will mark the 45th post of this year, and while I haven't quite made it to 52 posts or one post per week, I wasn't overly far behind. I had other posts in 'Draft', but I hadn't quite developed the ideas in them far enough to be happy with them. Again on the plus side, I've managed to stick to writing on a semi-regular basis now for twelve months, which is a lot further than I've got previously. Additionally, I'd say my writing style has developed somewhat by putting all these paragraphs in the cloud. 

There's definitely something to be said about just sitting down and starting to write - I didn't much feel like writing today, but once I got going the words really started to flow. I enjoy writing and I'd like to do more of it, more often, though I think that next year I will give myself more time to develop my posts before publishing them. I often found myself rushed this year, trying to think of something to write each week, and because of that I feel that the posts I wrote ended up being very focused on myself. Hopefully with some extra time between posts, I can look outwards a little more.

4. Spring cleaning the house

Well, this one didn't get far now did it? Again, better luck next year.

5. Read 12 books this year

I actually got much further with this in 2014 than I thought I was going to: the grand total for 2014 was 17 books read. If you've been reading this blog throughout the year, I have posted a quick summary each time I had finished one or two, but here's my full reading list for the year:

• A New Spring - Robert Jordan
• The Eye Of The World - Robert Jordan
• Louder Than Hell - Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman
• All three reviewed here.
• The Value of Nothing - Raj Patel
• The Great Hunt - Robert Jordan
• Both reviewed here.
• The Logic of Life - Tim Harford
• The Dragon Reborn - Robert Jordan
• Both reviewed here.
• Wyrd Sisters - Terry Pratchett
• Reviewed here.
• The Noticeably Stouter Book Of General Ignorance - John Lloyd and John Mitchinson
• Reviewed here.
• Pyramids - Terry Pratchett
• The Shadow Rising - Robert Jordan
• Both reviewed here.
• Guards! Guards! - Terry Pratchett
• Reviewed here.
• Eric - Terry Pratchett
• Reviewed here.
• The Fires of Heaven - Robert Jordan
• Mortality - Christopher Hitchens
• Both reviewed here.
• Battlers and Billionaires - Andrew Leigh
• Reviewed here.
• Lord of Chaos - Robert Jordan
• Reviewed here.

So all in all, this year's reading was pretty heavy on fantasy, with 11 of the 17 books written by either Robert Jordan or Terry Pratchett. The remaining six (non-fiction) books were a bit more of a mixed bag, though half of those were economics related (The Value of Nothing, The Logic of Life and Battlers and Billionaires). I think I'll keep a similar resolution for next year - 12 books is quite achievable, though I think I will try to aim for a little more balance between fiction and non-fiction.

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It's always refreshing to reflect on what you've done and how far you've come throughout the year; writing this post has given me some time to appreciate some of that. I have some ideas forming in my mind already about what my resolutions for 2015 will be. I hope you will join me again on that journey. But for now, I'm off to the Hunter Valley to bring in the new year - have a great 2015!

Stats from Headspace

It's coming towards the end of the year, so I thought I would write a couple of posts on stats from the various web services I use. Today I look at my stats from Headspace, which I wrote a review on earlier this year. This was one of my strategies to address my resolution to be more mindful this year; the other was changing my approach to 'to do' lists using iDoneThis, which I sort of covered here. Anyhow, onto the basic stats that are available through the app itself:

Click to enlarge. Source: https://www.headspace.com/

I signed up for Headspace on 11 April this year, though I had already completed the first series (Take 10) which was available as a free trial, so I think I first started meditating on April Fool's Day. Excel tells me that, as at today, that is 267 days ago. Completing 174 sessions over this time is a rate of about 65%, so a little over one session every two days. Meditation is supposed to be a daily practice, so I guess I'll have to work on lifting that one.

I was actually rather surprised by the total time I've spent meditating: three thousand, one hundred and eighteen minutes. There are 1440 minutes in a day, so that equates to a little over two whole days spent meditating this year.

It should be noted that I signed up before they released 'Version 2' of Headspace, so I am still working my way through Version 1. The Series Progress in the above stats only shows progress against Version 2 packs. In Version 2, you can pick any series that you want to do, in whatever order you wish; however, in Version 1, you have to complete each series in a linear order (see graphic below). I am currently about halfway through the Creativity series (the 6th series), so I have some way to go before I move onto Version 2.

Click to enlarge. Source: https://www.headspace.com/

As I haven't spent much time in Version 2, I haven't really used any of the Singles packs yet. But the small experience that I've had with them has been positive. There are three Singles packs: On-the-go is for extending mindfulness to day-to-day activities, like walking, eating or sleeping. Classic delivers guided or unguided meditation for set length of time. And SOS is for when you really need to get some perspective.

I usually like to try to meditate in the morning to set myself up for the day, but there's a lot of times when that won't happen. I haven't been in a good routine lately, hence why my current run streak is zero, The maximum run streak I've got to is 15, which earns you a reward - a month free to give to someone else - which is nice.

As with any new (good) habit, your body and mind will often fight to keep you at your current status quo. Seeing stats like these helps me to stay motivated to keep doing whatever it is I'm currently doing. I find them useful to keep the tendency to be pulled back to the status quo at bay.

Another major resolution down and another excel creation

Resolutions update

Major resolutions

1. Go to the gym three times a week

2. Drink less alcohol

3. Pay back the wedding by 30 June (Finished September 2014)

4. Complete the 26 Fortnight (52 week) saving challenge (finished 19 December 2014)

5. Practice mindfulness

6. Be a better friend - remember birthdays, think of good gifts, enjoy your social life

7. Get recording studio going, learn to use ProTools, keep up the good work with the band!

Minor resolutions

Music Tuesday and rudiments practice

Mind expansion Sunday

Writing this blog

Spring cleaning the house

Read 12 books this year - Done!

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With the Thursday just past being the last pay week of the year, I can officially say I have now completed the 26 Fortnight/52 Week Saving Challenge. The fundamental idea is that you can save about $1,400 over the course of a year - starting with just $1 - by saving one extra dollar each week than the previous week. I made a couple of modifications to this to fit my circumstances. For instance, I adjusted the amounts for a fortnightly pay cycle and reversed the order of the payments. I did this so that it got easier throughout the year and so that I wasn't trying to put away more money during the time of year where I would need the extra disposable income (basically from September to December or birthday/Christmas season). After a few pays, I also upped the ante by adding a fixed amount to make the end result prettier - after all Jess and I are trying to save for a house deposit so I wanted to have very little disposable income available.

Looking at how I went over the whole year, I only actually missed four payments. However, they took a long time to catch back up on. The culprits? Clearing credit card debt and registering my car. While I always try to keep my credit card completely paid off, if left unchecked, it's easy to let small amounts grow into bigger ones. And car rego always buggers me up; every year I vow to make sure I put a little bit away to prepare for it, but it never ends up happening.

Thinking about trying the challenge for yourself? Well, luckily for you I've made a modified version of the Excel spreadsheet I used to keep track of how I went. You can find it by clicking the link below:

DOWNLOAD SAVING CHALLENGE SPREADSHEET

It's pretty straightforward to use:

1. Download the file and open it (you'll need Microsoft Excel to run it obviously)
2. Click 'Enable Content' near the top of the screen to allow the macros to work. The macros in this workbook just hide rows in the table that you don't need to see, depending on whether you say you are paid weekly, fortnightly or monthly
3. Complete the Salmon/Pink shaded cells on the Info worksheet
4. Click the button
5. You're done! Update this table each time you get paid to see how you are tracking.  

If you have any problems, suggestions, questions or feedback, let me know in the comments.