2020 Goals

I've never been one for goals. I hate setting them, I hate following up on them, and I hate (inevitably) failing to achieve them. But, I also hate some of my current habits and life choices, and feel the need to change them. But hey, seeing as it's that time of year where people try to make life changes, I'll try too.

Things to accomplish in 2020
In general, there are a bunch of random things I want to do/accomplish/improve this year.

  • Watch Star Wars TV shows
  • Become more healthy
  • Pay off a bunch of debt
  • Be a better collector
  • Do something with my web site
Of course, those are generalities. In order to make any actual lifestyle changes, I need to define what I mean by each of the above, and break them down into discrete units of work that can be worked on on a repeatable schedule until a particular task is completed.

What do I mean by Watch Star Wars TV Shows?
I mean I want to watch The Clone Wars and Rebels shows. I've tried going through The Clone Wars before; I think I got partway into season 2 when I took a break and months later still haven't resumed it. I was enjoying it as long as it was focusing on the Clones but when an episode featured Jar Jar or Padme, I would delay watching it for days. So if I don't make myself sit and watch an episode when I have free time, I'll just put the tv on YouTube and play Minecraft all night instead. Apparently, if I want to watch Clone Wars, I have to set a specific day/time when I will watch it.

So my goal is to watch 3 episodes of The Clone Wars a week, until I finish the original seasons, then move on to Rebels, also 3 times a week. That should be doable without too much pain.

For Becoming more healthy I need to start exercising regularly and eating better. I have a stationary bike in my basement that years ago I used quite regularly while playing Guitar Hero and Rock Band, and some hand weights I can use while riding the bike. I should probably exercise every day, but since I would do so late at night and there are certain nights that are unavailable, and since I'm starting from zero, I'm going to start small, with biking 3 times a week for 25 minutes. Coincidentally (not really), this coincides with my Watch The Clone Wars goal, which means I should be able to accomplish two goals at once.

My remaining three goals go hand in hand. There are too many cool toy lines, too many cool properties, and too many cool toy companies, for me to buy every little thing I want, but I have been living off credit cards for my collecting like there are no consequences for doing so. I need to be better at prioritizing what I want to purchase and planning when I will have money to spend on those purchases, and then stick to those plans. I need to be more consistent about selling off things I no longer need or want so I can make my credit card payments, and fund the new purchases I want to make.

I have tons of stuff I want to or could sell, but can't because it's lost in the unorganized mess that is my storage and display rooms. I need to work on cleaning out my display and storage rooms, organizing the stuff I can sell so it can be listed, and organizing my collection into so they can be setup in the display room, so my collection is not something I'm ashamed of, so that display room can be something fun to show to visitors.

Ostensibly I have a web site and a collection wiki that I was working on to showcase items in my collection, as well improve my photography skills by taking pictures of my collection, I hope that by being more regular in cataloging and photographing my collection I will get more enjoyment out of the items I already own and thereby lessen the continual need I feel to buy more stuff, so I can better collect on a budget and only add things to my collection that are of higher importance to me.

Related to the above, I want to post monthly updates to track and discuss my progress throughout the year. However, I don't necessarily want to hand code the html for each of these updates, so I want to find some lightweight/convenient to use web framework. I rather enjoyed learning Python years ago in school, and think it could be fun to find a Python framework and brush up on that language, since I don't have much opportunity to use it at work.

I also enjoy scenic photography, and feel that I have taken some neat pictures, and hope to continue doing so in the future. I need to share those pictures. I have a photo gallery setup on my site, and I want to add pictures to it regularly, both those of my collection and those of a scenic or familial nature.

Tasklist

All of that leads to the following weekly and monthly tasks, and quarterly milestones.

December Goals (2020 goals prep)

  • Identify priority toy purchases for 2020, budget some space for surprise announcements (limit to 1-2 per month)
  • Choose a web framework to make updating my site less busywork, and more fun to do (Python)
  • Enroll at the local plasma donation center so I can supplement my toy spending income

Weekly Tasks

  • Bike and Watch Clone Wars M, W, S
  • Donate plasma T, F
  • Low carb diet, particularly, no sugar.
  • Add 4 items to Collection wiki
  • Add 1 collectible photo to photo gallery
  • Add 1 non-collectible photo to photo gallery
  • Spend at least 1 hour cleaning or organizing my display or storage room

Monthly Tasks

  • 1 Goal Update post on web site
  • 1 Video Review (pending youtube craziness)
  • Maintain 50 items listed on eBay
  • Maybe a monthly post for everything I acquired the previous month

Q1 Milestones

  • Lose 30 pounds
  • Complete Ocular Max Assaultus

Q2 Milestones

  • Complete Zeta Armaggedon
  • Start paying double the min payment on PPC
  • Maintain weight / build upper body strength

Q3 Milestones

  • Complete Zeta Aerialbots

So there it is. It is in writing now, and posted for all to see. Now I must see it through.

Oh boy...

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