2017. Here we go!
By: Joseph Emmi
Tags: Personal, Planning, Life, 2017, Goals

Personal

1. Go to bed no later than 11pm

With time, I came to learn the importance of sleep (not always been the case), and as much as I’ve been conscious about it, my problem and weakness remains the same, going to be on time.

I’m quite a good sleeper, this meaning I don’t tend to experience any problems while sleeping or to get it in; on the other hand I also I love waking up early (5am). However, I struggle to go to bed at the same time every night, and most importantly, early enough, compromising all the following actions, just a domino effect.

This year I’ll be working towards building the habit of leaving everything I’m doing when the time comes (the main issue), go to sleep around the same time and by consequence been able to get more done during the first hours of the morning.

Might sound easy, but really challenging for me.

2 . Side Projects

My definition of ‘Side Projects’ is simple, an idea I’m willing test, usually requiring some time, work or thinking around it before making them grow, evolve or discard it. I also do these for fun. No, I don’t watch TV.

These are normally (and flexibly) allocated on my free time, meaning, whatever is left after personal and home responsibilities, work, core projects (business) and training.

In 2017 I’ll be focusing on three side projects along the year.

The E-Project

The B-Project

The M-Project

Yes, I use code names. More on these when the time comes.

3. Be on time

I take time very seriously, but when it comes to its management, specifically personal time management, I don’t feel I’m even close to be good at it. It is an ongoing issue for me, and I’m constantly battling it.

The thing is, I always underestimate when to stop in order to leave on time, among other things.

So, this year I’ll keep working at it, but just a sleeping, I won’t be focusing on the outcome, but in the root cause. Stop what I’m doing and start moving.

I found that helped me understand the rationale behind my behaviour, and I have to admit that in my case it’s pretty accurate.

“People are late because they don’t want to be early. For the punctually challenged, this very basic motivation drives behavior whether consciously or unconsciously. There are various reasons. The most common include: It’s inefficient. They hate the uneasiness of being early. There is an opportunity cost associated with getting somewhere early.”

I haven’t defined a clear measurement or success indicator for this, however, probably common senses will be enough to start with.

4. The No-Internet Experiment

I will be using the Internet and social media only for 1 hour a day for the whole month of January.

Not much to add to this. I benefit from constraints, so the next obvious step for me was to remove 21st century’s ultimate distraction generator and the mother of procrastination, the Internet.

More of this here.

5. Read at least 3 books

I love to read, as matter of fact I spend a significant amount of my week reading all sorts of materials, from reviews, abstracts, reports, magazines and endless requirement documents, to tons of articles from different media outlets.

Books on the other side, are something that I like to dedicate time and attention; it is a pleasure, it is knowledge, creativity and in many cases, inspiration. They deserve their own time, the thing is I never happen to leave it aside.

This year I’m aiming to dedicate a couple of hours every week to just seat an enjoy books. I won’t be ambitious, so I’ll stick to only three titles of any genre. If it happens to work better than expected and I end up with a higher number, even better.

6. One picture a day on Instagram for a year

I’ve been saying this to myself for years. I love photography and enjoy taking pictures everyday, both as a way to capture a moment from an entertaining or beauty point of view, but also to document my daily life. The reality is that the majority of these images never leave my phone, and I would like to release some of them. For this, Instagram has become the easiest way to do it.

Furthermore, I see it as well as a daily creativity exercise, forcing myself to do editing and decision making faster. In the past it could take me so long to decide and edit one shot, that at times I would quit and leave it unpublished.

Also, 365 pictures don’t seem that many to be honest.

7. Keep my Medium journal

Probably a highlight that I forgot to mention on my 2016 Personal Review was this journal. It started in July last year, with the following two purposes:

To start penning some of the thousands of ideas that circulate my mind on a daily basis. Helping me to articulate them in a more concrete manner, while giving them a place to live and be shared with others. To improve my writing. I’m not a native English speaker, that made it very clear to me that it was room for serious improvement, and I couldn’t think a better way to do so, if not practising regularly. Just like running, training is the key.

During 2017, I will be publishing at least twice a week, as a result, I should have a minimum of 104 posts at the end of the year. The topics’ scope will remain the same, meaning, anything around my areas of interest, or something that captures my attention.