Starting The Year

Posted: Tue 1 January, 2019 | Author: | Filed under: 2018/19, Business, Change, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Resolutions, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

And so, Happy New Year. Another orbit round the sun, and as is the tradition, some thoughts about what’s coming.

As usual, I don’t really do resolutions – particularly not New Year’s ones.  I do a list around my birthday, which can be found here, but I’m thinking about some changes this year as part of that as well.

One of the things that will change a bit is that I’m going to put more into sorting out routines for things, rather than necessarily just looking at the goals themselves.  There are a couple of bits on my list where it’s about “I want to have done [x]”, and that’s fine.  But more of them are about “I want to achieve [y]”, and while I’ve always had the intention, the actuality has evaded me.

Last year I got pointed at this article about creating systems rather than setting goals, and it rang a major bell with me.

All told, I’m in a good place to get started on this stuff.

I’ve just completed version one of a project for another contact, and I’ve done pretty much all I can on it until they get back to me with final information. It’s a working version, although I’ve had to replace some of the functionality/information I’m waiting for with automated processes for the minute. But I’m happy with where it is, and it’s now out of my brain, which is A Good Thing.

Of course, it’s immediately been replaced with another project – this one something that’s important to me as well – which I want to work on sooner rather than later.

So, Happy New Year. Onwards and upwards, etc. etc.

And as one of the Doctors would say, “Allons-y!”

 

Beginnings

Posted: Wed 4 January, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: 2016/17, Domestic, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Own Business, Resolutions, Single Life, Thoughts, Weight Loss, Work-related | Leave a comment »

The first week of the year’s started well so far, with a fair amount of preparation being done for the rest of the year.

Among other things, I’ve signed myself up for a couple of training programmes for more technical stuff, as well as laying out some plans and concepts for the main development things I want to work on this year.  I’m currently hoping to have got at least one of them launched by the end of January, so I can see how it develops.

Along the way, I’ve figured out a couple of starting points for writing as well, which may or may not work out.

So it’s all a bit promising for now. We’ll see how it works out.

And not to be ignored, I’ve also started work on losing some of the weight I put on over December. It’s safe to say, I’m not overly happy with how much got put on (although I’m not back to where I started this time in 2016, so it could be worse) in the space of a month, but as we’re now back to a point where I can (and will) eat more sensibly again, it should all work out OK in the end.

Onwards and upwards, and all that piss.

What’s The Plan?

Posted: Sun 1 January, 2017 | Author: | Filed under: 2016/17, Business, Do More, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Health, Resolutions, Thoughts, Weigh Less, Write More | Leave a comment »

And here we are, at the start of 2017. Didn’t that come round quickly?

As with previous years, I don’t really make resolutions. It’s all pretty arbitrary, the whole resolutions thing, so I usually choose to make plans from one birthday to the next, rather than the whole “January 1st is for new starts” cobblers.

This year, I’ve got some plans for 2017 as a whole though – although they’re not much different to what I’d laid out back in November.  However, in my head, I’ve laid some of these down as being “this year” instead. I don’t quite know why, but it’ll work for me.

So – what are they?  Well, in no particular order…

  • Finances
    • Add a significant amount into the savings
  • Work
    • Figure out what comes next after the current contract (I’m sure that’ll happen at some point in the coming year)
    • Learn some new stuff, because why not?
    • Launch at least one of the projects that’ve been in my head for way too long
  • Writing
    • Complete at least one of the screenplay ideas I’ve started in 2016
    • and then figure out what the hell to do with it/them
    • Complete a book idea I’ve got, and publish it (for Kindle)
  • Health
    • Lose weight (I’ve put some on over the Festering Season, and want to lose that, plus a bit more)
    • Do some training/practice walks for that walking marathon in September
    • and then complete it on the day

And really that’s it. There might be a couple of other projects along the way, but that’s the main objectives, all in one place.

Whether or not they happen, I don’t know. (Obviously, as we’re only on Day One)  But I’m going to give it a damn good go.

 

What Kind Of Year Will It Be?

Posted: Thu 1 January, 2015 | Author: | Filed under: 2014/15, 2015/16, Business, Creativity, D4D™, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Old(er), Getting Organised, Photography, Resolutions, Sociable, Thoughts, Travel, Weigh Less, Work-related, Write More, Writing | 1 Comment »

As regular readers know, I don’t really do New Year’s Resolutions. It’s partly my knee-jerk response to the whole “Everyone else is doing it” ethos, which means I won’t. But also New Year is just an arbitrary day for making plans – and I tend to do it from birthday to birthday, for no better reason than that it’s an easy day to remember as a start/finish date.

Anyway, with that said I do have plans for 2015. Sometimes plans work better on a calendar year instead of birthday-to-birthday – although there’s also a couple of ideas and plans this time that would also work better to a fiscal year, April to March. But for the sake of argument I’ll stick (for now) to my usual resolution/plan structure, while also acknowledging the whole 2015 thing.

What I won’t do is go into reams of details – I know what I want to do, and I’ve got most of it written down in to-do lists and the like – but it can all be summed up in four key points, which can be summarised as:

  • Create More – includes writing, photography, and web-based work/business plans
  • Do More – includes activities, day trips, longer weekends, and perhaps even a holiday or two.
  • Save More – working to rebuild finances, build up some backup savings, and restore the credit score.
  • Weigh Less – the goal is to lose another two stone in 2015, which is what I also lost in 2014. So it’s feasible.

And that’s “it”. Obviously there’s details, sub-plans and sub-goals in there as well, but they’re the key points. They’ll do me for now.

I’m hoping that 2015 will continue in the positive direction that started in the last quarter of 2014.  I’m quite sure there’ll be some hiccoughs and roadbumps along the way – that’s realism rather than cynicism, my life is never a truly smooth process – but with any luck at all it’ll be a positive year, and lots will get done.

And if not, if things go wrong, then I’ll just do what I can, and keep on in the same way as I had to with 2014.

But I do hope that 2015 is positive and constructive. That’s the intention, at least. But we’ll see.

Year Start

Posted: Wed 1 January, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: 2013/14, Domestic, Project 42, Resolutions | Leave a comment »

And lo, here we are in 2014. It seems like only yesterday that it was merely 2013. Oh yeah – it was only yesterday. How time flies.

Anyway, the year comes with some plans. Not resolutions, oh no no no, we don’t do those here chez Lyle. There’s the ongoing plan for 2013/14, which is pretty simple, but this is more of a “Things I’d Like To Do In 2014”.

Of course, the original 2013/14 goals are still in place as primary things, which are…

  • Weigh Less
  • Write More

But there’s also a few other bits that I’d like to do this year, including…

  • Carry on the progress from 2013
  • Develop the software / websites for the main company stuff I’m doing
  • Keep working on finances and rebuilding
  • Take a proper holiday somewhere – even ‘just’ in the UK, but some time out
  • See friends more regularly, and generally be a bit more sociable
  • Take the IAM driving test – purely for my own ego, but I’d still like to do it

And that’s about it for the ‘plan’ side of things. The “Random shit” side is likely to be a lot more busy, in fairness.

New Year’s Eve

Posted: Tue 31 December, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Change, Charm School, Cynicism, Festering Season, New Year, People, Resolutions, Thoughts | Leave a comment »

ScroogeUnsurprisingly, I don’t really do New Year’s Eve.  Partly it’s that whole “Everyone else does it, so I don’t” thing I’ve written about before on here, but primarily I just don’t quite get the whole concept. OK, we go from [old year] to [new year]. Big whoop.  I get it – or at least more so – with birthdays, the anniversal thing of being another year older. (Or, more pessimistically, the celebration of having got through another shit year)  But celebrating a new year leaves me cold – let alone the whole ‘resolutions’ thing.

I suppose it makes sense in a “The new one will be better than the old one” spirit of hope and optimism over [x] years of experience, although one assumes that leaves most people really quite disappointed.

I’ve never been a fan of it though – I did too many New Year’s Eves working in pubs, dealing with pissed idiots singing “Auld Lang Syne” and being all ‘love thy fellow man’ at midnight, and kicking the shit out of each other by quarter-past. New Year’s loses its happy glow when you’re sat (for the third year running) waiting for an ambulance by half-past.

I know, I’m a grouchy old sod. I accept that about myself, and try to stop it from affecting others, and their decisions.

All the same, I’ll be quite contented tonight to be at home, just doing my own thing.

Have a good one, wherever you are, and whatever you choose to do.

Year End

Posted: Tue 31 December, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: 2012/13, Bankruptcy, Domestic, Finances, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Getting Organised, Own Business, Resolutions, Thoughts, Web Development, Work-related, Writing | Leave a comment »

Here we are, at the end of 2013. It’s been an eventful old year, what with one thing and another.

In no particular order – and probably leaving out a load of lesser stuff – my 2013 has consisted of…

  • Having Mondeo kill itself in the outside lane of the M1 – always an interesting experience
  • Renting a Renault Megane for two weeks – the shittest car it’s ever been my displeasure to drive
  • Buying the Saab as a replacement for Mondeo, and it’s done well so far.  Handing back the Megane was also an absolute joy
  • Countless meetings all over the country
  • Completing my bankruptcy period – it stays on the record for four more years, but it’s discharged now
  • Being made redundant from the job I started the year with
  • Going back to contracting and
    • getting the first job I applied for – indeed, they offered it to me at the interview, and wanted me to start immediately
    • And the second – although it turned out to be shit
    • And indeed the third – on that one they offered after phone interview, without even meeting me
  • Forming my new company, which will start trading from mid-January
  • Sorting out an ISA savings account – which actually has some money in it!
  • Continued writing, and getting some ideas out onto keyboard/paper – time will tell how successful that stays
  • Been able to purchase some stuff I didn’t have in the new house – like a proper bed-frame, etc.
  • Caught up with friends, some of whom I hadn’t seen in far too long
  • Attended two weddings – and another one’s already booked for 2014

All told, it’s been pretty busy, somewhat hectic, highly changeable, and not a bad year at all. Sure, things could have been better/smoother, but when all things are considered, I’d say it’s been a positive year.

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