Tag Archives: goals

2015 – New areas of writing

The PolyBlog
January 4 2015

The seventh item on my vaguebooking list was “07. Seven new topics”. These are new “subject areas” that I want to write about on my blog.

Pop culture is likely one of them, although it might be more narrow than that, maybe “pop culture intersecting with the news”. I didn’t comment on Jian Ghomeshi or Bill Cosby’s news items when they hit, but I loved watching people post and take sides, often looking like internet trolls in comment forums except they were posting the same comments on their own social media feeds. My take is a bit different and is primarily about the law, and the court of public opinion vs. the court of justice or law. I may yet blog about it.

Equally, I love the law. So much so that I couldn’t become a lawyer. I’d like to take a subject area and blog about that, but I haven’t yet found my niche. It may very well harken back to my days at law school when I was working for the Ministry of Education in B.C. and focus on the law, schools, education, and children. I haven’t quite decided yet. But there’s an itch there that I’d like to scratch again.

In the realm of writing, I have three areas that are of interest to me. First and foremost is the changing nature of the business model of publishing. I’m very much in the world where “everyone must choose their own path”, and I may turn my attention again to the world of disrupted publishing. Second, I think there is a lot of general information out there about marketing of books in the modern age, but not a lot that gives a comprehensive list of “here’s everything you COULD do, choose wisely”. I started work on this at one time and would like to go back to it. Finally, I also think there is a ripe area for a different slant on books and publishing, and that’s measuring the performance of libraries. I did some research and even some preliminary writing about three years ago but never brought anything to fruition. I think libraries are going to come under increased fire in the digital age, and while they have a strong role to play, I don’t think many of them are telling the right story or using the right yardsticks. When they tell their story initially, they act as a community centre; when their funding is threatened, they claim critics are burning books and destroying literacy if the library goes the way of the dodo. The balance is off, and maybe I can find something I can contribute to the conversation.

In a similar vein, I’m wondering if I have something to say about charities. I feel that much of the rhetoric out there is a bit one-sided, or at times, diametrically-opposed two-sided. I know, for example, that there is not much out there giving people insights into different types of charities. I also have some questions for myself that I want answered on local basic human needs programming and the most effective means of contributing donor dollars.

Finally, I do reviews for books, movies, TV and music, or at least my website says I do. I’ve been a slacker-doodle for my reviews, and I want to get back into them. I am not yet ready to commit to exactly what the other six categories will look like when I’m done, but I know this one pretty well. So, I commit to:

  • 24 book reviews;
  • 250 reviews of TV episodes (tweets);
  • 24 movie reviews; and,
  • 3 new reviews of Billboard year-end results.

That should keep me busy too.

Gratitude for friends and garages

The PolyBlog
January 4 2015

Gratitude post for day #3…Today I am feeling grateful for 2 things. First, that Jacob has friends. That probably sounds like a no-brainer to some people, but it isn’t. Jacob is an introvert, has some sensory issues, and wears glasses and walks differently. And he never really bonded with his daycare friends early on, at least not enough that we wanted to do playdates. Add in that we were so tired the first couple of years (more on that later in the year), and the neighbourhood didn’t produce automatic peers, and the result was that he didn’t have a lot of “friends”. School helped change that, and he has a friend coming over tomorrow. Today, one of Mommy’s friends came over and brought her son Conlin. Jacob was SOOOO excited and loves to have visitors.

I’m also grateful for a garage. I had to scrape the car a couple of times today when I was out and about, and that was the first time this year. It was nice to know that the garage had room in it for the car when I got home.

That’s it for today! Onward in the journey…

2015 – Engaging with my son…

The PolyBlog
January 4 2015

The sixth item on my vaguebooking list was “Six years and growing (Jacob)”. I confess that relationships with others are notoriously challenging to add any sort of rigorous planning to them. Social interactions don’t work that way in general, and even less so when what you’re talking about is a “relationship” with your own family.

And in the past, I’ve let that obvious limitation block me from any sort of overt commitment. Not this year. This is the year I commit, and my commitment to Jacob can use some work.

First, I don’t get to see much of Jacob during the week. Andrea has been doing morning routine with him, and picks him up from the daycare. She is home with him for a bit before supper, but by the time I get home from work, it’s time for supper, and then there’s barely enough time for short interaction when I’m usually tired, and he’s off to sleep. This scheduling challenge isn’t unique to our family, or even unique to this year — we hated last year’s schedule, and hence the change in schedule for Andrea so that she can pick him up and get him home early enough that he can play before supper. Great for Jacob, and for Andrea, but I’m still on the same schedule that we hated last year. While I can’t change much of that, I am going to change two things in the schedule. Each week, Jacob and I are going to have a “boys night”. Just him and I usually, although if Andrea wants to come, she can — I feel it’s more of a double opportunity for him and I to do something as well as for her to have a regular night off if she wants to do something on her own. And once a month, I’m going to adjust my schedule so that I can be the one to pick up Jacob early. An extended boys night, if you will. If the cliché is true that 90% of parenting is showing up, it’s time I started showing up more during the week.

Second, if Andrea is on morning routine for Jacob’s bathroom routine, I should be handling Jacob’s nighttime routine. When my mom was sick, and afterwards, I kind of drifted away from the “work” part of being a dad, and Andrea picked up the load since I was a slacker-doodle. Obviously, there will be some nights that I won’t be home, or will be busy with something else, or Andrea will just want to do it, or Jacob will want Mommy instead of Daddy. So I can’t exactly commit to “every” night, just a guarantee of failure. But I think it’s safe to commit to five nights out of seven. And track it. I also need to get back in the routine for putting his lenses in during the morning. Andrea suggested I could maybe do it on weekends since we’re pressed for time during the week.

Third, I also like the idea of “doing” more things with Jacob. Outings, dinners, games, wrestling, etc are all great, and I love them. Most of them Jacob seems to love too. But I’m looking for something unique too. And I hit on some ideas. I am going to do one special project a month with Jacob — something we build, something we go and do together, something different. I have this month’s project, but I can’t say what it is yet because Andrea reads the blog and I want it to be a surprise. I can tell you that it is relatively simple to get me / us started, and involves construction paper, scissors, glue and two colours of yarn. High art? No. Fun? I hope so. Memorable? I’m counting on it. I want Jacob to remember both presence as well as special projects. He wasn’t interested in Boy Scouts, but I’m kind of thinking of it partly as a “Boy Scouts” type idea. Heck, I might even design some badges for us hehehe Future months are likely to be projects off the SonicDad website or maybe a big lego option. I saw an Imperial Star Destroyer online today in Orleans for $100 used, regularly $149, but that would be mostly for me with him helping! And I’m tentatively planning for March to be the month that Jacob and I work on one of my bucket list items — designing a game!

Fourth, I want to engage Jacob in photography somehow. We haven’t yet found him a good option for taking photos. He can use his tablet (kind of big), and one of our phones (hard to manipulate angles and press button), but I suspect he’ll go farther with our P&S camera. I really have wanted to get him a camera of his own, but the kids ones are too basic, the rugged ones are limited for upward learning, and the regular ones that have room to grow are kind of expensive for a “kid” camera. Haven’t found the sweet spot yet. I’m not as worried about the ruggedness though, as Jacob is remarkably good with electronic items. I’ve never seen him drop any of them. I suspect for now it will just be uploading his stuff to the web and letting him browse through it, to see his work, but more to come in the future. Maybe printing them in a book.

Fifth and final is the easiest of all. I’m going to tell him that I love him every single day, likely repeatedly. I already do this, and I’m going to keep doing it, even if he gets embarrassed by it. *Then* I’m going to do it twice as much. 🙂

#1-3 are amenable to Seinfeld-style tracking, and #4/5 don’t need it.

Next Thursday is our first Boys Night, and we’re going out to eat (probably Chinese, although I might cave and do wings-type food) before going shopping at Chapters in Kanata — Jacob got some $$ for Xmas from his aunt, and he wants to buy more Magformers! The week after will be our “project” week, if I can kick Mom out of the play room for us to work.

2015 – A meme for you, and a meme for you, and a meme for you…

The PolyBlog
January 3 2015

The fifth item on my vaguebooking list was “Five golden days (Melodious Monday, Thoughtful Tuesday, Wild Wednesday, Throw-back Thursday, and Funny Friday)”. I’m not actually sure those will be the names for the five days, or even the themes, but it is what I have so far.

Late last year, I started playing with some memes. Some of them you might have seen, like “You might be an astronomer if…” or “You might be a statistician if…”. I also did one for my wife about whether memos were urgent or not. I quite like doing them. I also really like doing quote ones. But I kind of put them together a bit haphazardly when I was doing them, or iterative at least. Not all the same design, or layout, inconsistent branding, etc. Theoretically I’m building a brand with my websites, but if you want to do it properly, one is supposed to be consistent in look and feel. There are a few sites on the net that I really admire their look, and I want something similar for my memes.

But I haven’t designed them yet, that’s a January project that I haven’t quite actioned yet, and so my goal is to have them launch later in the year. I’m thinking some of them will start in February, may even try out a few designs on people this month and get them to vote.

As that sounds like a bit of a vague plan, let me make it concrete — I commit to making 200 new memes this year, and to use the Seinfeld method to track progress. That should allow me enough incentive to get busy, although I’m hoping I blow that number out of the water. However, since I knew that I have another project that will affect my output in November, I’m taking into account that January and November will likely have no regular memes at all.

Oh, and while I won’t go into details about the extra project until November 1st, it’s going to be meme-tastic too. Meme-rrific. Memerable even. (Hey, it’s my blog, and I can pun badly if I want to…).

2015 – Seinfeld is golden

The PolyBlog
January 2 2015

The fourth on my vaguebooking list “Four related names (Jerry, Elaine, Kramer and George) where only one is important”. Obviously, the four have one thing in common — the Seinfeld show! What do my 2015 goals have to do with the show? Absolutely nothing.

But the goals do have something to do with Seinfeld the person. If you do anything on goal-setting, lessons to improve habit-forming, time management, etc., it doesn’t take long before you trip over references to the “Seinfeld method”. And it does refer correctly to Jerry Seinfeld. Seinfeld adapted a simple monitoring technique and turned it into habit-forming gold.

Basically, you take a calendar and some goal that you want to do daily. Maybe it’s writing, maybe it’s to practice juggling, maybe it’s working out, maybe it’s eating healthy, whatever. But it has to be something that can be worked on “daily” (more or less). Then, with the calendar, every day you do your task, you get to put an X on the square. Sounds simple enough, and most gurus would stop there. But that isn’t the gold.

The gold is that Seinfeld used gamification (before there was such a word) to challenge himself — how many Xs could he do in a row without breaking the chain? How long a chain could he build? The sub-goal then is reinforced by a second goal — keep the chain growing.

Eventually, you’ll miss a day. Maybe you’ll be sick. Maybe you’ll be doing something else. Maybe you’ll forget. Again, whatever the reason, you don’t get an X. But that in and of itself isn’t a big deal because that just ended a “turn” so to speak, and now, the next day, you get to start the chain again. How many Xs will you get this time? Can you beat your last one?

So I have a large list of goals, of which I’ve revealed about 2.5. I’ve tried monitoring them before but never using the Seinfeld method. This year, it’s fully in play. I’m also going to adapt it a bit for things that I track weekly.

How many days/weeks/months in a row can I keep growing the chains?