Annus Mirabillis

Here we go again, another new year. Happy New Year to everyone. On new year's day, I am prone to being nervous. Somewhere inside me, I have been made to believe that how you start on day 1 will determine what lies ahead. But over the years, this belief has waxed and waned. This time around, I really didn't think about it too much. Perhaps it was because I had grown up and believed in a 'who-the-world-works' or maybe it was just a result of a long bout of tension and sleep shortage thanks to work.

But since it is a new year ahead of me, I think it is a good time to reflect back on life over 2011 and how I can be better and more effective in 2012. There are a few things which I surely want to do this year and I see a merit in putting some of those down.

1. Exercise more often

I have had the dream of being presentably slim for a long time now. This has to be the year I do something about it and make it count. There are two broad ways of becoming slim and staying that way - exercise ad diet. The latter, I have found is significantly tougher and hence I shall stick to exercise.

2. Write more often

I think dreams come in cycles. There can be a whole passage of time where I don't dream of a particular thing and then suddenly it shows up on my radar. Writing is one such thing. I hope to write more and write more often this year. Perhaps take the first steps towards writing a book or something.

3. Better anger management and channelizing negative energy

This has been among my greatest strengths and in my view the most useful thing I have taught myself. It has been over a decade since I have started experiencing the benefits of this. I wish to continue perfecting this habit and hope to lose my cool fewer times this year.

4. Crunch the time between thought and action

Many times, circumstances get the better of me. In large situations (large being defined by the scale of implications of the decisions that are being complicated) I find that I fret too much about the outcome at the cost of losing my objectivity. This is further affected by self-doubt and your gut's lack of confidence on your brain. It is some sort of 'analysis paralysis'. This year I need to get better at backing my logic and judgement and thinking lesser and acting faster.

5. Do something creative regularly

I have been trying this for some time now and find that it helps immensely in reducing boredom. I just need to be more regular; actually regular creativity is almost an oxymoron. Forget it. I know what to do.

6. Read news more often and have an independent world view

My daily schedule gives me little time to read the newspaper and I am left with relying on the Internet for reading news. Thanks to google news being the way it is, my following the news is at best haphazard. I need to correct this. There needs some method to this.

7. Learn to say No

I think it is the most important skill to have in the world.

Apart from these, there are other minor things -- like cleaning my car more often, ensuring my next shirt is not blue, never wearing mismatched shoes, learning to write fast with a fountain pen, etc.