If you're reading this then firstly... Happy New Year!
Secondly, thank you for stopping by when there has been nothing new to read on here for the past 5 months!
On New Years Day 2013 I composed a fresh new blog post for you all, detailing my aims for the new year ahead and revealing why I am so terrible at keeping any New Years Resolutions in previous years.
One month later and then again 3 months after that I provided you with an update on my progress...if you can call it that!
As it is now a brand new year and I haven't blogged since August 2013 let alone given you any update, I figured I owed it to you loyal readers to at least let you know whether I succeeded or failed miserably (you can make your own easy prediction already without the help of an online betting company giving you odds to encourage you...it's that obvious!) with my 5 goals for 2013:
1) "Learn one new healthy recipe per month"...
Well since my home made burgers in January this has (pardon the pun) really taken a back burner. It's hard to say that I have learnt anything new let alone healthy...however since my girlfriend and I moved in together our weekly shopping basket is certainly looking a lot healthier, fresher and pre-planned!
I was also bought a couple of cookbooks for Christmas so you never know (we do really) I might find inspiration for new meals in one of those!...chalk that down to new year wishful thinking!
Well since my home made burgers in January this has (pardon the pun) really taken a back burner. It's hard to say that I have learnt anything new let alone healthy...however since my girlfriend and I moved in together our weekly shopping basket is certainly looking a lot healthier, fresher and pre-planned!
I was also bought a couple of cookbooks for Christmas so you never know (we do really) I might find inspiration for new meals in one of those!...chalk that down to new year wishful thinking!
2) "Increase my cardio/fitness"...
This goal is being spectacularly failed on many levels.
In my last update back in April I told you how I had failed at keeping up with a jump rope challenge and brought myself a road bike but failed dramatically by injuring myself during the buying process!
This goal is being spectacularly failed on many levels.
In my last update back in April I told you how I had failed at keeping up with a jump rope challenge and brought myself a road bike but failed dramatically by injuring myself during the buying process!
Well I didn't sign up for any more challenges specifically...I did however join a gym local to my work in August. And for 6 weeks the regime of going to the gym twice a week was working well and was a definite improvement on the level of exercise I had been doing previously, which equated to the grand total of...zero! But as you've probably guessed long ago, something got in the way!
That something was Riga!
It was a Stag Do. It was an Eastern European City. I consumed more alcohol in the first 12 hours of being there than I had in the past 12 months! And on top of that it involved a lot of walking. So I got dehydrated, the shakes and sweats and returned home with the feeling of vertigo for at least the next month! So needless to say my gym membership went unused and thus has since been cancelled and with it my goal of increased fitness.
Oh and that Road Bike I'd purchased with great enthusiasm...has been used twice! And since I have now moved to a more rural location, it isn't the most ideal item that I own but we will see if the long term picture looks brighter for this purchase!
That something was Riga!
It was a Stag Do. It was an Eastern European City. I consumed more alcohol in the first 12 hours of being there than I had in the past 12 months! And on top of that it involved a lot of walking. So I got dehydrated, the shakes and sweats and returned home with the feeling of vertigo for at least the next month! So needless to say my gym membership went unused and thus has since been cancelled and with it my goal of increased fitness.
Oh and that Road Bike I'd purchased with great enthusiasm...has been used twice! And since I have now moved to a more rural location, it isn't the most ideal item that I own but we will see if the long term picture looks brighter for this purchase!
3) "Read more!"...
Well the fact I was reading 3 or 4 books at the time of my last update does not a successful outcome make! For I am still part reading these books depending on my mood and have actually failed to read these more often than I have actually got round to reading any of them.
I managed to read one book fully this year, Dan Brown's latest novel, Inferno. As usual a tension building thriller that was both enjoyable and will no doubt keep Tom Hanks in work at some point in the next few years!
And as if to mock my feeble attempt to read more, a friend of mine actually achieved his goal of reading a new book each month throughout 2013 and posted pics of each book on Instagram...it's like my goals were reaching out to laugh at me from all angles!
Well the fact I was reading 3 or 4 books at the time of my last update does not a successful outcome make! For I am still part reading these books depending on my mood and have actually failed to read these more often than I have actually got round to reading any of them.
I managed to read one book fully this year, Dan Brown's latest novel, Inferno. As usual a tension building thriller that was both enjoyable and will no doubt keep Tom Hanks in work at some point in the next few years!
And as if to mock my feeble attempt to read more, a friend of mine actually achieved his goal of reading a new book each month throughout 2013 and posted pics of each book on Instagram...it's like my goals were reaching out to laugh at me from all angles!
4) "Blog more!"...
This is something I seem to have managed to get worse at as the year went on...but there is a plan to rectify this...keep reading and all will be revealed...
This is something I seem to have managed to get worse at as the year went on...but there is a plan to rectify this...keep reading and all will be revealed...
5) "Show my girlfriend how much I love her!"...
Well this is probably the most positive one to finish on as 2013 saw my girlfriend and I move in together, renting ourselves a lovely little barn since November and after spending a lovely Christmas and New Year there we are looking forward to a great 2014 ahead there. So I hope she knows how I feel about her but I think I'll carry this one on for this year too...would be rude not to I guess!
It is definitely that time of year when every one decides "New Year, New Me" and "This year will be my year" and as you've seen I have been guilty of that myself but no matter what tactics I have used previously I can never seem to keep them.
So for 2014 I figured why make goals I'm not going to keep. If public shaming doesn't help me achieve them then what will?!
Well I think I might have a solution...
Random Tasks! (And no I don't mean the oddjob parody character from Austin Powers)
I clearly don't work well to challenges set that have a long time limit and anything pre-ordained or prescribed to me to do seems to fail as well...so why not be more spontaneous?!
Every so often (you won't pin me down to time frames...clearly I can't be trusted to stick to them!) I will post a weekly or monthly task that I am hoping to achieve and detail my progress regularly throughout that period on here for your amusement no doubt!
This will either help me achieve a few more personal goals or fail once again and you'll have just as few items to read on here as you did last year!
But if all goes well then it should help achieve my goal of blogging more at the very least!
And not forgetting that Road Bike, Jump Rope and Pogo Stick that are collecting dust...well they may make an appearance too!
So keep your eyes peeled to this blog over the next 48 hours for the first of my Random Tasks of 2014.
For now though... I would like to wish you a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year to you all!
Whatever your goals may be for the year ahead, best of luck, I have every faith you will achieve them and at the very least find inspiration in my blog that there is always someone out there worse at keeping them than you are!
p.s. If you don't hear hear from me on here in the next 48 hours then feel free to find me on Twitter (@justdrewonit)
Well this is probably the most positive one to finish on as 2013 saw my girlfriend and I move in together, renting ourselves a lovely little barn since November and after spending a lovely Christmas and New Year there we are looking forward to a great 2014 ahead there. So I hope she knows how I feel about her but I think I'll carry this one on for this year too...would be rude not to I guess!
It is definitely that time of year when every one decides "New Year, New Me" and "This year will be my year" and as you've seen I have been guilty of that myself but no matter what tactics I have used previously I can never seem to keep them.
So for 2014 I figured why make goals I'm not going to keep. If public shaming doesn't help me achieve them then what will?!
Well I think I might have a solution...
Random Tasks! (And no I don't mean the oddjob parody character from Austin Powers)
I clearly don't work well to challenges set that have a long time limit and anything pre-ordained or prescribed to me to do seems to fail as well...so why not be more spontaneous?!
Every so often (you won't pin me down to time frames...clearly I can't be trusted to stick to them!) I will post a weekly or monthly task that I am hoping to achieve and detail my progress regularly throughout that period on here for your amusement no doubt!
This will either help me achieve a few more personal goals or fail once again and you'll have just as few items to read on here as you did last year!
But if all goes well then it should help achieve my goal of blogging more at the very least!
And not forgetting that Road Bike, Jump Rope and Pogo Stick that are collecting dust...well they may make an appearance too!
So keep your eyes peeled to this blog over the next 48 hours for the first of my Random Tasks of 2014.
For now though... I would like to wish you a very happy, healthy and prosperous new year to you all!
Whatever your goals may be for the year ahead, best of luck, I have every faith you will achieve them and at the very least find inspiration in my blog that there is always someone out there worse at keeping them than you are!
p.s. If you don't hear hear from me on here in the next 48 hours then feel free to find me on Twitter (@justdrewonit)
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