So, how are the New Year’s resolutions going? I figure that most are already broken or on the way to being broken. This isn’t me being a jerk, just me being honest with you about the probability of the life expectancy of your hopes. Okay, that one was kind of jerky. Most people that are going to set out or have already set out are going to fail. Does that mean that you sit down with a bag of Double Stuf Oreos and cry about it? Nope. Let’s be nerds about it and treat it as an experiment.
The greatest part about caring for a plant is the fact that you can see it grow. When you water it and provide sunlight, there are measurable responses to the plant itself. You can observe the height of the plant, the color, and root growth. The same applies for your Charmander. You battle it against others and give it moves that support its nature. You can actually see that you have gone from one point to another with its growth and changes in stats.
You, yourself, can use this mentality too. I have a friend that has been extremely inspiring in his weight loss; he has lost (at the time of my writing) 102 pounds in eight months. He is doing this by tracking his growth (or, in this case, his reduction) on Fatsecret and Wii Fit. 102 pounds is roughly a small child, or 2.83 poods. That is a lot of pood. He has been losing the weight at roughly two to three pounds a week…not a lot of poods per week, but something.
Measuring ourselves gives us a baseline off of which to track something and gives us feedback each time we check in on our progress. Wii Fit itself is a great instrument for observing these changes. You might start out with your avatar being doubled over, and a sad tuba in the background blaring and telling you that you are 25 years older than you are, but it gives you the information to make improvements. You can see the information to calculate it in your head and feel it in your bones.
My suggestion to you is to figure out exactly what you want to accomplish, and track that. For example: let’s say that you want to read all the classics. Go out and buy the first classic book you can imagine, sit down, and read at least one page a day. Of course you are going to read more than one page. Write down somewhere how many pages you have read, how many books you have read, and, if you feel apt to do so, figure out the percentage of book read. The numbers might start off small, but give yourself a week and you have blown though a book and are starting the next. Most people don’t read a book in a week. Plus, you will have the ego boost of having the number of pages and books read while doing nothing but climbing.
I don’t wish a happy New Year for you all. Instead, I wish for you to give yourself the tools to make the New Year better for you. I’ll help in any way I can.
Geek Counseling question? Suggestion for Level Up? Questions, comments, hopes? Dreams? Fears? Email me at justin@pixelatedgeek.com