General

- Reread Atomic Habits
- Define the traits I want to have
- Work at getting better in those traits little by little

I hate resolutions and never make them.

Some notables minus my usually sleep, eat, cook, study and work activities are.

-Buy another house possibly
-Try indoor sky diving or sky diving
-Buy my dream monitor assuming it is worth it. Just not willing to buy my three dream monitors to determine which one I actually want and return the other two

yeah, I think if I'd resolve to do something I'd just work toward that whenever I get a chance to instead of waiting till new year. (sorry to be a buzzkill)

Also in general announcing what you plan to do is self-defeating. It tricks your mind into thinking you're inevitably going to accomplish it, so as a result you don't bother putting in the effort.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chZvJvMYppQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHopJHSlVo4

I only tell people when it's necessary.

I’ve had a long term goal of retiring at 55. My resolution is to continue on that path and not get distracted.

Sell the house, most of my video games and DVDs, and get the hell outta town before Summer.

Oh and contribute more stuff to MAME I guess.

Last year my resolution was to cook more and I stuck to it pretty well.. I now have roughly 20 new dishes I can make with confidence and I plan on continuing this through next year.

This year I have a few:
1) build things.. I have a lot of tools that I've hardly ever used and this year I want to start making stuff with my hands.. gonna start with making a wooden oven cover, and if that goes well, other stuff for around the house.
2) Manage our money better.. We just got our PMI taken off our mortgage because our appraisal came in WAYYY higher than what we thought, so we took out a small home equity loan to pay off all our debts and consolidate.. we are gonna save about $500/month by doing so (equity payment vs. multiple credit card payments), Then its SAVE, SAVE, SAVE!!!
3) Sell off a lot of stuff on Facebook marketplace.. I've been sitting on a bunch of stuff that I just want to get rid of and have been pushing off posting on FB for some strange reason. Gonna start doing that to make space/$$$
4) Do more stuff with the wife.. Setting up dinner dates and such.. ya know, spending more time together..
5) Purge my kid's legos.. WE have WAYYY too many, so we are gonna start rebuilding the sets they no longer want and selling em off.. we have a lot of Junior sets that they just don't play with..
6) Lose more weight.. I've done a good job last year, but gonna continue to do so by eating healthier and exercising more.

There are probably more, but this is a great start.

Not technically a new years, but almost one, but i am going to give an honest effort to stop smoking at 33 going 34. Going the chantix route and I'm a little worried about it with my meds and my dr telling me its a lot of high risk/high reward doing so. I'm stuck working tomorrow and monday so tuesday wednesday/thursday when I'm officially off were going to buckle down and give this a stab. any pointers tips or suggestions for weaning vs going cold turkey are greatly appreciated.

HEHEHATE wrote:

Chantix was how I quit a decade ago, took a couple tries but it did the job. A less expensive and more beneficial route I've found this past year is CBD. Absolutely helps to take the edge off. Yet the Chantix dreams are amazing!

Just like every year my gaming resolution is to get through my backlog.

I think people’s paths to quitting smoking are highly variable. My dad was able to quit cold turkey but a lot of people have a hard time doing that. I think one thing that can help you shape your strategy is to think about what smoking does for you and then try to replace cigarettes with an alternative that would at least partially provide the same benefit. Like if smoking helps you deal with stress consider healthier replacements that would help relieve stress like exercise or meditation.

There are, of course, meds you can use like Chantix, Wellbutrin, and nicotine patches/gum. Some people swear by them and others aren’t helped much. Also avoiding other smokers if possible. A lot of this is trial and error but being willing to keep trying until you find something that works is what ultimately gives you the best chance of success. Basically don’t give up and don’t despair if you relapse. Relapsing is common and doesn’t mean irredeemable failure.

I’m starting a monumental journey of beginning to date again to find my person that I’m with hopefully until I’m dead and gone many years from now. With that said I have to get back into fighting shape as I’ve put on a decent amount of weight since my divorce due to varying issues with COVID, working from home, and just plain letting myself go due to some mental health struggles. The dating scene has never been this bad, all my friends are in relationships or are already married so they haven’t dated in years and don’t believe me it’s so bad out there. With the introduction of tinder and other “swipe left” dating apps it feels like I don’t get anyone of substance to match with so online dating is out. How do people even meet anymore?

So this next year will be a mixture of eating right, exercising, etc. and updating wardrobe, etc. in an effort to attract a new lady friend.

At the tender age of 36(soon to be 37) it all makes me feel like I’m in a Rocky movie and the training montage is about to kick in. These next 12-18 months are going to SUCK.

All I can do is ring the bell. Ding…Ding….

DRAGOOOOO! 😂

Mattman2 wrote:
Drago? From Rocky? As in, "I'm going to get super into shape like Drago"?

Good luck! I hope you find someone great.

nonamesleft wrote:

Yup exactly, Rocky training in the snow to fight Drago in Rocky IV.

And thanks brother! I’m going to need all the luck I can get.

Last year I made a resolution and I've stuck with it: floss my teeth every night. I think that's the first time I've kept a New Year's resolution.

As for this year, I would like to play video games more - maybe an hour over the weekend would be doable. The hurdle is that my work from home setup is in the exact same space as my gaming setup: by the time the weekend rolls around, I want a change of scenery.

I've managed not to gain weight the past year, but it has been a struggle (medications and health conditions stack the deck against me). I'm not sure what tricks I can employ that would make it all suck less. I'll just try to make the most use of the tools and skills I have, I suppose.

MrBean wrote:

I'm just worried about the meds im on and doing it. going off smoking being on mood stabilizers is going to be a challenge. I'm hoping chantix will be enough to nudge me off as there's no chance im going cold turkey

Squatting 3 plates. Not sure what my max is right now, probably sitting somewhere around 285 or 290 but I bet I could get it by the end of the year.

HEHEHATE wrote:

If you're not opposed to other sources of nicotine that definitely dont mess you up as much as smoking, maybe try pouches. I quit smoking like a decade ago but not long after switched to dip, and the Zyn punches are a lifesaver and definitely make me feel way better than tobacco

theyrhere wrote:

I don't think the fixation is as much for me from cigarettes as it is having something in my mouth constantly. For years as a kid it was thumbsucking i didn't give that up till i was like 7-8. I don't even remember how i did it but i never did it again after. Then i went to sweets, gums and i had(have) a terrible fixation with my fingernails. I'd bite them down and constantly used them for tooth picks. From there i went to drugs at around 15 then at 19 i picked up smoking. I've been a pack a day guy bear minimum ever since. I tried the tobacco to vape route and while it dropped me down to all day vaping and a 4 cigarette day minimum I still couldn't kick it. Tried the patches they were hit or miss. Pretty sure i've tried lossanges before as well. I don't know how the packets would work for me since my teeth are terrible as is and I think it would just make me eat more and I'd ballon up from 210-300 easily.

I still plan on smoking regardless i live in a recreational state and fully partake. so i think the big thing is eliminating the 3 factors that i know make me smoke. boredom, situational and reactional.

Definitely won't happen overnight but I'll let you guys know how tuesday/wednesday/thursday goes on progress. My friend just quit herself so she can give me a lot of personal tips on how she did it and give me the support around here i might need.

Working out more is too general for me so my goals are
Bench - 240
Squat - 210
Deadlift - 200
Run - 1.5mile/12 min
Pull Ups - 10 straight
Push-ups - 70

December started with my back wrecked and as the month went on various things got in the way of working out (I had been consistent the past 11 months). So today I kinda started over.

Other than that I spent all of 2022 planning, packing, and moving my family myself from Raleigh, NC to Seattle, WA. Now that I feel like we are finally unpacked and settled, I’m taking 2023 easy and enjoying our new area. Hiking more, finding good restaurants, and enjoying myself.

-Get in better shape
-Finish writing one of my scripts
-Read at least one book a month
-SAVE MONEY, OH MY GOD.

Oh, sleep. I need to get a good chunk of that each night, consistently.

@HEHEHATE have you looked into chewlery for the mouth/chewing? It's a food safe silicone. Brief overview: https://www.arktherapeutic.com/blog/what-is-chewel... I used one for a period of time when I was particularly anxious and clenching my jaw a lot (TMJ sucks). Nothing wrong with stimming. Maybe use in combination with the Chantix? My dad quit with patches, he wanted to stop smoking for when my younger brother was born. My dad was successful, he didn't relapse, but I haven't ever talked about it with him - like, were his cravings really bad, was he tempted to smoke again, what helped him bolster his resolve to stick to quitting?

I've never really been one to make New Year's resolutions. I may have a couple times, but I'm sure I never stuck with them. However, about 2-3 years ago I started setting goals for myself and tracking them in OneNote, and it's been a huge life-changer for me. So now, whenever New Year's rolls around, I use it as an opportunity to check in on the status of my goals, and see if I want to make any changes. Many of them are yearly (so basically New Years resolutions lol) but some are just ongoing, that I tweak as I go.

All of that said, 2022 was pretty rough for me. Around August of 2021, I was in the best shape of my adult life. I had been working from home almost exclusively for the last year and a half, which made it much easier for me to fit in my running and workouts. I was getting close to my high school weight, which was nuts to me, I never thought it would be possible. But then in Sep 2021 my wife and I got covid, and although the worst of it only lasted about a week, we had long lasting symptoms that seemed to take forever to go away. For me, the main thing was just a lack of energy. So that carried through winter, which is already a more difficult time of year to stay active, exercise, etc. Before I knew it, several months had passed and I just wasn't exercising at all. Life got busy with work, school, coaching my daughter's volleyball team, plus I had some trouble with my foot that kept me off my feet for a few weeks total. Every once in a while I would try to start up exercising again, but only do it once or twice (and it being VERY hard) before dropping it again. My health progressively got worse and worse. I was tired all of the time, so I upped my caffeine to an obscene (for me) level. I started eating more junk food than ever. By the end of 2022, my weight was up to almost the highest it's ever been in my adult life. I felt like crap all of the time, and it was affecting pretty much all areas of my life. I was starting to feel like it was the end for me, and I was just going to be an unhealthy for the rest of my life. So when New Year's rolled around, I decided it was time to make some serious life changes.

So, here are my current goals. I try to make them things that I can actually achieve, not vague goals like "work out more", "read more", etc. Nothing against anyone whose goals are like that, they just don't work for me personally. The exception is my "long-term ongoing goals", those are more vague.


Personal Goals
Exercise 3 days per week
-If I can fit in more, great. But at least 3 days per week of 30+ minutes running or working out.

Run 5k without stopping
-This one is sad because I was easily doing this in 2021. My goal for that year was actually to run 10k without stopping. I feel like I'm starting back from 0, but that's ok.

Do 10 pull-ups
-This one is also sad, since I had already reached this goal and now feel like I'm starting over.

Quit drinking Mountain Dew Zero
-I had quit drinking Mountain Dew a while back and was only drinking green tea. But, around 2019 or 2020, I picked it back up. This time I was drinking Mountain Dew Zero though, and justified it because there was no sugar. But, these things have an insane amount of caffeine. Regular Mountain Dew already has 55g per can, which is already one of the highest caffeine amounts in a soda. But Mountain Dew Zero has a whopping 68mg! For a while I was only having 1 or 2 each day, but throughout the course of 2022 it got up to 3 per day as a regular thing, and toward the end of the year I was often drinking 4!

Reduce sugar intake (no candy or ice cream in house)
-I have a bad habit of keeping candy and ice cream in the house. I have some candy after lunch almost every day, and I have ice cream some nights. Like I mentioned previously, my junk food consumption got out of control in 2022. I was often having a king size candy bar after lunch, plus ice cream after dinner, almost every single day. I'm not saying I'll never have sugar again. I'll still have occasional treats. But I've got to stop keeping it in the house as a regular thing.

Maintain 4.0 GPA
-In the summer of 2021, I started pursuing an additional associates degree to go with my bachelor's. So far, I've made all A's, and would like to keep it that way!

Read 6 books
-Last year I started trying to get back into reading. I was pretty slow about it throughout most of the year, but the last couple months I really picked up the pace. I'm hoping to read more than 6 this year, but I didn't want to put too much pressure on myself and possibly choose a number that I wouldn't be able to reach. Also, I'm working through the Lord of the Rings right now, and just the first book has taken a while. I'll be jumping straight into the 2nd and 3rd books afterward, so it may be a while before I get to any shorter books.

Beat 15 video games
-This may sound silly, but I like having this goal. Video games are my only hobby, so I like to have something I'm working toward. For a long time, I had a habit of getting hooked on a game and then playing it almost exclusively for months upon months. Having a goal to beat a certain number of games has helped me not linger on any one game for too long, and instead get to more of my backlog.

Do 1 thing on my to-do list every week
-For many years now, my personal to-do list has been out of control. I put so many things on it and just never come close to completing everything. This year, my goal is to complete at least 1 thing off of it each week. With 52 weeks, that should pretty much knock out the entire list.


Work Goals
Go for a walk every morning/afternoon
-Since I sit in an office all day, this one is so helpful. I've been doing this for years, but sometimes I get inconsistent about it. I especially slacked on it last year, so I'm trying to get back in the habit.

Pay better attention during virtual meetings
-Ever since covid, the number of virtual meetings I attend increased drastically. I try to pay good attention, but I do attend a large number of meetings that are only slightly relevant to me. I've gotten worse about using this time to check emails, do minor tasks, etc, while only half listening. I'm working toward not doing this anymore.


Long-Term / Ongoing Goals
Floss every night
-I have great brushing habits. I brush thoroughly twice a day, every day. But I didn't grow up flossing, so I've struggled in my adult life to make it a habit. I seem to be one of those people that really doesn't need to that much, because my check-ups at the dentist always go very well. But, I still want to do it because I know it will be good for me anyway, plus it will help fight bad breath.

Get out of bed when my alarm goes off
-I've struggled with getting up in a timely manner for the last several years. So, I'm trying to get in the habit of just getting up right when my alarm goes up. It feels great when I do it (once I've been up for a few minutes and really woken up), but it's so hard to fight that temptation to close my eyes for a few more minutes.

Advance in my career
-There's a lot to this one, but I have some long-term goals that I'm continually working toward.

Clear my to-do list
-Eventually, I want my to-do list to be a clean slate, so I can focus on each new thing as it's added.

Only eat out for special occasions or out of necessity
-We've come a long way on this, but there's still room for improvement. I'm more at the mercy of my wife on this one though, she likes eating out way more than I do. She's getting there though.


I'm 20 days in, and things are going very well so far. On Jan 1 I went ahead and dropped to 2 Mountain Dews per day. It was hard at first, but I quickly got used to it. Then, on the 16th, I dropped to just 1 per day. This one was much harder, the first couple days in particular were very rough. But I've already adjusted and I'm feeling much better. Also, I've slowly chipped away at the candy and ice cream I had in the house. I've just about finished off everything I had saved up (reasonable portions each day, I've not been gorging myself to finish it quickly lol). I did ask my wife to pick up 1 pint of ice cream and 1 small bag of fun size Twix when she was at the grocery store. I can't go cold turkey on this one, but I'm heavily weaning myself, and it's going well. Also, I've managed to exercise at least 3 times each week, despite being sick for about 2 weeks straight. I've already lost like 6 pounds, but more importantly, I'm starting to feel like myself again! I'm not exhausted and feeling like crap all of the time anymore. I've been sleeping so much better and actually wake up feeling refreshed! Feeling so much better was the boost I needed. 2023 is looking so much better for me than 2022 was. It's nice to feel healthy again, and know that I've still got plenty of young years in me.

@Scott Dropping refined carbs made a huge difference for me. I suffered from daytime sleepiness and irritability for probably over a decade. I thought it was all due to getting older and being tired from work. It was common for me to take 2-3 hour midday naps on weekends which utterly squandered precious weekend days.

Again, I just thought this was just being tired from working all week. The reality was different. 2022 was a year of change for me. I cut out probably 90% of refined carbs and switched to whole grains. I ate fruit instead of sugary snacks - which is a strategy that may work for you if you have difficulty weaning yourself off candy. I also started exercising a few times a week and even started meditating in the mornings.

All of this made a huge impact on my life but I attribute more than half of it to changing my eating habits. I no longer take naps on weekends. I used to dread getting through the kids' dinnertime and nighttime routine because I was so tired. Now I practically whistle through it.

@Staraang That's awesome! I've already dropped some refined carbs out of my diet over the years. Right now, I'm mostly focused on the caffeine and sugar, but once I've conquered that, I'll be looking to make additional improvements to my diet! I'm amazed by how much better I feel already, just from these small improvements over a short period of time.

Scott, biggest thing you will do is cut out the Mountain Dew and candy to help lose weight quick.. I went from sweet to unsweet iced tea and I dropped like 10 pounds in a month (by also cutting out candy and other sugary stuff, but eliminating this was huge).
One thing you can do to help lose the weight is cut out nighttime consumption. What I do is after 9 PM, I don't eat anything and just drink water. It cuts the cravings down and you'll lose more weight (not a substantial amount, but some) and you will wake up fresher than you normally would.
Some brands of non sugary candies are actually pretty good.. when I shop for candy/snacks I look at the sugar and carb amount. If the total # for both is between 10-12, I usually try it.. Air popped popcorn is also a great snack with little impact on diet..

Whatchya all got this time around?

Basically the same crap for me last year that I've failed on!

More quality time with the fam is my number one.

Learn how to whistle really loud with my fingers. Same goal I have had since I was 8. I will keep trying. I can get a really good whistle every now and then. Its just not with any consistency. I am an excellent normal whistler

beavis wrote:

Well from 2022 goals
Bench - 240 - Success
Squat - 210 - Fail
Deadlift - 200 -Success
Run - 1.5mile/12 min - Fail (but close)
Pull Ups - 10 straight - Very much Fail
Push-ups - 70 - Success

First full year back near Seattle and it has been the best decision to move back here, love the area.

As far as 2023 goes I would really like to get better at squatting. For some reason my body weight (around 175) seems to be the hurdle and I'm not sure how to get past it. I would also like to finally change jobs. I'm still in my first job post Navy and while I have learned alot and am finally making good money I think I could be doing something better for more (as former coworkers have told me numerous times).

I’ve given up on this concept.

Someone asked me what my new years resolution is this year. I said "nothing, I don't have one."

I get the point of it. New year, motivate yourself to do more, or something new, that sort of thing.

I figure if there's something I want to do, I don't need a new years resolution to do it.

I quit smoking by switching to vapes, but still go through 2-3 elf bars a week two years later. It's definitely healthier than cigarettes but still bad for you, haven't been able to kick those yet.