Ask HN: New Years Resolution(s)?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=412772

by mikeyur • 18 years ago

37 69 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I want to know what your resolutions are for 2009. I know these lists are bullshit most of the time, but what's the harm?

I'll start first:

- Get Healthier (not just losing weight, but eating better and drinking less soda/sugar drinks)

- Learn how to use Photoshop

- Read more Marketing/Business/Entrepreneurship books that I tend to push off/forget about (the pile under my desk)

- Start blogging...(again)

- Start coding again + learn a new language (I'm thinking Python)

- Make a full time income online and move out (currently making a part-time income)

- Get onto the HN leader board (long shot)

I have more but I want to keep the list short and knock off one at a time. What's on your list?

kwamenum86• 18 years ago

- live healthier

- learn Python (I wrote this one before I read the 5th item of the above)

- save/invest more money

- spend less time on HN

- figure out how to monetize my free time and then do it

- set up linux and mac os x boxes in addition to my windows box

siong19873• 18 years ago

- get things done instead of thinking what new year resolutions I want for next year.

mikeyur2• 18 years ago

- getting things done instead of listing an item declaring the un-usefulness of writing a list.

jmtame• 18 years ago

I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions, much like I don't believe in a state of "I _will do_ something." You won't do something if you aren't already doing it, unless a major force compels you.

Going to the gym and having a healthy diet is not a "new year's resolution." It's a lifestyle. You have to do it for your entire life, otherwise why even bother starting?

mikeyur2• 18 years ago

One of my resolutions is to move out. From your logic, since I'm not already living on my own and I don't have anything forcing me to move out (getting kicked out, etc) then I won't ever move out. You're discounting self-motivation from your equation. I want to move out, I have set my mind to it and have started putting the pieces together to do so, therefore I will.

I totally agree with you that getting healthy/losing weight is a lifestyle change, but you have to start at some point. It's something I am working to continue into the new year, not just a task to work towards starting Janauary 1st.

You don't have any goals in your life?

joshsharp2• 18 years ago

It's funny how similar some of mine are. Or maybe it's not funny at all, maybe that's why we're all here...

- Start blogging again

- Learn Python properly (I know a bit, but would like to be comfortable/fluent)

- Lose some weight

but also (and these are optimistic/long-term, but hey):

- Really work to grow my client base, further my business's reputation, etc

- Release one of my as-yet-unfinished SaaS apps for some passive income

- Get an office and my first employee (currently freelancing from home office)

sokoloff• 18 years ago

I'd delay the office as long as possible for almost all software-only shops. It's a PITA, a distraction, and an additional expense. Once you grow to a certain point and NEED the space, or if your home situation is too distraction-filled, then go get an office.

Too many people are hooked on the idea "if I can work in my PJs, it must not be a real job". If that describes your (or your family's) opinion and you can't change it, you might have to, but look at an office as a necessary evil, not an indicator or predictor of successfulness.

Edit: clarified that I meant renting real estate not just "the last" which could be employee or office.

joshsharp2• 18 years ago

Good point. Don't really have room for anyone else to work here though, unfortunately, so if I add anyone then an office is basically a necessity. I do agree with what you're saying, though.

sgupta• 18 years ago

A new slinkset for New Year's resolutions: http://resolutions.slinkset.com/

wallflower• 18 years ago

I believe New Year's resolutions are like the fast food of goals/personal development: easy to come up with, may make you feel better in the short-term, and like fast food.. exit your system quickly.

Do yourself a favor and work towards your goals every day. Even fifteen minutes a day accumulates compound interest over time.

cperciva• 18 years ago

Two things come to mind:

1. Reach profitability with tarsnap. (This shouldn't be hard... I'm almost there already.)

2. Be a better friend to my friends. (This will hopefully be easier once resolution #1 is achieved, due to lower stress levels.)

geuis• 18 years ago

Not making resolutions. Whatever happens, happens.

axod• 18 years ago

  * Attend lots of comferences/meetups
  * Get funded
  * Launch paid for product
  * Grow advertising revenue
  * Sell the company
  * Profit!!

albertni• 18 years ago

1. Collect underwear

3. Profit

Prrometheus• 18 years ago

Do better next year.

hbien• 18 years ago

Instead of having a ton like last year and failing, this year I'm just going to have one resolution:

- Waste less time

snprbob86• 18 years ago

Ship.

Herring• 18 years ago

1680x1050

nailer• 18 years ago

1024x600. Hooray second gen Netbooks!

siong19873• 18 years ago

For those who don't understand the joke, Herring means Computer Resolution.

I tried to figure out what he means for at least 5 seconds and I admitted that I laughed.

kirubakaran2• 18 years ago

-5 for this? Stop downvoting him/her.

thenduks• 18 years ago

Mine would be to make sure I never go below 2560x1920 again.

mlLK• 18 years ago

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=403013

markessien3• 18 years ago

I plan to

1. Be able to jog for 10 kilometers

2. Make a video that reaches 500.000 views on YouTube

3. Release at least one more app that brings in $2000 or more a month

Modest goals are easier to reach, and a goal that cannot be measured is no goal.

unalone7• 18 years ago

Your first goal is a great one. The third may be also. But the second one? It's impossible to determine how good a video is based on the views it receives. The masses generally don't like the top-notch high-quality videos, they like bland-and-generic above everything.

When I was 13, I got together a group of friends and released a video on Newgrounds that hit 100,000 views - quite a lot back then! The video itself was terrible, though: the fact that more people have seen that than anything else I've done online is not exactly a fun thought for me. And when you look at other popular videos, very rarely are they really smart, clever things. At best they're "cool." You don't have many instances of people creating something thoughtful and enlightening and getting half a million views.

While measuring goals is a great thing, possibly figure out how to make a more useful goal for the video. Possibly even just "make X videos." The more you make, the more you'll learn about making them, and the better you'll end up with.

Zev2• 18 years ago

Doing something to be able to say "I did that" is a goal in itself as far as I'm concerned.

markessien3• 18 years ago

The point of the video is the page views. One of my philosophies is this - I don't care about pleasing smart people. How are they better than people who are less smart?

If my goal is to create an intellectually stimulating video, then I would work on that. While that is a worthy goal, it's different from trying to create a video that has a lot of hits. I'd actually say that for the average user on this site, considering that most of us have university degrees, it would be much harder to create something that appeals to a person who only has a very basic education than it would be to create something that would be appreciated by people that went through the same educational system that we did.

It's great to be smart, but that does not mean you should insulate yourself from the human condition. It does not mean that simple pleasures are somehow lesser pleasures.

If you can make a video 500.000 or more, it means you understand the how a lot of people think, and this is more important than understand how people very similar to you think.

ashleyw2• 18 years ago

Mine are really similar:

    - Get Healthier (not just losing weight, but eating better and drinking less soda/sugar drinks)

    - Read the piles of books on my desk

    - Start blogging

    - Learn a new programming language (C/C++/Objective-C, and the OpenGL library)

    - Make a decent income online where afford to buy a brand new Macbook Pro without putting it on a card I can't afford to repay...

    — Start a totally bootstrapped company

ErrantX• 18 years ago

Apart from the second to last mine are almost identical :)

- Get Healthy (there is even a gym at work.. which is a measure of my laziness :()

- Read the backlog of books & journals

- Learn a new language (Japanese I think)

- Learn a new programming language (Probably Ruby)

- Start blogging again

- Actually get my company off the ground to the point I can quit my day job

ashleyw2• 18 years ago

Oh yeah, forgot one:

    — Get dressed most days; when working from home, its so easy not to get dressed until the
      late afternoon or even not at all, but doing so limits my productivity substantially!

ahoyhere• 18 years ago

Remember peeps, good goals are measurable and specific.

jjs2• 18 years ago

1. Finish writing my current desktop app

2. Incorporate (probably as an LLC)

3. Sell copies of said app to people in exchange for money.

4. Relax more.

5. Exercise more.

6. Visit more places and people.

7. If steps 1-3 work, buy Wil Shipley a drink!

8. Spend next xmas in Munich.

burnout15402• 18 years ago

Don't incorporate too early. I did that a year and a half ago, but things came up and I wasn't able to actually start the business. After the setup fees, annual state franchise fees, registered agent fees, and dissolution fees, I'm down $700 with nothing to show for it aside from this little nugget of knowledge.

jjs2• 18 years ago

Thanks for the tip. I plan on incorporating after I've finished the app and am ready to sell it.

thinkzig• 18 years ago

Why wait until the new year?

Why not push away from the keyboard right now and go spend 15 minutes on something that will move you closer to one of your goals?

You'll feel a lot better, and you'll be 3 days ahead of the game. :)

Mystalic• 18 years ago

I don't do new years resolutions, and it has been my policy since I was a kid.

My rationale: if you want to change your life or do something, don't procrastinate - start right then. Putting an arbitrary date on things you want to do never made sense to me. You just have to write it down and then follow through.

djm• 18 years ago

I tend to think the same way and will add that NYRs are similarly useless in that many peoples goals change during the course of the year. This leaves them stuck feeling guilty about not accomplishing a bunch of stuff on a list that they don't want to do anymore.

ojbyrne• 18 years ago

So you've inspired my New Years Resolution - no more New Years Resolutions. ;-)

kirse• 18 years ago

I never liked the idea either -- it usually just encourages most people to picture their "super self" and then set a ton of unachievable expectations for the next 365 days.

I'll just be renewing my committment to simply do the best I can each day and know that's all I can do.

pavelludiq• 18 years ago

Ask this girl out.

mixmax• 18 years ago

Good luck :-)

kirubakaran2• 18 years ago

Don't wait.

agotterer• 18 years ago

Go for the new years kiss!

river_styx• 18 years ago

Speaking from experience: any doubts you have in your mind are inconsequential. Go for it! :)

patio11• 18 years ago

In the sense of "If it isn't actionable and quantifiable its a delayed failure rather than a goal:"

1) Go to gym 100 times for at least 45 minutes.

2) Sell $30,000 worth of Bingo Card Creator.

3) Take money from customers for 2nd project. (sales > $0)

4) Not disclosed.

5) Reduce food budget to 1/2 of current level.

6) Declare income resulting from wages of exactly zero yen/dollars for December 2009 to appropriate tax authorities.

tome• 18 years ago

4) Not disclosed.

Ooh, now we're curious!

unalone7• 18 years ago

It's a marketing strategy on his part.

mrtron• 18 years ago

Excellent list.

I created an almost identical list of precise goals and it is already helping me.

xiaoma• 18 years ago

> 6) Declare income resulting from wages of exactly zero yen/dollars for December 2009 to appropriate tax authorities.

I think honesty might be a better goal.

dmpayton• 18 years ago

Same as last year...

- Lose weight - Learn C - Don't waste (too much) time - Get shit done

I did pretty well on the last two in 2008. Hopefully I can keep it up while making the first two happen.

gcheong• 18 years ago

1.Work through Stroustrup's Programming: Principle's and Practice Using C++ (always good to review the basics)

2.Write an app and sell it for enough to replace my current income

3.Train for and run the Bay to Breakers

4.Achieve "Archer" level in recurve style archery.

popschedule• 18 years ago

-Finish popalerts, & popschedule -Get portfolio site together -Figure out first year C corp taxes due. -Develop better communication and public speaking skills. -Make more connections with outside web consultants. -Wake up to the sound of an alarm. -Stop arguing with my girlfirend -Drink more tea, less coffee -Make Lists, get organized -Build large business web concepts (coke, nike, honda,...) -Paint more -Drink less

rokhayakebe• 18 years ago

Learn how to code because some idiots did not figure that computer science should be thought in elementary school just as Mathematics, Biology, etc...The plan HTML>CSS>Javascript>Python or PHP

tjic• 18 years ago

- do more marketing for SmartFlix and HeavyInk (I hate doing it, but it works)

- I started lifting again three weeks ago - keep doing it.

- Get to the range more often to practice and carry my pistol more often day to day.

creativeembassy• 18 years ago

Learn a functional programming language. (Maybe Haskell, but I'm open to other ideas).

code_devil• 18 years ago

It's not a New Year Resoultion, but certain goals/milestones that I'd like to see achieved :

1) Develop some Social Networking Applications for Facebook etc.

2) Learn Cocoa Touch for iPhone and Develop Apps.

3) Learn a MVC framework like Django/RoR in and out.

4) Be consistent with the gym schedule and get some muscles :)

5) TBD soon :)

Hexstream• 18 years ago

Read HN only on Saturdays (or some other fixed day of the week). I can easily waste 2 or 3 hours a day to "keep up" with the news, this is ridiculous.

Trying to learn something truly worthwhile by reading the news is a bit like trying to learn by watching TV or trying to get rich by buying lottery tickets: sometimes it works, usually it doesn't, and even if you succeed it's not quite as edifying as doing it the right way (ex: learning useful knowledge by reading books or getting rich by starting a company).

I'd be interested to know if there's some day of the week where the stories are usually the most relevant.

DanielBMarkham• 18 years ago

I don't do New Year's resolutions, but I have made a decision recently.

If I'm going to continue consulting instead of working on a startup next year, on the side I'm going to work on something technical and fun, like an automated .NET Ocaml-to-YUI Data Access Layer. Something where I can learn and create a framework to use in a startup later on.

niels• 18 years ago

I have decided to focus on personal growth. I made this list some days ago.

Personal qualities

Goals:

- Non needy

- Non pleasing

- Give value

- Accept other peoples value

Method:

- Be faithful to own values

- Base in own self recognition, not others opinion.

- Accept the importance of signal values

- Don't do or say things that undermines my own status.

Excercise:

Goals

- running, cycling, swimming, workout.

Method

- Sign up for several amateur races (running, cycling, triathlon)

Professional:

Goals

- improve self promotion

Method

- Blog, Network

Startup:

Goal

- Launch my project

Method:

- Keep on working? (I've rewritten it two and a half time)

- Freelancing pays the bills

Friends:

Goal

- Keep old friends, but focus on making new friends.

Method

- Actively engage in other people lives, don't need "invitation".

Dating:

Goal

- Date more girls, or meet potential long term girlfriend

Method

- Dating sites, Social activities, Bars

Sailing:

Goal

- Participate in as many regattas as possible (I bought a sailing boat last year)

Method ?

Happy new year!

simplegeek• 18 years ago

- Quit smoking - Learn UI (CSS and Photoshop) - Excercise daily - Release my two side projects and turn them into profitable products. - Learn a new programming language (not sure on this one) - Publish some pending drafts to ACM - Publish some articles , long due, to selected magazines - Asking this girl out

burnout15402• 18 years ago

1. Get my on-the-side business up and running and decide whether or not it is worth investing more time in. 2. Add 20k+ to my savings. 3. Improve my BASH knowledge. 4. Travel more. 5. Waste less time (TV and web)

Ask HN: New Years Resolution(s)?

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