Going through our archives, we came across this great post by Dr. AnnMaria De Mars from January 3, 2015 “New Year’s Resolutions“ that we wanted to share in case you missed it the first time around.
According to the New York Times, 45% of people make New Year’s resolutions and although 54% of them fail, the percentage who succeed (46%, proof that I can subtract and understand the concept of percentages) is more than ten times higher than for those people who say they would like to change but don’t make specific, stated resolutions.
I am one of those people who always makes New Year’s resolutions, and I usually keep them, putting me in the top 46% (woo-hoo!) I believe there is value to setting public goals. Here are my resolutions for this year:
1. Read one technical book a month. I already have a list for the first seven months.
2. Get accepted in and complete an accelerator program.
3. Get three more games on the market. That won’t be as difficult as it sounds because our second game is just going through the last finishing touches and will be in at least six schools in January.
4. Work FULL-TIME on 7 Generation Games! I am pretty excited about this one. I have two classes I have agreed to teach in February and May, and one consulting client with whom I have a long-term contract, but other than that, it is a year of game development and building a company. I am so excited.
5. Analyze all of the data we collect on our games’ effectiveness. Again, this is an easy one because it is a requirement of our grant funding. We already have pretest data on over 300 users from age 9-13, and I expect to collect data on 200-300 more as well as post-test data within the next few months.
6. Get moderately proficient with photoshop. I’m not an artist and I mostly use graphic converter, but since I have photoshop as part of the Creative Suite license, I figured I may as well learn a few things.
7. Learn more about the Mac OS. That might sound funny since I have had a Mac ever since I got one in 1984 instead of a big diamond engagement ring. (I told my to-be husband that I really wanted one of those new Macintosh computers more than a fancy diamond.) However, there are no doubt details that I don’t know and have never taken the time to learn.
8. Finish the pilot project of the data mining study I have been working on.
That is enough for the year, I think.
My sister, my mom and The Perfect Jennifer always tells me that I need to have interests outside of work. I am not wholly convinced of that, since I am pretty happy the way I am. I don’t have any resolutions about visiting exotic places because I already have a lot on my plate for 2015. I keep saying I want to go back to Costa Rica and take some immersion program to improve my Spanish, but that will have to wait until 2016. So, here is my non-work resolution:
9. To go visit my family at least twice this year. I’m already planning to go hiking in some mountains with my sister for a day or two this summer, and I want to take The Spoiled One to visit my mom in Florida and check out colleges in the south.
So …. those are my New Year’s resolutions and I even threw in a non-work related one. (Joy, I hope that makes you happy, or joyful or something.) I looked through my blogs for the last few years and I think I have done okay on following through on resolutions and non-resolutions.
If you don’t have a blog but are still convinced of the whole efficacy of public accountability thing, please feel free to post your resolutions below. Or just do it because I’m nosy and wondering what other people’s resolutions are.