Here it is, a few days into 2009, and I am just sitting down to write out some thoughts I had about the year behind and the year ahead.
2008 was not a terribly bad year for me. I experienced the painful loss of someone I loved and respected and who played a large part in where I am today. I remain gainfully employed in the face of these troubling economic times. On a variety of different levels, though, I feel personally unfulfilled.
For one, I have found myself procrastinating occasionally–both professionally and personally. In all these years, I never thought I would find myself procrastinating–I have always been the one person who has always had things done on time. My recent recidivism on this front was reinforced by a visit from my college friend Steve in December. He mentioned that when we were in college, he was impressed that I was able to get my classwork done early. Back then, it was almost criminal how early I finished reading and papers. Now, however, I find myself falling off the wagon. I am not getting things done in a timely manner.
Part of this is the increasing number of interruptions I experience. Work and the BlackBerry have played a role, and I am responsible for that one. This year, I believe I found myself spending too much time on work–not putting the BlackBerry down or not being logged into my machine from home all too frequently. In other words, I really need to make a better effort at respecting the work-life balance. I did it earlier in my professional career, and here I find myself doing the same thing again. My interruptions are not just at work, though. I find myself interrupting myself at home by using Twitter and Facebook and being slavishly devoted to my aggregator.
I also find myself not being where I believe I need to be personally. Again, the my time management difficulties manifest themselves here. Instead of focusing on my personal life–dating, household chores, and entertainment–I spent so much time on other things that my downtime was devoted to just that–being down. I also found my fitness discipline to not be up to snuff.
So, in 2009, I am going to make a conscious effort to declutter. I am paring down the feeds I read. I am making a conscious effort to limit my time on Twitter and Facebook. I am also going to make inroads on other personal initiatives. I will make a better effort at maintaining my work-life balance. In doing so, I will devote more time to dating, doing some stuff around the house, and going out to grab a movie or some other performance.
I am not making this the cliched resolution post, but instead a reminder of where I want to be. In some cases, it is getting back to where I was. In other cases, it is making progress. In the end, though, I will be better in 2009.
Tagged 2009, Personal