So, it’s 2014.  Happy New Year everyone!

I have a couple of new year’s resolutions for this year.  They are actually the same ones as last year.  Yeah, you guessed it, they didn’t really happen last year.  But if at first you don’t succeed…

The two resolutions are:

1. Go to bed early
2. Set a list of targets and put plans in place to achieve those targets

With regards to the first one, I went to bed early twice during 2013.  And one of those nights was because I was sick.

A friend of mine pointed out about a year ago that the second one is sort of a whole pile of resolutions into one.  And he’s right!!  But it’s more the strategy and attitude that I want to push through.  I want to be more productive and accomplish some goals I’ve had for most of my life and I believe that this way is the way to achieve it.  I’ll try my best and keep track of things on this blog.  That way, it’s more embarrassing if I don’t accomplish them so hopefully the fear of public shame will help drive me forward 🙂

The first one is simple really.  Stop going to bed so bloody late!  This will help me sleep better, be more productive at work, come back from work earlier (by virtue of having gone earlier) and should contribute to my other resolution and goals.  There is a hadith (saying/tradition etc) from the Prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him) that says “God has blessed the early hours of the day for my ummah (nation)”.

To achieve this, I’m going to try and go to bed no later than 12 on a week night (and hopefully earlier as the year goes on) and no later than 2 during the weekend.  To contribute towards this, I’ll put a few rules in place.

1. No Facebook after 11:30 (unless urgent – and when is it really that urgent?)
2. Go to bed even if not wrecked (traditionally, I’ve only really gone to bed when I’m wrecked or it’s past three and I’m afraid of being wrecked in the morning! 🙂 )

For the second one, I plan to follow the S.M.A.R.T. goals methodology.  SMART is short for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound.  Check out the wikipedia page for more info.

I first learned about SMART goals during a one day training course I took at work called “Situational Self Leadership” taught by Morgan Pierse from Blanchard International.  It was ACE and SO MUCH fun!!  The most fun I’ve ever had at work 🙂  The SMART goals thing was one of the three best things I learnt in that course.  I’ll go into the second some other day.  The third was a cool magic trick 🙂

The goals I’m gonna try and target for 2014 are as follows (clean off the top of my head):

1. Memorise part 30 of the Quran
2. Improve overall physical fitness.  Since this goal is not specific or measurable, I’ll add some specifics to it in another post.
3. Improve martial arts skills.  Same as above.
4. Improve driving skills using home sims/games.  Same as above.
5. Read at least one book per month.

Looking at this list, I may have bitten off more than I can chew!!  But we’ll see how it goes.

More to follow.  Watch this space!