Some of you reading this blog know that I worked all of last year (and some of the year before) at a job that forced a highly erratic schedule on me, something I really, really hated, and never really came to terms with. I’ve quit that job, now, and I’m working on a number of other projects, work that allows me to set my own schedule.

And this is something I plan to take full advantage of, after having a belly-full of never being able to create a routine, and always having to think about accomplishing anything, even stuff that should be very routine. This was an annoying, completely unnecessary waste of resources.

So first of all, I plan to do more recording than I have previously. I’m one of those old fashioned people who still uses a paper day-timer (and yes, I have a wristwatch, too. And a flip phone. I’ll likely upgrade to a smart phone sometime this year, but I’m still not giving up my watch or dead tree day-timer), and I want to record more than how much time I’ve spent on which project, which is currently its main function. So I’m going to see about recording things like what books I’ve read, how many words I’ve written in my various fiction projects. I also plan to get back into a yoga practice, and I want to track my progress in that, too.

I’ve said previously that I don’t really believe in plans, because they never survive first contact with the enemy. Or classroom. Or life. I’m much more a proponent of preparation and flexibility in approach to getting things done. Even so, there are things I want to get done this year, some overarching goals, and I want to be able to look back and see how far I’ve come at the end. An approach I like is that of Chris Guillebeau, which he writes about on his The Art of Non-Conformity blog; he does a yearly review, and sets some larger goals for several aspects of his life. This way he doesn’t neglect important aspects of personal development, and also doesn’t get bogged down in fine details.

So I’ll see how that goes. If you’re still here and reading at the end of this year, I’ll give you a full report on what I did, and what benefits I found from recording things. If you have tips to give, or goals to share, I’d love to hear about them in the comments…