New Resolu... Theme! And organization

As the year draws to a close, it's that time of year to start thinking about new year resolutions. So I thought I'd write a quick post on what I'm currently contemplating about what I plan to do in hopes that it'll help others by raising awareness of an example of how to think of this.

[Also posted on medium.]

First, I just discovered The Theme System through a recent CGP Grey video. He created it with Myke Hurley, and they discuss it on their podcast Cortex, which I also just started listening to. My new year resolutions have been really stagnant the past few years, where I recycle them and mostly succeed at them. And yes, I know most research says people fail at new year resolutions, but I'm on the opposite side in the sense I pick ones that I know I can achieve. However, I've been reusing them the last few years out of fear if I don't make them my resolutions, I won't do them, and I want those things in my life.

The Theme System, in short, is not making resolutions but instead picking an overall idea on how to approach a set period of time. And it doesn't have to be a year either. CGP Grey made an excellent video explaining it and the rationale behind it.

So this year, I think I'll try this system out for a semester. As a professor, the academic calendar seems like a nice thing to lean on in this case. This also means letting go of my recycled new year resolutions and see what sticks. Maybe I don't need that as a crutch to keep those things in my life. I'm currently debating between two themes for the semester and will probably write a blog post about them soon or at the end of the semester.

Second, if you are considering getting organized as one of your resolutions, I thought I'd share a bunch of blog posts that I have found useful this past year.

Here's an example of a calendar system from Cult of Pedagogy. I do something kind of similar where I block out time on my calendar for different activities. This helps me be honest about how much time I actually have in a given week. I also track my time (maybe I'll write a blog post on this someday) to learn how long things take me, so my calendar predictions are reasonable. Though I usually do under predict despite my data.

Amy Ko's Bits and Behavior blog has a bunch of posts that I have found invaluable.

And there's also my blog post on how I track my to-do list and my teaching staff's to-do list.

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