Personal & Productivity 31 May 2006 12:29 pm
Reinventing oneself
Lately I've been radically changing my habits. Not all at once, of course, for that's impossible, but rather like a slow progression. I think it started with keeping my room clean(er) back in January or so, and it has progressed into other areas of my life as well. Some of the changes have added up to be *very* significant. Changes that have happened, or will happen in the near future:
- I'm leaving my current school. It's simply not a good match for me — I hate being there with a passion, and I'm not making any progress. The bad blood that exists between the administration and myself is continually biting me in the ass. It's best to leave.
- You might notice that I'm not on IRC or the forums much. I don't find that they contribute to my happiness or overall well-being.
I have some problems that I'll need to deal with along the way. A few of them:
- My friends. I don't have many friends whose company I find enriching. I'd say that I should hang out with "older" people, but they're mostly just more cynical versions of the people I spend time with today. That's not to say that they're bad people or not fun to hang out with, of course.
- This boils down to the problem of static. Most people in my life don't change — they stay the same, year in and year out. This isn't me. I'm not the same person I was a year ago or even six months ago. I need dynamic people, not people that are uninterested in changing. I need to find a new crowd to spend my time with. I don't like static people, and I don't like being thought of as one by those people that are.
I don't intend to do this (whatever "this" ends up being) like people do "New Years Resolutions" which are complete bollocks. I'm not going to "resolve" to go to the gym 3 times a week or anything like that. It's been my experience that things like that happen as one gets one's act together in other ways.
A shift in attitude changes everything else from the ground up.
Things I'll be doing in the near-term:
- I'm taking two classes this summer, at UMass Lowell. One that will be difficult (but that I want to take) and the other just for fun. Just because it's interesting. Something I have honestly never done in the 5.5 years I've been in college. (The two classes I'll be taking are Computing I (which I already took and passed and didn't learn a damn thing because I didn't want to) and International Relations.)
- I'll be paying for school out of my own pocket. I will allow myself to take out federal loans, but no private loans.
- I will be going to Hong Kong in July with my mom which should be quite the experience.
I am $132,000 in debt because of school, and that cannot continue.
Tomorrow is June 1, which seems like as good an arbitrary starting point as any. Not as though this will end a year from now, but it would be nice to have a concrete date to look back at to compare to a year from now. I'll have good days and bad days, but I want my overall direction to be forward. I can honestly say that in the last 3 months, I've never been happier. I've changed just about everything about my life, at least a little bit.
- I don't get heart palpitations anymore
- I drink maybe once a month, if that (I simply don't have the desire anymore)
- I read so much more than I ever used to — I read ~30 single-spaced pages with 10pt font — I know because I print them out because reading things on a screen hurts my eyes. Some days as high as 60 pages, some days only 5-10 pages. I read about everything: technology, science, politics, medicine, etc. If it looks remotely interesting, I print it and read it.
- I set deadlines for myself, and they actually work; I also keep better track of my tasks. (See this post for details on how I did that.)
The fundamental difference has been that I read things that enrich me. I'm an avid consumer of Lifehack, Lifehacker, Guy Kawasaki's blog, and about a half-dozen other sites that produce content really worth reading. (And, of course, Ars.)
Some of my goals (subject to change):
- Pay for school out of pocket, as outlined above
- Get above a 90% in my two summer courses
Naturally, I will continue posting here about my observations and changes, like I have been doing for the past month or so with my intro productivity series.
