It’s that time of year again: the start of a new year, and with it, the opportunity to set some new year’s resolutions. I haven’t done resolutions for quite a few years now (which is surprising considering how planner addicted I am), but this year I’ve decided to come up with three challenges to push me out of my comfort zone.
The reason I call these challenges rather than resolutions is pretty simple. I want to differentiate them from my past (failed) attempts at resolutions. In addition, unlike resolutions that often consist of forming new habits for the long term – my challenges are time-bound by 2023. I do not intend to gain a habit out of it. I might – but this is not the goal.
Now, let’s get into the challenges themselves, shall we?
Daily Sketch
First thing on my list is sketching on a daily basis. And not in a “most days” kind of way – literally every day. I figured that if Beeple can do it for 14 YEARS, I can do it for one year. Although I’m not nearly as ambitious as he is, my minimal requirement for these is a reasonably full A5 size page. I often add little notes to my sketches, so I assume some pages will contain more notes than sketches. I’ll try to actively fight that.
My biggest concern about this challenge are my migraines. I want to persevere through these days as well – but honestly, sometimes it is out of my control. I’m going to do my best though – I’d rather do a crap doodle rather than nothing at all on these days.
Weekly Content Drop
Ever since I took part in the ninth cohort of Write Of Passage, I am more and more excited by the amount of content I can come up with. This project has really supercharged my creativity and gave me one heck of a confidence boost. Still, I didn’t post nearly as much as I’d hoped.
This challenge requires a single full-length blog post to be published every week. This will probably happen on Saturdays, more often than not, since the week starts on Sunday where I live – and I tend to procrastinate until the very last minute 🙂
In all honesty, I have bigger hopes for this goal – such as adding a weekly YouTube video based off of said post (for folks that would rather watch than read) and posting some short-form content a couple times during the week. Still, the only thing required by the challenge is a blog post going up every Saturday. I’m not setting any minimal word count since I tend to ramble anyway – I consider it a success to be able to express my point in as little words as possible.
Strategic Spending
While the previous two challenges are things I want to actively do, this one is one thing to stop doing (or rather, schedule mindfully). Stop impulse shopping.
I find it hard to resist impulse purchases – with the availability of disposable income (not-so-humble brag) and the accessibility of online stores, I’m prone to come up with something that I “definitely need” in the middle of the night. And like a true addict – I’ll probably regret it the morning after. My biggest weaknesses are stationery, art supplies, and home goods. I think this is the one aspect for which I blame TikTok – it’s truly the absolute best advertisement platform that gets me constantly adding items to my wish list.
To make things easier to manage (and allow myself some wiggle room), I am allowed to buy necessities when they run out, and I’m allowed to buy gifts. No stocking on shampoo before mine is over, no overspending on groceries before we’re out of food options. In addition to that, I’m allowed a spending day at the beginning of each quarter of the year. I find that waiting with my wish list instead of immediately buying what I want drastically reduces my feelings of guilt, shame, and disappointment.
All About Consistency
You might’ve noticed a common denominator between all the challenges above. They are all aimed to challenge me to be consistent, while developing the areas of my life I keep getting back to (or in case with the impulse shopping – keep stumbling upon). I think I found a good way to set them – pick a trait you want to have, mix in a couple of hobbies or interests you seem to never have time for, and voila – the perfect year-long challenge (or New Year’s Resolution, if you do these).
Happy New Year, and here’s to a successful and fulfilling 2023!