A Review of My Resolutions and Introducing The Digital Diet
At the beginning of the year, I made 5 resolutions. They were on tumblr, and I deleted my tumblr, so unfortunately I can't reflect on them exactly, but I think I remember their main points:
1) Pass my A Levels and get into one of my universities of choice.
2) Read more (i.e. complete the 50 Book Challenge -- to read 50 books in a year).
3) Finally finish writing a novel.
4) Establish a reasonable sleeping pattern.
5) Travel around the UK.
Number 1 is going well, and so long as nothing drastic happens, it seems very plausible. I have an offer that I believe I can make. I'm happy about that.
Number 2 isn't going so well -- I've only read 6 books so far, which is approximately 4 books under schedule. I've found, since getting a Kindle, I've begun to multi-read much more than I did before, which is evidently resulting in my not completing books. This is not good, but I won't blame it completely on multi-reading: I know of people who multi-read and read ferociously. My problem is another, that I will get to by the end of this post. (To note: I've currently got 4 books on the go: Franny & Zooey, The Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius, Meditations on First Philosophy, and The Subtle Knife. I'm more than half-way through each of them, so perhaps with concentration I can finish them and be two books behind schedule as opposed to 4 by the end of the month).
Number 3 isn't going so terribly. I'm quite invested in what I'm writing at the moment, quite excited about it (but then when is a writer not excited about what they write?). I think realistically I should try to finish it before I go off to university, because my mind will be focussed on adjusting to a completely new era of my life then. So, if I give myself till September, I need to write roughly 8000 words a month to have written a typical lengthed novel of 50,000. I think I want mine to be shorter, but I'll give myself that target regardless, in order to be productive.
Number 4, on the other hand, is going very badly. My sleeping pattern descended into chaos about a month after the new year. The past few weeks have been riddled with impunctualities which are a result of late nights and general poor time-management. But more on that later.
Re number 5: I have been to 1/9 of the places on my list of places to travel to in the UK this year. If I only do 4 of them, I think I will be pleased, so I count that as going well so far.
Now I have observed the situation and now need to create a method for improving it. As alluded to twice, a constant thread that runs through all my self-proclaimed failures is a sense of poor time-management. The freedom of thought coupled with the internet which can transport those thoughts to many places results in a kind of negligence of reality. I've thought and written about this in profuse detail many times before, so it would be tedious for me to go over it again, but in summary: in our modern times, real life is significantly rivalled by virtual life. Real life is called 'real' because it includes the more vivacious points of life, and the finer details: going to school or work, having physical discourse, eating, drinking, thinking. Virtual life comprises of the shadows of real life, and that's why we distinguish it 'virtual' (as opposed to another facet of 'real', which, in truth, is what it is): you go to school or work, but in the form of social networking; you have conversations via messaging, but they're significantly duller (in sensation and stakes) than real life, and so you're saved from many embarrassments or anxieties, etc; one doesn't eat or drink online, and thinking is scattered across the vast plains of easy distractions. The virtual life is easier than reality, and thus it's more superficially attractive. However, as mentioned, it is a rival to real life, and real life is the true point of living. The virtual life is brilliant and has its advantages, but real life is where one truly exists. And if one cares at all about "sucking the marrow out of life", then real life is where one must be.
And besides this, giving into the virtual life ruptures real life in ways that manifest themselves most commonly in a lack of productivity, procrastination, and poor time-management. I figure, then, that I must acknowledge the rivalry between virtual life and reality as fact, and I must do something about it. For the time being, I tell myself that the virtual life is too good to give up entirely, so I must allow for at least some competition, but the extent to which I let it dominate now is too much (as seen in my destroyed sleeping pattern, my insufficient reading, my negligence of my studies [I got good grades in my January exams, but I still feel as though I need to do more to ensure success come summer], and my insufficient writing [I could write more, let's be honest]). I was listening to an eminent journalist's podcast the other day, and he spoke very briefly about something called a "Digital Diet", something he believes, with the development of virtuality, we will need to do in order not to lose ourselves and become detached from reality. And I agree.
So I propose to myself a Digital Diet. I need to think of a way to restrict my online usage significantly, but realistically. I think, from here on out, unless there is some urgent need to go online, I won't go online before 7pm. From 7pm I give myself the liberty to stay online until I sleep, if I'm so inclined, but before then no. It shall be a bit like those restrictions people give themselves regarding when and when not they can drink alcohol. Coupled with a plan to restructure my sleeping pattern (wake up at 7, sleep at 23.00-00.00), I could be seeing myself offline for 12 hours each day, and online for only 4- or 5-ish. This is ideal to me. I think I'll try to commence my Digital Diet tomorrow. Which means I also have to restructure my sleeping pattern come tomorrow. Well, I'll try.
Let's do this.
1) Pass my A Levels and get into one of my universities of choice.
2) Read more (i.e. complete the 50 Book Challenge -- to read 50 books in a year).
3) Finally finish writing a novel.
4) Establish a reasonable sleeping pattern.
5) Travel around the UK.
Number 1 is going well, and so long as nothing drastic happens, it seems very plausible. I have an offer that I believe I can make. I'm happy about that.
Number 2 isn't going so well -- I've only read 6 books so far, which is approximately 4 books under schedule. I've found, since getting a Kindle, I've begun to multi-read much more than I did before, which is evidently resulting in my not completing books. This is not good, but I won't blame it completely on multi-reading: I know of people who multi-read and read ferociously. My problem is another, that I will get to by the end of this post. (To note: I've currently got 4 books on the go: Franny & Zooey, The Thoughts of Marcus Aurelius, Meditations on First Philosophy, and The Subtle Knife. I'm more than half-way through each of them, so perhaps with concentration I can finish them and be two books behind schedule as opposed to 4 by the end of the month).
Number 3 isn't going so terribly. I'm quite invested in what I'm writing at the moment, quite excited about it (but then when is a writer not excited about what they write?). I think realistically I should try to finish it before I go off to university, because my mind will be focussed on adjusting to a completely new era of my life then. So, if I give myself till September, I need to write roughly 8000 words a month to have written a typical lengthed novel of 50,000. I think I want mine to be shorter, but I'll give myself that target regardless, in order to be productive.
Number 4, on the other hand, is going very badly. My sleeping pattern descended into chaos about a month after the new year. The past few weeks have been riddled with impunctualities which are a result of late nights and general poor time-management. But more on that later.
Re number 5: I have been to 1/9 of the places on my list of places to travel to in the UK this year. If I only do 4 of them, I think I will be pleased, so I count that as going well so far.
Now I have observed the situation and now need to create a method for improving it. As alluded to twice, a constant thread that runs through all my self-proclaimed failures is a sense of poor time-management. The freedom of thought coupled with the internet which can transport those thoughts to many places results in a kind of negligence of reality. I've thought and written about this in profuse detail many times before, so it would be tedious for me to go over it again, but in summary: in our modern times, real life is significantly rivalled by virtual life. Real life is called 'real' because it includes the more vivacious points of life, and the finer details: going to school or work, having physical discourse, eating, drinking, thinking. Virtual life comprises of the shadows of real life, and that's why we distinguish it 'virtual' (as opposed to another facet of 'real', which, in truth, is what it is): you go to school or work, but in the form of social networking; you have conversations via messaging, but they're significantly duller (in sensation and stakes) than real life, and so you're saved from many embarrassments or anxieties, etc; one doesn't eat or drink online, and thinking is scattered across the vast plains of easy distractions. The virtual life is easier than reality, and thus it's more superficially attractive. However, as mentioned, it is a rival to real life, and real life is the true point of living. The virtual life is brilliant and has its advantages, but real life is where one truly exists. And if one cares at all about "sucking the marrow out of life", then real life is where one must be.
And besides this, giving into the virtual life ruptures real life in ways that manifest themselves most commonly in a lack of productivity, procrastination, and poor time-management. I figure, then, that I must acknowledge the rivalry between virtual life and reality as fact, and I must do something about it. For the time being, I tell myself that the virtual life is too good to give up entirely, so I must allow for at least some competition, but the extent to which I let it dominate now is too much (as seen in my destroyed sleeping pattern, my insufficient reading, my negligence of my studies [I got good grades in my January exams, but I still feel as though I need to do more to ensure success come summer], and my insufficient writing [I could write more, let's be honest]). I was listening to an eminent journalist's podcast the other day, and he spoke very briefly about something called a "Digital Diet", something he believes, with the development of virtuality, we will need to do in order not to lose ourselves and become detached from reality. And I agree.
So I propose to myself a Digital Diet. I need to think of a way to restrict my online usage significantly, but realistically. I think, from here on out, unless there is some urgent need to go online, I won't go online before 7pm. From 7pm I give myself the liberty to stay online until I sleep, if I'm so inclined, but before then no. It shall be a bit like those restrictions people give themselves regarding when and when not they can drink alcohol. Coupled with a plan to restructure my sleeping pattern (wake up at 7, sleep at 23.00-00.00), I could be seeing myself offline for 12 hours each day, and online for only 4- or 5-ish. This is ideal to me. I think I'll try to commence my Digital Diet tomorrow. Which means I also have to restructure my sleeping pattern come tomorrow. Well, I'll try.
Let's do this.
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