2014 - New Year's Resolutions!!

Every year, I set New Year's Resolutions and publish them on the Internet for everyone to see. I do this for me to document my goals, but also, hopefully, to inspire others to set resolutions as well.  A new year is a time of reflection, but it can also be a time to set short and long-term goals for the future.  As you get older, time seems to move much faster, and if you don't have a plan, the year might slip away and you will have made no changes.  As my favorite quote from Richard Bach states, "Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours".  It is to bring change to your life and it starts tomorrow with a new calendar year!

My Resolutions for 2014:

#1 - Become more organized - At work and at home, I let the piles of paperwork and other unnecessary things gather around me.  Instead of putting things aside to do later, my resolution is to try and deal with it at the moment.  In this way, I will cut down on the clutter around me and leave a cleaner life!  (I never said my resolutions were easy!)

#2 - Re-Invent my exercise life - As many of you know, massive knee injuries in 2013 left me with the reality that after 3,700 miles of running, I will have to find a new way to exercise or I will end up using a cane for the rest of my life.  I know that I enjoy biking, weight lifting, and surfing, but I must add in other non-impact exercises like swimming into my routine.  

#3 - Focus on professional growth - I was elected as President of HSTE (Hawaii Society of Technology in Education) and I will be traveling to two conferences this year as part of this leadership.  I need to spend some time focusing on my growth as a technology leader and helping to grow my organization.

#4 - Family time - This one is a carry over from 2013 and it is still so important to me.  My daughters are growing up fast and I need to find time and ways to enjoy spending time with them and Suzy.  It will be tougher this year with being gone to conferences off-island, but it can be as easy as shutting the laptop and playing Wii with them.

It seems this year, my resolutions are not as measurable as in previous years.  It will be tough to figure out if I actually have "met" them at the end of 2014; however, they are what I need at this time as I look to the new year!

I hope my resolutions will inspire you to create your own and monitor your progress throughout the year.  I have set a reminder on my calendar at the end of every month to check how I am doing and remind me of what I set.

Happy New Year!!

2013 - Year in Review

Well, I guess I am not much of a blogger, my last post was my 2013 resolutions!!

Here is a review of those resolutions.

#1 - Get the hood and actually graduate with my Ph.D.
--- Done!  It was a wonderful graduation, especially when I got "hooded" and then got to sit in the stands with the other professors.

#2 - Find success in the Honolulu Marathon and achieve a "best time" for me in this race 
--- Sadly, this did not happen and will not happen again, probably.  I faced knee injuries throughout the year with arthritis, then I broke my toe, finally, I messed up my left knee so bad I found myself in the urgent care and a trip to get an MRI.  Basically, I have torn the cartilage below my thigh bone in my knee.  This is where all the support comes from for doing running and other "pounding" exercises.  The doctor says it is time for me to re-invent myself through other exercises.  I spent six weeks on crutches.

#3 - Find a balance in my exercise - I have started this re-invention and I am lifting weights, doing the stationary bike, and swimming.  I have to take it easy and be careful not to re-injure my knee.

#4 - Utilize my PhD to educate others - Success!  Last summer, I started teaching as an Adjunct Professor for Argosy University.  I have been teaching Education classes to Master's Degree students who are in American Samoa.  It has been a great experience so far!

#5 - Family time - I would say I have found some success with this and have tried to spend more time with my family and balance my life more.  I seem to have more time on my hands lately with no more dissertation writing and no training for marathons.  My full time job is still very time consuming and stressful, but I have found more time for my family.

Well, there you have it!  I think I would say that I have succeeded on 4 out of 5 of my resolutions!  Not bad!  It only my medical injuries hadn't held me back.  At one point, I was even considering running the marathon on crutches, but Suzy talked me out of it.

Up next, my 2014 Resolutions!

2013 New Year's Resolutions

Setting resolutions is the way we plan out our lives and succeed in our goals.  This year, make the effort and set some for yourself.

My 2013 resolutions are:

#1 - Get the hood and actually graduate with my Ph.D. - just working on the final edits to the dissertation paper having passed my defense in November, so this one should be easy to complete, I hope.

#2 - Find success in the Honolulu Marathon and achieve a "best time" for me in this race - I have run 6 marathons since 2008, but I have struggled with achieving great times in the Honolulu Marathon (my PB for all marathons is 4:01). The course is difficult due to the amount of people walking and I always seem to have problems in the last 4 miles heading in from Kahala.  I define "success" as not feeling like I am about to collapse after I finish and I want to beat my last two times that were a 4:45 and 4:41, respectively.  (I wasn't planning on ever running this race again, but couldn't resist the early bird price of $26.20.)

#3 - Find a balance in my exercise - for the last few years, I have been focusing so much on running that I have worn my knees out.  In 2012 when I was diagnosed with osteoarthritis in my right knee, I realized it might be time for some changes.  My goal for this resolution is to work on cross training throughout the year - less focus on running, more on the non-impact exercises like biking, swimming, walking, hiking, surfing, and weight lifting.  To quantify this resolution, I would like to do at least 3 different types of exercises each week, reducing the focus on running.

#4 - Utilize my PhD to educate others - while my dream is to be a professor and teach education classes full time to undergraduates, there are no openings right now on this island; however, that shouldn't stop me from teaching part time, so I will apply and try to start doing this in the summer.

#5 - Family time - Our family struggled in 2012 with lots of medical problems, beyond my knee diagnosis, and it has made me re-think some of my priorities.  I resolve to work harder on spending more time as a family.  So, this means at least one meal together as a family each week, but I would like to try and have at least one activity together as well, whether that be playing a game, going to a movie, or just going to the beach together.

Well, there you have it!  My five resolutions for the year!  Good luck on setting yours and finishing them.  You can do it!  You just have to believe in yourself.