"And there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last..."
Happy Jewish New Year,
שנה טובה ומתוקה, and all that good stuff.
It's the second day of year 5773 in the Jewish calendar and I think there's no day but today to think about New Year's resolutions. If I fail now, at least I can use these resolutions as a guideline for 2013. And use this blog to hold myself at least vaguely accountable for them.
As I see it, there are three spheres of relevance to me when it comes to making resolutions: my work, my self, and my relationships (including friendly, more than friendly--if that ends up happening this year, and family relationships). I'll try to keep these short, straightforward, and concrete.
Work resolutions
-Try to meaningfully interact with a new professor, researcher, fellow, etc. in the Harvard or HBS community twice a month
I'm in one of the best academic and professional networks in the world and I need to start taking advantages of the insights and resources within them.
-Actually get on a schedule at work
It's been tempting to live and act like a graduate student while working at HBS, but it's led to a lack of focus on my part. I think I need to decide my schedule for the week on Sunday night and determine what days I'm going to go into the office, what I will be working on and for how long (and when to go to the gym so that I am actually making the most of that paid membership!)
Self resolutions
-Pick one language to learn or re-learn.
Ideally, I'd pick up French and relearn Arabic and/or Hebrew, all the while tuning up my Chinese while on the job. But as it is, I need to be realistic. This list of resolutions is already too ambitious. I think I'll learn French, then.
-Run a half-marathon
The last time I ran a race like this was my senior year of high school. The plan was to run a marathon during my senior year of college, but that didn't happen--besides, writing my thesis was a marathon in itself. All the same, I'd like to see myself get back into long racing, maybe by running NJ Half-marathon in May 2013. Ultimately, it would be really cool to run the Boston Marathon sometime before I leave Boston (assuming that happens--I know some people who come here and then stay here forever). The extension of this goal is to get into a system in which I can stay in shape for life.
-Turn being gluten-free from a boon into a brag-worthy lifestyle
I love to cook, and finding out that I had celiac disease was a major blow, from not being able to eat a bowl of pasta at my favorite Italian restaurants to not being able to bake red velvet cupcakes and chocolate-chip cookies for friends. Now I need to get to the point where making dinner for myself or making edibles for others isn't something where I feel like I'm saying "oh, it's gluten-free" like it's a bad thing or somehow depriving the food of deliciousness.
Relationship resolutions
-Prioritize commitments to people I already know
Whether it's because I'm a people-pleaser or need to work on taking constructive criticism from others, I have a pathological fear of disappointing people .As a result, I go the extra ten miles for others, regardless of whether they deserve it. I need to restrict the love and attention to the people who have earned it, or rather cut off the love and attention from those who haven't.
-Join a social group or two in a community outside of HBS.
I really like most of my coworkers, but if I'm really going to have a life in Boston, I need to build a group of people outside of work and extend myself and meet cool people in a new context. Some of the ways I'm considering doing this is by joining a tennis round robin, signing up for a capoeira class, or finding a singing group.
L'chaim, y'all.
It's the second day of year 5773 in the Jewish calendar and I think there's no day but today to think about New Year's resolutions. If I fail now, at least I can use these resolutions as a guideline for 2013. And use this blog to hold myself at least vaguely accountable for them.
As I see it, there are three spheres of relevance to me when it comes to making resolutions: my work, my self, and my relationships (including friendly, more than friendly--if that ends up happening this year, and family relationships). I'll try to keep these short, straightforward, and concrete.
Work resolutions
-Try to meaningfully interact with a new professor, researcher, fellow, etc. in the Harvard or HBS community twice a month
I'm in one of the best academic and professional networks in the world and I need to start taking advantages of the insights and resources within them.
-Actually get on a schedule at work
It's been tempting to live and act like a graduate student while working at HBS, but it's led to a lack of focus on my part. I think I need to decide my schedule for the week on Sunday night and determine what days I'm going to go into the office, what I will be working on and for how long (and when to go to the gym so that I am actually making the most of that paid membership!)
Self resolutions
-Pick one language to learn or re-learn.
Ideally, I'd pick up French and relearn Arabic and/or Hebrew, all the while tuning up my Chinese while on the job. But as it is, I need to be realistic. This list of resolutions is already too ambitious. I think I'll learn French, then.
-Run a half-marathon
The last time I ran a race like this was my senior year of high school. The plan was to run a marathon during my senior year of college, but that didn't happen--besides, writing my thesis was a marathon in itself. All the same, I'd like to see myself get back into long racing, maybe by running NJ Half-marathon in May 2013. Ultimately, it would be really cool to run the Boston Marathon sometime before I leave Boston (assuming that happens--I know some people who come here and then stay here forever). The extension of this goal is to get into a system in which I can stay in shape for life.
-Turn being gluten-free from a boon into a brag-worthy lifestyle
I love to cook, and finding out that I had celiac disease was a major blow, from not being able to eat a bowl of pasta at my favorite Italian restaurants to not being able to bake red velvet cupcakes and chocolate-chip cookies for friends. Now I need to get to the point where making dinner for myself or making edibles for others isn't something where I feel like I'm saying "oh, it's gluten-free" like it's a bad thing or somehow depriving the food of deliciousness.
Relationship resolutions
-Prioritize commitments to people I already know
Whether it's because I'm a people-pleaser or need to work on taking constructive criticism from others, I have a pathological fear of disappointing people .As a result, I go the extra ten miles for others, regardless of whether they deserve it. I need to restrict the love and attention to the people who have earned it, or rather cut off the love and attention from those who haven't.
-Join a social group or two in a community outside of HBS.
I really like most of my coworkers, but if I'm really going to have a life in Boston, I need to build a group of people outside of work and extend myself and meet cool people in a new context. Some of the ways I'm considering doing this is by joining a tennis round robin, signing up for a capoeira class, or finding a singing group.
L'chaim, y'all.