======= Date Modified 26 13 2009 22:13:57 =======
Yep, it's that time of the year again. THE DREADED NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS.

Well, this year's gonna be different. Oh yes, because THIS TIME you're going to put them down in this little thread. This way, you'll have no choice but to stick to them, and if you don't everyone on 'ere will have you for it!

So, type away and permanently etch in the postgrad forum stone wall all that you will do differently and for the better in the brand spanking new 2010! Let's ensure that us future academics will be the best the world has ever seen!!!!!!!
:-) :-) :-)

======= Date Modified 26 Dec 2009 22:37:06 =======
Okay, here's mine:

I will totally make sure that I will keep to every deadline that I have agreed with my supervisor, and to all those personal deadlines that I have set for myself - and I promise to meet them no matter what this year coz I'm bloomin' pee'd off with all the excuses and procrastination!!

I promise to avoid getting bogged down in negative rubbish and do all that it takes to be happy. It might sound like I'm asking for trouble by making such a big promise to myself, but my main aim is to be around more positive and enthusiastic people this year in the hope that it will rub off on me.

I promise to get out of the house AT LEAST once a day, even if it's only going to the shops. The walk and fresh air will do me good.

Communication is something I want to improve this year, so I'm going to make sure I go out of my way to go to places where I will meet and talk to new people.

Listen to more music. Music is so colourful isn't it?

I find sometimes that I just read the minimum to get by, so another resolution is to read more.

And lastly, I'm going to write that play that I've been promising myself for ages.

oh, one more, I'm going to try and get myself into a better sleeping pattern.


If I think of anymore I will post them later.

I'm not going to buy any more books. I have huge difficulty reading now, and as much as I still want to read books I buy them and then can't. So no more. Instead I will struggle to read some of those I already have and haven't read, or haven't read in a long time. I will put a few select ones of short stories on wish lists for people to get me, but otherwise no. No point. Sad but there you go.

Nice thread Cobweb - this can accompany the goals for 2010 thread - so we should make sure we all revisit these throughout next year.

OK, this year I've done well. Writing still takes me too long, but not much I can do about that. But there are other ways I can improve...
- will be more productive when writing. Not that I skive off much, but am going to make sure that I'm fully focused when I'm working.
- and am going to give up going to the pub on Sunday nights. As nice as it is to put a full stop to the w'end and regroup for Monday, I can't afford to take this time off anymore, if I want to finish in 6 mths. So - can have fun on Fri nites, and that's all.

Am going to get this thesis finished in the next 6 mths!! Then life will start!
:-s

Bilbo - i could never resolve not to buy any more books, I have a pile to read too, but have to add to it. It's quite shocking really the number there are in this house, far, far too many, but I can't resist them, and now I can just go on Amazon, its just too easy to add a few more!

now, as far as resolutions go;
I will get all the newspaper cuttings I have sorted and commented upon, and will add them to my refs.
I will get out in the garden more, after all that can be thinking time
I will stop doing other things instead of writing
I will keep up with the exercise, even though it eats into writing time
I will not lose vital bits of paper and spend hours looking for them.

by the end of this year I should have
two chapters finished - one is more or less finished, the other is in the process and should be done by the end of Feb
results of surveys etc, analysed - I have most of the data, I just haven't done anything with it yet
once that has been done I hope to get another two chapters almost finished and two more on their way
here's hoping I can get at least half of that lot done!

I am, very painfully, going to have to chuck out the huge (and I mean huge, instrial sized) box of luxurious chocolate covered brandy snaps and the huge box of continental chocs my mum gave me for Christmas - I'd swear they represent about 5lb in human weight between them. I said no chocs this year and I have more than ever! Oh dear, this is going to be painful... just keeping the walnut whips and the ginger biscuits :-(

Far too easy yes! It's a very painful decision for me, but I have such enormous difficulty reading now that my to-be-read pile is extremely big and only getting bigger and bigger. My reading is only going to get worse as the neurological disease progresses. Only sensible solution is to stop buying new books.

This year's new resolutions are: get my PhD thesis submitted before the end of 2010, feel good about myself by exercising and eating well, sort my sleep patterns out (I need to be disciplined and regimented if I am to get it all done in a year), really find out what I am going to do with myself, stop reading the Daily Mail and then feeling really self-righteous and angry about bin collections, get a car of my own... and hopefully get 5 stars.

I've taken a few days away from my work and have been thinking about what I can do when I get my PhD. I think I'd like to do academia in another country, go to a different place and just start again. So, bingo, another New Year's resolution.

I think my main resolutions are to be more positive and confident in my abilities, to try to feel less anxious about everything, and to think of myself and my own goals more...that is the only way I am going to achieve them. I also need to feel less guilty for thinking about myself and my own ambition.

Academic-only ones are to worry less about what I say in seminars/presentations (stop the awful phrases "do you know what I mean?" and "does that make sense?"), and to just write rather than worry about writing!

I'm with you there on that last one Natassia. What I do when it gets that bad is buy myself a little scrap book and tell myself that anything that I write in there is only going to be seen by me and me only. That way, I don't get so nervous with what I'm writing about. It all flows out beautifully after that.

That sounds like a really good idea for getting sentence and paragraph structure right - will try that, thanks Cobweb!

Me too Walminski, me too. I've also taken a few days off from studying - I've had to force myself actually - am tempted to start working again, but am forcing myself to relax and have some time for reflection (sad, I know...)...

This year I also need to get my post PhD life happening - get a new job and move. I'd also love to work in academia in another country, but then I think, why would a uni overseas want me?? With the worldwide plethora of unemployed PhDs, surely a uni would go for a local and someone who knows the vagaries of that country, rather than a new PhD from another country??

I had the same idea for a new years resolution, but I dont know if could do it! Maybe I will just set a limit. Only one book every six weeks or something like that. It will help if I keep out of bookshops. If I get a book craving I will go to the library...:p

[quote]Quote From Natassia:

I think my main resolutions are to be more positive and confident in my abilities, to try to feel less anxious about everything, and to think of myself and my own goals more...that is the only way I am going to achieve them. I also need to feel less guilty for thinking about myself and my own ambition. [quote]

i am SOOOO with you on these ones!! me and my best friend have been making these kind of resolutions for past few years, and i tell you what, they're much easier to stick to than most resolutions....

....amd of course i will be attempting to cut down on the booze n fags as well...obviously!!
;-)

I am going to TRY (:-() to stop comparing myself to other (more experienced) people! And focus on what I have achieved...hopefully...