30 Things to Do in 365 Days

Hey darlings. Happy New Year! I hope we had a swell celebration? Mine was good; different from the usual sleeping and boredom...lol. Did you make new year's resolutions? 

A New Year's Resolution is a pledge or promise to improve; to change old habits, taken by a person usually at the start of a new year. Resolution making is an ancient tradition that can be traced as far back as the period of the Babylonians and the Romans.

Among Nigerians, the tradition of making New Year's Resolutions have become increasingly popular. An accompanying trend is the lack of drive to complete these goals/pledges because most times this Nigerian brand of resolutions are founded on regrets; regrets as a result of goals unaccomplished in the previous year. Don't get me wrong, this is not to say that reviewing the past and making amends accordingly is not a worthwhile task, however, it bare time wasting when this is beclouded by self-pity. Consequently, as the year unfolds they are quick to abandon these goals prematurely because they were made on the spur of the moment and there was not drive to accomplish it in the first place.

People think new year's resolution making and goal setting are synonymous, but I think not! Before you guys eat me raw (lol) let me explain. New year's resolutions, or at least the Nigerian brand of it, can be taken to mean goals that the makers do not intend to fulfill; that are made to satisfy the emotion at the moment; they are not documented; practical measures are not put on ground  to ensure completion; measures are not put in place to check progress, only at the end of the year will the maker when flooded with emotions from the year's ending becoming remorseful and he/she say 'I will do this', 'I will not do that' or 'I will do more or less of this' in the coming year to free his/her conscience. Goal setting is much more 'hands-on'. It is everything resolution making is not. It involves building a system that works, reviewing and making changes where necessary. Refer to my post here for guidelines on setting S.M.A.R.T.T.E.R goals. 

In my short years of teaching, I have learnt that one way to show that one will do what he/she has promised/pledged to do is to "publicize one's commitment". By publicizing your commitment it shows that you are willing to take action where necessary and that you are not bluffing. In this light, I have decided to publicize some things I would like to do this year. I will not call them 'goals', and yet still I cannot say this is a pointless exercise because they were drawn up from my 2014 goals (at least most of them). They are:

1. Go to the gym at least once a week.
2. Learn how to use Adobe Photoshop (properly).
3. Buy four (4) books along the lines of my passion (Fashion, photography and cookery/bakery).
4. Attend a fashion design course.
5. Make and keep a new friend.
6. Travel to one (1) place I have never been before (local or international).
7. Fix a mini-savings target for the first 08 month of 2014 and reach it.
8. Learn a sport...I’m thinking badminton.
9. Wear red outfit for 3 days consecutively. Crazy! I know. Done! This was easier than I thought. The lack of power to press my clothes compelled me to.
10. Take a picture with a celebrity. 
11. Learn to make 5 new cocktail drinks.
12. Improve my baking skills from beginner to intermediate.
13. Read six books in the year.
14. Volunteer at a charity event.
15. Go swimming at least three (3) times in the year. Shhhh, I do not know how to swim.
16. Go natural. Yay! Team natural things! Done! Cut my hair yesterday (07.Jan.2013) and I am left with a large chunk of natural hair. Lefts see how far I can go with this 'team natural' -ish.
17. Take a picture on the beach. This is a big task because Benin City is land-locked.
18. Have a photo diary of myself for 30 days consecutively.
19. Treat four (4) persons to good home cooked meal.
20. Make conversation with a total stranger.
21. Wear green on independence day celebration. On a normal say I won't be caught doing that.
22. Visit the spa for pampering.
23. Give a gift to someone that cannot repay me just to make his/her day. Gave a student an earring I really liked and she was really excited.
24. Blog at least once a week.
25. Learn and perfect ten (10) new dishes.
26. Complete the Bible in a year. Have always began this task in subsequent years but never made it to the end. This is the year! I hope my new approach works.
27. Significantly improve my make up skills.
28. Show practical love to my students. 
29. Make the reunion trip to Turkey. 
30. Increase the follower-ship of my blog to 100 by the end of the year.