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Time
The past few weeks, I have been very angry, frustrated and perhaps even depressed. I’ve been drained by all of the types of emotions that ultimitely leads to the Dark Side. I guess it all stems down to running out of time. Unfortunately, as humans, we only have a limited time in our life to do everything we want to, and I just haven’t been able to find the time to do the things I want to. Partially because of work, partially because of all the things you just have to do these days to keep going. Either way, I don’t like excuses. I recently read a blog entry from Jonathan Endersby where he explains how you shouldn’t let work take over your life, which has set some thoughts in motion for me. In the last few days, I decided that I’m not going to get angry anymore. Letting all the responsibilities of work, the situation in Zimbabwe, the environment, all the poor people in the world, etc get to you all the time gets too much, and it might sound terrible, but I think life is just too short to care about everyone and everything. I think it might just be better to help those around you- and yourself. If everybody could just sort themselves out, the world would already be a much better place. I don’t know, maybe I’ll change my mind, I’m in a bit of flux at the moment, I can hardly remember what I just typed.
Changes
I’ve come to the conclusion that to achieve goals, to make use of my time on this planet and to reach some sense of achievement, I’m going to have to make changes in my life. I might even have to start completely over, even if it means selling my house/car/etc, change carreer, whatever it takes. No excuses. Those are of course, extreme measures, but at this stage I’m willing to make whatever changes are required.
Goals
Usually I think about goals and where I am and where I’m going just about once a year, usually at the end of the year. Not because it’s close to new-years and almost time for new-years resolutions, but because I ususally have a bit of quiet time to think things through. I think my ‘goals-cycle’ is too long, and it makes it difficult to achieve them. From now on, I will work on a 3 month cycle, at the very longest. And I will work harder to push myself to get where I want to be, I will have to say no to people more often as well. My goals for the end of July (slightly less than 3 months from now) are:
- Become an Ubuntu MOTU member. This is something that I’ve been wanting to do since 2004. I should’ve really done this by now, but I’ve been blaming a series of bad circumstances for not getting there (pressure at work, lack of Internet connectivity at times, etc)
- Get in better shape. I’ve actually done quite well with this in the last 6 months, I’ve lost weight, I’m getting fitter every week, but now and again I have regressions, especially where alcohol is involved. It’s another case of having to say no more, but saying no to friends is often more difficult than saying no to someone you work for. I want to lose 5kg’s by the end of July.
- Work through the Simply Guitar handbook/DVD. I want to learn how to play guitar. This manual and DVD only covers the extreme basics. Working through this should only take me an hour or two a week to finish by the end of July. I’ve had my guitar since 2004, and only went for two lessons in 2005.
- Be less miserable. I used to focus on the positive, and used to see passed the problems that I encounter. These days all I seem to see everywhere is problems, with no obvious solutions. I want to be a positive person again, and be a good problem solver, like I used to be even when I’ve been in very bad situations in the past.
I’ll provide an update on how this is going when there’s anything to report back on. In the meantime, if I seem aloof or far away in the next few weeks, don’t take it personally, I have things that I need and want to sort out. I can’t even promise that I’ll be back to my ‘normal’ self again. Maybe I don’t want to be back to my normal self, maybe I should change. I definitely don’t want to become the person I’ve been the last few months, I guess time will provide some answers.
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May 3rd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Nice goals. If you don’t mind, I’d like to quote one professor from our university:
“Life is like a jar in which you put stones as you get older. There are those big stones, like a car, house, career, material well-being. And then there are those small stones, like family, children, your life together with them. Be careful not to fill your jar with things that don’t have a lasting value – big stones get stuck and leave empty space in between. Just like with the jar, you should balance your life and work until it’s too late to add the small stones.”
I really like this, and at times, when in doubt, try to stick to it. I’m not very good at it, definitely not as good as I would like, but I believe I’m getting better at spending my time on things that really matter.
May 3rd, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Good luck with your goals Jonathan! I’ll ping you in 3 months if you forget to blog about the progress
May 3rd, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Smile =)
May 4th, 2008 at 3:03 am
Hey Jonathon,
Always good to hear about people trying to improve their selves and their life. I’ve always subscribed to the theory that life is great – just batteries aren’t included. We have to provide our own reasons and our own purposes. Setting realistic goals, like you have, it is a great way to feel good about yourself and what you’re doing. If you need anyone to sponsor your uploads or want to help each other stay in shape then give me a shout.
Cheers,
Cody
May 4th, 2008 at 8:27 am
[...] Carter’s recent post about his recent realization that he needs to make some changes in his life got me thinking about [...]
May 4th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Good luck Jonathan. I’ve been going through a lot of changes the last year myself, and it feels awesome
If I don’t forget (which I probably will
) I’ll ping Jani in three months if you haven’t blogged about the progress and Jani hasn’t pinged you, cause I’m curious 
May 5th, 2008 at 7:35 am
Keep it up Jonathan, you know you can do it!
Let’s chat about the MOTU side of things and work something out.
May 5th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Best of luck, and don’t be a stranger!
May 8th, 2008 at 1:43 am
Dude – SA and Africa gets one to this point where one start evaluating “why I am here, what got me here, why should I care, and the list goes on”. I am going through that process too along with loads of others in my small circle of mates. Thinking and writing them like you did, is the right thing to do (I could never do this). This post in itself is somewhat inspiring to me , so there you impact/change/influence no.1 . People say live for the now, plan for tomorrow but live for the now. I often plan an easy road home in Jozi traffic but cars and accidents that I have no control over – buggers up my plans. I figure in life we have the same challenge, we only have so much control of tomorrow, next week, next month, next year,etc. Thank you for post that made me realize that life – is the most fantastic journey.
Sirrus I like the quote, going to use it on Mother’s day of that is ok?
Jc with petrol, food, rates and electricity going up, SA citizens and especially small business…needs to do this introspection.
YOU Started a Revolution….if we can get this posted in the Sunday Times:-)
May 9th, 2008 at 9:39 am
Hey Jonathan, Ur Dad say’s that whatever you take on, u can and will be successful. Take the bull by the horns and reach for the stars!
June 22nd, 2008 at 9:37 pm
[...] last month, I blogged about changes that I’d like to see in my life. I received some questions via email from some people over [...]
July 19th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
[...] won’t achieve my goal of becoming a MOTU by the end of this month, as I said I wanted to nearly three months ago, but [...]
July 22nd, 2008 at 10:16 pm
[...] won’t achieve my goal of becoming a MOTU by the end of this month, as I said I wanted to nearly three months ago, but [...]