Usually the first day of the new year would mark the (perhaps temporary) turning point to many. People make new resolutions and try to stick by it to the end of the year. For me though, the first day of 2019 was somewhat strange. As I recall, when the clock hit 00:00 I had felt absolutely nothing. It was just like any other midnight. New years eve was just another day, the new year was just another day and I felt no inclination on making resolutions; nothing “special” about it whatsoever.

As, the “Shit Academics Say” Facebook page would post:

The start of the academic year is a different story, perhaps because I have been in school for a long time and my sense of time depends on when the acadmic year versus the actual calendar year. On top of this the end of Feb. is graduation season in Korea 🇰🇷, and in the last two weeks I have seen so many people celebrate their commendable achievement of graduation. And as soon as the new semester hit on March 4th, I got that “new years” feel, pushing me to be more a more productive person.

This year, I got some help by a couple serendipitous events have made something in myself click. The first is this app that I downloaded on my phone called “Croak”. Introduced to me by a colleague, Croak is an app that sends random quotes and reminders about how I’m going to die. As the app website points out:

The WeCroak app is inspired by a Bhutanese folk saying: to be a happy person, one must contemplate death five times daily.

and honestly, I think it has been working for me. I believe it subconciously makes me put more effort, or give full effort to whatever task I’m doing now. Even if this is a placebo I’d still like to think that it makes me a more active and engaged person.

The second is this this random tidbit that I came across about how a person can eat more than they are capable of if they alternate between sweet and salty foods. I started wondering, and found myself applying this concept to work. The problem with me, and probably for a lot of people is the horrible work efficiency. We slack off way too much, and it doesn’t help that we have too many distractions like the internet, our phones, etc. Also, I don’t think nobody can be engaged 100% at everything they do. People need breaks. But, if we alternate between… let’s say mentally intriguing tasks and repetitive and/or mundane tasks, would this help improve our focus? It seems to be helping me at least, and I’m willing to try this out for an extended period of time.

I’m just hoping this won’t end on a whimper like many new year resolutions. And on that note, here is my list of academic new year resolutions. I know it’s late but here’s to 2019. These are what I want to achieve by the end of the year, both personal and professional:

Resolutions for 2019

-[v] Submit, and subsequently get published on two separate research papers; one in the spring, the other in the fall
-[x] Get my graduation path ready
-[x] Evaluate myself based on the HCI group recommendation guidelines, and score a solid 4 across the board.
-[ ] Shave 10kg’s off my fat body
-[x] Get selected for Team Korea 🇰🇷
-[x] Win club nationals
-[x] Maintain a perfect attendance record for a full year.