2010 Resolutions

Ok, I’ve finally put together my New Year’s Resolutions – it’s only 6 days late, which is pretty good by my standards. This year, I’ve decided to divide them into Goals I want to achieve and habits I want to form. The goals have pretty obvious stages, but some of the habits I’ve broken down into smaller steps. I haven’t bothered to list the steps or stages here, though because I think it would just go on too long.

The habits first:

1)Qur’an: both revising and memorising.
2)Extra prayers.
3)Reading: both in Arabic and English.
4)Extra fasting.

The goals:

1)Memorise ¼ of the Qur’an.
¼ is a lot, but I really feel that I can do it, if I’m dedicated enough and form the right habits. Over the last few years I’ve been learning about 1/12 a year, and that’s been really easy to do. There’s no reason why I can’t do more.

2)Learn the rules of recitation of the Qur’an (Ahkam).
This has been on my list for a while now, so I’m hoping to have set it up by the end of the month.

3)Find an outlet for my Islamic writing.
I have written on some Islamic topics, and would like to write more, but I have no outlet for my writing just yet. I don’t feel that this blog is the right place, although that may change, or else I may start another blog, or get involved with another website. I don’t know, but I need to really consider a reasonable outlet.

4)Pass my year at uni.

5)Get around about half way through my thesis.
I don’t know how long it’ll take me to figure out what I’m going to write my thesis on, or find a teacher to oversee it, or do the research or anything really, hence the reason this is such a vague goal. I just want to know at the end of the year what I’m doing in this area, which I think is about half the work.

6)Get a job online.
Online, because I want to work from home. Having to go out regularly or work in a specific space / time is not for me. Not long-term at any rate. I don’t mind deadlines, so long as I can make up my own schedule. Also, the Algerian currency isn’t too strong and I would really appreciate an income in another currency. So online is the best route for me. I’m giving myself 6 months to get myself together for this one, in terms of CV, cover letter, search, etc, etc.

7)Get a real, decent-paying job.
This kind of links in with the previous goal, only it differs because I do actually need to meet human beings, and not just at uni. I get that. But I don’t want to work all the hours God sends. Basically, I’m looking into teaching English at the moment. I’m offering private tuition and I’m hoping that will take off, and I may consider working in a school. We shall see. I just want a regular, dependable income, especially, while I’m working on the goal above.

8)Save some money.
Um, yeah, another vague goal, but I’m not really sure how much I want to save. I guess something like 10-20% of my earnings would be good, but then it depends on how much I earn, doesn’t it?

9)Get my driving license.
This one’s been on my list for too long. I’m hoping to get myself to save up for the lessons by buying a book on the topic. I’m quite sure it’ll motivate me – books generally do.

10)Complete 5 new and different knitting projects.
I enjoy knitting, and I want to do more to improve. I’ve picked 5 because I think that’s a decent number: not too much and completely attainable. They have to be new and different, because that way I’ll learn something new with each project, as well as expanding my list of things that I can knit. Also, completing just 5 means that if something’s a success I can make it again without spending the whole year making the same thing.

11)Expand my blog.
This means that I want to write more often, post more often, and reach a point where I’m happy enough to inform my family and friends about it.

12)Be consciously more positive and proactive.
By this I meant that I want to make up my mind to be positive and not be so easily annoyed / upset. I want to be more proactive because I want to get off my arse more. The reason I’ve lumped them together is because I feel that they are interrelated in my life.

13)Either go to the UK, or plan a trip back there for next year.
I haven’t been back for a long while now, and I’m really wanting to get back there. I don’t know if I’ll manage it this year, so I’m being flexible about it so long as I can plan a trip for next year.

That’s it. As most of these goals will, at some point or another, affect my life over the coming year, I will probably update as and when I have something to new to say.