I think we can all agree how eventful this past year has been. I won’t get into the petty, tragic, misogynist filled particulars. One thing we have learnt is that every body loves themselves so here’s a post on how I achieved the resolutions I set for myself on the (hungover) morning of 1st January 2016.

№1 — Read More

I love this one. I’ve never been a heavy reader but finding a real, hard grafting book is certainly worth it and 2016 was definitely significant for me in regards to reading. Notable reads include 1984 by George Orwell (This is a must read for all Black Mirror fans), The Wolf of Wall Street and How to Win Friends and Influence People.

How to Win Friends is a book I think should be fed into people’s brains from birth. It should be a mandatory requirement for every job and every school place. It’s words should be force read to every Tom, Dick & Harry in addition to wealthy businessmen. It teaches the fundamental workings of the convoluted specimen that is a human and how to win win every person you meet to your way of thinking, or at least to like you. Granted — this may not work if every individual on the earth read this book because it would be like a magicians audience all reading the same instruction book on magic tricks. But I promise that the fraction of the human population reading this will find worth in Canegie’s words. So go read it.

I also tried to teach myself slightly more advanced meditation in 2016. No progress from the previous year. Although the first 20 pages of Search Inside Yourself were pretty good.

ARTICLE-CEPTION: BOOKS I READ IN 2016

• Get Some Headspace by Andy Puddicombe
• Search Inside Yourself by Chade-Meng Tan
• The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort
• The Play That Goes Wrong by Henry Lewis
• Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

№2 — Take more walks

Taking walks outside are wonderful events that are a godsend to creators, such as myself, who sit at a screen all day. They can clear your mind, give you a chance to brew new ideas and give you a reason to discover unaccustomed places. Leaving school in July removed my reason to walk through the country fields (and those of you who live nearby will know it’s nothing special, but I had to make do) each morning. My morning walk now consists of surroundings such as Kings Cross underground station, so half of my year was made rather handicapped in achieving this resolution.

However, since the introduction of Olly, my 6-month-old Cavachon, I think 2017 should clock in a higher walk count.

№3 — Study more

2015 was a tempestuous year in regards to my education. I hadn’t thrown myself into my higher studies as much as I planned and let other activities surpass this. So setting this resolution was an important one for me. I had to get through a year and a half more of education to reap the rewards of my hard work. This didn’t turn out as planned, and my newfound determination transformed into a dismaying slump that resulted in some unwanted grades.

Regardless, I had to find something more suited to me. I needed to get out the mental rut I was in and put myself somewhere that inspired me, made me want to work harder and produce results I was proud of. So I got a full-time job. Even now, I’m studying every single day, yet the difference is that I love every single minute of it. So 2017 should be filled with more meaningful studying.

№4 — Travel to cool places

Travelling is a necessity. Everyone should be in a position find their way from their nest to an unfamiliar land — a blank canvas where they can learn something new, experience new experiences and discover a new culture. Noteworthy expeditions of 2016 were Brussels (an unexpectedly beautiful city), Paris (A newfound love) and Lanzarote (Family time). I urge you to take every opportunity you can to get out of your usual routine and place yourself in new surroundings. In 2017, I intend to beat last year’s record of 5 highly enjoyable trips:

April — Lanzarote, Canary Islands

July — Brussels, Belgium

August — Majorca, Balearic Islands

September — Paris, France

December — Lanzarote, Canary Islands

№5 — Run further

Nope.

№6 — Run faster

I managed to get my 5k down to 20 minutes.

№7 — Do something awesome

Reviewing this resolution made me squirm. Something “awesome”? It’s a rather youthful and unreachable statement and I’m struggling to figure out which of my odysseys in 2016 I can categorise as awesome.

Applying for, and now having, a full time job was a pretty big (or awesome, in it’s literal terms) step for me. Travelling to and discovering Paris with my buddy was bold. Or maybe stumbling upon these resolutions in the back of one of my Field Notes and finding that I’ve (just about) achieved most of them can class as awesome.

№8 — Do more awesome things

Clearly I had an obsession with the word ‘awesome’. This was a difficult one, not because I had set the bar too high with the preceding resolution but because it’s hard to find such grand things to do. I had to fall into it. I tried and ultimately failed the development of The Freelancer Database, my only real business venture of 2016 that connected freelancers with clients. Maybe I’ll take that on again this year seeing as my studies are in a similar area. I’d seen Suede twice, Pixies once, and followed my pal’s band to virtually every gig. I invested an unnecessary amount of money into starting my vinyl collection (and that was just the record player!) and discovered the beauty of craft beer. But nothing significantly ‘awesome’.

Note to self: Reconsider the wording of similar resolutions in the future.

№9 — Make more

The Freelancer Database. A number of client websites. My Medium profile saw a peak in posts for the first time in forever (Note to self: Write more Medium posts). I tried to make Casey Neistat’s sunglasses and ended up with broken sunglasses covered in white paint. Sadly, not much more.

№10 — Be happier

Without a shadow of a doubt, this was the highest bar to reach and I did it. How? By achieving all of the above. Everything I did in 2016 gave me a reason to be happy and made a lasting impression on me. I can quite proudly say that I was happier in 2016 compared to the last year, and I intend to keep this trend propelling upwards from now on.