Why make a New Year's resolution?

Why not? Nobody's perfect, but people who don't strive towards something are pretty boring--and unaccomplished. This year, I have resolved to do three things every day: read something substantial, write a paragraph, and do push-ups (note that push-ups is plural). 

Read something substantial. This resolution is really aimed at lab. A discussion with a lab mate made me re-realize that reading is more important than experiments in science. The better experiments become clearer and the big picture becomes bigger and crisper. The past four and a half years, I have spent more time doing than thinking, and doing poorly at that. Granted, too much thinking is a grad student killer, too, but I'm far from that side of the spectrum. The goal is to spend much more time reading and thinking science each day. You may ask, "How could you avoid this during the past four years?" I'd say you'd be surprised at what you can get away with, and besides, it's not like I've earned the PhD yet. 

Write a paragraph. I've always said that I wanted to be a writer, and I am seriously considering giving it a go after grad school (or maybe this summer if I get the fellowship I want). I have a blog; I can start to write a paper (sort of); I will be taking a writing class. Throw in an article or two for school publications, and I'm swimming in opportunities. The goal is to see if I'm actually serious about wanting to be a writer. And if I'm good enough to do it.

Push-ups. The unoriginal goal of fitness. Sadly, I have become very, very, very weak. I mostly blame TV, the media, work, Wii, Call of Duty, and college football. Couple that with climbing and running being enough exercise for me, and my chest and triceps don't see much exercise. I can barely squeeze out 30 now when I used to have 500 in my routine (they may not have been perfect form back then). Plus, they say climbers slouch because of their over-developed back and shoulder muscles. That's not the only reason I slouch, but they say push-ups help balance things out. We'll see how that goes.

I have also resolved not to play Call of Duty unless playing with a friend. That was a major time suck that I majorly sucked at. It was cold turkey January 2 for that one--no more solo shooting.

Why resolve to do anything? I realize that I will probably fail to do each of these each day for the entire year. In fact, yesterday I forgot to do push-ups, and I'd bet that February will find me doing none, if any, of these. The intent is not to be perfect but to improve, to be a better version of the me I envision--at least for a little while.