Matthew May's blog, Elegant Solutions, is one of my favorites. He came from the Toyota world, so he offers an insider's view of Toyota's elegant mind. Yesterday he presented a different approach to creating New Year's resolutions: "2009: Don't Just Do Something."
Instead of saying what you will do or what you will add to your life, you say what you will not do or what you will delete from your life. On that note, here are my New Year's "anti-resolutions":
- I will eliminate blatant energy wasters from my daily life. Living in Dallas, it will be hard to reduce my fuel usage, but I'm going to carpool more and drive the Honda Civic (35-40 mpg) more than the Toyota FJ Cruiser (18 mpg). Also, instead of flying to Europe for vacation, we're gonna stay close (North America at least). All incandescent light bulbs are already gone or will be gone soon. Baby steps, but they will reduce my carbon footprint.
- I will eliminate excessive TV & movie watching. This past year I got fiber optic cable TV for the first time, and I was hooked. The picture quality was so amazing and choices were so abundant that I watched a lot of everything. It was fun while it lasted, but it's unsustainable as it's a huge time-waster. With the start of my graduate studies and blogging, there's just no time for wasteful activities anymore.
- I will eliminate disgusting food from my diet. I love to eat. My ever-expanding waistline is evidence of that. I'll never be one for eating like a bird and I shudder at the thought of being a vegetarian. But, I certainly would not miss all the disgusting food that I eat. I don't need McDonald's breakfast, frozen food, fried food, anything covered in cheese and/or butter, or any processed "stuff" from the Super Wal-Mart. I would actually like to live past 30.
Well, that's it. I was tempted to add other items to the list, but in the elegant spirit of Mr. May's blog, I will keep to the top three. Do you think they're achievable? If you had to choose three things to eliminate from your life in '09, what would they be?
Happy New Year!
12 comments:
Lombard, does this mean you won't be eating Chicken Fried Steak at Babe's in '09, because if so we are no longer friends.
Here are the 3 things I would like to eliminate:
1. The consumption of alcohol on Mon, Tue, & Wed (unless it is a holiday or vacation, or, I am on or in a body of water).
2. 15 lbs of fat
3. 100% of my credit card debt
Good ones.
#1...I never drink except on Fri & Sat, so I don't have to worry about that one.
#2...I need to lose 30 lbs of fat, so that sucks.
#3...I'm American, so having credit card debt is a patriotic deed. Are you some kind of terrorist or something? You're either with us or against us brother. Fight 'em over there so we don't have to fight 'em over here. Mission accomplished!
Oh yeah, and I will be ordering the baked chicken at Babe's from now on.
We could all get liposuction and power our cars with the fat like that plastic surgeon I read about.
I could do all three of your Mike. I waste entirely too much time watching TV. I could easily lose 60 pounds. I do drive an economical car, but the fridge in my garage that keeps beer cold is a waster. But it's necessary.
hmmm...my anti-resolutions are:
1. 60 lbs of organic energy storage (aka my gut)
2. That oh so tempting extra 2 hours of sleep Sat and Sun. This is such a stupid thing to do. It wastes time and you actually will feel less tired if you get up around the same time everyday.
3. Cut my carb intake in half. In case any of you thought that being a vegetarian makes me healthy, here is a list of some of my favorite foods: freshly fried chips and queso dip from Mexican restaurant, Aussie Fries covered in about a pound of cheese from Outback, asian noodles, and pasta. In 2009 I want to be a vegetarian who actually eats vegetables!
@Greg - 7 days a week?! There's your 15 lbs!
@Trev - I believe Mother Nature makes an exception for kegerators.
@Matt - You get the Aussie Fries without the Bacon? I feel for you brother. At least you're not a vegan, because then you couldn't have the fries (fried in animal fat) or the cheese.
Trevor, they are still good without the bacon trust me. They are not fried in animal fat, they are fried in vegetable oil as are almost all French...err...I mean Freedom Fries. I am not a vegan but I do not eat food fried in lard. Those poor vegans can't even have cheese, baked goods (eggs), honey, and some don't even eat yeast (its a bacteria).
Enough! I'm getting sick thinking about "veganism." No yeast for god's sake? Come on.
I will stop reading this blog today if I find out that Outback's fries are cooked in animal fat. I will check back.
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