My New Years Resolutions 2020

Profile pic 2019

Its been 12 years since I’ve been blogging my new years resolutions and I’m still going.

Following my review of last year… here’s my New Years Resolutions for 2020; which follows on from 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010.2009, 2008 ones.

    1. Head further a field with the scooter
      Missed this last year, so its high time for a ride into Europe. I have plans to stay with a friend in Rotterdam then drive around and maybe into Belgium & Germany for some coasting. However, more importantly if the secondment was to go ahead. I’d highly likely drive my scooter in the Netherlands.
    2. Visit another new country
      Fitting with the previous one. Luckily last year, I finally got to Italy for the first time, but that was pure chance I think. There’s a lot of places I need to go including Norway, Switzerland, Austria, Croatia, etc in Europe. One thing I’m doing for sure is South Korea & Japan (again) in April with my partner this time.
    3. Make some changes to the flat
      As mentioned previously, I have bought a few bits for the bedroom including a new desk. I bought a lot of my furniture when I first moved in and its time for a few changes now I’m much more settled in.
    4. Host film nights at mine
      I have my new projector, the surround sound system and even the popcorn machine to go with it, so its time to actively do some film nights. For real this time!
    5. Spend less time in the UK / Live in a new country
      As mentioned previously I’m putting together a strong case to move to Amsterdam for a year. Unlike previously its not just because of Brexit. There is a unique opportunity under the BBC to bring together other public focused organisations for a wider “public service centric network.
      This also fits with my previous resolutions around being a stronger advocate for New forms of Value/Public Service Internet/Team Human; and even more with find the others. Making this a reality is going to be difficult but if it works out its going to be amazing for many reasons I can only imagine right now.
    6. Find the others and connect them
      Directly related to the previous one. I mentioned in my 2019 new year resolutions about #teamhuman. Its not so much team human per-say but a more non-perfect human outlook on the world. There was something which Eric Nehrlich wrote a long while ago. Find the others, its been echoed by Douglas Rushkoff here and here.
    7. Play a new sport somewhat regularly
      I love Volleyball and could play it over and over again, but I know people around me don’t dig it as much. So I’ll try a new sport as long as its not Football, Rugby or Cricket. Mainly to bridge between people around me who may like to play something different. Currently Badminton, Basketball or Netballl are looking most likely. However with moving to the Netherlands,Korfball and Handball (which I played in the past) could be new options?
    8. Drink more fizzy water
      I have fallen love with carbonated water. Maybe its the amount of time I spent in Berlin but regardless its great stuff and much more healthy than most of the stuff I use to drink. I decided to invest in a SodaStream after seeing the amount of plastic water bottles I was recycling. This year I’m going drink a lot more carbonated at work, home, out and about. Its 25% health related and 75% because cold fizzy water is just the best!
    9.  Look after myself better
      I’m going to start walking more, I noticed how many more steps I do when going for coffee with colleagues at work. Parking in the multistory and walking to work actually adds another 1500 steps daily. Manchester is pretty walk-able and public transport is pretty good to be honest. I’m still waiting for the UK transport laws to change to allow things like electric scooters. This also fits with my drink more water one.
    10. Be even more aware of the environment and what I can do to help
      Following the fizzy water one too, I’m far more concerned by our lack of ability to recycle and reuse what we have around us. We recently had compost bins in our flats which were emptied into one large compost for the recycling. However if one person misused the compost, the compost would not be emptied and was left rotting. As you can imagine over 200 apartments, that compost wasn’t emptied for weeks.
      So I’m going to see what else can be done from my end. Maybe theres somewhere else I can drop my compost? Maybe there is something else which could be done? Who knows but its worth explore.
    11. Put my money/resources where my values are, with platforms like Patreon
      Theres a lot of things I like reading and listening to and its about time I started supporting their use and development through systems like Patreon. A few years ago I finally kickstarted the Pebble 2 smartwatch, till that point I never joined Kickstarter. In an ideal world, they would gain support through the public service network but we are a long way from that in certain countries. One example I keep thinking about is the Guardian which have lots of options for payment and will take anything to support journalistic freedom.
    12. Change my email signature with important information
      I’ve been thinking about adding pronouns to my different things for a while. I have already added them to my mastodon profile and will slowly add them to other profile information where I can.
      Theres been a lot of talk about work life balance and self care recently and I agree with lots of it whats been said. But I also would add a level of self awareness can really be useful if possible; to this end I’m going start he-himby publishing a user manual for myself, which will be linked to in my email signature and elsewhere. Outlining all the meta things which can’t fit into a signature.

Author: Ianforrester

Senior firestarter at BBC R&D, emergent technology expert and serial social geek event organiser. Can be found at cubicgarden@mas.to, cubicgarden@twit.social and cubicgarden@blacktwitter.io

One thought on “My New Years Resolutions 2020

  1. Hi I’m Ian and I’m referred to by ‘he/him’ pronouns
    Here is my user manual, as first discovered in Cassie Robinson.‘s blog post and written about in my new years resolutions for 2020. Everything is work in progress and I may move this to a page instead of a blog entry.
    Last updated on 31/12/2019
    Conditions I like to work in
    I like a medium busy working environment. I find it hard to work in dead silence.
    I like having my own desk space but pretty flexible as I can work in coffee shops or on my sofa.
    I like to wear headphones and listen to music mixes, podcasts or audio books while working if its too quiet.
    I like flexible spaces, with adjustable seating
    The Times/Hours I like to work
    I am trying to start my work day at 10am, I am not a early riser at all.
    I work best in the afternoon and evenings
    Think better at night
    I don’t mind being contacted at most times but I will likely only respond when not busy or have the time. I expect people to respect my decisions when I decline calls.
    My calendar is private but I prefer if things are set in my calendar so I don’t double book myself.
    The best ways to communicate with me
    Text or instant messenger (signal & text) is the quickest way to get a response from me, but you will get a quick and short reply.
    Twitter Direct message isn’t the best due to the changes Twitter made to their APIs making my Android & Linux clients slower to get direct messages.
    Mastodon is better than twitter for communication
    I will answer my phone and prefer to talk over more complex issues
    I deal with emails all week and usually respond within a week, unless I’m busy
    Narratives are generally better than raw data
    The ways I like to receive feedback
    I’d rather have conversations than leave things unspoken or at an inauthentic level.
    I like receiving feedback face-to-face
    I respect people with humanity & respect, and expect the same back
    I see all feedback as a learning opportunity so I like any feedback to include examples and also suggestions on how I / it could be better/different
    Things I need
    I love ideas sessions with people, where we can freely think about what is possible without the if’s and but’s
    I do need a little time to reflect
    I need longer paper work in digital form, so I can re-shape it or have an app read it to me
    Authenticity, I find it harder to take people seriously if there is no authenticity
    Things I struggle with
    Too much critiquing and logical reasoning drains my creative energy
    If I don’t understand the bigger picture, I find it harder to understand why I should be involved.
    I find unnecessary opaque processes draining
    Maintaining the status-quo
    Surface level conversations over a longer period of time
    Superstition
    Things I love
    Hearing what others are working on and connecting up the dots of what we are doing together
    Human conversations over administrative tasks like replying to emails
    Understanding peoples experiences and influences behind projects
    Team away days
    Blue sky thinking
    Working on the cutting edge
    Collaboration
    Working “in the open”
    Other things to know about me
    I am an ENTP
    I have dyslexia
    I use interconnected, narrative and dynamic reasoning to make decisions on problems which are logically taxing.
    I approach problems in a learning as doing way
    My favorite saying is “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.
    I bring my whole self to work (we should chat about what this means)
    I am quite expressive and say what I feel and mean quite openly.
    Fairness and justice matters to me. If I think someone is not being treated fairly, or someone is having an unfair impact on others, I will call it out.
    I believe hyperlinks subvert hierarchy, with a rich network of people.

Comments are closed.

Mentions