January 1, 2024 & 2025 Resolutions ...
... looking back at '24, looking ahead to '25❕
Best in this 2025 year everyone!
In this post:
Jan 1, 2025, Resolution
Jan 1, 2024, Resolution update and result (what this post is all about)
Go to P.S. (aka end of this post) to get support for your 2025 Resolution❕
#0 Resolutions
January 1, 2025, resolution? I will write a strategies math book.
January 1, 2024, resolution, I will write funny, Update and Result?
- On January 3, 2024, I wrote about my New Year’s Resolution, “I will write funny’. I don’t normally set a NY resolution but decided to ‘walk my talk’ and follow the steps I recommend to my math students around goal setting and goal achieving. Here I am, 365 days later with a final update.
#1 My Goal of Jan 1, 2024 Resolution, had two other objectives:
1. Have you start understanding the steps to bring a resolution to life
2. Share my, “I will write funny,” Resolution journey to give insights into understanding the steps I use to bring a resolution to life.
#2 Result?
I write funny resolution was achieved - I now write funny 😊! The proof? I can write words that make me smile. Points #3 to #7 below give more details on key steps I took, though one way you can use this in your quest is to take the essence of what I did and apply it to your new goal (aka January 2025 resolution). Use The Learning 5 to self-assess at start, start small, take baby steps, acquire habits needed, and use the Goal as a lighthouse every single day - it guides and tells you what to do next.
#3 Where did I start?
Got a picture in my head what achieving the Objective would look like – I would write words that would make me smile or laugh. Simple, succinct and easy to assess.
Then I did a self-assessment using The Learning 5 to get feedback on my starting point of this 365-day trip:
1 Objective set?
✔ Yes (7/10) but this task was a gigantic one for me, so I’d have to break it down to bite size chunks.
2 Motivated to work towards it?
✔ Yes (10/10) - I’m willing to run through a brick wall to achieve it!!
3 Do I understand how to write funny?
❌ No, not at all (0/10) … never ever been funny!
4 Put in the reps on that understanding?
❓ n/a/10 as can’t start putting in the repetitions/practice until I understand (#3)
5 Feedback & Results
❓ n/a/10 - Though that ❌, 0/10, told me where I need to place my initial energies, Understanding how to write funny, #3.
#4 So … what did I do?
Some details below, but I began with four key missives - start small**, aim to understand the fundamentals, creating needed habits, and always take in feedback (a written sentence that did not make me smile or laugh was not a step back, but more of a step sideways, as it gave clues on what didn’t work).
**Start small, take tiny strides, miniscule leaps as it would ensure I’d have mini successes, which would give me feedback to help me learn from my mistakes and aid with my self-belief that I could do this. Without self-belief the odds are I would give up sooner, as who wants to keep running into a brick wall day after day after day after day … after day?
Note: Back on Jan. 3, ’24 I also said that I would write monthly updates~, to keep you up to date on my journey, and done to give you some insights, but more so to ‘raise the stakes’ for me as I was making myself more accountable.
~ And I did these updates until June 26, 2024, and at that point I switched over to the monthly “I write funny’ blog I created, MAKE math LAUGH.
In a nutshell, I designed every morsel on this journey to increase the odds I would attain it. Why? Because it was important to me. Very important. If your Resolution is not very important to you, it will drop by the wayside once more important things come along, and I can guarantee you that more important things/tasks/events will come knocking. The secret is to keep the Resolution just as important. How? Have it make your heart go THUMP! Have it light a fire in your belly! Ask yourself, What’s the stress it’s relieving or the joy it’s going to bring to me? Then pour your heart into it and get emotional about it!
Have it make your heart go THUMP!
#5 A bit more details on what I did:
🔢 What follows is an overview of the steps I took (along with monthly update links). I’ll spare you the details but what you’ll notice is my unwavering commitment to sticking with it, no matter what – after all, 365 days to bring a skill to life should be doable. And it will become apparent to you very quickly that I did not do the obvious and just sign up for a ’How to write funny’ course - more on this in #6.
I viewed this 365-day journey like taking a 1-year course, so a process familiar to me (and to math students) - so mastering fundamentals, understanding, reinforcing-practicing-homework, remembering, quizzes & tests, results & feedback, habits, breaks etc., would all play a part. I was about to become a student again.
1️⃣ January - Started thinking and writing sentences to see what I found funny. Spent a minimum of 30 minutes, five days a week, reading, watching, researching, asking anyone questions about understanding how to write funny. Then I would aim to think and then write funny sentences again and again and again.
January 3 (the start)2️⃣ January - Did a short Intro to Improv course
3️⃣ January - June: Kept understanding and putting in reps, and taking in feedback every time I was ‘taught’ something new. And early on went deeper with my Objective. January 31 (month 1 of 12), February 29 (month 2 of 12).
4️⃣ March - Intro to Improv course led to two four-hour workshops - Solo Improv and Clowning. Mar 31 (month 3 of 12).
5️⃣ April to June: Did the next improv course, 101, which had a show with a live audience at last class. April 30 (month 4 of 12), May 31 (month 5 of 12),
June 26 (Billion-dollar company does math wrong).6️⃣ July & August – Took some breaks and kept understanding funny, and putting in reps, and taking in feedback every time I was ‘taught’ something new. And in one class the 101 Improv instructor spoke a little bit about sketch comedy and that’s when I realized sketch comedy was in essence, writing funny 😊! Holy moly!!!
July to December (MAKE math LAUGH).7️⃣ September to October – Did a Sketch comedy online live course based London, England. The one I signed up for in Ottawa got cancelled, so I sought and found another course, albeit in another country – when you’re willing to run through a wall, obstacles become minor irritants to deal with along the way.
8️⃣ October to December – And while doing the Sketch course, I saw how each of these written sketches was brought alive when performed by actors***. And that led me to doing an acting course with a show in front of a live audience at the end. Having to memorize lines while staying true to the character was an eye-opener, as that’s another skill I had zero experience in.
*** E.g. of sketches performed: Saturday Night Live, and our more famous Canadian sketch shows (SCTV, This hour has 22 minutes, The Kids in the hall, The Red Green show, Baroness von Sketch Show). HOLY MOLY x 10. My country was a hot bed for writing funny 😊😊😊 and I never knew it!9️⃣ August to December – Kept understanding, and learning and putting in the writing funny reps.
🔟 January 2024 - I write funny! Hoorah 😀😁😃😄😆😊😂😥🤣!!
Keener alert:
☑ I viewed these live Improv and Acting shows like a test to see how much I understood and learnt and how well I remembered, so I prepared for them. Plus it gave the all-important feedback on how well my step #3, Understanding of The Learning 5, was coming along.
▶ I approached all courses, with a zest and desire to put in hours between each class - reviewing, understanding and reps to make sense and retain it. I was the keener-student 😊!⤴ I was the student who sat in the front row, always raising his hand, and asking questions …
#6 Most important is not the goal, it’s the habits you create!
Yeah, I know, not what everyone says, but habits are transferable, habits change who you are, and habits give you the confidence to tackle new tasks! Success in any Resolution is based on acquiring the needed habits.
And if you’re wondering and thinking of asking, “Edison, why didn’t you just take a course on “How to write funny?”, that would be a wonderful question.
Quick answer, Know thyself! And that’s Socrates, Plato and Henry David Thoreau talking!!! Shortcuts and tricks may get you there quicker, but they diminish the opportunity to create up-habits, to strengthen the resilience muscle, to be better at problem solving, to name three.
Make the journey yours! For me, the journey is always more important than the attainment of the Goal, and yes, my route to that ‘I write funny’ was definitely not the most direct or quickest – I guess I chose the scenic route, but that worked for me! You need to find the path that works best for YOU!
Know thyself, sounds like a math formula in two words!
#7 Final thought!
Know thyself, Understand yourself, is knowing the patterns you have, your tendencies, triggers you have, up habits you have, and using that to your advantage.
I DID NOT JUST SIGN UP FOR A COURSE in “how to write funny”! Why? That’s not the way I understand and learn best. I learn best when I go wide first – know as much about the topic, before I start going deep. To me, that makes the journey much more interesting, and if you’re thinking, Edison, that would take a whole lot longer! Absolutely!!! But the goal was not to write funny in 7 days … I had 365 days to do it. So, what’s the rush? Understanding yourself is a must as it helps massively with any Goal set - it give you clues on the best way to increase the odds of you attaining what you set out to attain.
#8 Next step? Recommendations?
Follow The Learning 5 and get going on your 2025 Resolution (or any goal you have).
Weak in New Year’s resolutions? Then at the beginning, please keep it simple, short and within reach. Start small, keep it simple, take tiny steps, baby steps, crawl first if you have to. It’s essential that you have little victories and successes, as that’s your encouragement and the food that feeds your motivation to stick with that resolution.
My next step?
Start working towards, my January 1️⃣, 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣, Resolution, I will write a strategies math book. How? Re-use and recycle the habits I created during that 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣4️⃣ I write funny quest and follow a similar path. I’ve wanted to write a book for over 2️⃣5️⃣ years … this 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ year seems to like a good year to do it ✅.
Your next step?
Understand you, then go for it! Have a blast with your 2025 Resolution journey!
Coach Edison
Insightful strategies for math (and life)❕
Edison Hopkinson BSc Mech Eng, B. Ed, OCT
Future 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ author 📙 😣!
MATH by EDISON, 📢 Non-math strategies that have you do better in math
P.S.
Support with this year’s Resolution (or any goal you’re aiming to attain).
Read the Goals Sept 14, ‘24 article, Why aren’t you reaching your goals📉❓
Recap of Goals strategy session on Oct. 26, 2024 is here.
Read the Creating Habits article from Dec. 13, 2023 here.
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