Getting to a Hundred

This post is not about living to a hundred years old, even though my last post was titled “Life After Fifty”. Unless medical breakthroughs significantly enhance the quality of life both physically and mentally for older folks, I’d prefer not to burden others with my eventual physical and mental decline. There are no centenarians in my family so I don’t think it’s in my genes to be long-lived. Cell evolution might even suggest pre-programmed death at a certain stage.

Today’s post is about setting goals – about my blog posts. I had no particular plan when I first started out, except that I should be regular about posting. How regular? I had a vague notion of approximately two posts per week, but didn’t put any pressure on myself if I had a particularly busy week, or if I just had nothing interesting to say. In 2015 there were 85 posts, increasing to 92 in 2016, and then dipping slightly in 2017 to 91. At the beginning of this year, I set myself the goal of getting to a hundred. This is post #93 in late November so I’m still on track.

My colleagues know that I keep a detailed time-log so that I know where my time goes. It allows me to align my use of time with my priorities. That being said, I don’t actually plan ahead how I budget my time and use it. I have a sense of what needs to be done, and I do it. This however means that things with a deadline (i.e. the urgent) get taken care of before important things that don’t have a deadline. I don’t like running up close to a deadline so I tend to get things done ahead of time. I prefer to live with as little stress in my life as possible. While I am probably more efficient running closer to a deadline (adrenaline and all), I also tend to make more mistakes if I rush something without sufficient time to double or triple-check. As an instructor, I can tell when my students have turned in reports or homework when working at-the-last-minute. It’s not a pretty sight.

Looking forward to next year, I would actually like to reduce screen time. This means I am unlikely to get to a hundred in any other year. This year is my last chance! Seeing my students glued to their mobile devices, listening to their stresses when they’re willing to talk about such things, and reading more generally about the increase in mental health and wellness issues among college students, has made me more aware of my own consumption of screen time. I’m increasingly concerned with the chronic effects of society being ‘alone together’ (to use Sherry Turkle’s phrase). Human biological evolution proceeds at a far slower pace than technological evolution – it’s no wonder the stresses have increased in our increasingly technological society.

I’d also like to take my writing to the next level – i.e., being more thoughtful and focused. Right now, my posts are a mishmash of whatever I’ve been thinking about lately – and regular readers of my blog know I have wide-varying interests! I would like to have a little less quantity in my writing and a little more quality. Maybe reduce my zombie nouns further. But that’s next year. This year, I’m still trying to get to a hundred!