2007 Has a Nice Ring to It

I was so pleased to just discover that I wrote my 2006 resolutions here, and I'd met all of them. Yay! So in hopes of meeting these new aspirations, I will continue the public, incredibly vain blogging of the 2007 goals.

(1) The Toughness Conundrum. Find a happy medium between trying to be more tough and trying to be more sensitive. I used to have a really hard time being tough (i.e. asking for what I want, not letting myself be taken advantage of, being too soft to avoid hurting people's feelings, etc.), so I worked really hard on that for the last few years -- I think with a pretty decent level of success (though certainly not perfect, hah). That said, I often find myself trying so hard to be more frank that I find myself feeling like a bit of a jerk, like I'm being unnecessarily demanding. I don't know if there is a happy medium, but I'm going to keep working on it.

(2) Professional Maturity. I find myself endlessly and incredibly frustrated by stupidity that doesn't even directly affect me at work -- it's a real waste of energy, stupidly juvenile, and I need to learn to better focus on the things that I have control over and be happy with those successes.

(3) Studiousness. I want to see if I can possibly finish my degree a semester early and, if I'm going to make that happen, I need to buckle down yet again. Even if I decide not to fast-track, I still want to be more focused on my classes -- not a grade-obsesso type, just more focused for the sake of enhanced learning.

(4) It's About Me. I generally don't think I'm a selfish person, per se, though I know I'm rather what many likely consider self-absorbed. I don't have a problem with that, as I think it's good to be aware of oneself and as conscious of your kickass attributes as your personal challenges, and I think it's a big part of what helps me do well with the things I'm good at. However, sometimes I worry that I'm taking it too far and I don't want to turn into something untrue to the kid that my parents raised. I really just need to get with Buddha and find the internal zen.

(5) Get into the Dirty 30s. Enter this new era of my life feeling satisfied that I've achieved the key goals my 19 year old self set out for me. Make another list of reasonable but challenging aspirations for my thirties so that I can come back at 40 feeling as great as I do now.