Well, a quarter of the year has passed. I would like to see how far I’ve progressed in my resolutions for this year. I should be doing this every couple of months to stay on target.

1. Did I laugh more and smiled much? I don’t know the answer to this since I don’t track it in an empirical way. But overall I am happy and content. I’m spending my time wisely and doing all the things I like to do.
2. Did I hike the Appalachian Trail or travel to southeast Asia? The answer is a definitive “no”. But I did manage to squeeze in a road trip to southeast USA in February. I will take another one to the New England area come June. Since last year I made a goal of traveling at least one month out of every year, the two road trips will add up to more than a month of traveling.
3. Did I continue to study for Chinese? Somewhat. I quiz myself on Chinese vocabularies using the program Anki but I only do it once about every 4-5 days. I used to do it almost everyday. I’m slacking off right now but it’s time to pick it up again.
4. Did I learn more about design? The answer is depends. As with graphic design or web design, I did not learn anything new so far this year. But I made a to-do list and I’ve been tracking it with an iPhone app called Chains.cc. It’s more of a lifestyle design than anything else. I’m also going to add new additions to my wardrobe with some new dress shirts, so I guess that’s design on a more personal level.
5. Did I become good at shooting pool? I think the answer is yes since I’ve been playing it almost everyday.
6. Did I sleep less? Only two days ago did I set my alarm clock so that I only sleep 10-11 hours a night. So I guess I need to continue with that. For awhile I was sleeping 13-14 hours a night but now there’s more sunlight I should be able to sleep less. I guess we’ll have to see about this in a few more months.
7. Did I continue walking, reading, writing, and learning? This has become a habit of mine more than anything else. I take walks, I read, I write, and I learn from classes I take at Coursera.org. This has been the foundation of my daily life for awhile now. I spend most of my leisure time doing these things so I learn something everyday.

If you have made a new year’s resolution, perhaps it’s time to take a look at it now and see how far you’ve gone. I think this is a process that should be constantly monitored so that by the end of the year you will have a good idea of how much you’ve accomplished.