New Year's Resolutions!

Peter Here!

Happy New year to everyone! I hope 2011 is a marvellous and successful year.

A tradition that seems to span the globe is that of New Year resolutions (shinnen no houfu, 新年の抱負) ; goals you want to achieve, bad habits you want to kick, life decisions to be made, mindsets to change, etc. I thought I would write down my own, so that people can kick me up the backside if I'm not keeping to them!

1. I will practice Karate every day: This is no different to what I am doing now, but it is good to set it in virtual stone. I will stretch Every Day for at least 30 minutes too, and make sure I keep up with my cardio exercises once my toe is completely fit!
2. I will practice Japanese for at least an hour every day: I want to be able to read and write too, so I will probably go to a language class this year- something that I didn't get round to doing last year!
3. I will listen to advice more, for Karate and teaching.
   
4. I will make more of an effort to remember names!
   
5. I will open a bank account: I usually have a lot of money in my wallet which, when I think about it, can be quite dangerous. A bank account would probably make my life here much easier.
6. I will prepare for lessons at least two days before the class: Sometimes Monday's lessons are planned on the day because I was busy over the weekend, which means there's less margin for error if I check them. Ideally I would like to make the next lesson plan immediately after the last lesson, so I'll try and do that.
7. I will complete private projects: I have a couple of websites that are karate-related on the go, but they have been very slow to get started. I want to have them finished by March! Then, any other projects can be tackled without these hanging over my head.
8. I will get a gold in at least one tournament this year, and at least two more silver: After the amazing training at Shiramizu, I want to get back into winning ways! At least one gold is an absolute minimum!
9. I will compete and spar with more confidence this year: I started doing this just before injuring my toe, so I look forward to getting back to competition fitness as soon as possible.
   
10. I will pass my JKF Wadokai Shodan test this year! This is the big 'Must Do' resolution; if I don't do this then I will be very very disappointed.
    
11. I will grade in Aikido: I was starting to really like aikido last year, and the bokken and jo practise was very interesting. I would like to grade or advance a little in it before my time in Japan is over, so I could do something similar back in the UK as well as karate.
12. Finally, I will find more people to teach English to, and improve the Internship.

I hope everyone who has made resolutions this year will succeed in sticking to them. Good luck!!