I usually don’t make New Year’s resolutions, but this year, I thought I’d try it. Partly because I need all the motivation I can get for a couple things that I have been avoiding putting any real work into for a long time.

My first resolution is to study Japanese for at least 30 minutes everyday. I know it sounds a little crazy, seeing as how I live in Japan, that I actually need to study the language. I’m immersed in it, right? I wish that was the case. I rarely get to speak Japanese, due to my job, and haven’t progressed much in communication skills since I’ve been in Japan. It seems that the only time I get to speak Japanese is when I go out with my friends, which is usually out to drink. Since I don’t want to risk destroying my body by drinking everyday, I figured now is as good a time as any to invest in some alternative study methods. I’ve been using a site memrise.com and their Android app to do most of my studying. It’s nice because I’m both learning new vocabulary as well as the kanji that goes along with it.

My second resolution is focusing on something that I have wanted to do for years. I figured since I’m 30 now, I should probably get to work on it or it will probably never happen. It’s programming. And since mobile is the way of the future, I’m focusing on Android. So, my resolution is to write a new app every week. Of course, none of these apps are going to be worth anything. They’re mostly simple apps that just move text around, do basic addition, or other mundane tasks, but the fact that I am actually forcing myself to get into this and do it is what is important. I even signed up for an online programming class at a university. I’ve already had a few app ideas that I want to program, but are too complex at my current stage. My goal is to become proficient with Java and the Android system so that I can write those, and hopefully make some money off of them.

I think it’s important that we all do what we can to better ourselves. That’s why New Year’s resolutions exist. If you don’t have any goals, then you probably aren’t moving in any tangible direction. And when you do have goals, it’s important to let people know so that they can help you when you get in over your head (which will definitely happen with programming).

So what are your resolutions?