Well, the new year is upon us, and I've decided to make some resolutions. I've never really made resolutions in the past, or if I had I certainly never followed through on them. But I've been reading Lifehacker over the past few months and I'm ready to put some of their ideas to work.

First, I'm making lists so I have well-defined goals. Resolutions like "work out every day" are fine, but they are easier to stick to when you have a more specific goal like "lose 10 pounds by June." I'm using Samurize to keep those lists right on my desktop where they will be in my face every day. That will have the added benefit of encouraging me to keep my desktop clutter-free.

One of my goals is to write a game. I've had XNA Studio since the Express version was released, and I've done some tutorials but I have never followed through and started a real project. I got an XBox 360 for Christmas, and I'll be signing up for the XNA Creators Club so I can write programs for it. Hopefully the monetary investment will be a bit of a motivator for me. In addition, I'm going to force myself to write code for at least 10 minutes a day, every day.

Another goal is to get up earlier. I stay up too late, and sleep too late as a result, and I never feel in step with the rest of the world. To help me change that, I'm going to try Seinfeld's productivity secret. Using David Seah's compact calendar I will see how long I can go without breaking the chain. Eventually I'll allow myself to sleep in on the weekends, but I'm not going to give myself that luxury until I go 30 consecutive days of getting up early.

Hopefully I will be able to turn all these tools and tips into effective resolutions that actually last the entire year. Have you made any resolutions this year, and if so, what tricks will you use to stick to them?

(note: thanks to Dave for the post title)