New year's resolutions for 2025

Inspired by my friend Fidel, I'm publicly sharing some of my resolutions for the new year.

This (turn of the) year I have not thought much about this nor made an actual list, unlike some other years. But certainly there are a few concrete goals in my head, some of which I already mentioned on my recap of 2024.

Here go some of the goals I can divulge, hoping to put some social pressure on myself.

Books

On the list (that I consider to be the most reliable) of the best books ever, the top ten (as it stands today) is made up of 16 books or so, because one of those works is actually a series. I have read all of them, save for two and the one I'm reading right now (I'm half way through it):

1. The Great Gatsby ✔️
2. Ulysses ✔️
3. In Search of Lost Time
   1. Swann's Way ✔️
   2. In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower ✔️
   3. The Guermantes Way ✔️
   4. Sodom and Gomorrah ✔️
   5. The Prisoner ✔️
   6. The Fugitive ✔️
   7. Finding Time Again
4. One Hundred Years of Solitude ✔️
5. The Catcher in the Rye ✔️
6. Lolita ✔️
7. Nineteen Eighty Four ✔️
8. Anna Karenina
9. Moby-Dick ✔️
10. Wuthering Heights

By the end of 2025 I want to have read all in the top ten.

This is a moving target, because this weighted aggregation of lists is dynamic and changes over time as more lists are considered and as the algorithm is tweaked. Sometimes it changes quite a lot. But I don't mind, because this goal is instrumental: I just want to read the best that there is to read — always. And by focusiong on the evolving top ten over the last few years, I have already read some other great books that eventually dropped down the list. Consider for example the next batch of ten:

11. To Kill a Mockingbird
12. Don Quixote ✔️
13. Pride and Prejudice
14. War and Peace ✔️
    1. Volume one ✔️
    2. Volume two ✔️
15. Crime and Punishment
16. The Sound and the Fury
17. The Stranger
18. The Lord of the Rings ✔️
19. Madame Bovary
20. The Odyssey ✔️

Apart from this, I set a goal on Goodreads to read at least 14 books this year. I'll follow my usual approach of alternating between “serious reading” and other stuff (books written by friends of mine, of which I have one to read soon; comic books; random books that caught my attention; etc).

Japanese

As I advanced on my previous post, this year I'll switch Duolingo for textbooks. I already said good-bye to my one-year-long streak, uninstalled Duolingo from my phone and installed Obenkyo, Jsho and Kanji Draw instead.

The other day I picked up one of the textbooks I have that are appropriate for my (basic) level and spent an hour or so going through the first unit. With a pencil in my hand, taking notes, reading out loud. I had decided not to waste time examining my books, deciding which one I'll follow, or devising a “plan” or a schedule. Better to get started at once! If I am consistent, I should be done with this book (or any other) in a few months, I guess — and then I can assess the situation, pick another one, or change the strategy.

I'm sad to report that we are eleven days into the year already and that day was the only time that I have studied so far. I knew I can't expect to study well every day like I did a tiny bit of Duolingo every day, but I'll have to get better at finding the time to study, and do it at least a couple days a week, or I won't learn much.

Apart from studying “well” often, this year I want to take (and pass) JLPT N4 (I passed N5 years ago). Usually, there are tests in July and in December; I'd like to register for the one in July. N4 is still rather basic, but passing it in six months from now is a relatively ambitious goal for me.

Nutrition

I am a vegetarian since 2018. I'm a bad vegetarian, though.

Not because very occasionally I eat meat or fish to treat myself, to avoid complicating plans with friends, or to avoid awkward situations (that's OK, I'm not a zealot). I'm a bad vegetarian because I don't watch and plan my diet like I should. I do supplement B12, I buy some special ingredients which I use often, and I try to compensate eating more legumes, nuts, etc. But too often my meals are improvised or quick and thus poor in some nutrients. Also, we don't buy groceries all that often at home; rather we visit the supermarket once a week or so. And because of that, too often my meals are made, in part or in full, from stuff out of some package or can.

This year I want to make a conscious effort to plan meals more often and to eat a little better.

I also want to cut on bad food. We don't eat terribly bad at home: it's not like we cook a lot of greasy stuff, buy prebaked meals, go to fast food places, or forget to put vegetables in our menu. But when I don't sate my hunger fully and there are tasty snacks around, I am bad at saying no. I won't go into details, but suffice to say that I love good chocolate and good confectionery, and never eat just one cookie or just one chip.

Until 2025 arrived, that is!

Exercise

Looking at my notes, it seems last year I exercised 73 times (once every 5 days):

• Weight-lifting at the gym: 36 times (once every 10 days)
• Running outside: 27 times, plus two 10-km popular races (once every 13 days)
• Hiking with family or friends: 8 times

I should make no excuses, but 2024 began with some heath issues. Because of that, in January I worked out exactly one day. And in June I started a new job, one with more responsibilities (apart from the usual steep learning curve), a longer commute, and a requirement to be at the office more often, so I worked out only three times in that whole month.

My vague goal in 2025 is to work out better and more often. A more concrete goal (but I'm not even sure I'm committed to it) is to run a half marathon in 2025 (and to train for that, of course).

Finances

This year I want to save more money.

Our family finances are in good shape overall, I think. together with my wife we have a modest but well diversified combined portfolio. To call it a “portfolio” is perhaps a bit pretentious, but you know what I mean: some cash, a few stocks, a bit in an index fund, and a flat (with a mortgage). I give away 10% of my gross income and invest a little bit every year, and still we manage to save some of our income.

However, I have been thinking recently about the hedonic treadmill and about how expenses seem to magically grow in sync with increases in income. I have always thought that one should have an absolute (if approximate) threshold for well-being and associated expenses, try to live within that boundary if possible, and invest the rest in cushioning for the future, early retirement, and philanthropy.

In the last year or two our household income has grown… and so have our expenses. In 2025 I want to review our balance sheet and reduce some expenses.

Some of the line items will be hard or impossible to streamline; eg, our two kids attend a semi-private school that is perfect for us. I suspect I'll have to work with much smaller line items, like underutilised web hosting and VPS accounts, daily “treats” like take-away coffee, and the like. Truth be told, I don't think I'll make much of a dent, but I'll be content if I cancel some subscription or reduce some recurrent expense, and thus optimise a bit here and there. In any case, I hope to get a clearer picture of my finances in the process.