{"id":1986,"date":"2014-01-06T02:30:05","date_gmt":"2014-01-06T02:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/?p=730"},"modified":"2014-01-06T02:30:05","modified_gmt":"2014-01-06T02:30:05","slug":"my-2014-resolutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/my-2014-resolutions\/","title":{"rendered":"My 2014 Resolutions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With a new year starting, we should take some time to reflect.\u00a0 We have all made some mistakes and even some improvements in the last year, and we can learn from those changes.\u00a0 I strongly recommend you take a few hours to look at your practices from the last year and think about where you could improve and what your strong points are.\u00a0 After you\u2019ve done that, make some resolutions.\u00a0 What are you going to improve on?\u00a0 What are you going to start doing?\u00a0 What are you going to stop doing?\u00a0 Here is my list.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stop Watching TV \u2013 I love electronic media. I\u2019m a gamer, I love movies, and I enjoy the limitless content online.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think I can stop enjoying all of it at once, but I think I am going to give up Television. Not only will it save me some money, but an incredible amount of time. The thing is, I don\u2019t watch television because I want to, I watch it because I don\u2019t want to do something else. That needs to end.<\/li>\n<li>Start Reading More \u2013 Nothing expands the mind more than reading, and I don\u2019t do it as often as I want to.\u00a0 There are so many great topics and stories out there I should be reading. I have several books on my shelf that I am just waiting to read, and this year I will make the time.<\/li>\n<li>Take Online Courses \u2013 Going back to school can be expensive and time consuming, but there are tons of free and short online courses that can be taken online. These courses are done by real teachers from real colleges, and can be as short as 6 weeks. There are several places you can sign up for them, but I use <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coursera.org\/\">Coursera.com<\/a>.\u00a0 I\u2019m signed up for a class on January 13<sup>th<\/sup>, so come and join me!<\/li>\n<li>Learn more about my Employees \u2013 I manage a handful of staff, and I want to take more time to get to know them.\u00a0 I know it isn\u2019t my job to be their friend, but I would like to connect with them more as a human being.\u00a0 The better we understand each other the better we can work together.<\/li>\n<li>Learn a New Language \u2013 I really want to start learning a new language.\u00a0 There is a great tool for doing this, an app for smartphones and website called Duolingo.\u00a0 Think of it as a free Rosetta Stone. Check it out at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.duolingo.com\/\">www.duolingo.com<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li>Give more to Charity \u2013 I have a couple charities I like, but don\u2019t give as much as I would like to.\u00a0 I want to make a commitment to setting aside more money each month, so a larger amount can be donated each year.\u00a0 Please look at these charities: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.doctorswithoutborders.org\/\">Doctors Without Borders<\/a> \/ <a href=\"http:\/\/www.childsplaycharity.org\/\">Childs Play<\/a> \/ <a href=\"http:\/\/www.donorschoose.org\/\">Donors Choose<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With a new year starting, we should take some time [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[508],"tags":[1117,1142,1143,1144,1145,1146],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1986"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1986\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.poly.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}