To think about

Why do you wait until New Year to make resolutions - and to decide about your intentions and goals? Just to lay 'em out for next year because everyone else is doing it? How many of the resolutions will you ditch on the way? - The reason why 95% of New Year resolutions won't stick are: one makes too many resolutions, wants too drastic & unrealistic changes, formulates imprecise goals (or no goals) and puts too little heart into it. Here is how you avoid these mistakes:

MISTAKE #1: Having 10 and more resolutions.

GOOD: Focus on 6-7 "projects". (I think a "resolution" is something you think about doing, a "project" is something you are in the middle of). It's best to even take only one at a time - so 6 of them for 2 months over the year. Focus on the most important ones. The less you want to do, the more likely you will succeed in the 6 you have focused on.

MISTAKE #2: Imprecise resolutions and habit changes.

GOOD: Thinking about realistic changes that can be measured. Don't put "loose weight", "exercise more". - Put "loose 8lbs. in 6 months" or "exercise 2 times a week for 45min." Once Friday rolls around you should be having a very nagging conscience!!! Even if it means you should have had to run to the gym every Saturday and Sunday to reach the goal - you made it! It's not that easy to put a precise goal off. You could also say "Exercise every Monday and Wednesday evening". That way, the slot (that fits your work and family schedule!) is set - and if you have to cancel it once you will have to find another slot in your schedule... No room for wiggling out of here!

MISTAKE #2: Unrealistic goals.

GOOD: Think about realistic steps. If you're a total couch bum and work 50+hrs a week how realistic is it that you will work out 5 times per week starting tomorrow? How can you make that fit with your lifestyle? - Put "Exercise 2 times a week for 45min in January." Then for February you can put "Exercise 3 times a week for 60min until the end of February." Start with small changes you can do and progress to more! This way you are building a set of small changes into a row that will end up being a big change! How do you eat an elephant? - In small pieces!

MISTAKE #4: No heart in it.

GOOD: Think about the resolutions as a constant process. Everyday you can decide how to spend the 1440mins of that day. What kind of a person would you like to be? What do you want to accomplish today or this week? If you made the resolutions only because a new year came around - you might not be putting enough heart into it. Why wait until Dec 31th to ditch bad habits? What is holding you back from doing it today? With these easy steps you will even have the joy of succeeding in what you set out to do - and thereby more fun in doing it whenever you feel you need a change to happen in your life.

For further reading I recommend:

ZenHabits: The Definitive Guide to Sticking to Your New Year's Resolutions.

Now get out and do it!

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in getting up every time we do.

- Confucius (551 BC - 479 BC)

When you look back on the year 2009, what comes to your mind? I mean personally, not general stuff like the Hudson river landing. What was your most important change this year? The best 10min? What are you proud of? - This end of the year, instead of diving deeper into the world events and throwing a general review with stuff like the economy at you, here is a more personal review of the year that is drawing to an end. Thinking about these questions made me realize a lot, I can only recommend you go through them yourself and give your own answers.

In 2009...

The best idea...

...was to move to W-town in April, where I now live. It was basically a "thrust a dart on a map"-decision. The guys at the local bike club instantly became my friends. I have never feeled so quickly rooted to a new town and haven't feeled so at home in a town since St. G. I also love the logistics - the store opening hours until 20:00, the store reachable by bycicle, 15mins to work (by bike!)... And as always a lot of things fell into place with that move, if I hadn't moved I hadn't joined this bike club, I hadn't met those people, I wouldn't have gone to Zermatt with them, I wouldn't have met my boyfriend...

The most eye-opening experience...

...was to live car-free for 8 months. Since I got my license I had access to a car in some way. It was hard to change the "bad habits" back, but great to realize how many times we use our car when we don't really need to. But I admit, I truly enjoy having a car again now though... but I now I have a sense for when I really need to use a car and when not!

The worst idea...

...was that I quit Paleo eating after February due to strange comments from others and the need of explaining myself... eventhough I was feeling the very best I had been since I can remember I gave up this nutrition because of how others viewed me... Luckily someone kicked my ass and since August I am back to full primal mode again! Never felt better and more full of energy!

The best new gadget/tool/thing I got was...

 I risk sounding very materialistic here, but that would be either Twitter, my waterbed, my downhill bike Freddy or my car. And I think that's in an ascending order of importance...

Most epic trip...

...the 2 days in Ticino with Markus and René. During that trip I realized what I need to be happy: lots of nice trails downhill, a camera on my back, willingly posing bike friends - and wonderful days and nights with good friends, laughing tears and talking. I came back after two days and felt like I had had a week of vacation!

What I am proud of...

@Work: Pulling through a 3 month period where our team of 2 was
understaffed by 2... and managed not to loose or f* up one single
contract or delivery.

Whom I helped in 2009...

Ehm... hard to say... a guy I met in a seminar course and a co-worker who had lost his mother. Spontaniety and not caring how it would look like if I ask them directly what's wrong and if they want to talk did the trick.

What I got through, that was really tough...

...a break-up and seperation of a common household. It was the first time I had to split an apartment during a break-up...

How often do you check for new email? I just ran across this startling fact:

Put that into perspective. I know I do it and I know there are other things I check on way too often...

Spend some time thinking about it: unclutterer may help.

So, I did promise a while ago I'll give you another rant about girl colors on cycling gear. And the glove you see we've already discussed. Like I had predicted the light blue color not only looks dirty after a single spin in the woods - it also fades to a brownish-grey due to the dirt and washing. How can anybody think this is something I can use on a bike?

Ok, the top color might not be that tragic if it weren't for the inside of the glove hand: it's light grey leather. Or used to be - now it's a greyish black because every once in a while I had to pick up my chain or something similar. So I again state: Girl colors are unhandy. Want another one? Well take a look at these grips:

After "making it through" the time of probation I'm definetely part of the working class. - Long gone are the glorious student days filled with lots of time to be filled single-handily with the time to study I saw fit. Yeah!

The switch from party- (...not!) to workaholic took care of the questions: When should I study? (No need anymore.) Should I read the materials requested? (No...) How should I pay the bills? (After the 25th of the month or whenever I want to.) When will I get a new bike? (After I saved enough for it - a much more plannable time-frame now!) But it brought up new questions:

I did it. I couldn't resist. I knew the day would come and I would be mentioning the Tour de Farce. But wait! Don't close the window just yet. I want to invite you to take a completely unusual view. The a bit different "best of" list...

I told you about how I was busy these days with teaching kids how to ride their bike in traffic. I just got this picture of one lesson yesterday. In order to get these kids to do the right stuff at the right time, it's good to practice turning (with looking and signaling) without the bikes.

The cute thing about it are the vests, bright yellow and sometimes hanging down to the kid's knees. Then we all line up in the "goose walk formation", put our hands out like they would be on handlebars and go through the turning routine. At this point in the picture we stopped to look if a car was coming from the left. Please note how much attention the kids are giving me and my explanations...

Probably everyone of you knows the story about the 90$ Kryptonite lock you can crack with the 25cent BIC pen.



Maybe you heard about the tests the Neistat Brothers did in broad day light in NY, to see how easy it was to crack a lock in public. (Yes, no one reacted when they saw them with the saw! And it took them 6mins!) But... this one... I mean, I don't even know if I should spread this bunch of balloney further, but there is just the question: Who comes up with this idea?? And who, for crying out loud, actually does it???

Picked this string of thought up from DANO and the Ivan Basso-discussion going on.

Letââ

So, you discovered a new planet? - Well, when I was a kid Pluto still was considered a planet!

This new one may be able to sustain life, you say? And now the media is raking up all sorts of "experts" and asking them questions in the direction of "Well, when do you reckon we will go explore what this new planet is like?" - Like Earth does not have enough left to go out and discover!

Like some competent guy didn't just spend your next 30 years worth of space budget in Iraq...

Go get yourself a bike guys! Or at least some hiking boots. - And don't forget your camera.

Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you.
Satchel Road-Rage

"You bike like a bloody maniac!" - or in German "Du fährst wie eine gesengte Sau" is something I hear every now and then. But I don't always ride like that. How I ride is like an emotional thing - it depends on my head... And I've got good ("maniac") and bad days...

Yesterday was an evening out after a long time. A bar/club. 1min into the place I remembered why I hated stuff like this...