A new year is upon us, and you know what that means: you have only a few hours left to accomplish all that you planned to do in 2016.
Assuming you are still sane and didn’t use up all those hours, then you should spend the rest of your time before midnight creating your shiny new lists for 2017.
This may also be the year you decide that taking the “someday/somehow” approach — what I call the Linda effect — isn’t the best approach.
FYI, Linda is the Coen Brothers movie character in Burn After Reading who wanted to have plastic surgery. She didn’t think much about how she would get it or even why she wanted it. As it turned out, it involved blackmail, betrayal and murder.
Not what Linda was expecting, but she did get her surgery. (It’s typical Coen black humor and I love their movies.)
Here’s how I avoid being Linda:
- I write down each goal in detail;
- that includes some abstract (fantasy?) wishes, such as, “I want to meet a unicorn” or achieving world peace.
- Next, I write down the concrete steps I need to take to accomplish the goals or help realize the dreams.
- I do a timeline for each goal; and
- even try to come up with ideas on exactly how I will do it, knowing that the much will change in the process.
I believe it is important to be very clear when wording my wishes and goals. I know they may morph or change over the year, but I need to start with a very clear understanding of what they are now.
Finally, I read things such as, how to become mentally stronger or make it like a boss and take the parts that apply to what I want to do, tweaking them as necessary.
I hope this helps you in crafting your own lists! I also hope you take time to know exactly what you really do want (which may not be the same as your friends and followers), knowing that it will be your own hard work that accomplishes them.
For myself and NTRLab, I wish you a healthy, happy, prosperous and successful 2017. Know that we will work hard to turn your ideas into software every day, except for these days
Holiday |
Date 2017 |
New Year |
January 1-8 |
Defender of the Fatherland Day |
February 23-26 |
Women’s Day |
March 8 |
Labor Day |
April 29-May 1 |
Victory Day |
May 6-9 |
Russia Day |
June 10-12 |
Unity Day |
November 4-6 |
Meanwhile, we start New Year celebration in our Tomsk and Moscow offices. Here’re some pictures.





Happy New Year!