New Commitments for the next 12 Months

Phot by Johny McClung at Unsplash

As some of you might know, I am highly prone to “shiny new object syndrome”. Especially with PKM apps and stationary. I guess I have some dopamine issues and maybe some sort of depression as well, thanks to genetics.

But I am a minimalist as well. Except for my car, all of my physical belongings fit into an average transporter at once. As I´ll move together with my boyfriend soon I know I´ll be able to pack everything one day without being extremely stressed. Realistically I´ll start packing 1h now and then when the contracts are signed.

These days I´m lacking intentionality in my life. And as Seneca said “If you don´t know in which direction you want to sail, no wind is favorable”. Which is why I´ve joined the coaching program.

As I am in a phase in my life where a lot of stuff happens in a short period. I noticed it´s time that I need to commit to more things. I need to reduce the amount of decisions I take in every day to make more space for the important stuff. I need to improve the efficiency of my PKM and journaling routines to create more space for life itself.

So I have decided to commit to these things for the next 12 months, starting today:

• I´ll journal in an A5 travelers notebook only. This size is perfect for me as a balance between different thinking styles I have within a journal. The ability to add and remove notebooks or booklets as I need give me enough flexibilty for handling the upcoming changes in my life but using the same cover all year long will make it feel more comfortable. I see forward seing this cover aging as I´ll use it every day.
• No more PKM hopping. As mentioned on Twitter I´ve almost finished the migration process from Obsidian to Capacities as new main PKM knowledge app. I´ll write a seperate blogpost about the how and why soon. These days I have six apps in my active PKM stack, namely Google Calendar, Google tasks, Notion (apartment hunt), Obsidian and Capacities. I pay for Readwise and Obsidian Sync. I´m not allowed to add any new app to my PKM stack. As I´ve never got used with Obsidian on mobile I´ll allow myself to replace the subscription from Obsidian with either Capacities or Notion, but that´s all. A recent calculation tought me the that I´m spending 400€+ for different subscriptions like Google Drive, Readwise, Obsidian Sync and stationary. Which is a lot.
• I´m on my way to find “good but cheap” booklets for my travelers notebook to reduce stationary costs. So far I´m expection that these Clairefontain booklets might be my solution.
• I won´t buy more booklets or notebooks than fitting in a certain box at once. So I won´t have more than two or three months of stationary in advance.
• I won´t buy more pens until I´m down to approx. ten fineliners. As I´m struggling a lot with mental health for the last months, I´ve tried to compensate it with nice pens of all kinds. I guess I´ve spend 80–100€ on pens alone this year. Now I have a lot to use up until I´m allowing myself to buy something new.
• I´m allowed to get takeout as social events only. When I need some food on the go I´ll choose the to-go stuff from a supermarked instead.
• I´m putting myself on a book budget: One book a month only. Exceptions are books I´ll read in bookclubs. I hope that I´ll reduce my book costs by 50% at least.
• I want to reduce food waste by going to the grocery store more often. I tend to forget what kind of food I already have at home. So I´ll make it a priority to use what I already have and use up stuff like mustard finally. I have four unopened packagings in my pantry.
• I´ll only be allowed to buy Washi tape again when I´v used up three rolls. One in, one out principle.
• When I get a new piece of clothing it´s either a replacement of something or I have to throw away one piece of the same kind. For accessories I´m allowed to buy one piece (or pair) every other month at least.
• When my boyfriend and me move together I´ll buy no more than one decorative item per room. We´ll try to be as minimal as possible.
• I won´t buy sticky notes, as I never use them.
• I´m having a very limited set of stationary I´m allowed to buy for the next years journaling setup, such as dated stickers and one set of weekly affirmation cards during December.
• I´ll continue with a “yearly” journal for stuff like daily events, finance tracking etc. As my current one will be full by the end of June, I´ll buy a new high quality journal for the next six months in June.
• I´m highly commited to another main declutter after finishing the coaching programm and being fully aware of my long-term goals for the next years. Also I´m expecting that my main clutter are my thoughts.

There are a few health and fitness related goals where I´m in the ideation phase. So I won´t put them here now. Most likely I´ll write about them later this year.

How is your 2024 going so far. Do you have any commitments you want to share in public to increase accountability?