For more information about my year-long Resolutions project, check out this post and this one.

In a nutshell, it’s been a rough month. On the surface, it doesn’t look like I’ve done so bad - I haven’t been fired yet, I started an exercise program a couple of weeks ago (though it remains to be seen how well I’ll stick to it), and despite being deep in debt from student loans, I’ve still got a SMILE on my face. However, from a productivity standpoint, things aren’t looking so hot. I wrote only four posts in the entire month of February, one of which was my late January update. I’ve also been slacking off in other, perhaps less noticeable but oh-so-dangerous areas… such as cleaning the fridge.

The Good News: It looks like March will more than make up for February’s slack…

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Of all the traits one might try to ascribe to the human race as a whole, very few of them are completely universal. We vary greatly in physical features and in personalities. We vary in our likes and dislikes, our values and beliefs, our habits and our tolerances. There’s even a level of variation in our basic needs. One trait, however, stands out amongst all others - and it’s not a positive one. The disappointing truth is that human beings are very good at not getting things done.

So prevalent is the illness known as apathy that some people are able to form careers around it. What, exactly, is the purpose of settling a court case by deciding who has the best lawyer? Congress is even worse - The U.S. Senate just spent weeks debating about whether to have a debate about whether we should send more troops to Iraq. And don’t get me started on the entertainment industry…

College students, however, are by far the worst of all. Not only do we employ apathy, but we wield it like a sword… and we’re very adept at disguising it. You failed that exam not because you couldn’t understand the material, but because you never wanted to understand it? That’s not rebellion - that’s apathy. You didn’t ask that girl out even when you knew she was going to say yes? Not shyness - that’s also apathy. You decided to spend your Spring Break in Cancun, relaxing under the sun, instead of in New Orleans, helping to rebuild and still having a great time exploring the city? (Blah blah, shameless plug, blah blah blah.) Apathy. You didn’t write in your blog for eight days because you thought you were too busy? (You didn’t think I was going to exclude myself, did you?) Yep, that’s apathy, too.

I have no magical words of motivation that will change the world - but believe me, I wish I did. What I have is as simple as this: Quit giving excuses. Think of each and every excuse as exactly that - an excuse. Some of them have a trace of validity, but they all mask apathy in one form or another. Get off your butt and do what you know you have to do; no more excuses. It really is that simple.

Guess what? It’s Valentine’s Day. You’re single. (Or you’re not… but the single people are the ones I’m talking to.) Chances are, you’re doing one of several things.

If you’re a female, you may be spending the night in, watching movies with (single) friends, spilling gossip, complaining about how unfair the world is, wishing Mr. Right would come and sweep you off your feet and take you to [insert romantic exotic location here]. On the other end of the spectrum, you may be taking the initiative and hunting for Mr. Right at a highly romantic… bar or dance club.

If you’re a male, you’re probably out with your buddies, playing sports or complaining about how much money your last girlfriend stole from you. Or maybe you’re at that very same “romantic” bar or dance club, looking for a girl who might resemble someone you’d consider taking home. (Unlike her, though, you probably don’t care - or even realize - that it’s Valentine’s Day.)

… Or if you’re like me, you’re at home blogging about the whole ordeal.

Many single folks refer oh-so-lovingly to Valentine’s Day as “Singles Awareness Day,” alluding to all of the obvious social and commercial pressure to be in an ideal relationship, while apparently ignoring the fact that, ya know, not everybody has (or even wants) a significant other.

I propose an alternative.

Rather than merely being aware of us lone wolves, people should appreciate the fact that we’re not effectively doubling the amount of space we take on walkways or plaguing the world with PDA. … Or rather, we should appreciate our own singleness, because the couples are likely to be too absorbed in themselves, anyway. They appreciate each other. We appreciate ourselves. Everybody’s happy! Therefore, I propose that we change the official name of Valentine’s Day not to “Singles Awareness Day,” but to…

Singleness Makes Insipid Lives Extraordinary (SMILE) Day!

That’s right, you heard it here first. (I claim all copyrights.) Think about all of the things we’re not doing. We’re not imprisoning ourselves in a spiral of depression by whining to others like us. We’re not spending boatloads of money on fancy dinners or flowers that may not survive a week. We’re not fooling ourselves into thinking that our relationship isn’t going to end in favor of a “Spring Fling” three months from now. We’re not picking up diseases from random drunken hookups… at least most of us aren’t.

My message is this: Singleness is a gift to cherish, not an illness to eliminate. Being in a relationship has its obvious benefits (not just those kinds of benefits). But if you do everything right, you’ll never be single again once you’ve got a ring on your finger… and that moment comes closer with every passing day. Enjoy singleness while it lasts!

There’s a theory known as the Law of Attraction which suggests that we have full control over our own lives - via our thoughts and feelings. Without going into too many details, it’s kind of like a series of self-fulfilling prophecies; every thought, feeling, and action you experience sends the message that you want more of that experience. If you think, “My life sucks!”, well… your life will probably continue to suck. It all sounds absurd at first brush, but its apparently got a fair deal of support, both from testimonies and scientific evidence. It used to be a “New Age” theory, but has become more mainstream (and was recently featured on Oprah).

One of the suggested methods for keeping your focus on things you want - and away from things you don’t - is to create a visualization and put it where you know you’ll look it. I decided to create a small example digitally (I figured that, if all else failed, I could at least become a little better with GIMP):

Don’t try to decipher it. The non-Web image is 1280×1024 and is currently my desktop background.

Regardless of your opinions on “pseudoscience” like the Law of Attraction, I like to look at it from a very open-minded perspective - if it doesn’t hurt, and it might help, why not try it out? Don’t worry, I haven’t gone off the deep end again… Last time I went there, it was far too shallow.

Edit: The image actually shows up now. I still have a lot to learn about how Wordpress handles relative links.

In December, I wrote a couple of blurbs about New Year’s resolutions and how to keep them. To show that I really wasn’t kidding about the “20 hours of productivity” bit, I’ll be writing updates about my own resolutions at the end of every month. If you have a blog, you might consider doing the same. (You haven’t given up on your resolutions already, have you? )

If I had to venture a guess, I’d say that I currently spend anywhere from 8-16 hours a day on productive activities. During the week, work automatically adds eight hours to the total, and I’m also counting non-necessities such as cleaning house or writing (as long as it’s helpful writing). I’ve got a long way to go, but I feel that I’ve made progress as far as motivation and energy are concerned.

In addition to the goal of 20 hours of daily productivity (my definition, not your boss’s definition), I also chose three “areas of focus” to improve within - financial independence, physical fitness, and relationships. My greatest strides, by far, have been made in the financial realm. With the start of a co-op (a full-time job for a semester and a summer, and a break from classes), not only am I making enough money to fully support myself, but I’m not paying tuition for the spring semester. I won’t go so far as to say I’ve already met my goals in this area, but I’m going to remove some focus from it and bring the other two areas up to the plate. Unfortunately, I don’t have much to report on those.

One month down, eleven to go… How much progress are you making on your resolutions?