2024 Reflections and 2025 Goals

This past year has been full of up and downs. I was on the bench at work for quite some time–consulting is like a sports team, the employees who aren't actively working on a project are on the bench. I learned a lot about myself and engaged more fully into the weirdness that is neurodivergence. (Everyone's brain is unique!) I lost and gained friends. That said, I will now go through my resolutions for this past year from this blog.

Looking back, I did achieve most of my resolutions. I did maintain my Duolingo language learning activities (resolution #2), furthering my progress in French, Korean, and the Scandinavian languages. I was able to finish Section 1 of the Danish course which allowed me the room to progress in Section 1 of Swedish and begin the Norwegian course.

I collected more instruments this year. I bought a used guitar (Jasmine S35), a Zelda C ocarina, and somehow found myself with a Yamaha Silent Cello SVC-110. When it comes to my flute mastery (resolution #6), I finished the 7th grade band book and have reached the mastery of an 8th grader. There are definitely some skills like tone, breath management, and fluency that with more practice via scales and other exercises, I'll be able to improve. I do remember my 8th grade band class no longer relying on books starting that year and instead working directly on pieces, so the next evolution of my flute practice will involve solos and expanding the range of notes I know and can play precisely.

When the calendar hit October, I started to worry about whether I'd be able to explore my cooking (resolution #3). I'm happy to say that after I moved into my new ADU, I was able to cram lots of cooking into the last 2 months of the year. I explored Lohikeitto, a Finnish salmon soup, and Liangfen, a Chinese cold dish involving wood ear, seasoning, and mung bean starch.

I mentioned meeting new friends this past year. This had allowed me to host my friends at the house I lived prior to my move into the ADU in which I currently live (resolution #5). With the food I had practiced, I brought some of these dishes to share at other friend gatherings, increasing my own contribution to these events. By proxy of meeting new people, I have in essence also expanded my professional network (resolution #8). In addition to meeting new friends through existing friends, I attended some events catered towards Cornell alumni–these were for the purposes of networking, and I was able to come away with some valuable connections. Upon meeting these new people, I was able to be curious (resolution #4) and ask questions about various topics. Some questions were geared towards networking and career experience, others were more for getting to know someone new and figure out if there were any common hobbies and interests.

A few of my goals for the past year fell to the wayside. With respects to planning a trip to a National Park (resolution #1), I never found the opportunity given that I had decided on a September visit to Yosemite and it just so happened that I ended up moving during that month. I was, however, able to make a trip out to Lake Tahoe for the first time. I wanted to explore the the lake outside of winter so that I could familiarize myself with the route should I ever decide to go skiing in the future. Before that happens, I will need to get snow chains or tires and a car with 4WD (4-Wheel Drive).

As for poetry (resolution #7), I realized that poems were not my main form of creative expression. However, I did allow myself to partake in songwriting sessions, filling in gaps left by friends who had started a song. I have learned that I work best when given a prompt to start and working to find words and ideas based on that prompt or topic.

I struggled a lot this year with my own priorities and goals. As a result, the goal of being more disciplined (resolution #9), did not come easily. I have since learned that my best work is done when I am not pressuring myself to get things done. I have to guide myself into a flow state and have a positive outlook towards the task rather than a negative and stressed outlook. When I am stressed, I am less likely to be productive and more likely to seek distractions.

All in all, I will say that I did take a lot of risks (resolution #10) this year. Not just with friendships, but also with battles against my own emotions. I was able to conquer more fears and worries by confronting and facing the situations towards which I was feeling hesitant–using communication as a way to ease worries when possible. I was taking both social risks and career risks, giving myself the willingness to say "Why Not?" to a lot of opportunities and allowing myself new experiences.

Pivoting to Quarterly Goal Setting

Inspired by Ali Abdaal, the author of Feel Good Productivity.

After reading many of these career oriented productivity books, I have since learned that chunking my time is a better way to set goals. This allows me a quicker turnaround deadline and the ability to dedicate and prioritize a smaller amount of ambitions. I've realized that while my 10 mission statements were valuable as "north stars" for the year, I want to focus my energy and time towards more short-term priorities.

Some overarching ideas I want to prioritize for myself this year include carrying over this "Why Not?" attitude as well as prioritizing friendship. Oftentimes, career ambition negatively impacts relationships, so I hope to be able to navigate my time in a way where my relationships don't take a negative hit.

Q1 Goals

Defined by Jan - Mar 2025.

In no particular order, here are my Q1 goals, primarily focused on my YouTube channel, given that I still have yet to execute on the ideas. I have made slow progress as I stated with respects to my lack of discipline (resolution #9) from this past year, and I am not happy that I haven't managed to post a video.

• I will record and post the react-ception video to Jonathan Wong reacting to my old reaction to his song Run.
• I will finish the slide decks for the series of videos on NCSSM. Stay tuned for a series introducing NCSSM, my high school, and some thoughts on navigating the application process and life there.
  • With regard to this video series, I may place these videos on my personal YouTube channel, allowing for my videos to follow the preferred siloed content organization style of the platform.

I don't want to be overly committal with my goals for the quarter as I recognize 3 months is only so much time, and I know what I was able to do this year with my full time job, navigating my move, and participating in various social events. As they say, small wins are the catalyst to more, so I'm aiming to keep Q1 small so that I can propel myself through the rest of the year on a positive note.

H1 Goals

Defined by Jan 2025 - June 2025.

I want to give myself the space to pursue mid-term goals. These may be ones that require more time to achieve a certain milestone.

• Be able to do a full pull-up.
• Be able to do a pistol squat (also known as "shoot the duck" in ice skating).

Both of these above fitness goals are projections based on my current progress through the Hybrid Calisthenics book I use for my workouts.

Due to my pivot towards quarterly goal setting, I will now be posting quarterly updates with regard to these goals. Not only do these blogs serve as a method of accountability, but they also serve as a log I can refer back to.

Happy New Year! Have a great 2025.