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A very very happy New Year’s Eve everyone!!! :) As 2008 is drawing to a close, I thought it would be good to wrap up the results of my goal pursuits and my achievements for this year and set specific goals for 2009 as we move onward to the new year. :)
Importance of Setting Goals
A few days ago, I was chatting with a long-time friend. She was telling me how she and her friend were discussing about the upcoming new year and they felt 2008 seemed to have just slipped past their fingers, without realizing or making any significant accomplishments. There were certain sadness and nostalgia that accompanied that remark.
That is why it is important to set goals and resolutions. With clear goals and objectives in mind, you can direct your energy, time and efforts to a single point, instead of drifting randomly from day to day. Only by setting goals will you have clarity on what exactly you want. No goals, no focus. No focus, no nothing.
If you are busy beating yourself up over a barren 2008 because you did not set any goals or pursued them, forget about it. It doesn’t matter. If anything, not setting clear goals or following through them in the past would have made you realize the importance of setting them and taking them seriously. There is always a reason for everything; always a lesson to learn from everything that happened. Look onward and start setting your goals for 2009. The future is in your hands! Focus on the present and starting set your goals for the future :) These goals will be the seeds that will shape the future to come :)
Wrapping up 2008
Here is a topline of my accomplishments for 2008:
Health
- Became a full time vegetarian starting first wk Jan 08, for non-cruelty, personal development and environmental reasons :)
- Lost 13 lbs!!! :)
- Started weekly exercise regimen alternating among gyming/jogging/badminton
- Picked up tennis and realized I don’t like it (valuable learning! :) I wrote about it in Quitting To Win )
Career
- Left my full-time job in brand management to pursue my purpose in full throttle
- Kickstarted my personal development career and planted the seeds for my long-term career
- Started Personal Excellence (Dec 08)
- Started my coaching practice (Dec 08)
Spirituality
- Increased my connection with my subconsciousness/universal source
Personal
- Became a better person overall; More grounded, more positive, more empathetic, more conscious of living, more effective/strategic
- Picked up writing skills for blog through self-reading and directly writing. Read: Skills Development and Level Up
Relationships
- Made more new friends! :)
- Strengthened quality of existing friendships
- Started to be able to communicate with my mom/dad
Miscellaneous
- Traveled across Asia Pacific, including ASEAN, Australia (thanks to my previous job!) and China
- Learned to rollerblade
- Wanted to learned ice skating but deprioritized the goal due to other commitments
My goals for 2009
Here is the broad overview of my goals for 2009 (and moving forward) :)
Health
- Start daily morning exercise regime
- Continue jogging and badminton; Include resistance training in the mix
- Improve diet to further increase mental clarity and be healthier
- Lose another 5~10lbs of weight (will see how it goes)
Career
- Establish Personal Excellence as one of the leading personal development sites/blogs
- Build an extremely strong foundation of quality content
- Drive disproportionate awareness and traffic
- Potentially introduce podcasts (depends on user demand/response)
- Return to corporate work for a few more years; Identify the best job assignment that allows me to bridge my current status and my long term vision to be a personal development educator; Will explore a relocation assignment – Update Mar ’09: Evaluated the situation and decided there’s no longer a need for me to return to corporate. :) Read more: Embracing My Passion
Habits
- Wake up at 6am everyday (will subsequently blog about the benefits of waking up early and how to do it, after I achieve this goal) – Update: Read: Why I Wake Up Early (And 9 Reasons You Should Too)
Spirituality
- Start daily hourly meditation (in the morning) – Read: 10 Reasons You Should Meditate
- Be able to communicate with my subconsciousness freely
- Be able to lucid dream freely
- Be able to astral project freely
Personal
- Strengthen the following skill sets:
- Self discipline
- Increase my productivity (writing; day to day activities)
- Become more organized
- Strengthen coaching skills
- Public speaking
- Continue to immerse in personal development materials to learn/grow/become better
Social
- Continue to make new friends
- Strengthen my existing friendships
- Further improve my relationships with my parents/family
- Get into a relationship if/when I meet someone whom I like :)
Miscellaneous (Low Priority)
- Continue traveling beyond Asia (top choices being US and Europe)
- Get better at rollerblading i.e. be able to rollerblade freely
- Learn to ice skate
How about you?
Spend the next 10 minutes to think about the following:
How has 2008 been for you? What have you achieved in the year? What are your big goals and dreams for your life and future? What are the goals you can start setting for 2009 as you move towards those big goals and dreams?
Write them down and place them somewhere which is always in your sight; this will be the first step towards achieving your dreams!
I’m leaving my home now to join my friends for our new year’s eve party! It’s a tradition that we established almost a decade ago to celebrate every new year’s eve together with a sleepover party at a friend’s place, and it’s something I have come to anticipate and look forward to every year. :D Have a very happy new year 2009 and 2009 will be an absolutely fabulous year EVER YET for all of us! :)
New posts will resume on 2 Jan 2009. :) See you guys then!
Glad to know that you have accomplished goals….
For me, the year 2008 was a roller coaster ride of ups and downs.
I accomplished several tasks which i set out to do.
1) gain recognition and exhibited tarot in several locations,
(orchard road being the highlight)
I have always wanted to do tarot in the middle of orchard road.
2) teach people tarot ( this year i taught a total of 10 students tarot and of them 3 disciples.)
3) go to a country i never been to before
(went to Moscow)
4) meet women (met lots but have not found true love)
Goals for 2009
1) Appear on TV for my tarot endeavours. (development of plans)
2) find true love. (most difficult)
3) go to another country which i have not been to. (probably Germany)
Traditional goal setting tactics haven’t always worked for me. Same goes for many of my clients. The important thing is the review and reflection as you have so wisely pointed out here.
Whatever specific ways we choose we must up our awareness so we can decided to focus on what we want. Best to you in 2009.
Mission accomplished for 2008
1. Got married (just ROM though)
2. Got our flat all up and running
3. Quit my stagnant job and tried something new (but ended up not entirely different from previous)
4. Speaking to strangers more (previously I would not do so)
5. Spent more time with family
Goals for 2009
1. Learn drawing
2. Travel more (a Beijing trip is in the works)
3. Be more happy and less gloomy
4. Perhaps change another job that I will really enjoy waking up to
5. Lose some weight
6. Start an exercise regime (decide to start by cycling)
7. Further explore my design skills (have been recycling old stuff for way too long)
4 me……my life has always been to failures :( . may be because of my wrong way toward my life. failure keep hunting me…. :( .
hope this ‘ll change soon.
thankz ur site :)
keep updating…. :) looking 4ward 4 new energy capsules :)
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