Happy New Year everyone!
I hope it’s still not too late to wish you that. After all, 2020 has just started and we’re still in that ‘trial phase’ of the year. Anyhow, I hope your year has started off well (even though we know that the world might not have had a good start to the year, with the massive bushfire in Australia, various natural disasters worldwide and the threat of a World War 3).
Recently, someone asked me on Instagram to write a post and share my New Year’s Resolutions. So, as requested, here are [some] of my 2020 resolutions. Hopefully, I’ll remember to come back to this post and update it regularly over the year.
My personal goals.
I have a couple of ‘personal’ goals that I want to achieve, namely:
Continue with my intermittent fasting.
I started intermittent fasting in September after I got back to the UK. It was mainly a way for me to keep myself from snacking or munching late at night, and to control my eating habits (pursuing a Master’s has really made it worse).
I’ve managed to reach a 100-day streak at the end of last year, before taking a week off because I was traveling in Norway (really, who wants to be fasting when they’re traveling in a new country?). But now I’m back and I want to continue with it.
I personally feel like it’s a LOT easier to do IF when I’m in the UK as compared to in Malaysia. In Malaysia, there are LOADS of temptations with good food and everything. But, we’ll see how it goes. 🙂
Run 150km with Aiman.
Miraculously, I managed to convince Aiman to commit to running a total of 150km (or more) with me this year. I set it at 150km because it seems like a manageable distance to cover. Yes, I know that there are people who run 5km every day and can easily manage to cover 150km in a month. But for someone who does not regularly run, 150km seems like a realistic goal to aim for. That’s only like 12.5km per month, so around 3-4km per week.
I’ve also (somehow!) managed to talk Aiman into joining a couple of fun runs with me throughout the year. Our first fun run together as a couple would be in March, for the KL Nasi Lemak 5km Fun Run in Kepong. I’ve seen a few other fun runs that I wanted to join, but I also feel like it’s probably better to start off slow and get the hang of it. Both of us haven’t run or exercised in a while, so it’d be good to slowly get used to it before signing up for more runs.
Being more conscious of my spending.
I used to track my expenses (and managed to do so for a year throughout my Master’s)! But somehow, I stopped tracking it the moment I submitted my dissertation and went back home for summer. It happened previously as well when I was tracking my expenses for a year after graduation before gradually losing track of it.
So now I’m getting back into it and hoping that I don’t forget to track my expenses. I’m trying out a new expense tracker app, as recommended by Suraya, so we’ll see how it goes. From the first look, the Money Lover app feels and looks cleaner and user-friendly than my old one (Income OK), but only time will tell!
2020 – the year I commit to more professional growth.
As I’ve successfully completed my Master’s degree and will be returning home to Malaysia to rejoin the workforce, I wanted to dedicate the 2020 year as the year I commit myself to more professional growth. As a young graduate, I wanted to equip myself with the necessary skills and knowledge needed to further increase my employability and improve my chances in the future. (for other young graduates, do read the #FreshGrad101 series!)
New job, new responsibilities.
Alhamdulillah, I’ll be starting a new job in Malaysia soon. What and where it is, I’ll share more about it in due time. But, for now, I can safely say that I’m excited to start. I’ve actually been wanting this job since I graduated from UW-Madison in 2017. But, at that time, luck wasn’t on my side. I was lucky enough now that the opening came up again when I was job searching. And, Alhamdulillah, I got it!
It’d be a new challenge for me as I’d be working with younger students that I’m used to (i.e. back from when I was at Monash). But, I like the job scope and I think that career-wise, it’d be a good idea for me. So, fingers crossed and hope for the best!
Attending networking or professional development events.
One of my 2020 resolutions is to attend at least one networking or professional development event. This is not including any events or training that I attend as part of my employment. I want to be more proactive in developing myself. I need to take control of my growth and seek out as many opportunities as possible.
One way of doing so is to be connected to as many professionals on LinkedIn as possible. Better yet, connecting to professionals and leaders in the education and/or higher education industry. After all, that’s the area that I’m interested to pursue. And what better way to learn than from experienced people?
Update 2/2/2020 – I attended TalentCorp’s YES-2-WORK Programme on 21st January 2020. Spent time talking to some professionals, met some friends and learnt new things. Will write a blog post about it soon, but you can read some thoughts on my LinkedIn.
Write better and on a more consistent basis.
I feel like I set this goal every single year but never actually accomplished it. This year though, I made writing one of my 2020 resolutions with an actual plan in my head. Taking a book out of Suraya’s page, I created a list of posts I want to publish every month, up until the end of the year.
Granted, I know and anticipate that I may not be able to complete all of the posts I have in mind. But having these ideas out in black and white helps me to plan ahead and hold myself to a schedule. It also helps me to overcome writer blocks as I now have a clear idea of what I want to write.
Another part of my ‘writing better’ is to work on a potential writing collaboration project. A friend recently approached me about a potential collaboration together, so we’ll be meeting up when I’m back home to discuss more on it. This will most probably take up most of my free time, but it’s a good opportunity and I would love to pursue it further. Will share more about it in the future if the time’s right, insyaAllah!
Taking responsibility for my 2020 resolutions.
Here I am, sharing with you some of my 2020 resolutions as a way for me to stay accountable. If you see me slacking off this year, I give you full permission to yell in my face and remind me of the goals I set out to achieve.
What about you? What are your 2020 resolutions? Feel free to share it in the comments section and what are the steps that you’ll take to achieve them.
Until next time, stay awesome and take care! 🙂