Obligatory New Year Post 4

It's that time of the year again, readers!

Actually, it is pretty late for a new year resolution, but better late than never right? Also, I'm doing this as part of this event that my office is doing called "New Year WHellness Challenge" where we are given a bingo board and we are supposed to fill them in with 25 things that we want to get done to improve our wellness. It is just for fun really; they don't even tell us what we'd get if we managed to get a bingo out of it. But I think it is a good excuse to actually not procrastinate and make some actual changes to my life so...

I have sidetracked too much. Before 2018's resolution, firstly, a review of previous year's resolutions:

1. Go for most opportunities available

I didn't manage to actually keep track of opportunities that came at me and how many of them I actually took advantage of... However, I did take up some rare opportunities such as becoming a facilitator for a student event in Jakarta and went for a user study in India, which I mentioned in passing in this post. Other than that, I can't really think of any other opportunities that came up...

2. To improve my communication skills (especially in Chinese and with girls)

As I said in the mid year's resolution evaluation, I went to HK and Macau in May and spoke some Chinese there... and went there again in December and spoke some more Chinese there! :p Honestly, I do feel that my Chinese level is at least maintained at an acceptable level where I can speak in Chinese grammar despite using some English words in between.

With regards to with girls... I can't really say if I have improved... But at least I can say for sure that I am doing something about it. Proofs are last year's last few posts. Hope to be able to do more of it, especially to be more comfortable talking to any random female strangers.

3. Exercise >1x weekly

Kinda failed. Luckily I am currently in a badminton and futsal group where they are quite actively asking people to play weekly, so at least this year it is going to be much easier to achieve.

4. Get a girlfriend before I graduated

Lol

5. To create something I can be proud of

I think whatever I said in last year's mid year reflection was a disappointment. I don't mean that the final product was bad. In fact, I can't say for sure because I didn't get to use it lol. Basically I kinda stopped working on it because I just can't keep up with my friend's work pace and I feel that I am holding him back. Another year of failing this resolution...

6. Be more resolute

This is a little hard to say too. I would say that I failed because I still can't be firm in deciding whether I want to continue dating girls I have been going out with. Totally not resolute...

I would say last year's results can be considered an improvement compared to last year in some aspects but not in others. One aspect that definitely needs improvement badly is my girls-interaction skills. It is probably not obvious from what I wrote above, but I feel it in my daily life and it has to change, the sooner the better.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, here's 2018 resolutions:

1. Go for most opportunities available

2. Don't ghost any girls I'm pursuing.

3. Go to a mainly-Chinese-speaking country for >=5 days.

4. Exercise >1x weekly.

5. Don't back out/compromise on any difficulties faced in doing my current project.

6. Go for a meditation retreat.

Just like last year's, FAQ:

1. Go for most opportunities again?

Well, this is the only thing that pushes me to do things that I'd otherwise not do, so... (Even then, I usually forgot about it when the opportunity arises... Probably I should put it somewhere that I can see everyday...

2. What's the deal with no. 2?????

So I noticed that I often ghost people that I am thinking too much about (aka the girls that I'm chasing). It is just really lazy and awful of me to just do that to someone who probably doesn't even know what mental agony she's been inflicting on me. Not sure if I should apply this to her too though (now you know where this is coming from lol).

3. No. 3 is a little specific....

Yep. This is just me being affected by company culture. And probably writing something more concrete/quantifiable is better than writing a generic thing that tries to achieve the same goal.

4. What's the deal with no. 5??

I realized that the reason why I never feel satisfied/proud of my work is because I always compromise when the going gets tough. Like "let's not do this", "can you do it instead", "I'm too noob for this :3" kind of mentality. Let's see if phrasing it this way changes anything.

5. No. 6 kinda came out of nowhere...

On the contrary, it is always at the back of my mind but for some reason I never actually put it on my resolutions. So there it is now.

I'm actually excited for the year! Wish me all the best in my endeavour fulfilling these, and I wish you all the best in your life's endeavours too! :D