My First Time Creating Yearly Goals (and it Felt Really Good)
I still remember back in 2018, I joined an illustrator competition on Instagram. For the competition, I had to create a drawing once a day based on the tasks given by the committee. One of the tasks was to draw an achievement from that year’s resolution.
I have never created any goals before. Firstly because I don’t think I need it, and secondly because I wanted to focus on being grateful and happy for my current life. I also avoided setting goals because I don’t want to end up hating myself when I can’t achieve them. I should be the last person to hate myself.
So, I decided to draw a fox instead. The beautiful animal I have always wanted to meet. I even learned about fox and how they survive in the wild, watched almost every video about fox on Youtube. Well, at least I think it is one of my goals.
At the end of the year, as usual, some of my friends who started the year with goals to achieve shared their experiences. Some are sad because they couldn’t achieve their goals, and some are happy because they ticked off their yearly goal list. I found the stories interesting, and I could see them change in a positive way. Most of them learned something during the year. The stories made my life the past year feel so flat. There are some stories I could share, but they are just regular stories of me living my life as a human being.
As 2019 started, I wanted to challenge myself. I’m not an ambitious person, but I am always haunted by questions that start with “What if”. This year, I asked myself, “What if I set some goals this year?”. The goals should be flexible and not too specific, so I can still explore a lot of ways to achieve them.
I created three big goals for this year. Here I am sharing them along with a little story from each.
The first goal is to stop overthinking. I actually enjoyed being less of an overthinker. Sometimes it helped me to act wisely when making decisions. I used to think too much and ended up creating negative scenarios that prevented me from doing some things. This year, quoting Nike’s slogan, I decided to Just do it.
In March, I applied for a scholarship. I have been holding myself back for a while because I didn’t want to neglect my responsibilities in providing financial support for my parents and paying the rest of my car loan. This year, I decided to give it a try. After finding a scholarship that fits my needs, I applied for it. I got the result in August, but I failed.
Unexpectedly, I wasn’t as sad as I thought I would be. Maybe because during the preparation, I didn’t only prepare for the requirements, but I also kept in mind that everyone who applied for the scholarship are doing their best, and if I don’t succeed, it means someone out there is trying harder than me. It became easier for me to accept the result. One subgoal, checked!
In May, I remembered that my company provides a learning and development program for designers. With some help from my lead, I wrote a proposal to join Design Matters conference in Copenhagen, Denmark. I wanted to learn something to help develop my small and new team.
I have always wanted to go abroad, and I want it to bring good for myself and the people around me. This conference was the answer. During the proposal writing process, I needed to make a list of my plans for after the conference and how it impacts both me individually and my team or company. I have never been as serious as I was at that moment, haha.
The proposal was approved! In September, me and my two colleagues flew to Copenhagen to attend the conference. That was a great experience, we met a lot of designers from different countries and backgrounds, a lot of great speakers, attended insightful workshops, etc. I am not very good at socializing with new people, but I had to challenge myself by attending some workshops by myself. Two subgoals, checked!
In February, I planned to watch MotoGP in Japan. When I was a kid, my father used to watch a lot of MotoGP, F1, and Football. I grew up watching them too, and I became a MotoGP fan.
Sadly, I had to reschedule my plan since I was going to attend a conference in September so I had to save some money. Luckily, my two best friends bought me a MotoGP ticket in Sepang, Malaysia as my birthday present. Going to Malaysia is way cheaper than going to Japan, so I was very grateful for their thoughtful gift.
Finally, I flew to Malaysia in October by myself and got the experience to watch MotoGP live for the first time. It was amazing! I met some new friends during the race day. I also got to meet Alex Rins, a MotoGP rider and I had him sign my illustration. Yay! Another check added to my goal list.
The second goal is trying something new. I am not the type of person who enjoys trying new things, I sometimes tend to stick in my comfort zone until I am forced to let it go. For example, I only buy Americano or Long Black coffee whenever I go to the coffee shop, because I found other kinds of beverages to be too sweet. I also do not really like the combination of milk and coffee. So if there’s an Americano or Long Black coffee, I wouldn’t bother considering other options
The first new thing I am trying out this year is exercising. The main reason is not because I’m looking to lose weight (well, it would be great to lose some too), but I just want to put my muscles into use and sleep better at night. I have tried Zumba, Pound Fit, Body Combat, Dance Fitness, and Hip Hop Cardio. I try to join two classes a week if possible, and it’s starting to become a new habit for me. Subgoal checked!
I also have always wanted to get a tattoo but I don’t like the idea of hurting myself with the needles. I bought a temporary tattoo instead. It lasted for two weeks, and I shouldn’t endure the pain of getting a real tattoo. I love it! I can draw anything on my body as the canvas, and I can always try new designs every few weeks. Another subgoal achieved!
The third goal is not get broken hearted. I know this sounds melancholic especially compared to my two previous goals, but this might be the hardest. The reason why I decided to set it as a goal is because in August 2018, I sat on the backyard of my office building, crying while eating ice cream because I got broken hearted. My colleagues were there to accompany me, I was so embarrassed but I am glad I let it out that day. It made me realize that I might have put too much expectation on this person that I adored, and when the reality didn’t fit my ideal scenario, I was disappointed.
At first I didn’t know what I should do to avoid getting broken hearted. Later on, I decided the way is not to let myself fall for someone too easily. I still adore some people for being caring, smart, good looking, or kind, though.
This goal made a huge impact on myself. According to my friends, I became heartless. Whenever they tried telling me “He’s trying to get your attention”, I brushed it off by saying “No, he doesn’t consider me any more than a friend, and he’s doing that to everyone.”. I tried to not set any expectations on people. I kept doing it for the whole year.
At the end of the year, I tried to deny my own feelings and bury it deep. Without realizing, I have created an invisible wall to protect myself from others, because I was too afraid of getting broken hearted. When I think of it, I actually feel bad. What if by doing so, I am breaking somebody else’s heart?
What I have been doing might not have been the best way to achieve my goal. Yes, I prevented myself from being broken hearted, but it made a huge impact in my love life, in a negative way. I will never do it again. Loving shouldn’t be a crime.
After trying to set goals this year, I learned a lot of things. It felt good to check things off my yearly goal list. The dopamine released by the brain motivated me to do better next time and increased my confidence to achieve more.
One time I was hanging out with my long distance friend. We talked about almost everything, including what we find good from each other. The objective was so we could know our good qualities that we probably haven’t known yet and maintain what we already know. She said “In case you haven’t known, you’re a high achiever both in your normal life and your love life, and I am proud of you for trying to achieve a lot.”
It made me realize that by trying to achieve the three goals I set for this year, it also changed others’ perspective of me, especially friends who have known me for more than a year. Maybe this is what I saw the past few years whenever my friends talk about achieving their goals. A positive change.
I highly recommend having yearly goals and enjoying the process of achieving them. I personally love planning the how-to’s in my head. I created many plans just in case the first one doesn’t work. Once I am finally able to see the result, be it good or bad, it made me love myself even more.
Will I create some more goals for next year? Yes I will, because it’s addictive. Go and create yours too, let’s share each other’s stories by the end of 2020 😊
