Ah it’s time of the year again. A fresh start to create new goals. This year was definitely one to remember, and the lock down was a good pause in the hustle of life. Time seemed to pass by ever so slowly, yet it was all gone in a blink of an eye.
Truth be told, I lose track of my age after passing 25 years old. However, it’s always nice to take the birthday as a time to reflect, plan for the future and be grateful for having another year on this planet.
I’ve written my goals for the year before, and you can find my 26 before 26, 27 before 27 and 28 before 28 here. A little play on the big ol’ 30 before 30 list, but it’s nice to have goals that I can start working on immediately, instead of waiting for the 30 to come rollin’ by.
This year, I decided to split up my goals into 3 main categories. Fun, Financial/Work and Life. This helped me to zone into each category and think about what I can improve on and what I would like to continue doing in the upcoming year.
It’s important to plan goals for fun and personal growth, as if we don’t, there’s a high chance we might overlook this due to all that hustling in our daily lives. I love adding in fun projects, or personal challenges in this category. What’s the point of life if we don’t have a little fun? We definitely aren’t on this Earth to just work and go home to bed.
For financial and work, I focused on things I can do to improve my work environment and what other steps I can take to build up more wealth and grow my net worth.
Lastly, for life, I focused on relationships with myself and other people. What can I do to improve them and how can I maintain all the wonderful relationships I have with the people in my life? Not forgetting myself, there are areas that I would like to work on too. Am I neglecting my well being? Am I tuning out of my instincts?
Some of the goals this year are pretty personal, and I am not comfortable sharing them here. Thus, here are 10 of my 29 goals that I would like to achieve before I turn 29 years old. Hopefully, this will give you some ideas and inspire you to do your own, whatever age you might be!
1. Work out at least 5 times a week
With the lockdown and suspension of many studios island wide, I have turned to trusty old YouTube to get in some movement for the day. I’ve stumbled upon Heather Robertson, who does mostly HIIT classes on YT, and I love her. I’ve been doing her workouts every morning with the exception of the days I teach yoga or do boxing. I love her choice of music and her workouts are quick, easy to follow and a blast.
2 . Master a Kouign Amann recipe
I love me a good Kouign Amann, especially the one from Tiong Bahru Bakery. With the lockdown and everything that went on, my cravings for it got real and I attempted to make it on my own at home. It definitely isn’t easy and I would gladly pay for one any day. However, I would keep trying to make it and the goal would be to be able to make them easily at home. This would save me quite a bit of money!
3. Be able to make Soon Kueh at home
Moving on from French pastries, the other recipe that I found difficult was definitely Soon Kueh. I know, who would have thought? I do love me a good Teochew steamed dumpling. The previous time I made it, the dough was way too sticky and too hard to handle. Thus, it’s on my list to be able to make this with ease so I can have it anytime I want.
4. Read at least one book a month
I did manage to read 2 or 3 books a month this year, so this goal is back on for the upcoming one. Stating that I should read at least 1 book a month (instead of 12 books in the year) is a lot more specific and motivated me to read more this year. Reading is definitely one of the best ways to spend time, and continuous learning is always a boon.
5. Take more detailed book notes
I love books, but it kinda defeats the purpose if I forget all the good parts of the book over time. As I mostly read non-fiction, I realised that I should take down the important and key points from the book in a systematic manner, so that I can always refer to these notes one day and be enlightened once more.
I used to write down paragraphs onto my Evernote after reading, but it became more of a copy and paste, instead of me assimilating that knowledge. After watching Ali Abdaal’s video on how to remember what you’ve read, I decided that this is the time to start creating better book notes for myself and for the possibility of sharing them with you here.
6. Be comfortable and confident in trading options
It’s something I’ve been reading on and playing around with using my paper money account late this year, and I hope to be able to trade option confidently this coming year.
7. Start writing on this website again
This site has been pretty dead. This year, I lost all my motivation and drive to create any content. I decided it’s better to pause instead of churning out things without passion or effort. Now, I’m back and I want to pivot a little, and start writing about my passions and experience with you here.
8. Start teaching online classes on other platforms besides Skillshare
I loved teaching about beauty and self growth on Skillshare, but since they stopped allowing such classes on their platform, I am unable to create more classes. Thus, I would love to find other platforms to create more classes to teach and share my passions.
9. Stop snoozing and 54321…get out of bed
As my job does not require me to do a 9 to 5, it can be a little tough to push myself to wake up early in the mornings. However, I love the idea of waking up early and making the most of the day.
The amount of guilt I would feel when I had snoozed multiple times and slept in would ruin the mood for the day. I wouldn’t feel as empowered as I would like, and I’d feel a little lethargic. Mel Robbin’s 5 Second Rule (a post on this soon!) has inspired me, and I plan to 54321 and propel myself out of bed in the mornings everyday. Like they say, you either run the day, or the day runs you.
10. Start teaching more yoga classes
Can’t believe it’s been a year. This time last year, I hopped onto a plane (oh, good times) to Bali and did my yoga teacher training. Fast forward, and here I am, teaching yoga. It’s something that I never thought I could do in the past! It brings me joy and it warms my heart whenever I see students coming back. I would love to teach more classes and hopefully in time, more classes would be running once again.
Hope you’ve been well! Thank you for sticking around. More content to come, I promise!
Till then,
