I tried to write myself some very specific goals going into 2018; but the many goals I wrote, if I didn't resonate with them, I would have forgotten them as soon as I had written them down. From personal experience, I like vague 'mission statements' for the year. Simple to remember, easy to check against.
In 2019, the mission statement is simple: 'Challenge comfort zones further.'
On retrospect, I felt like I was merely dabbling last year despite feeling like I accomplished a lot of new grounds last year: Taking the plunge to teach Junior college H2, taking up weight resistance in gym training, singing classes, going to my first overseas volunteering trip since university days. But these are only feats in pushing my physical body.
This year, it's already in the middle of 2019. So early this year, I already decided I should up the ante.
I also met coaches and mentors at the end of 2018, whom I feel so inspired just being around them that I decided to take a leap of faith, and look inwards: into my mindset, my feelings and also my habits. What if I am my own true enemy? For example, I want to improve my productivity each day; and there is always this limiting belief (which I felt is self imposed) that if I exercise a certain morning, I'll be too tired to do any work that requires brain power like going through H2 Math challenging tutorials, or learning a new programming language.
There's one portion in UPW that talks about challenging our belief systems and replacing those that do not serve us. As I push through each day wanting to pack in more of the things I love, I realise that despite the obvious time constraints we face, if there is a will, there is a way. The search for self development and growth has also been helping me find new friends who push me further. It is interesting how kind people with similar goals are being attracted into my life.
Sometimes, to do the things I love, also means having to do the things I hate, and doing them first. For example, I dislike waking up early each morning. But I love the number of the things I was able to accomplish if I did make an effort to wake up earlier. And I read somewhere that the mind will do what you tell it. So rather than telling the mind that 'I hate waking up early' and turn it into a self-fulfilling prophecy, I could change the words I feed my mind. It could, in turn, change the life I live.
Simple message; but profound changes when I actually apply it in my life.
I did just that and reclaimed back my mornings. I have hours in the morning journal-ling, catching up on drama, budgeting my expenses before I get to work on weekdays. Weekends, I stay in work mode. But I also found time to go to the gym after work and sweat it all out.
Another important thing I've come to realise: in economics 101, resources are limited and that every decision we make is about allocating scarce resources. It is not entirely false. There's also the importance of perfect information (which we will never have in real life but we can still strive). Now, that said, I realise there is only one true constraint in my life: time. I want to spend time with people and beings whom I'm happy with.
So this year, I spent a lot of time planning strategically and then decluttering. Removing items from my personal space, making time for important people around me and also curating all my friendships, and relationships.
It can get emotionally heavy rejecting people but successful people do the things they hate to get to the things they like right? This is challenging comfort zones for me; but it's a necessary evil.
As I newly stepped into a new decade in my life, I want to leave behind the bad friends and the bad memories of the past, to create a new future and to create personal breakthroughs.