Last year, my goal was pretty much to get into a PhD program and start that. Goal achieved! Last year was a big year for transition: I was working part-time jobs in my hometown and then I moved to California to start grad school. Now that I’m here, I am looking forward to establishing better routines, getting lots of exciting work done, and being as healthy and happy as grad school allows!
I have a few different types of goals, so I’ve categorized them:
Fitness:
Ah, the classic New Years Resolution. I really want to integrate more movement and activity into my routine. Given how my first quarter of grad school went, movement and activity are not a given. I did make a pretty good effort to walk either into or back from campus every day, which takes about 25 minutes. I went to the gym maybe twice, though. I’d like to get back in shape a bit so I can get back into strength training and weight lifting, which is the type of exercise I prefer. I’d also like to supplement that with walking and hiking when I can.
Reading:
I have done the Goodreads reading challenge for the past 5 years, so I’ll be doing it again this year. Last year I aimed to read 25 books, and I managed to read 18. I read a lot at the beginning of the year when I wasn’t in grad school. By the end of the year, I got back in the swing of things and read a few more books. This year I’m aiming to read 17 books (that aren’t related to grad school). I’m hoping 12 of them will be fiction, self-improvement, non-fiction, etc., and that 5 of them will be non-fiction related to Chinese Studies. I currently have around 100 books saved on Goodreads that are related to Chinese Studies, so I’d like to make a dent in those.
Another goal I have is to think about the books I want to read. I still want to allow for some spontaneity – because often the books I read the fastest are the ones I read on a whim – but I want to think carefully about the books I want to read this year. I have relatively limited time to read for fun, so I want to make the most of it!
Blog:
Just by writing this blog post I am making good progress on my goal. I would like to try to get back to writing on here a couple times a month. Obviously, with grad school I often don’t have as much time to write and I’m not doing as exciting things. But I have to still catch up on blog posts from my road trip last summer and I have some ideas about different kinds of blog posts I can write. I have increasingly been thinking about synthesizing or reviewing the books I read that are not related to grad school or other media I consume, such as podcasts. I also am thinking a lot about sustainability, so that’s another topic I would like to write about and maybe document some of the small changes I have tried to make. I always feel better when I’ve sat down to write about something I’ve been thinking about.
Hobbies:
One of the overarching themes of my resolutions for this year is to make more time for not work. Last year, I learned how to crochet, so I would like to continue to make things this year. I took a couple of pottery classes last year, too, which were really fun. While I won’t be continuing pottery class, I am thinking about different ways I can make things. I’m thinking I might get into scrapbooking?
Professional:
My main goal with respect to my work is to work really hard and to be proud of what I’ve done and how hard I’ve worked. More concretely, I plan to present at a conference, submit a paper for publication, give some sort of talk or guest lecture, and improve my online presence. I have a website through the university, but I want to make it better, link my GitHub and other resources, put more things on there, etc.
Mental Health:
For the sake of my mental health, I won’t share too much. But among my goals are to do a digital detox, journal more, and take more time off on the weekends to do fun things.
Financial:
My main goal is to have a particular amount in savings by the end of the year. I have an amount that I would like to have saved by the time I finish grad school, so this is a good first step. I would like to also join one of those apps that rounds up all your purchases to save a few cents on every purchase and put it in your savings account. I also want to be more organized about taxes and bills. I’m not doing a horrible job, but there’s always room to be more on top of taxes and expenses.
I’m hoping this year won’t be a year of such radical change, but one of steady growth and hard work. I am hoping to do some exciting things, and some planning has started, but generally I’m not too sure of what I’ll be doing or where I’ll be going in 2020.
