Chinese New Year's Resolutions
February 4, 2019
One of my calendar new year goals was to finally, finally build a personal website.
If you’re reading this, I’m happy to report that it’s been checked off the list.
So, then what? Well, seeing as I had made adequate progress towards my annual resolutions by mid-January, I immediately backslid and got caught up in the all-too-escapable wave of tedium that defines modern life. Long work weeks, bingeing a Netflix show I don’t even like, a brief but gripping Stardew Valley addiction… but hey! It’s the new year again, albeit the lunar one, so we’re putting that all behind for a second fresh start.
Today, I wanted to share some of my 2019 hopes, wishes and dreams– turned into quantitative inputs for a radar graph and spreadsheet dashboard, of course.
Liane’s Wheel of Life
The “wheel of life,” I believe, is a cosmic Buddhist symbol that some guru repurposed into a time management concept, which I subsequently heard about on Reddit and repurposed towards my personal life.
Here she is.
Essentially, I create categories as needed to try and identity the areas of my life I want to bring into balance. Once or twice a year, I’ll re-evaluate where I stand on an extremely subjective 1 to 5 scale and see what parts I want to focus more attention on. The idea isn’t necessarily to strive for all 5’s, but to reduce some of the whiplash or anxiety I get when my fun v. finances, career v. community, relationship v. family, etc. are at different extremes. Looking at it now, I’m able to recognize some of my achievements I might not have noticed otherwise, and it also helps to alleviate comparisons to other people/perfectionism because all I’m really trying to do is be the best version of myself. Cheers to gamification.
2019 Resolutions
When I’m writing out goals, the wheel also helps me make sure I’m not leaving anything out. I’ll spare you the full list, but I love to color code them and break them into overarching resolutions. These are mine:
- Become the person my teenage self dreamed of growing up into. (Learning, Spirit)
- Take professional risks. (Career)
- Make Chicago feel like home. (Community, Fun)
That’s it for now.
Wish me luck!
XX Liane