New Year’s Resolutions and Taking a Step Forward
Happy New Year! I hope every one of you had a wonderful New Year celebration and I wish you only the best in 2012. Hang in there! Life is full of humps and bumps but the more humps and bumps you experience, the better person you become.
So, what are your goals this year? A New Year usually means you set out some resolutions to improve yourself in one way or another. I think I’ve made resolutions every year as far back as I can remember but to be honest I’m not too sure if I was able to fulfill any of those goals or promises that I made to myself over the years. I guess I’m lazy, I’m a hard worker but I’m lazy at heart. Very lazy.
So what does it take attain to make these goals or resolutions? I guess it’s important you actually care about what you’re trying to achieve. It’s also vital that you make those resolutions attainable. Be realistic with yourself, don’t try to make a million dollars in one year unless you’re about to take a company public or already have $20 million.
I think it’s also important to have a bit of variety in goals and keep them minimal. The three areas I want to focus are monetary, well-being, and socially responsible resolutions. So here are my New Year’s Resolutions for 2012.
Monetary Resolution: Pay Myself First and Be Smart about what I buy
Put away 10%+ of my gross income in investments. This could be RRSP and TFSA as well as non-registered investments. For non-Canadians the RRSP and TFSA are registered investments, much like the 401(k) in the US. The goal here is set aside funds to increase and grow my investments; this is the key to financial freedom and to be consistent about it. And save money…for my new electronic drum set.
Life or Well-being Resolution: More Guitar and More Drum
Revive one of my hobbies. This will be either playing the guitar and/or drums a lot more. 2011 was a about work and study and 2012 will be much the same but I need to find more of a balance and I believe that I can achieve this by bringing my guitar playing and drumming to a new level. Being part of a band again would be awesome, time permitting.
Socially Responsible: Volunteer and Donate
One of my goals in life is to be a philanthropist. I’d like to donate my time and money to help others that deserve to be given a chance to live a normal life without worrying about the basics. In 2012, I’d love to spend some time volunteering and donate more and spend more time in what it means to be a true philanthropist. My first step is the Save Japan banner on the right side of every blog post on Mo2thinks.com. I wish also donate 50% of all earnings from Mo2thinks.com.
There were a lot of natural disasters worldwide in 2012 with the March 11 natural disaster in Japan being the biggest. Time passes and people forget, but the people that were affected by that natural disaster are struggling to this day and will for years if not until the end of their life. I hope to do my part by continuing to support them in anyway I can.
Blog Goals: 10,000 Unique visitors per month
The readership of this blog has grown over the years; I used to get like 50 unique visitors a month and that has grown to over 2,500 in December 2011. Nothing too crazy but I really appreciate every one of you taking the time to read what I ramble about. So the goal here is 10,000 unique visitors per month by the end of 2012. =)
Looking back at 2011, what do you regret doing? What do you think you amazing at? Setting goals is important but I feel that understanding your past failures and successes is just as important. You don’t want to make the same mistakes. You also want to do better at what you were successful at, which is much easier to say in words than it is to actually do.
I know I made several mistakes and as much as we aren’t supposed to regret things we’ve done, I regret a few things I’ve done in 2011. Some things are so stupid that I can only shake my head at while some of the others I had no choice but might have done things differently anyway. I guess we have to make choices one way or another in a variety of situations and making enough of those choices opens new doors.
Whatever all that means, good luck in 2012! May there be more peace in love in 2012, 2011 was a rough year for the whole world. Try and be nice to someone everyday by going out of your way. You might not get the reaction you were hoping for (yes there are a lot of angry people out there) but your positive attitude will definitely pay off. There isn’t enough love out there. Happy New Year.
Fireworks photo by trekpenchant on Flickr.
