slice of koh

As the first day of 2010 is about to come to an end, I have spent some time today thinking about new year’s resolutions for 2010.  I don’t really recall past new year’s resolutions or whether I have fulfilled them or not, so this time I want to have something concrete and actionable for 2010.

Rather than resolutions, I should call them goals because I’m not drastically changing my personality, morals or lifestyle.  I want to have a set of actionable goals that I can meet in 2010 and feel proud that I accomplished then in a year.

Actionable goals are specific and measurable.  By laying out a plan, I believe anyone could meet his or her goals as long as one puts his or her mind to it.  This is something that I learned in the past year.  Nothing will change to your favor if you sit around and do nothing.  As with most recent college graduates who have been in the working world for the past several years, I felt a little bored and maybe too comfortable in my current position.  I longed for something new and exciting. I’ve always dreamed of working in video games or technology, but I never took any serious steps towards that dream.  Here are my goals below:

1. Be an active participator in technology/video games by writing one entry per week.

I originally created this blog to write commentary and analysis of emerging trends in the video game and technology industries.  I admit that I have not written as much as I originally planned, but I want to change that this year.  If I have 15-20 minutes every day to read through all the technology and video game blogs I follow, I can definitely spare 15-20 minutes every day to write one entry per week.

2. Simplify my finances by consolidating financial accounts.

As I have accumulated wealth and paid back some of my student loans, I also realized how convoluted my finances have become.  Despite my love for traveling and gadgetry, I still manage to spend less than what I earn overall.  This was possible because I gave myself a monthly budget for these purchases and became a smarter shopper.  Nonetheless, I still have multiple brokerage, checking and savings accounts across multiple providers.  As our company is migrating to a system of new benefits where I need to partially pay for my insurance premiums, I took it upon myself to start consolidating my financial accounts.  My goal is to have one provider for liquid accounts and one provider for investments. It would be ideal to have one provider for my accounts, but the recent financial crisis provided reason for diversification of such accounts.

3. Simplify my finances by paying off one student loan.

I paid off one of my student loans last year.  Simplifying my finances does not only mean consolidating my cash/investment accounts but also paying down my liabilities.  For 2010, I want to pay off one of my student loans and continue paying more than the monthly minimums for other student loans.  The exception to this rule is my consolidated student loan with an interest rate less than 3%.

4.  Seriously start relearning Korean and German (or any other foreign language that I’ve picked up in the past few years.)

Knowledge of another language beyond English is very powerful.  It sounds like a cliche, but foreign languages truly expands one’s perspective and raise one’s awareness of the world around them.  It helps you connect to different people and learn from one another.  It’s also just fun saying words that no one immediately understands.

I have tons of secondary goals, but the above are definitely the primary goals for the new year.  What are your goals for 2010?