Moving into 2018, I reflect back on what happened in the previous year. 2017 was a thrilling roller coaster! A lot of things happened, both good and bad. The good, I started a new role in Accenture as a Management Consultant, elected to be a committee member for YEC (Young Enterpreneur Club), elected to be the vice chair for economy and trade for INTI, passed the CFA Level 2 exam, had a brief stint in TaniFund to lead the investment process, and I even went traveling to a lot of places (Sapporo, Tokyo, Balikpapan, Cilacap, Surabaya, San Francisco, Malaysia, Singapore, Taipei). The bad, had to cut loss on the startup I worked on in 2016, and 2017 marked a huge increase in racial and religion based tension in Jakarta (no thanks to the governor election).

My 5 Resolutions for 2018

1. Honest with myself

My number one resolution for the year is to be more honest with myself. Too often, I focus on how others will perceive me when I do anything instead of focusing on what makes me happy. I’m breaking this habit and I vow to care less about what people think. Honest with myself also means being honest to my feelings. I believe actively reflecting on how I feel and being aware of my emotions will help in managing my emotions, and making a good impact to people around me.

2. Read more

This resolution is on my list since 2015. For the past 3 years, the resolution is as simple as reading at least 1 book per month. This year, I’m increasing that to at least 5 books/magazines per quarter. The books that I’m reading are mostly nonfictions, relating to business, self improvement, or management. And for the magazines, I only read 2, Monocle and Harvard Business Review.

To start off the year, in the first quarter, I’m reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin (Thank you to Andhika for gifting it to me during our secret santa last month), and Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain.

3. Write more and refocus

I’m refocusing this blog and the classification of topics around to make it easier for me and for you to read. The new classification will be divided to 2 core parts, Learning and Hobbies. Learning will include topics such as Finance, Book Review, Bite Sized Wisdom, and Personal Improvement. While Hobbies will include topics such as Travel and Watches.

In 2017, I shared 18 blog posts in total. For 2018, I’m hoping to increase this to at least 24 blog post, with the stretch goal of 30 blog posts.

4. Build and maintain relationships

By being more active in organizations, I’m hoping to be able to build more relationships, while maintaining my previous ones. Pretty self explanatory, but I emphasize human relations. Asia is a continent where people do business based on relationship instead of purely numbers / logical factors, and it’s crucial to have links around.

5. Study more

Last but not the least, there are 3 core things I would like to study in 2018. First is finance, I’m going to take the CFA Level 3 exam this June and I need to study hard for this. The essay for the level 3 exam is nerve wrecking and I can only hope for the best. Next is GMAT study, as I’m planning to take MBA sometime soon in the future, I need to have a proper GMAT score to support university applications. And lastly, as a hobby, I’d like to study more on photography. In 2017, I bought a Sony A6000 with a kit lens, and added an 35mm f1.8 lens for bokeh and everyday shot. This year I’m not sure whether I’ll be buying new lens, but I’ll definitely be studying and posting my photo results such as this one below in my blog and Instagram.

Afterword

I wish you all a great year, and may 2018 be a blessing for all of us!