It is the time of the year again for us to review our year-long achievements, make our life plans and also financial goals in 2018. There are a lot of achievements for me to be proud of in 2017, however I can’t manage to tell every individual success in this post – will do only if I have time. Before we bid adieu to year 2017, let me share with you my own plan for 2018.
My Plan for 2018
1. Make a Career Change
If you no longer can find the passion to make a positive difference, even after doing your best, perhaps you are in the wrong field. It’s fine to start over or start again as long as you have thought through it thoroughly. Some of us who are lucky, find ourselves very early in life. You know exactly what you want in life and you know how to go get it. Those who are said to be unlucky are the ones who are always searching.
There’s no guarantee that it won’t fail. All I need is work hard, keep trying and tweaking over time. Get a resume makeover. Think of best answers to give for though interview questions. Employers are often very specific about the skills and experience they are seeking. They prefer to recruit someone who has a proven track record in their sector, which can make it tough to make changes in career path. To improve the chances of job success, it’s important to identify strengths and match them where possible to the needs of potential employers.
It’s rare to find a job immediately. We need to be financially and psychologically important to prepare for a job search that could take a few months longer. However, I will set myself a realistic time frame and do everything I can to stay positive. A career is like a marathon. You have to set realistic goals to know “what” you need to do to get to “where” you want to be.
2. Treat Myself Nicely
Taking the time to reward ourselves is crucial to our well-being. Even if you take 5-minute refreshers in a busy day, and at least one big block of time during the week where you can do something substantial like watching movie, singing or reading you will feel refreshed and energized. Small steps can mean big rewards, and you will return to your work with a fresh new attitude.
I love travelling. Traveling around and exploring new places is one of the best things. Travelling helps me to connect with new people which helps to improve my interpersonal skills, makes me independent and build my confidence. Next year, I will visit a new destination I have always wanted to see. I have put together a list of all things I’d love to see and explore in Taipei and Taiwan. It can also help me to de-stress and get back to my day job with renewed energy.
3. Do Something Unexpected
Look back at the criticism you have been getting from people around you and ask yourself what you can do about it.
You can’t keep your house cleaner with less work? Learn. Someone has been laughing at you for making careless mistakes too many times? Work it off. Someone upset you can’t produce high quality work? You know what to do. Then, show up next Christmas and show them what one year can do to someone who is determined.
I will look around for moments – for opportunities to add a positive impact on someone’s day. Some unexpected things that I can do is – follow through on a promise no one expects me to deliver on; to remember something important to someone which pouncing on every chance to make someone else say “Wow!” or “Really?” or “That’s Awesome.” or “Thank you!”
What I want to accomplish next is to be more efficient and doing things differently. Never allow ourselves rest on laurels and lose sight of the changes in our life. Always innovate or you will evaporate.
4. Improve Finances
I’m a strong believer of investing only in things I’m confident about – otherwise it is like taking a bet. Something that I will always remind myself:
Are you really making profit from investing?
Are your investment returns consistent?
Are you receiving the interest income or dividends from your hard-earned money?
A very wise man once said…”If you don’t find a way to make money while you sleep, you will work until you die.” My main focus is still on dividend investing with the ability of snow balling my dividends and generates a sustainable form of passive income. The key to successful investing is the ability to stay invested.
My advice to new investors: “If you don’t want to hold an investment in one year, then you shouldn’t be holding it today.”
Best Achievement in 2017: I have achieved double digit income growth of approx. 14%. My year-end target for 2018 is 20%. I’m ready for a new challenge and believe it’s achievable.
5. Learn Something New
I’m addicted to constant and never ending improvement. Investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. “If you have got talent yourself, and you have maximised your talent, you have got a valuable asset that can return ten-fold.”
Besides that, I will also try to improve my language skills by expanding my vocabulary and learning synonyms. I need to have good grasp of them so that I can convey subtleties better when speaking to a small group of people.
6. Quit One Bad Habit
I always put my money away and forget about it – mismanagement. As we start building up our savings and investments, we will need to manage it. There are some people who check their accounts every day. They check the balances, the prices of the stock they own and calculate their net worth every single day. Then there are others who put money in various investment accounts and do not bother to look at it ever. They don’t keep track of how much total cost of investment is in each account. And they may not even remember where their money is placed.
Moving forward, I will re-evaluate my accounts once every three months or look at them at least once a year. The reason being is that I don’t want end up micromanaging them, as I may get caught up in the daily market fluctuations and make poor decisions based on daily monitoring. If don’t manage the accounts at all, I may become ignorant of what is going on in the economy and how my accounts are performing, that may not be taking advantage of opportunities out there. As what financial expert said “Any money saved will be nothing compared to the money lost if miss out the investment opportunity.”
