“2018 will be the best year ever!” Seriously?
I guess you heard this sentence a lot. It’s always the same, only the year changes. Maybe you also say or think this at the beginning of each new year. Actually, I won’t say it because I don’t believe in it. I don’t mean it will be a bad year, but I think there are ups and downs in each year. And why should one year be the very best of all of your life? I don’t need one perfect and a lot of bad years. I prefer a lot of simply good years.
However, I aim to improve myself each year and looking back, this is something I can confirm. Comparing myself to the me from a few years back, I changed so much. I absolutely stayed true to myself and I’m still the same person but evolved every year. This gives me affirmation that I’m on the right track.
So here come my goals and motivation for 2018. Some of them are new skills I want to develop and others are goals I already reached but want to continue. Let’s get into this, but be warned: It will get personal!
Happiness
There have been some sad times in my life, but I managed to get over them. Generally, it’s a very good time for me and I’m feeling thankful for this.
I want to always stay true to myself and the things I believe in, enjoy the freedom I have, laugh a lot and make the best out of this one and only life I got.
Travel
I’ll be honest here: I want to see the world, go as far as possible, explore new countries and go back to those I already know.
However, traveling by plane – as you probably know – is very bad for the environment. So I try to do one bigger trip instead of many short ones. As I’m working in a permanent position, I’m limited to my holidays. But this won’t hold me back and I will enjoy this time as much as I can.
The plan for this year is a South East Asia trip in spring (already booked). And I’d also love to go back to Korea, but this is only a wish as yet.
Zero waste
I already started to reduce the amount of waste I create. I always have a reusable bag with me, refuse plastic bags, buy a lot of products without plastic packaging. But it’s still a long way to go.
My first goal is to reduce this even more. There’s this farmers’ market in the city, twice each week. I’ve never been there and now want to start buying groceries there. Like this, I will be able to get much less plastic packing. Unfortunately, most of the organic vegetables you can buy in the supermarket come packed in plastic.
My long-term goal is zero waste, but as I’m living in a smaller city it’s not easy to buy all your food without wrapping. Anyhow, I need to stop throwing food away because I forget it is in the fridge!
Meditation
I tried meditation a few times now and liked it a lot. But I never pulled through with it and stopped doing it after a few days. It’s not my goal to start meditating each day for an hour; more like a few times a week for at least a couple of minutes. Maybe just after waking up or before going to bed.
The whole thing is about finding a more conscious mind and being aware of all the things which happen in our lives. And I have to admit, writing a blog post is also some kind of meditation because I pay attention to a special topic and focus on this, digesting it in my brain.
Healthy body
The year already started with this plan. January is full of fitness as we started a fit challenge in the office. There are regular work-outs, we eat healthy food and avoid snacks and sweets.
Furthermore, our body needs enough sleep to be energetic. This year shall be full of awareness and a healthy lifestyle full of exercises, yummy fruits and much more.
Inspiration
I believe that even the smallest thing can inspire you to reach the greatest goal. You want to build an airplane? Look at a butterfly! Inspiration is everywhere, surrounding each one of us. We just need to let it in.
Starting right now I will pay even more attention to all the beautiful, astonishing and sometimes nearly magical common things around me. And of course, I want to adopt this to my work and my whole life.
Creativity
Many people think creativity is all about painting colorful images that can be sold for a lot of money. But it’s so much more. Everybody is creative and it’s all about solving challenges and problems.
An important part of creativeness is imagination. You can figure it? Then you probably also can do it! Many big ideas started as dreams. I like to remind myself that everything is possible. Let your dreams become reality!
Side note: Maybe I just watched too many Disney movies 😀
Good food
Honestly, I love food. When I was younger I was a very picky eater, and still can be sometimes. But by now I’m willing to try new things and at times people are really surprised when they realize what kind of food I ate. (Side note: I like fish and don’t mind if the whole fish including head and tail is on my plate. A lot of people I know just wrinkle their nose when they see it.)
This year I’m trying to live a nearly vegetarian life. I already don’t eat a lot of meat. Actually, I never buy it for my home but only eat it in the office, at family meetings or at restaurants.
I also thought about veganism a lot but it will be very hard for me. There are just so many dairy products I absolutely love and don’t want to give up. At least I buy organic products and look for brands that treat their animals in a fair and appropriate way.
Wealth
Wouldn’t it be great to have this super large and spacious villa with so many bedrooms you don’t even know how many there are? I don’t think so. I grew up in a big house and love to have space for myself but this is not my dream. Having a lot of money for travel and charity however is.
I think it’s important to have the perfect amount of money for your life. But it’s also vital to be thankful for and able to live with the amount you have. This actually is a very complicated topic and I need to think more about it.
Love
“All you need is love” was already sung by different artists and bands. Obviously, this is not true. You need oxygen, food and a lot of other things. But I think life without love would be very sad. Imagine families would just stick together out of convenience, friends were only purposive relations and your partner merely a necessary part of reproduction. Not very nice, hm?
I’ll simply use a quote from the wonderful movie Moulin Rouge:
“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.”
Education
Never stop reaching for new knowledge. I want to learn new things every single day. Be it part of my work where a find a new skill, improve one I already have or learn from my colleagues. Or be it at home, with friends or even strangers. I still want to learn horseback riding, diving, flying an airplane, speaking Chinese, baking this great cake my aunt always surprises me with and much more.
Maybe I won’t reach all these goals (and those were only a few random things that came to my mind), but hey, aim high!
Photography
This is one of my newest goals. I bought a good camera and already love it. The photos are so nice, even though I don’t yet know how about 80% of the camera features work. I want to take photos for my blog and Instagram, but also for myself and as memories and stories for later years. The world around us is so beautiful. Let’s help our memory out a bit.
By the way, the camera also makes great videos. So maybe you’ll be able to see some more of me in the near future. Spoiler alert!
What are your goals and motivation?
Now you know about my targets. Tell me about yours and inspire me to update my list and find even more.
I hope I also could inspire you to improve yourself and reach your goals or even set new ones. However, I don’t want to press you to do something that doesn’t fit you. Think about yourself and what would be good for you and your life. And most important: don’t be disappointed if you don’t achieve all of your targets. Sometimes it’s just too much, and we need a break. And that’s ok, too.
