Happy New Year! I turned 26 late last year. The nice thing about having a birthday near the end of the year is I can plan for the next year of life with the calendar year, and treat New Year’s resolutions as age resolutions too. Here’s what I have planned for 2020.

2019 was the first year I took New Year’s resolutions seriously. I wanted to

• Go to the dentist
• Get 6-pack abs
• Have meaningful conversations with as many people as possible

I achieved two, and made good progress on the third (can you guess which?).

For 2020 I decided to carry those resolutions forward and introduce the following.

Be more patient, focused, and resilient.

There’s a lot going on in life, and I keep getting busier and busier. I haven’t had major issues with patience, focus, or resilience, but I predict I will have to improve these skills because life won’t slow down and I’ll have even more things to manage in the future. In 2019 I read a couple of books about managing stress and I’ll be putting the techniques I learned to the test.

• The Age of Overwhelm: Strategies for the Long Haul
• Resilient: How to Grow an Unshakable Core of Calm, Strength, and Happiness

Write more.

Knowledge speaks, but wisdom listens.

After I moved to the Bay Area almost two years ago, I started consuming content more than producing content. I learned a lot: about software security, more about startups, about the Bay Area, and so on. I thought about several potential blog posts but never prioritized writing them down mainly because I didn’t fully understand the topics. But writing is a great way to understand things! I learned that in college.

I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking. What I’m looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear.
—Joan Didion

I have plenty of blog post ideas in my head and still think about new ones all the time (especially on my 40-min commute). All I have to do is set some time aside, think through stuff, and write. And not be afraid of being wrong.

Be true to myself.

I worry less about what others think as I get older, like most people. But I still find myself holding back or doing things according to others’ standards. This year I will be pushing some boundaries, taking more risks, and will be resilient against failures.

There are so many other things I want to do in 2020, like flossing more, reading more, getting better at small talk, but I want to focus on my three main objectives first. Here we go!