Reading Mistakes I Made at Work made me realize that it’s a pretty good idea to start documenting some of my failed attempts, both personal and professional.
I don’t have to just celebrate the wins, I think the failures also deserve some time and reflection to improve. So, here are some of my failed attempts of this year.
1. Bullet Journaling
I was mesmerized by all the wonderful daily / weekly / monthly “spreads” of the bullet journaling community that I desperately wanted to be part of that crew.
I bought all sorts of tools (various pens of different sizes and brands) as well as a lot of Leuchtturm1917 notebooks to jumpstart my bullet journaling. I practiced my handwriting and saw a tiny bit of improvement.
There are days when I make check-lists and some when I just doodle in my notebook, but this isn’t for me.
2. Journaling
Inspired by Austin Kleon’s daily diary posts, I got myself the same exact Moleskin notebook and tried to fill the lines with my daily activities before going to bed.
I would have good weeks or months, but as soon as I fell off the journal wagon, I wasn’t motivated to go back.
This is an recurring theme in my life. Anything that involved doing something daily and handwriting flat-out fails.
3. Work / Life Balance
Going to work around 9 and coming back home around 8:30 isn’t a good way to have work/life balance. I’m glad that I don’t sign-on on most weekends, however, I’m mad at myself for letting the company bleed into my personal life.
I also started to wonder if I’m set up to succeed and sadly, the short answer is no. Is it already time for me to look for another job?
4. R & Python
I took weekend classes to learn Python and bought books in both R & Python, however, this is something that I was not able to pick up back again.
It’s my goal to engage in at least one work project where I can practice my coding skills and get my hands dirty with the data.
5. Working out
Eating late, always working, and not working out have all contributed to my weight gain.
This is something that I want to get back into – for I know how good it feels to workout and make sure that I’m taking care of my body.
I need a better system to make sure that I can workout at least a couple of times a week.
6. Hustling
I launched my second brand and nothing’s been happening. I think I relied too much on my partner for sales and lost the focus.
I could’ve reached out to magazines, sent free samples, and get influencers to talk about the new brand.
Yet, I fell short of it all, mostly because I was too occupied with my job, and with whatever free time I had, I wanted to escape with TV, movies, books and this blog.
Am I even cut out for that entrepreneurial lifestyle?
These failures sting a lot.
I need to move beyond dwelling on these failures. Like what I do at work, I need to acknowledge these issues and come up with a couple of action -oriented solutions to ensure that I don’t repeat these failures.
1. Do not sign up for anything that requires daily commitments.
While the spreads, the snapshots of the journals look great on IG, I’m not good at. It’s noble to believe that practice will yield better results, but time is a rare commodity. Let’s not stretch the things that I want to do during that free time.
2. Learn to set proper boundaries.
I deleted work email and chat from my phone, which have helped restore some balance. I’m also working on getting comfortable saying no, to maintain quality of work as well as work/life balance.
3. Re-focus at work and at personal life.
I’m a data scientist, therefore, I need to get back into analyzing data. I do not want to become that manager that understands theories, but cannot code review or recommend a better way to analyze.
Health is important and impacts all aspects of life. I need to start taking care of myself. I’m getting better at my food consumption. I notice myself craving veggies and wanting home made food throughout the week. Let’s focus on working out next year.
There are also simply too many things that I want to do outside work-hours.
– Continue to write and manage this blog
– Start and manage quote centered IG account
– Learn about writing children’s book for children from multi-cultural families
– Figure out how I can be a data journalist
– Potentially start an e-commerce site focused on traditional Korean products
– Build my second beauty brand
– Enjoy life by going to cultural shows and meeting with friends
I need to be realistic about what I can achieve and limit the things that I sign up. It’s obvious that I want to do too many things without taking my constraints and limitations in mind.
Let’s re-strategize and think about what I can realistically achieve, so that I’m not writing another failure post next year. Let’s think about two things that I can kick-ass and then focus on others in the upcoming year.
upbeat dabbler 