It’s a new year. 2019.
Hope it’s better than the last.
Not that 2018 wasn’t a good year. To many, it was hard, including me. I started out the year pretty badly and as the year progressed, it wasn’t getting much better.
Thankfully, things did get better.
Earlier this year, I made a choice. A choice to work with what I have and use it to my advantage to learn skills that I would not usually be in a position to learn. It was the right choice.
This is how I did so far:
| Skill | Status |
|---|---|
| influencing people to change their ways | Progressing |
| learn people skills and be less of an asshole | Nope |
| improve my organisation skills and learn to prioritise and focus | Significant Progress |
| learn to disconnect from work | Needs improvement |
As for my other plans?
I didn’t master Python, learn web design, learn to play the guitar or start that WordPress web design business.
But I did make progress on mastering focus and time management, and that I am very proud of. I feel much more productive now than when I started, although I have times of relapses. Luckily I’ve had help in keeping me on track through my CIO, Wendell Mitchell.
Through this one success I’ve been able to:
- see and feel progress on activities.
- deal with the constant urgent requests.
- push back and decline unnecessary meetings and boost my productivity.
I still feel that I’m working too hard for no commensurate award, but at least I feel that I am making some progress towards my own goals. At least I feel that I did accomplish something this year.
So considering my progress (or lack of) during the past year, this is my plan for 2019.
Learn Python and DevOps
My plan was to master Python in 2018. That didn’t work out. I think it was because there wasn’t really a purpose to doing so. So I’m giving a purpose.
I want to work less, and one way to do so is to automate more. The plan – use Python to automate many of the tasks that we do on a regular basis.
Learn Machine Learning / Deep Learning / Artificial Intelligence
I’ve been putting this off for way too long. And by doing so, I’m unable to take advantage of the opportunities that are available now.
This skill is particularly important for my final year M. Sc. project. So I should really get started on this.
Develop my drawing skills
In my learning, I want to spend time learning a non-professional skill. Last year I wanted to learn the guitar. Certainly, the problem here was ensuring that my guitar is available, and then setting the time to actually learn. Both were a challenge.
Now drawing is a skill that I can practice at any time, once I have a pencil and paper presentations.
Learn negotiating and Influencing skills
I’ve gained some skill with this over the past year, but it lacks polish – come off as too much of an asshole – and efficiency – I’m still not doing as well as I should, maybe because of the asshole bit.
So this time I will have to improve in that. Get better at it, and be more diplomatic too.
Get back into fitness
It’s been hard to maintain my motivation to exercise and healthy eating. I haven’t ballooned up, but I’ve not kept up with a good fitness regime. This year it’s time to get back into it. Maybe I may even join a gym… a big maybe.
Master focus and time management
This is the one thing I made progress on during last year. So why is it still here? Because I can do better. The key word here is Master.
I want to master time.