It is now the last day of the year. Tomorrow marks the starting of yet another new year. Here are some reflections that I would like to share because this is what I and those around me go through each year:
Yearly bonus
Many companies would declare the yearly bonus around beginning of January. In my previous company, our employee portal would be jammed by employees logging in to check the yearly bonus that they have received.
If the bonus is bad, one may be tempted to resign just to spite management. I know because each year after the bonus is out, we have issues with staff tardiness when they are not happy about their bonus. But my sincere advice is…. the economy is now bad worldwide. We would be expecting more companies to have retrenchments or not hiring replacement with a staff leaves.
If you do not have a lot of savings, do not resign without a job. Don’t blindly follow your emotions. Your emotions are not going to keep the bills paid, cover your mortgage and car payments and put food on the table. It may not be so easy for you to find another job once you resign. Besides, even if you could land in an interview and be shortlisted, you do not have bargaining power in terms of the salary if you leave without a job offer.
Even if you really hate your job and wanted to resign, you can do so once you have a good exit plan. Do you have enough saved up to cover you and your family for a year? Never burn bridges and always always leave in good terms if you eventually decide to leave.
Personal goals
Examples are losing weight, training for a marathon, picking a new skill, starting a business on the side, saving more, etc.
I am not a naturally organized person. But I find setting goals and then breaking down into small manageable steps really does help. For example during the first year when I had to take over my mom’s role for Chinese New Year preparation and visiting, I was overwhelmed. But with the help of a planner and diary, I listed down what I needed to do and then break down these tasks. I did the same while planning for a wedding as well as to set a target to write and schedule posts for my blogs.
Therefore if you set your heart to achieve something, don’t only have it in your head.
Here’s what you can do to help achieve your personal goals/dreams:
1. Set a goal, and let it be something that sparks joy in your heart or at least a good reason for why you want to do it (for example you may not like to exercise but you like what a healthy and fit body could do to your confidence and health).
2. Break it down into realistic and managable tasks in your planner and diary
3. Track your progress
4. Make the time to do it. Understand that you would need to make sacrifices if you want to rise above and achieve what you wish to set out to do. For example:
- you may need to wake up earlier to hit the gym 3 times a week, or write that blog post or study for your course, etc.
- spend less time in your favourite (but essentially non value added) pastime like binge watching drama series, checking on social media, shopping or playing video games.
- less hanging out with buddies after work (it does not mean that you stop doing it all together but you would need to get more time to work towards your goals and dreams)
All the best for the year ahead and take care 🙂
