5 Unique Ideas for Your Self-Development Project in 2021
Tips and tricks to progress in this pandemic year all in pictures
I know 2021 has not been good. We have gone through January, and pandemic has not left us. Some countries may have been under lockdown again, some might have returned to a new form of normal. Vaccines are rolling out, but unfortunately life would be different than before coronavirus.
It’s normal to feel at lost with life. It’s normal to not be able to stay positive all the time. Forgive yourself and manage your expectations well. I am also here to tell you that not all good things are lost. We can still achieve things we want to achieve so long as we can manage our expectations well. Small achievements and successes matter just as much as your big goals.
I’ve previously written that levelling up is imperative at any stage of your life. If you have been reading my writing, you might have learnt that I set myself 21 things to achieve by this year, 2021. It includes small little things like buying for things I want, opening a bank account, starting to self-fund in your retirement account and perhaps a lifestyle change too.
The question is, how do we survive through this pandemic and lockdown and continue to develop ourselves to achieve our 2021 resolutions?
I want to share with you my personal ways in surviving the pandemic this year.
- Set your goals with Trello
2. Track your hourly activity on Google Sheets
I started to be more accountable to my time when I learnt from Ellen Nguyen’s article on her self-development projects during this pandemic. I think doing this time log has always been helpful for me to stay accountable to myself. I have a number of things on my plate right now, but I want to always ensure that I get enough rest and sleep too. As much as I am tempted to scratch my sleep, I would learn to forgive myself and understands that I have tried my best for the day to achieve what I can and I’ll continue tomorrow. The to-do list will always be endless, after all.
3. Set a visual board for yourself — 1 year, 5 years or 10 years plan
It’s always when you start to visualise a better life and everything that entails, the universe will somehow conspire to get it done for you? I also believe that when you have started to visualise the good things in life, it serves as a motivation for you to work on the little work everyday consistently to achieve your goals.
Therefore, I’d highly recommend you to set smaller goals in order for you to achieve that huge goal. For example, if you say you want to get out of a student debt in 5 years time, set yourself a one year maximum and minimum repayment you wish you could achieve. Remember SMART? It has to be specific, measurable, assignable, realistic and time-specific.
4. Write yourself a letter and send it back to you in a year’s time.
I don’t actually remember the website I used in writing my letter to be sent in a year’s time. But I remember well I imagined very vividly the life that I want in a year’s time, and I wrote it down specifically in the letter. I set it to be sent in exactly a year’s time from the day I wrote the letter.
You know what they say? Thoughts are prayers.
5. Find accountability partners that you can virtually catch up with every week
At this stage of my life, I am grateful to have found a number of social groups I know I can fall back to. I have my girlfriends club, I have my gentlemen’s club(my group of friends since my student days when I studied in London), my study gang for my professional exam papers, and another two groups from two different societies I am currently in. Although it can be very demanding at times, at this rate of my life things has been manageable. In fact, I feel very contented and started to adapt in the lockdown though previously I struggled to thrive and stay productive during last year’s lockdown. As an extrovert staying at home during a lockdown, these group of friends have helped me in having human interactions and allow me to focus on my hobbies and my studies as well.
Conclusion
I understand that it is hard to survive through pandemic. We are all struggling in different ways. There will be days where you are thriving, there will be days where you can just stay in bed and hoping things will be over. It’s okay. Do know that you are not alone in this journey.
