Tag: Goals

My 2022 Goals Year End Check In

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

This should have been posted last year but I am never good with time-sensitive blog posts lol. Despite my lack of punctuality though I feel like I did well with my goals from 2022.

Learn to Drive

I am actually making progress on this one! So I think the last time I wrote about my goals, I was trying to get an instructor and I am happy to report I found one! I have been taking lessons since the end of July last year and it’s actually going well, I’m not going to lie, some weeks it feels like it’s a bit shaky but I’ve definitely come a long way since I first started.

I also went on a few lessons with my boyfriend last year, though this turned out exactly how we thought it would. Disastrous lol I was just super nervous driving his car and so I was on edge the whole time. He also just got a new car so I doubt we’ll be doing many more driving lessons together.

So yeah I am feeling optimistic about it and will need to rebook my theory test again since mine has long expired lol. Don’t know whether to be excited or slightly scared about being out on the roads in 2023 but I’m glad I’m finally doing it.

Blog More

I think this one has been good this year, a bit hit or miss considering I think about blogging about stuff and then lots of time passes and I don’t do it lol. For example, my Comic Con posts were months later just because I was meaning to write them and never did.

I think I need to work on not putting so much pressure on what I’m writing. Which is easier said than done since I always think about this but I’ll work on it. I mean sometimes there genuinely isn’t anything to blog about but other times I know I can do it so I just need to make time for it.

I will continue to work on blogging this year, and for as long as I have a blog.

Read 22 books

Smashed this one. But I knew I would lol. I’m pretty sure I was close to reaching my goal when I did my mid-year check-in so something would have had to go seriously wrong for me not to reach it.

And as always I will continue on reading in 2023, I am excited to finish up PLL and dive into new things this year.

Learn a Language

I’d say I am doing okay at this. Mainly because I am just doing Duolingo. And my streak is going strong, almost at a full year now. That being said, there’s definitely been more than a few streak freezes used, and days when I was just doing a quick repeat lesson to keep the streak. So I can’t say I’ve been working my hardest at it.

Still, I have been learning a few things. Though as time goes on I know it’s not really sustainable for learning a language, especially when you only ever learn really specific phrases, and I’m never really challenged to do it myself. Like, yeah you have to write a phrase in Korean based on English but you see the phrases in Korean all the time because it’s always the same stuff. So am I really learning anything other than how to memorise very specific sentence structures?

I mean either way I’m not fussed about not learning how to speak a language. I had this as a goal because I thought my boyfriend and I would do it together but he ended up bailing lol. I will still keep up with the Duolingo though in the new year, as I think it’s a good thing to keep the brain active and working ya know? So we see how it goes.

Spend more time with friends and family

This one has been hit/miss as I feel like I have spent lots of time this year with friends like I’ve been out with my friends from school, work and pole. It’s been a busy year for me and socialising.

But in terms of family, I definitely have not been spending as much time with them and I think half of it is because I’ve been busy with other things lol. I filled 2022 with doing the most it seems so I feel like I need to take more time to rest, but also make time for family. I didn’t see most of them until Christmas in 2022 so it would be nice to see them more than once a year. I definitely think learning to drive will help though, because I’ll have more freedom to travel rather than being confined to public transport, which is becoming more and more annoying to me recently but we won’t get into that.

So yeah, not the worst but not the best.

Make progress on my house

We did make progress on the house but also feels like we currently just have another incomplete room lol.

Currently, the ensuite is tiled which it wasn’t before this year but the rest of the ensuite is not put in. And we have the basics of our new kitchen in which is exciting but the plastic is still on all of the doors because we still have the painting, tiling and other things to do.

So we are getting there, I am hoping after the kitchen and ensuite everything else magically falls into place but it’s a big undertaking, especially when doing it yourself. Still, looking forward to the day when it’s all done and we can just enjoy the space we have.

Exercise consistently

I think I did well with this, at least in terms of pole classes I was good. I went almost every single week and I’ve made a lot of progress which I am so proud of myself for.

Hoop classes kind of fell off for me in the second half of the year just because my Saturdays were taken up by other things but I am slowly getting back into it. That being said, it would be easier to do a class during the week if I could but the timings just never add up for me. So it’s a come-and-go thing which is fine.

There was also a period of time when I was doing pole practice, KPop Dance class and pole class for a few weeks and that was a lot lol. So I mean it’s about balance. I’m not too mad about not doing tons of exercise I think as long as I keep what I’m doing I’m doing all right.

Plus who knows? Maybe when my boyfriend and I get the house sorted we might actually make it to the gym again lol.

And so, those were all my goals from 2022 and what I achieved with them. I have to say I’m proud of myself for actually making progress with the goals. I mean usually, you have ideas about stuff you wanna do in the new year and never do them so I’m proud these were achievable and I was doing them.

Do I have goals for 2023? Yes and no. I mean I have a couple things I wanna do but I don’t really know if I’ll make a post talking about them. It’s mainly just keeping up the driving and get Invisalign but I have already started talking to someone about that so it’s happening lol.

But this was good and just like the start of last year I feel very motivated for this year and doing things so I am hoping to keep up the momentum and make the most of the year. And hopefully, I will keep up the blogging along the way!

Midyear Goals Check In for 2022

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

We are halfway through 2022 and I just had to do my midyear evaluation at work and so I thought this would also be a good idea to do a midyear check on my personal goals for this year.

Not going to lie, midyear and end-of-year evaluations at work are not the most exciting things but it’s also interesting to look back to see how much you accomplish in the year, professional or otherwise. So we are going to take a look and see what progress or lack thereof I have made on the goals I have set myself this year.

Learn to Drive

This one is not going well and it’s not for lack of trying lol. So I looked for a driving instructor in February and managed to get on a waiting list for April because everyone has a backlog due to the pandemic so we waited until April…I had my first lesson with this guy and I felt good about it and we had scheduled another lesson and then…for personal reasons my instructor said he couldn’t continue with our lessons. Ouch.

It’s annoying but it happens. And then in May I looked for another instructor and I didn’t have much luck. Some guy has said he might take me on in June/July but it is June now and I haven’t heard back yet so I’m still waiting.

So as you can see there hasn’t been any movement on this and it’s so frustrating. When I have been trying to find an instructor I have reached out to four/five at a time hoping that someone will have a spot for me and most people don’t.

At this point, I feel like I need to start taking lessons in a different town or something just to give me access to a different range of instructors or something because I’m not really sure what else to do. And it’s really bothering me especially since two of my friends have learnt to drive recently so I’m literally the only one who isn’t. It feels like I’m 17 again and everyone is learning to drive except me…it’s wild.

But I have hope I’ll eventually find an instructor who will take me…otherwise I’ll need to win the lottery and hire a driver lol.

Blog More

This is a goal I’ve been having some success with! Yay! I have been doing my monthly reading recaps which adds some content to the blog which is nice. I have also done some posts on TV shows and travel.

I’m going to say this one is always a hit or miss for me because sometimes I have things to write about and sometimes I don’t. But I’m happy that I have found some things to post about this year compared to other years when I’ve only made one or two posts.

Maybe I will do some blogging around my house renovations though not sure how often those posts would be…also I guess if I am feeling that I need to put my thoughts out there on something it can be in blog form instead of video form sometimes. We’ll go with the flow, but like I said I’m just glad I’m posting something haha.

Read 22 Books

A goal I have been thriving in, obviously part of doing reading recaps on my blog means I have to have been reading. I am currently reading my 15th book out of 22 so this goal will be reached in the next couple of months. I have also started reading the Pretty Little Liar books and so far I’ve read the first two but it’s definitely a series I am eager to get through so I imagine I’ll be finished pretty quickly.

Thankfully if I can do nothing else, I can read haha.

Learn a Language

So this has been going okay, I’ve just been learning Korean through Duolingo and I have a streak of 156 currently. In terms of Duolingo I would say I’m thriving but I definitely couldn’t talk to you in Korean haha.

My boyfriend abandoned Korean after the first couple of lessons because it was too difficult and so he hasn’t really been on the journey with me but that’s fine. I’ve actually come to enjoy my 10/15 mins of Korean every day, it’s a nice hobby to have.

I’m hoping to finish the Korean modules there and revisit the Korean textbook I bought at uni and see where that takes me. I don’t think I’ll be fluent or anything but it’s nice to have a hobby where you’re learning something.

Spend more time with friends and family

I have been doing good at this I think. Well on the friend front I think it’s going well considering we recently just went on a holiday together haha. Still, aside from that I think we’ve been good at keeping in touch and hanging out. Plus Jasmine and her partner have moved back to NI so I think that will encourage us to hang out more – mainly because before there was just me and Lauren in NI and we wouldn’t really hang out one to one so it’s nice to have a third person to see haha.

And then in terms of my family, I think this is going okay but could still be better. I did spend a weekend with my mum at a spa for her Christmas present, and I’ve been hanging out with my brother and my dad on occasion but I could probably make the effort to visit more. It’s just something I have to actively try to do.

Make progress on the house

This one is mainly up to my boyfriend and not me. And I say this because he is doing all the work and I am not lol. I mean I definitely want to try to help where I can but sometimes it’s best if he just tackles it on his own.

In January we bought a new kitchen which was exciting, it arrived a couple of weeks ago and sits in a mountain of boxes in the living room lol. We still need to pick out a few things for the kitchen and also block out time where we can tear out the old kitchen to put the new one in.

My boyfriend has started tiling the ensuite which is good, we started the ensuite stuff last year but it turned out to be more work than expected – I definitely feel like I could make my own blog post about that lol.

And we also need someone to repair a hole in our roof as birds have been getting into the attic. Hopefully, someone is coming out in July…

So yeah lots going on, it’s definitely a project that’s taking a long time and it can be frustrating and slow at times but I’m sure the final product will be amazing and I’m excited to share it. But for right now I’d appreciate it if we didn’t have visitors until we get it sorted haha.

Exercise more consistently

This one is a hit or miss haha. Sometimes I exercise a lot in a week, sometimes I just about make it to pole and hoop and no more. It’s the kind of thing that I fit in when I can but sometimes life just gets in the way.

My boyfriend and I did sign up for the gym two months ago but I have only been a handful of times – I’ve always had things come up haha and my boyfriend is taking a break from the gym to work on the house. So I think the gym membership is going to go on hold for a while.

I know I could still go to the gym without my boyfriend but I don’t know if I would go enough to justify the cost. I also want to do more pole things at home but have not put my pole up in a while, I think if I can finally do that I might actually use it…though that hasn’t worked in the past lol.

So yeah something still to work on but that’s fine. Progress is not a straight line and all that.

And that is where I am with my goals for 2022! Honestly, for the most part, I am happy with the progress I am making on them. Obviously, the driving one is the big one that doesn’t have much progress but hopefully, I can get an instructor for the second half of the year.

I won’t be mad if I haven’t passed my test by the end of the year but at this rate, any progress would be nice. And with everything else, I’ll keep working on it, one step at a time.

My 2022 Goals

~ Courtney Shek ~ Leave a comment

I haven’t had new year’s resolutions or goals in a long time, but at the start of this year, I was feeling uncharacteristically optimistic and have set some goals for myself. These are things I believe I can achieve this year, but if I don’t achieve them I am not going to be disappointed in myself.

I feel like I used to put a lot of pressure on myself to keep to goals and new year’s resolutions so I never made them but this year I am going to try to take things at my own pace, I know not everything will come magically overnight. If I don’t complete these it won’t be the end of the world, but I’m hoping if I even make a little progress on them I will be happy.

Learn to Drive

This is something I have been saying for years lol but it’s time to finally do it. I passed my theory test in 2020 and it is going to expire in February so we need to take that again. I only started lessons last year due to the pandemic, and even then I didn’t do very many as my instructor retired.

So I am on the hunt for a new driving instructor, last year when I was looking for one a lot of them were booked up which is annoying. But people are turning 17 every day and need instructors so I think I just need to put myself on some waiting lists and see what happens.

In the last driving lesson I had, I was very anxious so it will take a while for me to build confidence again with driving but I hope that if I find the right instructor then things will go well for me.

Blog More

I think this is always on my mind, but I have to be realistic about this. I already journal, memory plan and tweet, Instagram etc. I document a lot of things in a lot of places so I can’t expect to always be posting here too. I just don’t have time.

So I think if I can try to make at least one blog post a month that would be something. I think over the years I have put pressure on myself for what kind of posts I would post here but when I first started blogging it was literally on Bebo and I was 11 years old lol. I just need to not overthink it.

Read 22 books

I had to include this here, I always set myself a Goodreads reading goal and I’ve always completed them. So at least I know this is one that’s easily done.

Why 22 books? Because it’s 2022 lol – that and also I haven’t been reading as many books since the pandemic as I used to always read on public transport and I don’t travel as much. But the last couple years I always read at least 20 so this is an achievable goal.

Learn a Language

This one was my boyfriend’s idea. He wanted to learn a language this year because he thought it would be good. So we signed up for Duolingo.

Originally we wanted to learn something together and I thought Korean would be good because I took a couple of courses in uni and I liked it. I was also trying to talk my boyfriend down from learning Mandarin which was super difficult to learn in comparison.

So we started Korean, though my boyfriend did not last very long lol. He found it hard to grasp the basics, whereas I had previous knowledge of it and so I’ve been sticking with it.

I know Duolingo is not the best source of learning Korean because there’s a lot that goes into learning the language, but I thought it would be a good starting point.

In terms of a language, my boyfriend and I can learn together? I have no idea. But he’s keen on Spanish so I might give it a go and see how it turns out. Though learning two languages is a lot of work! So we’ll see how this one goes. Learning anything in terms of a new language is an achievement in my book.

Spend more time with friends and family

This is something that has been lacking the last few years because of the pandemic, but it’s something I want to do more. I feel like since I moved out of my mum’s house I see her about twice a year and I want to make the effort to visit more often.

I also want to make the effort to see my friends, while most of them live in England some of them still live nearby! So I should not forget about that. I definitely want to make more time for people around me, if it doesn’t happen it doesn’t happen but I want to at least make the effort.

Make progress on my house

I suppose this is a joint goal for me and my boyfriend. We bought a house last year and it needs a lot of work. Since living here, we have got one room completed lol and we would like to get a lot more done this year.

I am confident we will get it sorted, though these things take time and money. But we already have taken steps to kick start our house renovations this year, we have been looking into new kitchens which is a big thing. Our kitchen and our bathrooms are probably the biggest rooms to renovate, everything else is paint and furniture so hopefully we can get these rooms sorted and everything else will fall into place!

I’m not expecting our whole house to be completed by the end of this year, but even two more rooms than what we have now is something.

Exercise consistently

So this is just a personal thing for me. I started exercising more towards the second half of 2021 and I want to continue that into the new year. I am not going to go on a crazy health kick or anything but a little bit more exercise than what I currently do is good enough for me.

I already do pole and hoop classes, but I also want to work on my cardio because it is terrible lol and also if I can fit in some more strength building workouts or something it will definitely help me improve in my aerial skills. So yeah this one definitely is not a big thing for me, but it’s just something I wanted to add to my routine.

And that concludes my list of goals for 2022! They aren’t anything special, but I thought I would share them and then I can give an update on them as the year goes on.

I feel like there are probably some other small goals I have in mind for this year but these are the main ones I could think of for now.

I’m not really sure what it is about this year that had me feeling optimistic but I was just in the mindset of I need to get shit done this year haha and so we will see what I’ve accomplished as the year goes on.

And hey, I guess you could say this blog post is already contributing to blogging more – so I’ll take that as a win! Oh and another thing this year I need to figure out how to end blog posts, I’ve struggled with this for forever…I just don’t know how to end my thoughts haha. One day I’ll figure it out, or I won’t follow along on this blogging journey with me haha.