2020 is finally wrapping up. For me, it feels like it’s been a long year, dragged on and on forever. At the same time, it feels that this year still isn’t ending — with the covid situation dragging until next year. But let’s be strong!
With 2020 ending, I’d like to reflect upon my year and hope all beings around me still do so as well. I’m still positive about what I can do, that’s why I’m writing out this reflection to help myself process through the thoughts.
I went on Google and founded a quite credible source of somewhat a ‘guide’ to help me go through the thoughts — and it’s from Forbes called ‘Ten Questions To Ask In Your Personal Year-End Review’ from 2018. I sarcastically laughed in my head at first because the author in the article talked about how much their year changed — but of course, no one could say that ANY year in their lives had changed more than 2020. I still went with it. The 10 questions: here it goes!
- If this year were a movie, what happened?
2. 0. 2. 0. The movie is titled Overturn — subtitled ‘5D Experience: the Overturn of Your Lives’. The people on Earth had been scrambling to get canned food, tissue rolls, and of course, facemasks. The world had been infected by a mysterious virus named CoVid-19 — the funny thing being that the virus had been invented in ’19 and as of ’20 approaching ’21 there still has been no vaccine. What’s been happening these days? Regulations from the governments around the world to control the spread of the virus. Here in Hong Kong, the government had been putting bans on more than a gathering of 2 people, on and off. And here Esther is sitting on her desk — at first, she was excited about the idea of working from home, meaning she could spend more time elsewhere learning different things and working on her business. But the flip had been much more than anyone had imagined; it felt like everyone got into a fight with a judo world master and got completed thrown to the wall and KO-ed. Regardless, Esther feels like this year had been a year of regaining control of the priorities of our time, our friends, and family. This has always been a test — where does the most important thing to you, lie in your heart, and in your current time management? The message of the story is to tell you that in this time — it’s not to be taken as a disaster, but as an opportunity (as the Chinese proverb says, but it’s true). Reorganize, prioritize. Learn new things. Know where you want to be. You’ve got all the time you need to think them through and try new things. - What worked well that I’m grateful for?
I’m grateful for succeeding as Platinum this year. Now that I think back, I’ve gone a long way from just being a child in the audience, looking on the stage of entrepreneurs — I never thought I’d be one of them to stay on the spot too. Just how many failures had been experienced that I can stand on the stage? So the conclusion is that we all have to work hard.
Other than that, I’m also very grateful for my colleagues. We’ve gone through a lot — from 13 down to 5, I’m still learning from each of them, and it’s making me be a bit more resilient too.
The second thing I’m grateful for this year succeeding to pitch NewGen out for award ceremonies such as HKMA. I’m so grateful for the team I had collaborated with from McDonald’s, New Work Development, and Towngas — and with our strengths combined, we got the HKMA Gold Campaign Award — not forgetting to mention also Special Award in Future Talent Development and HR Professionals’ Favorite. We even got a video shoot from CPjobs. It shows that hard work pays off. - What was challenging or disappointing?
I’m guessing this year had been challenging for most people around — and certainly did disappoint some people with the rate of change with the coronavirus. I had been challenged many times to almost disappoint, from my lack of control especially when watching Netflix. My personal disappointment in myself is still time management.
Disappointing is also the way I treat my friends — sometimes I don’t have any mood to get just back to him/her. It was challenging in that sort of way — everyone going to settle into the new norm. - What were my most meaningful moments?
One of my most meaningful moments was when I felt very depressed, and I was aware of it. I texted my best friend, and she recommended me to reach out to a professional counselor. For one — noticing that there’s something on Mental Health around us these days, and knowing that it’s fine to be ‘sick’ — even presidents will come down with a fever. This is just the same. Knowing when to ask for help, is important. Everyone goes down into the hole at times. If you never admit to it, you just sink down further and further. For me, that moment was when I started looking for the blockages in my life — I realized that I’ve always been living to meet others’ standards of myself — rather than just living for ME. It’s a lesson that I’m continuously learning now though. In this way, I’m glad because it means I’m still growing and maturing. - Where did I spend my time and energy?
Others always say I’m busy — but I know it’s all a matter of priority, and I’m sure it’s the same for them too. This year, I’ve been trying out new things. On top of my career, where out of innovation I’ve been venturing out into Rapid Prototyping, Corporate Training (DiSC, etc), Sustainability, running events, project management — all of which I’ve learned a lot in my professional career. Out of that, I’ve also joined a network for business connections, taken up new roles to educate the club regularly on how to network better for business. It’s also that I’m exploring more opportunities out there. At times, working hard and keeping myself busy, makes me feel stressed out. So in my downtime, I relax with Netflix (almost too many shows, falling into an addictive state — either I finish ASAP or I don’t start at all). My two favorites: Start-Up, on entrepreneurship spirit (I’ll write a post on the lessons soon); It’s Okay Not To Be Okay, on mental health). - Looking back overall, how do I rate my happiness on a scale of 1–10?
Given the whole pandemic situation going from Nov 2019 and still on-going as of Dec 2020, and most likely to be continued. But I’d like to rate my happiness at a 5, very neutral. Only by looking at this number makes me feel that I have plenty of ways to find improvement. Recently I’ve had a day where I had one of my happiest days of the year. It was interesting because nothing that particularly special happened that day, I just had a good night’s sleep on a comfortable bed, and away from all worries, and started the day with a good coffee at NOC. I had work that afternoon, doing things which I usually dislike. My productivity that day was up 10x as my usual amount — and I’m learning to remember that feeling that ‘anything is possible’ — and I look forward to replicating that feeling in my days ahead. - As I look to next year, what will be the highest use of my talents?
For me, in 2020 I’ve realized my talents in facilitating, training, and really bringing out the empathy skillset I’ve always had. Now that I think about it — I’ve been much less nervous on the stage, public speaking, whether it’s in person or on Zoom, I’ve gotten much calmer with preparing. I guess it’ thanks to 1. Toastmasters for giving me a platform to improve my communication skills, especially as a President to lead the team; 2. My preparation for ad-hoc duties for my business; 3. Joining a business network, being the Network Education Coordinator had been improving my skillsets so I could deliver educational 5-minute presentations to bosses of all kind; 4. Presenting on a big stage representing the 4 cross-corporate companies when we made the NewGen program. Upcoming I’d like to leverage my ability to learn fast — learn more things. - What is an area where I will exercise courage to stretch, grow, and learn next year?
I have three areas I’d like to exercise courage to grow in:
a) Chinese — I’d like to top up my Chinese skills, especially in writing and reading. Even Mandarin if possible.
b) Coding — I’d like to take a stab at learning the basics of Coding. Not sure which language yet — but just learning the basics of what current secondary students know, just to keep up with the trend.
c) Leadership skills — leading myself before leading others. I want to build morning habits for myself so as to know how to plan to achieve my personal goals. - What does success look like to me next year?
For me — I’d like to envision myself as a mature person of 28.
Got a good grasp on her own schedule and time management.
An admirable leader in her own right.
Take up a new challenge in a new career out of her current comfort zone.
Good discipline enough to treat herself physically and mentally healthy.
Lose 10% of weight to get out of the PCOS danger zone.
Someone who shows confidence because she is able to love herself.
Be herself fully.
