Since April 1, 2023, I have started doing quarterly reviews and planning my life. You shall be familiar with this format for those who have done quarterly reviews at work. Following is the template I use, feel free to tweak it to your preference:
- Review your top 3 aspirations for the past 3 months, did you achieve them? If not, why?
- What were the top 3 big wins of the past 3 months and why?
- What were the 3 biggest challenges, and what did you learn from them?
- What are the top 3 aspirations for the coming 3 months? And what’s the biggest risk they might not happen? And what are you going to do to mitigate that risk?
Note that it doesn’t always have to be 3 things, you can change the number yourself as our life experiences differ.
Update from my Q2 2024 aspiration
- Complete weekly workout goal to earn AIA cashback program (✅9/10). This is a continued goal as this cashback program spans over two years, starting in January 2024. I missed out 2 weeks due to food poisoning in Phuket.
- Write 4 blog articles every month (✅6/10). I completed 7 out of 12 articles this quarter as I shifted my focus to Wondefull Etsy store in June. Check out my favourite article: How To Write a Manifesting List That Really Works!
- Go on a trip with my partner (✅10/10). We went to Phuket in May but we got food poisoning, causing us to stay in the hotel for the last four days… Although we didn’t get to explore Phuket more, it was certainly a meaningful experience for my partner and me as getting sick and taking care of each other for the first time was challenging to our relationship.
- Create a hand-drawn sticker set for the Wondefull Etsy store (✅10/10). Instead of creating hand-drawn stickers, I created frames digital stickers as they are more useful for digital planners.
Top Wins in Last Quarter and Why
- New achievement unlocked in PM career. In the last quarter, there were more cross-pods and more complex initiatives. With the challenges, I beefed up my soft skills and also learned how to build rapport with the team. From being overwhelmed and stressed easily, now I can handle stakeholders and also communicate and work with my team with more ease.
- Learnt how to build a long term relationship. In the past 3 months, I not only learned how to arrange my time more efficiently with my new relationship, but also learned how to become a better partner.
- Tennis lessons paid off. After learning tennis consistently from the same coach since January, finally I made significant progress in tennis. Other than that, I think my improved stamina and lighter tennis racquet also contributed to my improvement.
- I learned iPad watercolor painting. Initially, I learned it to create hand-drawn digital stickers, but I didn’t create any at the end due to the lack of product market fit. Anyway, here’s my result!
Top Biggest Challenges and What I Learned from Them
- There’s no 100% right partner. No one is perfect and the characteristics that you appreciate of your partner can be a double-edged sword. As an INTJ, I demanded a lot from myself and closed ones. So, this was a hard lesson for me, but thanks to my supportive and communicative partner and my willingness to reflect and change, I came through it.
- Rejection from Chevening scholarship. I got an offer from my top choice, UCL, but I was rejected by Chevening unfortunately. Although I believe that rejection is redirection and The Universe has the best plan for me, it was still disheartening to not be chosen and didn’t get to fulfil my dream of studying overseas. Anyway, throughout the application process, I have learned more about myself and it helped me in planning my career next move.
Top Aspirations for the Next 3 Months
- Plan out my 5-year PM career plan. After a few career pivots, I decided that PM is my set professional career path. In order to make informed decisions, especially on whether to do MBA, I will connect with more experienced PMs and do informational interviews and secure referrals with them.
- Learned how to code web using Flutter. I have been working on a web project for quite some time. As there’s only one engineer working on it, I want to learn how to code to help build the easy parts and speed up the development. Then I can add the project and coding skills to my portfolio.
- Create 2 new digital products for Wondefull. Since my digital stickers are getting traction recently, I want to keep up the momentum and increase my sales and profit.
- Write 6 blog articles in the next quarter. I’m making a more realistic goal this quarter as I will be focusing on PM career growth and growing Wondefull etsy store.
- Complete weekly workout goal to earn AIA cashback program. This is a continued goal as this cashback program spans over two years, from January 2024 to January 2026.
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