Pen{g}sieve Vol. 15: 2022 Personal Annual Review
Last year was my first time doing an annual personal review. A year has passed. I can attest to the power of pausing and planning for one’s life course, one year at a time. These carefully worded personal goals became such a great source of energy and creativity that they led me to unexpected places.
Now it is time to review 2021 and set directions for 2022.
How would you characterize 2021?
2021 is transformation 2.0. It is a year of deep inner work where I learned to connect with my body and establish a new relationship with my emotions. It is also a year of practice — to live a life with strong intentions, guided by my personal manifesto. I call it the Yoga of life.
On internal journey
It was a year of pursuing my wants and eliminating as many shoulds as possible, especially at work.
It was a year when I was enlightened on the embodiment. I learned to listen to my senses and trust my (gut) feelings. I learned to breathe — literally — constantly reminding myself to breathe deeply to release the tension in the body.
It was a year of being seen in the community through newsletter writing, giving talks on my stories, and starting learning communities at work.
On Work
It was my first year at a new job. I survived a highly competitive environment but still maintained a balance between life, work, relationship, and self-care.
It was a year of practicing the Yoga of work – be mindful of every (tiny) decision and energy-state shift we encounter in a typical workday, pause, and deliberately choose how I want to show up or what I want to do next.
It was a year of (unintentionally) building a personal brand as someone unique, authentic, and inspiring. The self at this job has never been so close to my true self.
2021 in retrospective
What new experiences did you have?
Had my first personal coach
Wrote my first personal manifesto
Earned my first commission check from sales
Joined the Art of Accomplishment community via Connection Course and Art of Accomplishment course
Started my first support group on 1% improvements
Gave talks on my personal story to non-work-related communities
Took three weeks off completely unplugged from work
What was your biggest surprise?
My biggest surprise was the wisdom of the non-logical me — my emotions, instinct, gut feelings, and bodily senses. For the first time, I could articulate my deepest wants and fear by connecting with my body. My attitude towards emotions was changed entirely – from something to be avoided to my most reliable teachers. All thanks to my coach and the Art of Accomplishment course.
What are the biggest lessons you learned?
Good energy every day — physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual energy — leads to a good quality of life (thanks to this book).
Embrace the intensity because negative emotions are neither good nor bad but signal unsatisfied needs. Avoiding negative emotions is how we get stuck in the behavior patterns that keep on inviting the emotions back.
To pursue her deepest wants, one has to let go of many of her “shoulds.” That is where one often wavers.
The dark side of logical mind — my habit of figuring out before trying out becomes my cause of inaction. “Actions first, insights second.”
What stories from last year are you letting go of?
I let go of the ego (e.g., compare against others, be defensive of my views, prove self to others, be the most intelligent person in the room);
I let go of a lot of “shoulds” at the workplace;
I let go of caretaking others’ feelings; instead, I set boundaries and let them be;
I let go of the scarcity mindset; instead, there are always abundant talents, information, and opportunities out there.
Which aspect of last year was most challenging?
Delivering hard business results — I have plenty of “soft” wins from the people side, but reaching my subscription goal or a real business win still feels hard;
Every day to show up in my best physical energy level;
Work-life balance — I burnt out doing my side-hustle in Q1, then work started to creep into my personal time for the rest of the year.
2022 goal setting
What is your word of the year?
100% commitment
What are you looking forward to learning?
Embodiment
What are the big questions you are holding for this year?
Can my focus on building the system and learning deliver hard business wins?
How can I move towards 50-50 — 50% of my time on getting things done and driving results, and 50% on being and experiencing life?
How can I expand my range on my job and grow out of being a specialist?
Which goals will you commit to this year?
Write Pen{g}sieve for another year and reach 2000 subscribers;
Start every day with positive energy, end every workday before dinner and with positive energy; do only work I enjoy on Wednesdays;
Score a public win for my work on ML compilers, present at PyTorch Developer conference;
Expand my range to new types of roles at work;
Revamp family meals by infusing more love, creativity, and joy;
Coach 4 people who can inspire me;
Create a 5-person personal board of directors.
What new habits can you cultivate to help you achieve these goals?
Build recharge time into my routines to maintain high energy levels;
Read books slowly – take time to integrate;
Regular date-time w/ loved ones;
Define focus-of-the-month and do monthly reviews;
Create one long-form article per week for my work.
What would make 2022 genuinely amazing for you?
I have a balanced life where I create the space for self-care, family, friends, and learning regardless of the demand of my work;
I sleep well and have good energy every day;
My family have regular bonding time (e.g., quality family meals, taking beautiful trips together, mom and daughter time);
I achieve a real public win at work; I experience little fear, guilt, or heaviness in my daily work;
I travel and reconnect w/ friends in person; I experience new places, new food, new people, new moments, new hobbies; I have lots of good times in good company.