As 2010 draws to a close, let me look back at what I had done this year, the successes and the setbacks, and share some of my thoughts with you. I've never formally done this before (if a blog entry can be considered formal), but the pastor in Church last Sunday mentioned that thanking God for His blessings is the right thing to do, so here I am.
Turns out, there are quite a number of things to be thankful for. In terms of...
1. Work, this year had been smooth sailing. I've had some pretty tough projects that got exponentially more challenging as the year ended, but it seems that these difficulties can be surpassed before 2011. I wouldn't have imagined this to happen 3 weeks ago. I have also gotten a small recognition at work this year, something that only happens once every few years. This year was also the year where I traveled the most - to China/HK twice, Korea, Singapore, even Boracay.
2. Work, I'm happy to be active in the recruiting space. It is mildly gratifying to know that you are helping people by giving them jobs. The key to this though is to balance the students' futures versus your goals, which can be a tough decision to make sometimes.
3. Life, I'm really glad I started going to the gym at the start of 2010. I do not go to the gym regularly, and yet I have gained around 15 pounds. But of course, the task of keeping yourself fit does not end after a year of work.
4. Family, I'm glad that everyone in our family is still in relatively good health and the family still has a strong bond though we don't deliberately create memorable experiences.
5. Life, what seems like a golden business opportunity has opened up for me and my friends (actually, the opportunity opened to him - and my friend invited me and another friend). I'm hoping and praying that this really is one.
6. Spiritual life, this is the year where I have begun to be more active in Church. In fact, I had been virtually absent from my Church since I graduated from college! Finally I'm getting myself back on track...
7. Life, it's great to have good friends. I'm not the emotional type, but it's great to have friends you can talk to about anything. Another reason I'm thankful is that the resulting circumstances in #5 actually led me to find an awesome friend, someone who wowed me the moment our glances connected.
And one more thing - it's awesome to receive a birthday SMS from a friend as the clock hit twelve midnight 2 days ago :)
In terms of improvement areas:
1. I've got to learn to be more flexible with my personality, and realize when to be deliberately more emotional in my dealings with people. I think from an all too logical perspective (thanks to my years of studying chess, math, and playing RTS games), and radiate a very neutral outlook (eg: hiding/tempering down emotion, which is actually a double edged sword.). These two things combined is often mistaken by others as a very cold demeanor, even though I do not intend it to be.
2. And yet, I need to be more rigorous at work. Managing increasingly tougher projects makes this all too critical.
3. I need to get more experience. I'm 26, and I still have a lot of things to learn and experience. The professional situation I end up with in 2011 can help steer this I think...
