2018 came as a bad start for me as I experienced the loss of someone close to me. You can read this episode of my life here. My world view has changed because of this. Nevertheless, I am still living in this world and will still be setting my goals for this year.
Life is really short and this has kept me thinking what kind of goals should I set for myself this year. I should be asking what kind of thing I want to do so that I do not take life for granted and make an impact as much as possible. This sets the directions for my goals this year.
My Goals for 2018
1. Helping more people
The first goal which I want for this year is to help more people. There are many ways to help people but the best way is to enjoy doing it rather than helping for the sake of helping. When it comes to helping people, most people think of volunteering. While that is one way to contribute back to society, we can also help people through our own life.
For instance, blogging has allowed me to help more people than I can ever imagined. Since the start of my blog, I've replied to all emails as much as I can to answer any questions which readers might have. I enjoy doing it because I get to help someone out there. For the year 2018, I will continue to do that and reply to all emails which anyone sends asking for advise or help. I also thank the readers who have contacted me to tell me how my blog has benefited you personally. This keeps me going as the motivation of this blog is to help as many people as possible.
I have also helped people through my expertise in housing matters. Since 2 years ago, I started a free mortgage advisory service on my blog where I personally advise people on housing matters including how much loan one can take and also the best loan to take for housing. I also work with law firms to do the conveyancing. I am happy to say that I will continue to do this for this year. I will continue to give my best advice for any housing matters.
Lastly, I'm thinking of setting up additional complimentary services to alleviate the pain and problems which people will normally face on another aspect of life. This is a project in progress and will be revealed when its ready.
2. Do at least one thing I've never done before in life
Yes life is short and this made me want to experience life as much as possible. I've done many things in my close to 30 years of life but I want to set myself a goal to do something I've never done before this year.
Honestly, I have no idea what I really want to try or experience but I will give it a good thought in the next few months. Hopefully by the end of the year when I review back my goals, I can then write what I have done differently in year 2018.
3. Spend more quality time building relationships
Relationships become even more important after the death of a close cousin of mine. I still remembered the last words I told him was to meet up after he comes back from his overseas trip. In the end, he never made it back... It was quite a shock to me.
There are so many relationships which we may take for granted especially our family members. I always value family a lot because as time goes by, I realised my parents are getting old and time is running short. All of us have limited time in our life. With work taking up most of the time in life, what we are left with is just that few hours a day to spend time on friends and family. Not forgetting spending time with our love partner if we are attached or married.
With limited time, the key is spending quality time with our loved ones. This include friends too. Quality is the key for me this year as I refocus to build quality relationships too with friends and family members.
4. Achieve $20,000 passive/other income
Money may not be everything but everything needs money. I'm still on a mission to replace my active income as much as possible so that I can get more time by making money work hard for me. To have the freedom of time to do what we love is always a dream for many. To make it happen, it requires deliberate planning and execution and patience to see through it.
Because of certain things that happened, money is needed more than ever before. Even though my goals is not just to make money for the sake of it but it is to make sure there is enough for the future.
In 2017, I manage to create $19k+ in passive/other income. For 2018, I think it would be good if I can just maintain it.
You can read this post on how I manage to create the $19K+ passive/other income.
5. Planning for the future
Lastly, and the most important one, is to plan for the future with my partner. We are still in the process of trying to get a flat and also trying to plan for wedding and all the necessary stuff for our future. Unfortunately, our plans were disrupted as some unfortunate events happened in her family and we had to settle the issues first.
I hope that we can settle the family issues soon within the next few months and can continue our plans for the future for the rest of 2018. It has not been an easy time in 2017 and even going to 2018 as many things happened. I pray that 2018 will be a better year for me as well as my loved ones. This sets the direction of my life in 2018.
