Review-Annual goals

2 weeks ago, i reviewed the goals i set on January 2010. They are annual goals which i understand that i will not easily achieve them in short period of time, however i found that i do not really have much improvement after four months had passed. I think I need to write down a step-by-step on how i am going to achieve them. If not, the goals will remain as goals forever.
1. Improve English writing & speaking skills
I started to communicate with my HOD and some new suppliers only in English in this few months. I am also practicing to write my article in English on my blog once a while. With Yen's help, i get to know what mistakes i make so that i can improve it.

What am I going to do next is to develop more passion on learning English. Learning English is a long process, without passion, i do not think that i can continue it. I will try to link it to my daily life and to the things that I am interested. Since I have many friends' emails to reply everyday,  I should practice on replying them in proper English and avoiding myself from using Chinese wording.

I spend about two hours on the commute between work & home every weekday. Now i enjoy listening to One FM which is a Chinese radio station while driving my new car. Another way to improve English is through listening. From now on, I will listen to English radio station either on the way to work or back from work.

Another step I am going to do is to publish some English articles weekly which i read from Internet or somewhere else. It can be any topic, as long as i feel it is interesting. By doing this, i will need to search and spend time to read more English articles. :> People who follow my blog especially my hubby will also benefit by reading English article.

2. Career
Richard & I started to look for new job few months ago. Both of us hope to have some changes on our current situation. Last week, he had two phone interviews from Singapore that lasted more than 2 hours. After few days, he had been informed that he was shortlisted to attend a second interview. The interview will be today after work. From the agent, we knew that the chances to get this job is 50% as there is another candidate was shortlisted too. We really hope that he can successfully get this job which will give him a better income, better environment, new challenges & courage.
For me, I will still continue looking for job. Few weeks ago, i attended an interview too. I did not successfully get this job at the end. However, i did not feel very disappointed because this job was not what i wanted too. So, beside applying job & attending interview, we will continue chanting like what we are doing now every day. Chant for a job that can match with the life style that we want and do what we are interested in.

Okay, i did talk about my wish to start my own design business in the future. How can I make my dream comes true? Honestly, I have no good and long term planing for it now, anyway, i am following 2 freelance designer blogs in the past few months. I learn something from the blogs. They will keep updating what they did, their projects, the before & after pictures and also their comments & knowledges about the job. I also searched for freelance job on the Internet. I had given out one quotation of a job few weeks ago. I not successful get the job, but this was my first try. Bravo to myself. :>

My current job gave me chances to know how other designers provide quote & deal with clients. I learned some important documentations & letters from the process. I think now I have to seriously search for some freelance jobs which can give me an extra income, more satisfaction to my job & also more experiences gaining in my life.The next step I need to do is to collect some informations & port folio to start my own design blog/website. I also need to think of how to name my business. It is still too early to register a company now, however, a name will help in creating a professional image when I provide a quotation to others. I am still cracking my head to think for a suitable & creative business name. Maybe I can try to get suggestion from people around me, I may not really use what people suggest, but their idea can inspire me!

3. Improve 3D skill
I realized even though this is the goal I set, but I do not have the motivation to start it. I may not really hate to do it, but when I think of it, it is just equal to job. I feel bored. Maybe I should not give myself stress. Just take it as a game; just think that it is a game. Okay, I am playing computer game now~ hahaa...

I bought the 3D rendering software-Vray right after the week i did this review. :> Good start, right? I will test it when i am free, probably this weekend. After sometimes, I am going to post the result on my blog too!

4. Emotion
I know I am a very emotional person, easy to get angry and impatient to people or things. I have no idea how to effectively improve it. I can only list down few steps to follow:
-Try not to talk loud to family members & hubby.
- When I am angry or in bad mood, try to accept that this is my true emotion. I have to stay calm or walk away to cold down myself.
- Be more patient to anything.


5. one week once cleaning(house)
we still remained old habit, which is clean the house only when we feel it is very dirty. I did consider hiring maids once a month, which will cost me around rm40 monthly. However at last i still think it is not the right time to do so. We better save the cost and spend some times to do it ourselves. From now on, we will take it as one of our weekly exercise. Our target will be clean the house at least every two weeks.  
 
6. weekly exercise
Same, remained old habits. So now, we will either clean the house or have our jogging every weekend morning.
 
7. Health
I did my white blood test according to the schedule i set, and the result is normal. I didn't do the heart bet test because i think i will do again the test end of this year. If the result still abnormal, i will really need to look for specialist.
 
I still fail to drink more water like what i have plan. I always forgot to drink and not really eager to drink too. New way to improve is bring another water bottle with me while driving to work. So when i am driving and feel bore, i will automatically drink water. By this way, i can drink more 500ml daily. I started to practice it for two days, it works. I hope i can continue this new habit.
 
Another step is, refill my water bottle at office every morning before i start my work on computer.  Try to finish it before i left the office.
 
8. Chanting 15 minutes daily.
I did set this type of goal once a while, but none of them has been successfully reach. Not because i do not have strong faith to it, but it is because laziness & impatient. In this few months, i only manage to 'ShanSho' every morning & night. I know it is not the right way to practice Nichiren Buddhism that required Faith, Practice & Study. I also know that to have more good fortune to face the challenges in front of us, Richard and I need to pay more effort on practicing this Buddhism. Our new goal is chanting for at least 15 minutes every week at home. 'ShanSho' every morning & night. 'Gongyo' every 2 days.  Attend chanting meet weekly that will help to build understanding & confident.
 
9. Tidy up store room & 2 bedrooms
My parent & sister just move their things from my store room to their new house last month end. Now is the time for me to start this plan. I would very happy to tidy up the store room and make it comfortable to use as laundry area too. I got some leftover paints from my sister. I plan to paint my two bedrooms and decorate it to become one guest room & one study room. Anyway, i need to allocate a budget so that i know how much i can spend to convert it to study room. I will only buy those DIY furniture from Ikea, that is easy for me to know how much to spend. I think this planing will only complete in few stages. I will start my design & budgeting this weekend.
 
10. Renovate Back Yard & garden
I do not think that we will have budget for it this year. I will put this renovation plan as pending and i will only think about it next year.
 
11. Financial planing.
I read the financial website that Yen's recommend. It is interesting. i start to do my monthly financial planing seriously. Richard and I started to record down every single daily expenses  to investigate where our money goes monthly so that we can improve it. Any how, we forgot to record few days at the end of the month. So, we need to restart it this month. Hope that it goes well. If we can follow what we plan, travel to Korea in this year end is not a dream. :>

I will review the goals again next month-June.