New year, better me

Happy belated New Year!

Just a month late, but better late than never right? I’ve been meaning to start a blog for a while now and officially made it one of my New Years’ resolutions. It’s funny because just last week, Aldrin and I were sitting at a coffee shop, and he mentioned that he also wanted to start a blog. So…why not create a blog together! That way, we can be accountable for each other and have a space to document our lives, reflect, and share our thoughts. So here it is. It’s happening. But first, a little bit about myself.

I’m from Toronto, grew up in Markham which is pretty much the suburbs full of amazing Asian food. I’m entering my senior year as a biomedical engineering student at the University of Waterloo. Currently situated in San Francisco and working at Apple as a software engineering project manager. I enjoy playing sports like volleyball and badminton, but my heart always goes back to cheerleading. Yes guys, cheerleading is a sport. I started playing the piano since I was 7, well, I was forced. But I guess you could say I appreciate it a lot more now. I love dogs, earl grey, cooking, and cars.

#goals

I’m reading this book called “The One Thing” (10/10 recommend) which gave me the motivation to start this blog and plan for what I want to accomplish this year. You’ll often see me quote from this book just because it’s very applicable to my daily life, or at least I hope it will be. According to the book,

People who write their goals down are 39.5% more likely to succeed. People who write their goals AND share their progress with people that they’ve chosen to hold them accountable, are 76.7% more likely to achieve them.

This is where Aldrin comes in, because what else is a boyfriend good for? Just kidding. I have chosen him to be my accountability buddy, and I am his. His job is to support, encourage, and make sure my actions align with my goals. So what goals are we talking about? This is still a work in progress but I’ve essentially separated my goals into three categories: daily, school/career, and health. They are mainly short-term goals for now, things that could be improved from last year. Note: some of these goals may seem very general/vague, I will get into the details later, so stay tuned.

Daily

• Wake up early, 5:30 am weekdays, 7:30 am weekends.
• Read a chapter of a book.
• Take care of a plant.
• Text mom.
• Be an A+ accountability buddy.

Career

• Succeed at Apple.
• Work on interesting side projects.
• Graduate.
• Figure out what I want to do full-time.
• Build long-term goals.

Health

• Work out everyday.
• Achieve fitness goals.
• Stretch (3x/week).
• Meditate (2x/week).
• Cook healthy food.
• Maintain my weight.
• Have a healthy and positive body image.

So, there are my goals. Although this is a personal blog, it feels a bit weird to be putting this out there. Especially because this won’t always be flowers and dandelions. Mistakes will be made. There will be ups and downs, W’s and L’s. But you know what? You win some, you dim sum. I once said this to Aldrin when he was having a bad day and I have no idea where it came from - maybe it was my cousin Cici since it sounds like something she would say. But nonetheless, this resonates with me. Whenever I have a bad week normally due to bad interviews, fear of failing, and stress from school, I can always look forward to going home for the weekend because my grandparents would take us out for dim sum. So it isn’t just about the food, it’s the great company. It’s knowing that regardless of what is going on in our lives, you win some and you lose some, and when you lose, there will always be people who care and support you. This blog will be the place where I can document my life, track progress, and share my journey to becoming a better version of me.

Written on February 4th, 2018 by Winnie Fong