November Review & December Goals

Here comes the last month of the year. The best thing about this year is I am still setting goals and working towards them. That is the best thing about monthly resolutions. If not for this, I would have long been lost in the journey and would not have reached even a single milestone. The onset of a new year does not change anything for me. I will still look at it as a new month and new goals to reach.
 
So coming back to November.

How did November go?

 
To be honest, for the first time in all these months, I can’t really measure November success for how I did for the entire month. I followed my goals diligently for the first 10 days. On the 11th day, I went on a vacation. My rule is to quit from all routines while on Vacation. The story of why I did not do my goals after vacation looks like a kid giving an excuse. But as a part of self-love, I did not want to stress myself. I had a lot of pending work, both office and personal since I was away for 10 days. Getting back to the routine was the toughest part.
 
Long story short- I am reviewing the goals for the first 10 days of November.
 
A Lesson that needs to be learned – Plan on how to get back to routines after a vacation.
 
Let’s quickly see how I did:
 
Network Online:
 
This is the highlight of this month. I have learned a little from this exercise. Initially, I tried finding websites to connect with people. Then I realized that the best way to make this as a habit is to start small. I started commenting on the posts of writers on Medium. Initially, I found this also tough because I did not know how to comment. Slowly I started becoming comfortable doing it. A lot of people liked my comments and a few times the writers responded saying it was a great question.
 
I will continue doing it and share it with you if I learn something path-breaking in this process.
 
Improve Logical/ Critical Reasoning:
 
I did logical reasoning questions diligently for the first 10 days of the month. I was scoring well and I felt accomplished for the ideas I were getting. But then there were a few sets which I was not able to crack under stress. I need to learn how to perform well under pressure.
 
Even though I started doing a course on Critical reasoning, I have not finished it yet. Will aim to finish it this month.
 
One good thing about me:
 
I have a small list of good things about me to bank on now. But the problem with making the list is – You should be careful about what things you write about. For example, if you write something good about what you did today, it does not become a good thing about you. It can just be called as a good deed. It should be something which you do consistently. A few weeks later, if you see the list when you are low, if there are items which you have done just once, you might end up feeling fake.
 
Give Something:
 
This goal was a little flop. All I could help people was by lending pens and phone chargers. I have not done anything exceptional. Probably planning on what I will give and whom I will give would have helped me do it better.
 
Goals into habits:
 
Ted Talks:
 
I went to my action list which I made when I read Ted Talks – The official guide. I decided to watch a TED talk each day from the list.
 
When I searched for Ted talks with the name of the person, I stumbled on various other videos or interviews of them. I didn’t know that there are so many amazing people with amazing thoughts out there until I discovered this way of searching.
 
These ted talks had nothing to do with developing my personality but they had a lot to do with expanding my mind. I will write a separate article after I am done watching all the list.
 

Goals for December:

 
Even though I did not want to start new books, I just can’t stop myself from doing it. But then I decided that I won’t read those books like a novel and write action points which I implement after a few months. I found the first action point and I want to take it as a challenge and do it for this month
 
1.No complaining
 
This is a life-changing goal. If I succeed in this, I can talk about my life as before 2017 December and after 2017 December. I am not a complaint master as of today. But the small things I still complain about still matters.
 
2.Complimenting
 
When you compliment someone, they will automatically start considering you as a friend.
 
Turning old challenges into habits:
 
30-day blogging challenge:
 
The only time in the past one year I wrote consistently was when I did 30-day blogging challenge. I am repeating this challenge to get back to writing daily.
 
Meditation:
 
I have forgotten what it feels like to meditate. I need to make progress in this.
 
Yoga:
 
I want to learn a new set of yoga poses to make my body more flexible.
 
Reading:
 
As a part of organizing activity, I organized the books I have into different genres. I decided that I will read a book from each genre. By doing this, I can read books in cycles where I get a chance to implement what I learn before I finish reading the book.
 
Critical Reasoning Course:
 
I have enrolled for a course on Udemy to improve my critical reasoning skills. I will spend 5 minutes on it daily so that I can complete it at least this month.
 
New Routines:
 
Diary Review:
 
Since it is already the last month of the year, for my annual diary review, I want to read the diary of 2017 and also 2016. So as a part of this exercise, I will read the diary of 2016 January and 2017 January which helps me compare how I have improved over the years.
 
Psychology Course:
 
For the course I am doing in Psychology, I need to submit assignments in mid of March. I need to answer 108 questions as a part of this assignment. In order to make my life simpler, I will write an answer to a question per day, which simplifies my life.
 
When I have too many things to do, I struggle to allocate time for each of them. So I am going to block my calendar for all these activities.
 
How was your November? What are your plans for December? Let us know them in the comments section.
 
Happy December!