Living Purposefully in 2022
I have never been one to set yearly goals. The thought made my eyes roll. I had seen countless people set lofty goals on January 1st only to peter out a month or two into the year.
"What was the point?" I'd think, dispassionately.
But 2021 was different. I'd finally found something to care about and nurture: content creation. It pushed me to learn and think critically, but most of all, it was fun.
So after 27-years of being alive, how did I somehow end up here?
Timeline of 2021
- In June, I finished my PGY-2 Medication-Use Safety & Policy residency
- In August, I started my first non-staffing pharmacy job as a Regulatory Compliance Pharmacy Specialist
- From October to November, I created 6 pharmacy training videos for work
- Inspired by my work accomplishments, I started my website in October
- From October to December, I published 8 blogs posts
- In December, I published my 1st YouTube video
Looking back, it's funny how life falls into place. While my journey to this point was a series of unintentional events, I want to pursue this newfound passion further. Purposefully.
So I took the last couple of weeks off to reset my vision and think about my goals. What do I want out of my life? How does content creation fit into it? What's in store for 2022?
Goals for 2022
This upcoming year, I want my days to be intentional and goal-driven. However, I've always struggled to balance ambitious plans with a sustainable workflow. My days would be action-packed to the brim with no time to relax. I'd get frustrated at myself for being unable to keep up with the intensity and lose motivation.
This tweet by Sahil Bloom helped me realize the flaws in my approach and gave me comfort that I wasn't alone.
So how should I approach my goals?
Luckily, Sahil also shared a goal-setting guide. You can check out the thread here, but the quick and dirty version of it is to:
- Establish areas of priority in your life
- Set an ambitious goal for each area
- Develop medium-sized milestones for each goal
- Set 2-3 daily habits to reach those goals
In thinking about my own life, I adapted this goal-setting framework to build a structure for 2022. My four life buckets are Relationships, Health, Pharmacy, and Creativity.
Relationships
It's probably not a secret, but I'm a workaholic. I have a habit of always throwing myself at work and neglecting those around me.
It needs to stop. Work will always be there for me, but time with friends and family is finite. I don't want to look back on my life and realize I took people for granted when it's already too late.
Another reason I'd like to venture beyond the walls of my home is because of the value in connecting with other creative people. By perpetually hermitting in my echo chamber, I automatically make myself the smartest person in the room. But in the grand scheme of things, this is not true. So I'd like to find a different room full of people smarter than me. Hopefully, they'll want to be my friends, too.
Overarching Goal: Spend more time with friends & family and find a community to belong to
Progress Measure(s):
- Plan a friend/family gathering at least once per month
- Monthly assessments for fit on the communities I've joined
Daily Habits:
- Spend 45 minutes with my husband & cat every day
- Connect with friends when the opportunity arises
- Authentically engage in a community as appropriate
Health
Ultimately, I want to feel happy in my body. The last time I felt confident in myself was in college, when I used to lift weights every day. But now that I'm working, I don't have the time to spend 1 to 1.5 hours in the gym on top of the extra travel time going to a well-equipped facility would add. And honestly, with COVID, I'd rather exercise at home.
My health aspirations are also an investment into my long-term well-being. My goal is when I am older, I can be as independent as possible. To achieve that, I need to increase my cardiovascular health to prolong my lifespan and build stronger bones through strength training.
Overarching Goal: Happier and healthier me
Progress Measure(s):
- Monthly photos of myself
- Monthly body measurements
- Strength measurements (i.e., number of pull-ups until failure)
- Cardio measurements (i.e., VO2 max)
Daily Habits:
- Do strength training or cardio for 30 minutes every day
- Eat 3 nutritious meals a day
- Avoid snacking & processed foods on the weekdays
Pharmacy
Initially, this wasn't going to be a bucket. However, given I am spending 40-hours per week at my pharmacy job, it seemed appropriate to develop professional career goals. And since starting in this position, my time spent multi-tasking has noticeably increased.
Working in healthcare administration, I always have heaps and heaps of unfinished work. But frequently, my head is spinning, trying to figure out what to tackle next.
The missing element? Structure.
In an attempt to finish everything, I accomplish nothing. But as I've learned from the wisdom on the Internet - healthy focus and consistency lead to progress. Therefore, I'd like to structure my day to be goal-driven, minimize distractions, and allow for rest. Controlling these three factors will help me increase engagement in meetings and do focused work.
Overarching Goal: Build daily work structure to enable focused work on assigned priorities and professional development
Progress Measure(s):
- Weekly reflections on completed tasks, overall productivity, and upcoming priorities
- Complete ASHP's Compounded Sterile Compounding certificate and a regulatory-pharmacy certificate by the end of the year
Daily Habits:
- Spend the first hour of work responding to emails from the day before and avoid checking emails throughout the day unless it's urgent
- Spend 1 hour each day to learn something related to my role
- Take a lunch break rather than eating while working
Creativity
In 2021, I found immense happiness through the creative process, which I want to carry into 2022. But what are my goals?
Most people might aim for outcome goals, like reaching 1,000 subscribers or getting 100,000 views. But I'd like to take a different approach and focus on input goals. This strategy is better for my mental well-being, so I can focus on creating rather than refreshing the page to see how many views my video got.
While it may seem trivial, my goal this year is to post consistently, making incremental improvements every time. Because I know myself to be an over-planner when the stakes are low, I'm committing to posting once weekly.
Overarching Goal: Post a video and/or blog post every week
Progress Measure(s):
- Weekly reflection on where I spent my time, what went well, and what can be improved
Daily Habits:
- Spend 1.5 hours every morning working on creative content
- Listen to audiobooks/podcasts during dead time (i.e., morning commute) to feed the creative content
- Learn or try something new thing every week
With all that said, buckle up. Let's make 2022 a year to remember.
