Hello all once again,

I kicked off 2010 by bringing excitement back into my life! For 3 days in a row, I had outings, met new people as well as reminisce old times with close friends whom I have not met for a long while. These 2 weeks have been great. I took the chance to clear my remaining leaves (5 days). I treasured and made use of the freedom to wake up slightly later, go where ever I wanted to go, do the things I wanted to do during day time. It really feels good not to be tied to the chains under the employment of the army which unfortunately I am tied to for another 21 months or so. Never mind about that, it is just one of the very few things in life I cannot choose not to do. I am glad and fortunate enough to have the time to do whatever I want to in the night and weekend though. I call these my “precious time”. Limited but very valuable and must be spent carefully. About 7 hours each day on weekdays and 2 full weekend days. To me, I find that this year is very crucial for my growth. Why? Because with those limited time that I have compared to many of my peers (who are still in army) who don’t, I can either use it to do things that do not contribute in anyway to my wellness, both present or future, or I can use it to relax, shake my leg and slack it all away. Of course, me being me, I fully understand that I cannot afford to waste “precious time” as once it is lost, I will only end up living in regret and not fulfillment. I hate that feeling which I had at the end of 2009. I was totally disappointed with the quality and amount of things I learnt, done and try to grow as a person. Not a big concern now because I am glad that it’s the beginning of 2010 and I can renew, re-plan, re-focus and actually take certain and positive action for growth. New beginnings can bring new opportunities which can bring renewed faith and great success.

I titled this post New Year Intentions instead of just New Year Resolutions because I prefer to use something more generic, adaptable and flexible to me. The word Resolution seems too fixed, stale and inflexible which is not aligned to the world we live in. We are in a world of constant change, doesn’t matter whether it is fast or slow, but things will change. The fact that things change, I changed, but my resolutions did not change resulted in me not achieving them. I changed my mind about what to pursue and how to pursue it, but my resolutions and goals were not kept real (many times overambitious) and I ended up putting too much pressure on myself resulting in the lack of achievement. A very trivial way of putting it is that I was too narrow minded and hard headed not to look beyond results only. So, likewise in my previous post, I will take a different approach to goal setting this year and instead call it New Year Intentions, not just Resolutions. On a side note, I will still have goals or resolutions but having Intentions supports these resolutions better. I will explain more.

Why intentions? I’ve always been a big fan of intentions. To me, it’s a term that describes a cause for action. By cause I mean a forethought or purpose behind action. It encompasses the spirit of purpose and motivations behind doing something rather than focusing on the result alone. Though it might seem like a “weaker” word than resolutions or goals which are more absolute and firm terms for achievement, I find that it suites me well because I realise that it’s always better to look beyond just results only. Good Intention behind great results is very important. I think there is a big difference when we have bad intentions and still get great results. I mistook or did not even consider the intentions behind my resolutions and goals last year and was aiming with an unloaded gun. Hack, even if I had a gun, having no clear intentions was like not knowing what kind of gun I was using to hit the right target. It’s like holding a pistol to shoot a tank not knowing that the pistol doesn’t work. The purpose was to penetrate and blow up the tank (goal), not just leave scratches (wrong purpose/cause). Having the right intentions is like the qualitative aspect of achieving (often described as the “why”), the goals are the measurable aspect, quantitative (the “what”), if you want to compare it another way. With intentions which are usually flexible, you can use it to ensure that you are onto the right path to achieving a goal. You can change your intention behind the the goal you want to achieve earlier. This allows you to rethink through your set goal and consider changing it also. I will give examples with regards to this approach when I name my intentions for the year below.

List of Intentions (in no particular order):

1. Market or introduce products and services of value to others and let them reap the benefits of these products.
2. Be a better planner and organizer of information in order to be more systematic, clear minded and line myself up for ultra productivity
3. Be sincere and honest in the way I communicate and do things with others for they will do the same back.
4. Be financially free by building a few passive income streams, making my money work for me and my worth work the money I get
5. Attract people and make friends who are sociable, understanding and empowered to achieve and strive for excellence in all areas of their lives. They may also be great people to work with in the many projects that I have installed for in 2010. Reconnect frequently with current friends as well.
6. Raise my energy and motivation levels to a level whereby I feel that I can overcome all odds and push through to success. Focus these energies on productive activities.
7. Carpe Diem! every moment, every day. Take consistent action and leverage and build on my strengths.
8. Skills-wise: Be proactive in my learning. Learn fast, enjoy learning and apply what I’ve learnt to yield the results I want
9. Be socially responsible and give back. Whatever I do earn, I give some back to society, especially those who really needs it. Whatever I do have but don’t need, give it away to someone or somewhere that can be reused or recycled to something for future use.
10.  Harbour less on the negatives, more on the positives and always be a possibilist for it will open my mind, enrich my soul and I will feel great!

So with the above intentions in mind… I will list a few goals that I want to achieve in 2010. This time round, hopefully I won’t spread myself out too thin.

1. Build a successful, valuable and profitable blog. Kaizenkoh.com. Though I will blog about my personal progress, I will muse about other interests that can relate to personal development and growth which is the main focus of the blog. Other interests being Public Speaking, Design, Business and Marketing, Thinking and other general stuff. Still a few loose ends to tighten and I will be ready. I won’t name a target number of subscribers or page views to hit but I am sure my blog will garner interest of those people who want to achieve and seek excellence in their lives especially in the areas that I have interests in too.

2. Start my internet marketing journey and direct it to success. This shall be my focus on building passive income. My blog will be one form of getting income (perpetually) but I will also put my focus on other means. Currently focusing on affiliate marketing and Ebay. Affiliate marketing because I feel that I want to leverage on the products and direct my energies on learning the marketing aspect of internet marketing. Ebay because I have loads of stuff in my room to clear as well as my other house. Target Income will be around $2000 per months passive by the end of this year.

3. Toastmasters Competent Communicator and beyond. I remember that it was one of my goals last year which I did not achieve but I will do so this year. Public speaking has always been an interest of mine and a skill which I love building upon. It is close to a passion but not quite there yet. I have about 7 projects left for CC which I want to complete by June 2010. What goes beyond? Competent leader, but let’s take one step at a time. Another goal is to network and make new friends by visiting the various clubs and learn from them.

4. House Renovation. This shall be one of the things I need to manage after Chinese New Year with my Dad. I figured that it’s worth renovating the house for $10k maybe $20k to reap higher rental returns than what we are earning now. Doubt my dad wants to sell the house any time soon so might as well sqeeze more profit juice out of it. Target Date is June 2010 but I expect it to be finished earlier. Target Rental is $2.5k per month.
 
5. Develop Design Thinking and Learn Design Skills. This is one of the skill sets that I think business people should have. I will develop this through reading and doing. Read books related to design thinking and thinking creatively. Observe my surroundings and build a swipe file worth of wonderful design stuff. Do by learning and applying the technical skills of programs such as Illustrator, Photoshop and Indesign. Though all these don’t seem measurable, my goal is to simply be proficient in the basic functions of these programs first and then move on to doing really cool and serious stuff with them.

6. Learn a new sport and continue with Qigong. I wanted to learn Archery last year but did not manage to get a coach or attend a class. This year, I will be proactive again and ask around to join a class. For Qigong, I will need to draw up a schedule and dedicate myself to doing it and make it a habit, from 2 times to 3 times or more a week at least.

7. Learn Basic Piano. I’ve bought a course, downloaded my favourite scores and continue to be in love with the sound of music especially jazz. I want to reconnect with my musical roots and learn an instrument all over again. I won’t be able to dedicate myself to playing it everyday but I will try my best to learn a few songs by the end of this year.

8. Read more books. Cut down on passive activities such as shows or just stoning around and actually pick up a book, flip the pages and read. I will usually read on various topics ranging from business to thinking to psychology and world issues. Not really a fiction fan but maybe I will read a few great novels just to have variety and maybe pick up ideas from them too. At least 1 book a week, if not 2. Which makes it 52 to 104 books this year. I will keep a list =).

9. Exercise 2 to 3 times a week. Strength, Cardio and Flexibility. Swimming, Body weight training and maybe pilates? These are the few things I am looking to to keep not only healthy but fit and energized to carry out other activities.

 10. Learn about investing and grow my family’s wealth safely and carefully. I will be reading books and playing games on investing. Haven’t really focused on this in the previous years but I guess it’s a good time to focus on it especially when my family has some money lying around uninvested. Achieve at least 10-20% gains in whatever amount I can invest and will invest during the course of the year.
 
Learning will be my main focus this year because I realise by not going to school, I have free time to focus on things that truly do matter in life and are of big interests and passions to me. I am also fortunate enough not to be slogging away at work till I am dead tired with no energy to do anything else after work. Thankfully, my family is quite self sufficient financially because we do have good spending habits. My dad and I have good control of our expenditures and so far we are making ends meet very well while still getting to enjoy certain simple pleasure in life e.g. good food.

With the right intentions, I am more grounded and clear about the “Why” (purpose and cause) of achieving on top of just the “What” (goals). This can relate back to deriving a stronger sense of fulfillment instead of just aiming for one off short term successes. From how I see it, the journey to many achievements to come can be purposeful and more meaningful while the results of the journey will be super fulfilling thereafter. I also feel that I will enjoy most of the things I set myself out to do this year because there’s a drive to succeed and learn. Most probably things might affect my goals and I will affect my goals to change. What would remain the same will be the intentions driving the goals. I am sure it will be the fuel for the fire to learn =).

At the end of each day, I will ask myself : “Was I better today than yesterday?”. At the end of the year, : “Was I better this year than previous years?”. =)

Love,
Kelvin

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