Blog 74: New Years Resolutions by Xavier Lo, FIA, FRM, MBA

Its nearly Chinese New Year [農曆新年], so I’d like to wish you all an early Happy Chinese New Year and hope the year of the tiger serves you well. In today’s blog, I’d like to write about something that everyone probably has heard of: New Years Resolutions [新年目標]. Just in time if you missed out on the new year that happened about a month ago!

The first thing to think about is what you’ve always wanted to do but have never actually motivated [有動力] yourself enough to do it. The power of the Fresh Start Effect [新開始效果] (see a previous blog) would probably give you that extra push to go ahead. Whether it’s picking up a new hobby, or maybe fixing something in your house, write that down in a list. I normally keep my list on Excel as it is easy to access and won’t get lost (unless I lose my whole computer). Another thing to think about is whether there are some goals that you’ve achieved, but would like to take it to another level [升級]. Maybe you set yourself a goal to lose 10 pounds of weight last year, but still not satisfied? Set another 10 pounds this year. Maybe for those doing actuarial exams [精算試] and have passed a few last year – take it up another level and set yourself goals to pass the last remaining exams!

Why is writing down goals such an important thing to do? Well, in addition to the satisfaction of being able to cross them out when you’ve achieved it (definitely do this, as it really gives yourself a mental boost), the list also serves as a bit of a reminder to yourself [提醒自己]. You must have seen people post some of their own fitness goals on social media – it looks embarrassing if you eventually fail. Writing down your goals achieves a somewhat similar effect. Don’t write too many goals down though as you don’t want to overextend yourself and have too many things.

There you have it. New Years Resolutions are actually not too difficult. Set a reasonable number of goals, and write them down! Happy New Year of the Tiger everyone!