Another cheesy blogpost about what I learned this year.

1. Be open to doing things with your skills you’re turned off by or don’t find interesting: This last year I learned a very valuable lesson in basically not trusting my gut at times when it came to saying yes to a job or a project, and often being pleasantly surprised by the results. Basically I like using my skills for more things than I thought, and I plan to say yes more often to projects that come my way that are more outside of my sphere of knowledge or that I find odd or boring.
2. Develop a realistic vision of your finances and goals surrounding them: Having good financial skills is really pretty essential I’ve found to be able to do a lot of things in life I’ve wanted to. This year involved learning more about investing, economics, stock markets and ETFs. Always try to save a little bit of money each month, even if it’s $5, that adds up over time.
3. Prepare for failure and learn from it instead of whining about it: Failure will happen, whether it’s in dating, friendships, projects, or jobs. Do your best to prepare for it emotionally, financially and otherwise. Except it to happen, realize sometimes it isn’t your fault, and try to do your best to get over and learn from it. The most valuable lessons I’ve learned in the last few years have come from tremendous failures in jobs, relationships, and other personal affairs.
4. Keep your relationships warm: Stay in touch, be nice, comment, like, send a card, an e-mail, etc. it’s very important to keep this as a priority and do your best to be other people focused and to make other people happy. It makes you happy too!
5. Read physical books: Yes the internet is full of a lot of things to read, but fiction, non-fiction, and otherwise have more value in that they have more depth to them in terms of making an impact on you, your habits, your mind, and otherwise.
6. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you’re having problems: As someone who’s had a rough time the last decade for a variety of reasons, I’ve encountered that prideful idea that “I don’t need nobody.” This is really a poor idea and it only serves to make you feel more isolated, sad, or hurt if you’re really encountering a personal or professional problem you can’t solve. Always ask questions, there are no stupid questions really.
7. Make exercise and health a priority: Your body is the vehicle you travel through our wonderful universe in. It holds all the things that are you, so take care of it. For me this is a top priority. I try to include rigorous exercise, and to eat right for the fitness level I’m attempting to achieve. I do weight lifting, cardio, yoga and pilates.
8. Take time out of everyday to slow down and relax: This is something I still struggle with, as I often want to go 100 miles an hour, but it really is critically important to managing burnout, and letting myself decompress after work. I have noticed a slow, but steady improvement in my overall mood and ability to focus this year because of this.
9. Make fun of yourself more: Being serious is a drag, and something I am still too focused on at times. Learning to laugh at yourself and see the humor in life is so good for you on so many levels.
10. Take smarter risks: This year for me has been one full of gambles in life, a new relationship, new job, new home and all of them so far have worked out alright. Even with my horrible habit of sometimes fretting over the stupidest things, I always look back on big gambles I’ve taken and if they’ve panned out or not. I seem to have this year finally have figured out a few good risks to invest in professionally and personally. Being bold is important, but just jumping off a cliff without thinking or looking is stupid. Assess before you take the leap, at least somewhat.