Jan 2023: See an update to these goals
I find that having a plan, even if I don’t follow it to a T, helps me feel like I’m moving towards a goal. I also find that publishing a plan makes it feel more concrete. Hence, I’m posting my three year plan. This plan should guide me from now until the end of the 2024 Olympics in Paris (I started thinking about long term planning when I was watching this year’s Olympics).
My plan is divided into two categories – languages, and writing.
Languages
I speak Spanish fluently, and even took a language exam to prove my proficiency. I find languages to be a pretty high reward activity, but one that requires significant delayed gratification. For many years I never thought I would be able to communicate in Spanish fluently, but now I can almost think in Spanish. My Spanish is not perfect, but there’s not a ton of incentive to get to C1 or C2 level unless I started working in Spanish. I can carry out most interactions with Spanish speakers that I encounter in the United States.
My other goals are to get to a B2 level in French, A2 level in Cantonese and Mandarin, and somewhere between an A2 and B1 in Hindi and Telugu. I also want to maintain my Spanish, which shouldn’t be as challenging.
Writing
I love writing. Well actually, I love the finished process of writing, but am not a huge fan of the writing process. When I was in college, I had deadlines and structure to force me to write, but I no longer have that. My goal is to write well, but it’s hard to put that in SMART goal format. So instead, I’ll opt to write 1 article per week and at least 1300 words. I also need to get feedback, so I want to get someone who is trusted to review one of my pieces of writing at least once a wek.
The obstacles I face in writing are largely emotional, as I imagine is the case for most writers. I want my writing to be perfect, in the sense that I want it to be original, enjoyable, insightful, and correct. I tend to index too much on never wanting to make a mistake, and I think that’s a tad bit unrealistic. I’m going to aim for 70% perfection, and rely on external feedback to judge my performance. I also need to open myself up to being wrong – because I feel like I’m so scared of being wrong that I don’t expose any of my thoughts about the world which is boring.