Hey 2017!

In true Georgie style, I thought it was time to change my Hello [year] posts that I had started from 2010 to something more fitting. Hey 2017 feels a little too excited for my liking but it only fits with this whole Hey Georgie sort of thing. Remember my Hey World! post from when I renamed my blog? 💁🏻

Hey, goals (or #goals), we need to talk

While the rest of the world writes resolutions and goals, similar to last year, I don’t feel like writing any hard-and-fast goals. Liz wrote recently about not creating goals anymore because it’s boring and time-consuming, and she wants to spend more time living her life and doing things she enjoys. It’s true that goals can be more restraining and chore-like rather than motivating. Back in 2012 I actually wrote about how goals are overrated, and how my goal that week was to not make any goals. Last week I read an article that sums up both Liz’s and my feelings exactly. James Clear outlines three problems with goals, as well as their solutions:

  1. Goals reduce your current happiness.
  2. Goals are strangely at odds with long-term progress.
  3. Goals suggest that you can control things that you have no control over.

I found the article resounded greatly with me. He suggested enjoying systems rather than goals, and committing to a process rather than a goal. He gave an example of going to the gym and feeling pain before completing a set, but realising that it didn’t matter about actually completing the set when he was planning to go to the gym or exercise for the rest of his life.

I highly recommend reading the article if you’re also rethinking the idea of goals or finding them more stressing than motivating. 👍

What I said last year, what I’ll do this year

Last year, I wrote that I wanted to go back to the gym, which I did. I have been going regularly, and it’s been going well! I have a post planned about my fitness journey that you should see this month or next month. In the meantime, you can see my final Instagram photo from 2016 was a gym selfie that I was finally brave enough to share. 💪

I also wrote about cleaning my wardrobe and stopping buying too much jewellery. I wasn’t able to completely resist buying jewellery, but I got rid of so much by donating it to the charity store! The amount of clothing I have has decreased, too (losing weight from the gym has helped, haha), and I am going to give more detailed updates about those soon.

Last year I said I wanted to handle my negative emotions better, have patience, and take my time. I think I did alright, but I want to continue trying to do that this year. But new focuses are good, so my new personal focus will be to eat healthier and sleep better. I want to make sure I get my intake of vegetables and fruit and avoid eating junk. I’m going to sleep at a reasonable time (by 11pm) every day unless I’m out for an event or on special occasions. I guess weekends can be a little more flexible too.

Oh my goodness, 2017

It’s literally the year I’ll get married, and move out. It’s the year I expect many exciting things to happen, beyond that. The year I will (probably) decide to be a full-stack developer instead of a half-stack developer – just kidding, I mean, front-end developer… I am hoping to gain more skills in programming, and it’s going to be hard work. Just last week, in the last days of 2016, I was working from home but trudging through writing JavaScript that, only a year ago, I would just push away and not even try. So, baby steps.

There is also an exciting new segment coming to my blog, so look out for that. I’m hoping to be able to launch it this month. Fingers crossed. 🤞 I am also thinking of changing my URL permanently to heygeorgie.co – I think some of you will miss the dot separator, but I believe it’ll be easier to remember and you’ll get used to it pretty quickly anyway.

My blogging was a bit erratic during 2016 and I liked planning upcoming blog posts but I need to do that more actively. I found myself still writing posts last-minute and I want to have a general plan for when to publish the next post every time I publish one.

Many people think exciting things come in the form of changes, but, exciting things don’t really have to change. I am certain of two things: 2017 marks another year I’ll be working for the best email company in the world, and another year with the person I love the most. ❤️

Myself and Nick with one of Claude Monet’s Water Lilies murals as a backdrop
It’s been a while since we’ve taken sticker photos! Did you know that they are called “purikura” in Japanese?

Comments on this post

It’s going to be a big year for you and I hope it is really amazing. :D I can only wish you all the very very very best. I have been reading your blog for quite a while now, and I am honestly so happy that things have turned out the way they have. I am really proud of you. <3

2017 has one of the biggest events lined up for you I believe, Georgie.
Getting married, moving out (this is difficult I think cuz we are so used to always coming back home to our parents at the end of the day), exploring new areas in the corporate world, all these are life changing events!

New blog segment? sounds interesting, I’m certainly looking forward to it!

Ah, James Clear actually makes a good point about goals. I never really thought about it like that, and to be honest, I’m in the same boat. Instead of having #goals, I’ll be just going with the flow. Not to say there isn’t anything I wnt to achieve because there definitely, but we’ll see 2017 brings for me.

Looking forward to reading about your fitness journey! You and Pauline have been on it, and it’s honestly inspirational!

Ahh! You’re getting married this year. This so fecking exciting <3 I LOVE a wedding! Happy New Year, babes – it's gonna be a good'un :D

I used to really hate new year’s resolutions, and I still do to an extent. I totally believe that if you want to make a change, go for it, right now. Waiting for the new year is silly when you could already be implementing that positive change. I’ve started making goals the last year or so, but they’re more like guidelines, I think. Except for my annual goal to read 52 books, I like to leave my goals more open-ended so I can adapt when circumstances change.

Eeeee! So excited for you and Nick, Georgie! I can only imagine all the emotions you are feeling so cherish this exciting time!

I’m looking forward to all your new posts and to your new blog segment! I hope you have a great 2017 Georgie! Wishing you and Nick all the best! xx

the purikura is so cuuuute hahahaha it’s cute and funny at the same time. the other day i suggested my bf “let’s go to the arcade for purikura” and he went BUT WHY :( i iz so sad… purikura is ridiculous it’s funny (and i want prints :( )

it’s boring and time-consuming, and she wants to spend more time living her life and doing things she enjoys — THIS. i actually googled the differences between goals and resolutions. to some, they may mean the same thing but for me and from what i have read, the explanation on why they differ kinda makes sense. as i’m commenting on your post, i just finished writing a post on my blog that list down my what-i-call “easy, basic and do-able notes” which, to some, may look like realistic goals or resolution. i personally don’t call them goals because they’re really easy notes and reminders but if one has to, i’d rather have them be called goals rather than resolution. resolution is the pretentious one; goal isn’t, not much at least. just a personal opinion. of course, it’s no use sweating about these…. resolution thing because pfft, things can change and i’d rather be realistic than an overachieving idealist who’s all “omg i promise i’m gonna do this this and that this year!” pfft.

handle my negative emotions better, have patience, and take my time – i’m slowly learning on how to distract and alternate my power or urge to explode on something else so i don’t get easily compromised by emotion. i’ll still explode if i can’t handle it anymore though but yea, i hope i can continue managing my emotion. there’s a long ass story behind this though lol. i also want to incorporate more veggies and fruits in my daily nutrition intake. in 2015, i ate so many of them because i wanted to lose weight fast but yea, i end up feeling sluggish and crappy because i didn’t let myself eat the things i wanted, y’know. hopefully today, i can balance between giving myself treats once in a while and eat more veggies and fruits too.

i can never sleep at 11 pm though HAHAHA even when i had internship and i was so physically tired, i still slept at 12 – 1 midnight. idk why but 9-10 pm is also too early for me unless i’m not feeling well. i used to sleep at like 5-6 am or went 2 days without sleep even during my college days. now, i can’t really do that anymore. i can sleep (or force sleep) myself around 3-4am. i know it’s still bad news but it’s 2-3 hours earlier than it used to so… hehehe

Haha seriously, boys. My ex used to draw really ugly shit all over the purikura when we edited them and that made me really upset. They are still supposed to be cute, not gross and messy. And they also cost quite a bit!

You might want to try origrami.com if you have any photos of you two – you can print them into squares and it’s pretty cheap. You can either connect to your Instagram account or choose photos from your phone.

I still let myself have treats, even daily, sometimes I will have some candy. But I make sure that I eat lots of vegetables and stuff that’s good for me, on the same day. 👌

10pm seems really early so I go for 11pm, but I enjoy waking up early so 11pm is usually good. I am alright on about 7-7.5 hours of sleep. xD

Happy New Year!

I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of awesome things you do with your blog :)

I’ve also been interested in being a full stack developer. I’m pretty much set with HTML/CSS and I’m good with Javascript (though I would like to type up some loose ends in that area) but I definitely need work on my php skills. I also really want to know more about making websites more responsive (I wish it was something that my classes touched base on). But good luck!

In a way, I agree with the article. It’s much better in the long term to set a habit or system that works for you, and then results will happen when they happen. I also think goals can be helpful depending on the person and how they’re set though. I like having small, realistic goals over time, which I guess is more like a to-do list. I just like having something to look at as a reminder and motivator :)

I think that’s awesome that you accomplished most of what you wanted to do last year! Nice job on going back to the gym and donating your clothing and jewelry! I also like the last part about handling negative emotions. I had a similar goal years ago, and I felt it helped change my mindset. I feel like I don’t get upset or worked up as often anymore because I try to figure out whether it’s worth spending negative energy on first.

Wow, 2017 sounds like it’ll be a big year for you! I’m so excited for you and your wedding! Also, good luck on learning more programming, and I can’t wait to see the new blog segment. Happy new year!

You are going to have an amazing year and a wedding? WOW! I agree that setting too many goals can be stressful. This is why I don’t set resolutions and try to set at least one goal at a time. Those photos of you and Nick are so cute! We don’t have anything like that here. I wish you the very best for this year and beyond. You deserve it!
The domain name change isn’t so bad and it would be easier to find. I can’t wait to see what other goodies you are coming up with for your blog. :)

I can see how goals can reduce happiness. People can get stressed that they have to meet the quota they set up at the beginning of the year. Things can happen over the year that may prevent one from achieving their goals. I’m trying out something different where I don’t have a number set up (Benchpress at least 100lbs xD) but rather a general idea to do something…

Good luck with the good habits you want to continue/improve this year! I’m looking forward to seeing some progression at your work along with some cool changes to the blog ;).

The purikura pictures are so cute!!! I don’t see as much in LA these days D:.

Excited for all your new changes and also excited to hear about your fitness journey. I’m not sure if this sounds weird or not but I always like hearing about others fitness journeys because they’re so inspiring to hear and I feel like if I read about them, it’ll inspire me to be more healthier physically too, haha. Which honestly doesn’t because I should just be doing it but I guess I’m not motivated enough? Not sure but now I’m veering off topic and what I basically wanted to say is that I’m excited to read about your fitness journey!

As for goals, I sort of view them as placeholders. Something I want to accomplish (or something that I know I can accomplish) but won’t be too brokenhearted if I’m unable to accomplish them.

And sounds like 2017 is going to be really exciting for you. The purikura is also super cute. Happy New Year!

There’s nothing better than setting up awesome goals for yourself in the new year. Those pictures are beautiful of you and your fiance. <3

Ha, I feel like a star being mentioned so much in your post and on your blog lately. 😅

As far as the URL goes, I think it’s pretty easy to get used to. It’s only slightly different. 😊

Happy new year! 💖🎉🎍🍻

Im the opposite to you! I’ve gone from avoiding goals to making ridiculous lists. Every year I used to set the resolution ‘to keep all my resolutions’ and no other goals, but over the past couple of years I’ve started making goals. Probably to reassure myself that I’m actually doing okay. I find that it really helps to have a list of things to aim for. It kept me motivated all last year and really helped me mentally. I think it’s a very personal thing though, and we should all do what makes us happy. Some people work better without goals, and that’s fine.

You and Pauline inspire me so much with how motivated you are to exercise and go to the gym. I wish I had your motivation!

I’ll be taking a look through your decluttering posts today, because I really want to be less materialistic this year and get rid of some stuff. Really don’t know where to start though! It’s great that you managed to get rid of so much!

Congrats on all your achievements this year. I’m very excited to hear all about your wedding and life together! So happy for you both!

If you don’t know where to start maybe try one chest of drawers or one cabinet and aim to get that cleaned up in an hour or two. It helps to have a few piles: keeping, rubbish, and a “not sure” pile. The “not sure” pile should be stored separately and be revisited in a month or so, and anything you haven’t touched can safely go. Just catch yourself in the moment if you are keeping something “just in case”.

From the other end, it’s just a matter of working on resisting when you’re at the shops. Only try to buy things you need (make a strict shopping list before heading out). Don’t get sucked in by sales or cheap things because you don’t need a sale to tell you that you need new underwear or socks. :D

If you need any advice just let me know! 💗

I’m looking forward to reading about your fitness journey and how clearing out your closet is going. These are both things I’m trying to do this year and hope it gives me some motivation (haha) and, maybe some tips too.