I love “new year energy”. It’s the promise of fulfilling new dreams, renewing gym memberships, and purchasing new activewear (Old Navy had a timely 50% off sale this weekend). I haven’t been watching much live TV, but I imagine we’re deep into “New Year Noom Me” season (I’m very proud of myself for that one).
I think it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the frenzy of motivational content and vision boards, especially when some of us are still recovering (and perhaps healing) from the holidays. Sustainability is key. The way that I balance the excitement and hesitancy of making and wanting to keep my New Year’s resolutions is by creating actionable plans (that are not too intense… that is a new revelation). I’ll expand on that in a bit.
I never thought I would return to vision boards, since the last time I made one, the COVID-19 pandemic squashed my Italy study abroad plans… Yes, this is still a key disappointment that frames my personality. Nevertheless, the vision board girlies got to me this year, and a vision board I made. Along with a spreadsheet, as always.
I think I did a better job with my vision board this year by making it more realistic and attainable. Less photos of salads, more salmon bowls. Because let’s be real, I love a Jennifer Aniston salad, but I could not be bothered to eat one more than once a week.
Similarly, the spreadsheet is more realistic this year. Actionable plans! I have a weekly breakdown of which tasks I need to accomplish in order to make progress on my annual goals (for example, Week 3 is focused on starting The Odyssey, continuing Martyr!, and working through The Intelligent Investor). This may sound strict (read: crazy), but it’s not supposed to be rigid, and I wouldn’t be failing if I don’t achieve everything in the weekly plan. Now that would be crazy.
One phrase that I devised towards the end of last year is “shoot for the stars, land on the moon”. This, of course, is not the traditional version of the phrase, which is “shoot for the moon, land among the stars”. I never really understood that version of the phrase, mostly because it makes no sense scientifically. If you shoot for the moon and miss, you are nowhere near as “among” the stars as if you were still on Earth. Second, “landing among the stars” doesn’t really seem like an accomplishment, more just a nice place to be? Third, the stars are farther than the moon, so why would I aim low by shooting for the moon?
I like my version much better. Shoot for the stars, land on the moon. If you set really ambitious goals and work towards them, my theory is that by the end of the year, your life, etcetera, you’re going to look back and see that you achieved a lot. You’ll see that you probably landed on the moon and didn’t even know it (which is a HUGE achievement, and deserves to be recognized).
An example of this is from my 2024 goals. I aimed to read 30 books by the end of the year; this has always been a “stars” goal for me since I haven’t achieved it and it would require a lot of dedication and consistency from me. I made it to 29 books by December 31st. Some of you may think this is depressing since I was so close to my goal, and I’ll admit that I was depressed for about two hours on the 31st at the realization that I would not be able to finish my last book before then.
Instead, however, let’s zoom out and look at the big picture. Twenty-nine books is a lot of books. I read 10,259 pages and discovered a few five-star reads, including You’re That Bitch by Bretman Rock and Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan. To me, reading twenty-nine books in one year and finding books I loved along the way is landing on the moon.
Now, in 2025, I’m still going to shoot for 30 books by the end of the year. If I meet that goal, then I’ll try for 35 books next year, then 40, 50, etc. The idea here is to set ambitious goals that feel uncomfortable, which is similar to the whole “land among the stars” philosophy, but it’s unique in that we recognize tangible accomplishments along the way.
Here are some moons that I landed on in January, also known as Slays of the Week, or Slays of the Month in this essay.
I received a divine message on December 29th that I should learn how to play piano. I have never in my life had a true interest in piano, and I’m not sure where this thought came from (which is why I call it a divine message). It was such a strong thought that I couldn’t deny it, and so I bought a digital piano, and I haven’t looked back yet.
I created a plan to teach myself piano, and hopefully to become an advanced beginner by the end of the year. Every week, I should work through 10 pages of the Albert All-In-One Adult piano book, watch one Andrew Furmanczyk Theory video, watch one Andrew Furmanczyk piano video, and make some progress through Bartok’s Mikrokosmos. The Albert book is helping tie everything from the YouTube videos together a lot since I’m practicing my sight reading with real songs (which makes me feel more accomplished and interested). I’ll also find sheet music to learn the songs I love as my skills progress.
My first SOTM this month is playing “I Dreamed a Dream” from the Les Miserables soundtrack on piano. It’s a right-hand-only piece, and I learned it from sight reading the notes and practicing the sections until I memorized it all. I’m sure the technique was off, but I’m so proud of myself, and that definitely qualifies as a Slay of the Month. Learning to play songs I love is the motivation that gets me through practicing my major scales.
My second SOTM is reading The Epic of Gilgamesh. Last month, I posted a literature curriculum that ChatGPT helped me create, and I resolved to start it this year. The AI model and I decided that it would be felicitous for me to start with none other than the “very first story” ever recorded; it’s pretty short, and I finished it in about a week and a half. I read the Penguin Classics version, translated by N. K. Sandars, and I loved it; I rated it 4 stars.
What we learn from The Epic of Gilgamesh is that human nature hasn’t changed very much at its core over the past three to four thousand years. We have always struggled with the impermanence of life, and we have always cherished deep, meaningful relationships. The exploration of fame and legacy in the tale was also surprisingly relevant to me.
In the story, Gilgamesh and Enkidu go on their quest to defeat Humbaba in order to attain fame and everlasting glory (and to cure Enkidu’s boredom). By the end of the story, Gilgamesh realizes that the deeds he leaves behind are more important than the immortality to continue enjoying the fame. Gilgamesh becomes a better king after realizing this, and the people love him more for it.
This actually ties into conversations I’ve had with my friends over the past few weeks about modern-day fame via social media influencers. Most of my friends and I wanted to be famous when we were little (the ones who didn’t are humble unicorns who I admire and look up to). Moreover, a lot of influencers nowadays enter the social media sphere with the sole goal of becoming famous for their personality.
Personally, I’ve all-but given up on promoting my work through social media because I feel like it’s distracting me from the work I actually want to do. Maybe one day I’ll go back to sharing short-form content, but for now it’s not for me. I get too caught up in the views/analytics. I’m trying to consume less and do more in general. Spend less time making SOTW promotion reels, spend more time writing for the blog or doing art school or reading or whatever. Focus on the good work, and worry about myself instead of what others think about me or my work. Enjoy life, because it is short. I think Siduri might agree.
This is not to say that all influencers seek glory, obviously that’s not true. There are amazing creators who consistently put out great work. I am constantly in awe of them. A few influencers I love to watch are The Wizard Liz, Internet Shaquille, Therapy Jeff, and Bretman Rock.
My third SOTM is finishing 101 Conversations in Mexican Spanish, an audiobook I found on Spotify. I’ve been trying to work on my Spanish fluency, and going to Spain last year motivated me all over again to pursue polyglotism. My reading comprehension is becoming pretty solid, but there’s a lot of room for improvement with my listening skills. Olly Richards, the author of 101 Conversations, is a polyglot, and his stance in the book’s introduction helped me chill out a lot. He claims that you don’t have to pause and define every word you don’t understand in order to attain fluency.
Instead, listening actively and trying to get the gist of the conversation is going to do you more favors in the long run. First, you’ll be listening uninterrupted, which will help keep your brain in a flow state. Second, chances are that you’ll hear that mystery word again in a different context, and context clues will eventually help you define the word.
Por ejemplo, yo quería vivir en una casa por encima de una colina algún día. Pero me di cuenta de que los ratones también viven en las colinas, y no los quiero como los vecinos.
I’m sure that’s not perfect Spanish, but the idea is that if I stopped to Google what a “colina” is, I would have lost the puzzle of reading the next sentence and figuring out, okay, something about living on top of something where mice also live? Probably a hill. There’s value in piecing the meaning together that way.
The next step in my Spanish learning journey is to listen to the Harry Potter series in audiobook format. So far, it has been extremely difficult but motivating. I already know the story forwards and backwards, and I was already thinking about listening to it this year, so I figured why not do it in Spanish? Escobas, capas y todo.
The audiobook series is a step above 101 Conversations in difficulty, especially since it’s not written for educational purposes. Whereas in 101 Conversations, the same dialogue was repeated every now and then for clarity (somewhat contrived but helpful for the listener), Harry Potter is more so “one and done” with difficult words and phrasing. I’ll post an update here when I finish the first book, and I’ll talk about how it went.
I’m excited and motivated to keep pursuing my cute little hobbies in the new year, and I hope you are too! Set big scary goals, and who knows, you could land on the moon in the process.
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