5 Small Tweaks to Improve Yourself in 2021

Photo by KAL VISUALS on Unsplash

These are just a collection of ideas and thoughts I really liked from my friends, and wanted to implement in my year of 2021.

1. Set intentions, not resolutions. I got this from Ellevest, an online personal finance platform for women. “It comes with a feeling of pressure and a history of failure.” They’re great and I definitely want to do a video on investing and personal finance down the road. To be honest, we fail most of our resolutions anyways. Setting intentions are an ongoing process, and that’s what life is anyways. Anything you do is progress, and you don’t fail. You keep going. Resolutions are basically hard — done and true. But intention is what’s behind the motive, what you can do to push momentum. Plus, 2020 has been really hard and we can .
2. Be kinder to yourself and make things better for yourself. My friend Shilpa mentioned something that really stuck with me, which is be kinder to yourself. When you’re in a hard situation, or you’re frustrated and angry, you can ask yourself, what can I do to make this better for me? An example could be that you’re waiting in line and the line is very long. You’re annoyed because you have to wait 30 minutes, but you can ask yourself, “How do I make this better for myself?” It can be as simple as calling your mom to chat with her to get the time to go by faster, reading a book, or listening to a podcast. There are things that you can alleviate the anger or the stress that you are putting on yourself.
3. Practice gratitude and be specific about it. My friend Derek mentioned he went to an offsite where he met people from other office campuses, and one specific advice was to be practice gratitude and call it out specifically. it means a lot more, bonds you closer to the person, and makes the person feel validated and seen. you become the kind of leader that encourages people and sees them for their hard work.
4. Care about your personal finance — save and manage your money better. Do this through automating savings or routing your money elsewhere. The best thing you can do for yourself is put it somewhere you can’t see, and forget about it and let it grow. I don’t mean hide it under your bed, but in a savings or retirement account. To me, the bare basic would include adding it in a high yields savings account, saving at least 15% of your paycheck if you can.
5. Be a little bit bolder, take up space, and speak your mind more. Laugh a bit louder and give your parents a big hug. Don’t always stick to the status quo, and just take up space — really take up space. Back straight, shoulders pulled back, and chin up. In Asia, I feel that we tend to make ourselves small and not seen. Whether its in our community, or at work, or in social settings, it’s okay to let yourself bigger and expand yourself. Let yourself take on a presence in the room sometimes.