I recently moved to a new city, new country actually. Woof — what a month it’s been already. It’s been crazy, but Tokyo has been great to me.

It feels like time just kept moving from the holidays through January. Before I knew it January is gone and I didn’t even finalize my goals yet. To be honest, I had most of this list for a while but I kept editing it here and there throughout the past month. A big reason is there’s just so much uncertainty for me this year, and trying to write down what I expect to achieve in the next year feels like looking into a massive….fog for miles ahead. Still, it’s time for me to commit, so here are the 10 goals I have for 2023!

1. Physical health - similarly to last year, I want to aim to work out 3 times a week, still haven’t tried but want to try pilates, and added a walking goal because Tokyo is much more walking friendly.

2. Mental health - this one is exactly the same as last year’s. I want to keep up gratitude and mood journaling. The habit fell off when I got busy with my move. Time to pick it back up. It’s especially important during this time of transition in my life. I just started job searching and I NEED more mental strength built up to get through it all lol.

3. Find a job in Tokyo - there is soooo much riding on this one. Without a work visa I can’t stay in Tokyo. Once I do that I can finally apply for all the things I need for staying here long term…apartment, phone, bank account and all that. Not much explanation is necessary for this one; it just has to get done.

4. Keep playing golf - I want to improve overall, and to put a number down I want to try to get under 100…maybe. I haven’t even touched my clubs this year because they’re not with me in my new town…but I plan to get a set of clubs here (rentals are crazy expensive in Tokyo apparently) to continue golfing once I settle in and have some more free time.

5. Read 12 books - I increased this from last year’s goal. Also targeting for 2 of them to be Japanese books. This is part of my effort to increase my Japanese vocabulary through reading. I’m very excited to pick out the books :)

6. Keep blogging - I almost didn’t get this month’s blog out because things have been kind of crazy with me moving, working a job and looking for another one. I’m actually aiming to post more than once a month this year. Meaning more than 12 total. Yes I said it. Ugh. Let’s see how I do soon! Lol.

7. Japanese study - My goal last year was to pass N1 of the Japanese proficiency test, and while I didn’t have my results when I did my 2022 review, I have them now and am happy to say that I passed. Honestly I don’t know how it happened because I was unsure about about half of the vocabulary questions and half (or more) of the listening section. I think I got reaaally lucky. Nonetheless, it feels great to have passed on paper and not have to retake it in July, which was what I was going to do otherwise.
   Like I mentioned in the 2022 review, I am going to continue studying because there’s no end to language learning. My focus this year will be to increase my vocabulary. I’m in the perfect environment for immersion so a lot of it can come naturally. Something proactive I want to do, though, is to read in Japanese more frequently (hence the 2 Japanese books in my reading goal) and listen to news more instead of tv shows which should give me exposure to more difficult words. Time to level up!

8. Start learning Korean — not super confident I will start this year but I do want to. I’m keeping this on the list because I simply don’t want it off the list.

9. Learn a new digital or analytics related skill — I’ve been working on different areas of my personal life in the past year or two. Now that I’ve made progress and even moved to the city I wanted to move to, I think I’m happier about the personal side of things and have some more space to work on the professional side. I do data analytics and have been wanting to further my skills for a while, but have been needing to prioritize my personal life. I honestly can’t wait to spend some time on this. I’m thinking it will be in the format of certificates or online courses.

10. Do a side project with data — this is somewhat related to #9. Doing #9 will most likely mean this one will be done, because most online courses require me to do a project at the end, but this can be done even without doing #9. It is also something I have been wanting to do this for my professional advancement, but have had to put my personal life first. This year hopefully I’ll have some space for this! I know I will.

That’s it for my goals this year. I feel generally good about them, because they are a mix of keeping up/building on my current habits and working on new items that have been on my list. The newest thing of course is I’m in a new city. I can’t wait to build new routines, friendships, and memories in this town. More to come!