My 2022 New Year Resolutions – Week 97

The beginning of the year has been filled with a lot of volatility in the markets. One moment it was happy days again, then the rest of the week we had blood all over the floor. The Dec Fed minutes was the turning point mid-week as it showed that they were more hawkish on rates int0 2022 than previously thought. Omicron continues its infectious waves worldwide for many countries to hit new daily positive case highs.

Though Omicron results in only mild effects so far (we saw it first hand in our older son who was vaccinated), many are alarmed at the rapid rise in cases even as deaths were much lower than the Delta mutation. It was was also the 06 Jan anniversary of the Capitol riots in America this week as the GOP continues to support the big lie that the election a year ago was stolen. It became a non-event as the orange one chickened out.

Companies hoping to stop WFH had to reverse their strategy as we face potential Omicron peaks which are expected to only happen in a few weeks time. It is 7 times more contagious so it is really turning out to be a pandemic of the unvaccinated. While the Biden vaccine mandate is being stalled, big companies like Citigroup has just announced that the jobs of the unvaccinated will eventually be terminated by the end of this month. There go our CNY celebrations for early Feb too…

While we wait for Omicron to peak into Jan, people are getting weary as we enter into the 3rd year of this virus. I sincerely hope that Omicron can be the push to get more people vaccinated or to enable natural herd immunity amongst the poorer nations. Long Covid seems unlikely too as this strain doesn’t seem to attack the lungs much. Time will tell as we learn more.

I reviewed my 2021 New Year Resolutions last week and now it’s time to make new ones into 2022. I have been pondering over it for the last 7 days while reflecting and grading myself on my last 2 years of resolutions. It just needs a bit of fine-tuning and I should stretch some goals to be more ambitious now.

1. Read 20 books – I finally achieved my 15 books goal in 2021, so why not add 5 more this year? I just need to learn how to read faster. 20 pages a day is just not going to cut it, to reach my target. I seriously have to set aside at least an hour or more per day. I have curated a list of books to read in my NLB app and the trick will be to read 2 to 3 books at the same time for some variety. To do a short summary on my iPhone’s Notes app after I finish each book.
2. Expand on my lifelong learning journey – I have just started a new 3 months NUS FinTechSG course on 04 Jan. At the end of it, they have a job matching process which I hope can help me pivot into the FinTech space that will include AI, Blockchain, Cloud and Big Data. Getting a new consultancy project will be a bonus. When life serves you lemons, you make lemonade…
3. Get deeper into Cloud Computing – To embark on a study of at least one of the top 3 providers : Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud. Maybe even Alibaba if the language constrain is surmountable.
4. Try harder to learn a programming language – Python comes to mind. I did try to pick it up in 2021 but I should practice it more. Github is also a resource I should familiarize myself with. I should also pick up better dashboard visualization skills from the likes of either Tableau, Microsoft Power BI or Qilview.
5. Either learn to improve on video editing skills or to try to open an online store to gain new knowledge. Dare to try something new to get out of my comfort zone.
6. Always stay healthy and happy. It has been a trying 2 years of Covid and I believe that this nightmare will eventually end soon. To stay optimistic and smell the roses to appreciate each new day and count my blessings.

OK done. Have stated my new resolutions for the world to see. Now I am committed to getting them completed for the next 12 months.