Caroline Salib

2023 review

It has been almost 3 years since the last time I wrote something on my blog. I always have goals and ideas to write but I’m really good at procrastinating them. 🤣 Anyway, something is pushing me to start doing this more and the idea that has been popping the most in my head is to write a 2023 reflection post. Today is December 27th so I don’t have much time to think if I will do it or not so. 🚀

Before you jump in, I want to let you know what to expect, so feel free to jump off in case this is not the kind of content you like to read. You should expect nothing technical, instead I will talk more about productivity stuff, expectations for the year, accomplishments and some very personal thoughts. I’m basically journaling to the internet for the first time LOL.

How I keep track of my goals and stay productive during the year

I’m a very goal oriented person, and I'm also obsessed with organization and planning so of course every year I do my New Year planning and 2023 wasn’t different. I was very audacious and set around 20 goals for the year involving many areas of my life like career, finances, health and personal. Many of the goals were small and random like finishing reading some books, going to a concert, learning how to skate… but I also had a main goal, the biggest one which was to get promoted to Senior. I don’t want to get too much into why this was important to me because that would probably be enough content to a whole different post. 😅

The way I plan today is: 5 year from now planning > year planning > quarter planning > weekly planning and lastly daily planning. My 5 year planning is helpful to remember what I want in long term and to make sure decisions I’m making now are aligned with my 5 year from now dreams. The yearly planning is for goals of the year which have 4 areas; personal, professional, finance and health. Quarter planning is how I distribute the year goals and make sure I'm reminded of them every 3 months, as well I add other smaller goals in and make adjustments to ensure I am kept on track and getting motivated. When I feel like something I planned is not working out the way I expected it usually pertains to my quarter goals that I make adjustments to improve the process. Weekly planning happens every Sunday, I set goals for the week according to things I have in my calendar and it is where I also add tasks from my “To do later”*. And lastly, my daily planner is done each morning and it is where I plan my day with 5 unnegotiable tasks for the day + some optional extra tasks (usually from “To do later” list).

* A “To do later” list is a list in my Reminders app where I add everything that needs to be done but that I don’t want to have to keep reminding myself about it. Ex: go to the post office, cancel subscription x, get an appointment for y, research about z… This is the technique I use to keep my brain free from trying to remember things and save energy.

First quarter

Hightlights of my first quarter was that I finished a book recommended by my friend Stefanni called 'We Should All Be Millionaires'. This book completely changed my perspective on money and it is a must read for all underprivileged people and women. It is probably one of the best books I have ever read and I definitely want to re-read it sooner rather than later. In February I had a 30th birthday and as always I decided to have a “me” day and just relax for the day. It wasn’t a really happy day though and I had a lot of anxiety, this led me to decide that I want to spend my birthday differently in the future and instead of avoiding people I will truly celebrate the milestone of my 30s with my close friends. The other thing about first quarter was that I completed my application to become a Canadian Citizen. 🙌

Second quarter

My second quarter is such a blur. Looking at my notes I see I didn’t complete any of my quarter goals so I started digging into what happened and I realized I was just really busy. My girlfriend moved downtown and I was driving most days (20 minutes drive twice a day) to see her and I sold a lot of my stuff because I was planning on moving downtown soon as well and moving from the south end of the city to downtown meant I would have to downsize a bit. Two friends of mine also moved from Vancouver to Calgary this quarter which made me so so so happy. ❣️

Third quarter

On this quarter I finished one of the books I had on my year goals list; The Pragmatic Programmer. It wasn’t an easy read for me, I had to set lots of intentional time to read just so I could finish it. I don’t know why I have such a hard time motivating myself to read the classics. I also finally stopped procrastinating summer activities and went on a hike and camping. God, I can’t find the words to explain how camping is good to my brain; I left the camping site recharged and can’t wait to go again. I also moved downtown this quarter, one block away from my girlfriend which is pretty awesome. My dog, Lucas, also moved back in with me, he was living with my ex since my last apartment didn’t allow dogs. I love him so much and I’m really happy I can cuddle with him every day now. Lucas is a reactive boy and I don’t give up on trying to train him so it has been a journey having him around and setting up routines that work for us both. Lastly, one huge thing happened during this quarter; I finally earned my Canadian Citizenship. 🇨🇦🚀🍁

Last quarter

In this last quarter I did a coaching course to learn how to help others get to where they want. It was such a good course and it made me see the world with different eyes. I started coaching a few friends to practice and that has been making me really happy and fulfilled as I can see they are progressing with their objectives in life. I have also been focusing a lot in training my dog, Lucas, like I mentioned before. We have working a lot on our communication and we recently achieved our quarter goal of walking around the block without him becoming reactive. 😍 I’ve also been dealing with lots of stress and anxiety lately, and I feel like it is much worse after my end of year vacation where I thought I would relax, but my brain just decided to be grumpy and anxious instead. My therapist is on vacation so it has been a bit challenge and I think it is one of the worse anxiety (I’m labeling anxiety but I don’t really know yet what is it) crises I’ve experienced. I watched this video recently which helped me a lot on learning more about how anxiety works and how to debug the brain and it has been really helpful.

Main challenges

I think mental health was definitely a big challenge. I had no idea how bad my anxiety was until the end of this year, but I can remember the feeling it in the back of my head throughout this whole year. Therapy was an essential tool for me this year, otherwise I don’t know where I would be mentally but also I’ve been taking many of notes about it.

My other challenge, which is also fuelling to my anxiety, was some finacial problems. I wished to go see my family in Brazil this year, it hurts a lot that I couldn’t but mostly I just have been worrying constantly about money. One part of it is that I have some bad money habits that I’m working to change and the other part of is that I’m a helper, so if I see people around me who needs help I just offer and eventually I ran out of means to offer help which has been so hurtful emotionally, mentally and financially.

Learnings and accomplishements

I became a coach this year. I’m still on my first round of clients but I learned so much from the coaching course and from starting to coach that it has completely changed my life. I see the world through a different lens now and I’m so excited to help many people accomplish their dreams. My coaching sessions have been so fulfilling and seeing the impact that it has had on my clients since we started it is amazing and we aren’t even near the end of the coaching process.

The other “accomplishment” and I quoted because it is not something I choose to do but something it happened and I’m really grateful for is that I have lots of friends in the city now. In 2022 I got separated from my previous partner and even though we remained friends it was such a lonely period and since then my friend Jok moved from Brazil and two other close friends, Stefanni and Thiago, moved from Vancouver to Calgary. Besides that I have my great friend Forchy with whom I talk every day and feel so supported. And lastly I have my sweet amazing girlfriend who makes me laugh and feel loved every day. I didn’t have any of that over an year ago and I feel so grateful for having close friends and support.

As I was working to get promoted to Senior this year so I focused on improving one skill, or perhaps I should say diminishing a fear, which was meetings with large groups. I felt such a lack of confidence, anxiety and panic actually, when I had to speak in some meetings with bigger groups. I felt small and dumb and it was all imposter symdrome combined with the amount of pressure I put on myself. I volunteered to run a weekly meeting with my team (15+ people) throughout the year which was very challenging but the exposure made me improve so much. I don’t feel like I’m a 100% there but honestly, I got where I needed for now and that makes me feel like I can accomplish anything with intention and exposure. By the way if you are wondering if I got promoted, lets say I know I’m there and I did everything I could and the only reason I didn’t get the promotion yet is due to bureaucracy stuff and hoping to get it soon but the pressure is gone because I know I reached all expectations for that to happen.

Fun stuff

Just thought it would be fun to share my favourite games and apps of this year.

Favourite apps:

Favourite I started/finished:

Expectations for 2024

Get my promotion, more coaching, give a talk, write more on my blog, go to conferences, visit my family in Brazil, and automate my finances.

Conclusion

2023 was challenging I can't deny that, but I also learned so much and I'm really grateful for every bit of it and really excited to make 2024 awesome with all the xp I earned and in great company of my friends and family.

If you got here, thank you so much for taking the time to read and I hope you have an amazing 2024. If you want to share any comments or feedback feel free to send me an email at carolinesalibc@gmail.com since I haven’t bothered adding comments to my blog just yet. 🙈

❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️