2021 has been a good year so far. The biggest milestone (minus the personal OKRs – updates are below!) was celebrating my 2nd anniversary with Intercom. Intercom recognizes employees’ anniversaries by illustrating things that mean a lot to us professionally and personally. So happy to see Momo made it in this year’s celebration! 🎉
This milestone means a lot to me as I haven’t stayed at a company for 2+ years since my VMware days (2011 – 2014). I’ll have to share the why, the journey of many HIGHs and LOWs, the learnings, and scars someday. But today, I’m filled with gratitude to be partnering with some of the brightest, most down-to-earth, and thoughtful people – I look forward to another great year with my fellow Intercomrades.
Personal OKR 2021 Updates
🟢 1. Make room for dream projects
🟢 I’ve set clearer work boundaries. I rarely work earlier than 7am and past 5:30pm; and thankfully, even less work on weekends.
🟢 I completed my Drek Happens podcast in March as planned. With 30,000+ plays and downloads, I’ve made the tough decision to retire this podcast (to pursue the rest of my OKRs).
🟠 I have NOT restricted myself to 1 hour of social media or gaming. Technically, this should be red but in hindsight, restricting social media wasn’t the best metric for me as I’m spending more and more time on Discord and social media for the best reasons. Not only am I building community, I’ve accelerated my learning on what I need to pursue for my dream projects.
🟢 2. Cherish and be present with family
🟢 I published JereMaya’s Year 9 video in June. The main question is whether I will start producing Momo Year videos or integrate him into the twins’ video next year? Still brainstorming that one lol
🟢 Wife and I celebrated our 15th anniversary in September. This is without a doubt, my biggest accomplishment in life yet. Of course, I can’t take full credit – I’m truly lucky to have a partner who loves me and inspires me to be my best.
🟢 I continue individual weekly dates with wife and monthly dates with each twin. With our vaccinations, we started to eat out at restaurants – so refreshing compared to our usual indoor board games and streaming TV dates. 🔥
🟠 3. Learn, produce and publish music
🟠 I have not been practicing the piano on a daily basis. No excuses except for taking care of Momo. The good news is that I’ve been getting back to practicing more frequently the past several weeks.
🔴 I have not learned all the essentials in Ableton Live. Another failure that I blame Momo on. No regrets.
🟢 Like I mentioned last quarter, I produced my first song. It’s called Resolve! The best news, which is why this OKR isn’t a full red circle, is that I’m taking a 30-day online music production class with 20+ peers. It starts tomorrow and I’m pumped because I’ll be learning and producing 3 new songs by the end of the course. Can’t wait to share!
🟢 4. Pursue that 2nd marathon
🟢 I increased my Functional Threshold Power (FTP) this quarter. Went from 119 to 121. w00t!
🟢 I’m on track for becoming marathon ready by the end of the year. I ran my personal best at the San Jose Rock N Roll Marathon last month (1 hour 53 minutes). I’ve increased my weekly mileage and I feel very confident for a 2022 marathon.
🔴 I’m on track for executing 20 pull-ups in a row. Totally failed here. Honestly, it wasn’t and still isn’t a high priority. At best, I can only do 10 pull-ups in a row. Will be taking this more seriously as soon I register for my 2nd marathon.
🟢 5. Commit to creative writing
🔴 I blog on a quarterly basis. Monthly was the original goal but I changed to quarterly – which I still failed lol
🟢 I have been writing nearly every week with learnings. I’ve created a private journal that I update every week with HIGHs, LOWs, Learnings, and Next Steps. This is why I don’t blog externally as often but I think there is a way to balance this out better for next year. I’ve also been using this journal to formulate my creative writing so in the end, I evaluate this OKR as green.
🟢 I share quarterly OKR updates – Slightly late but at least it’s done!
🟢 6. Explore the idea of becoming an adjunct professor
🔴 I have not yet followed up with friends in academia. After digging deep on my finances and dream projects, I don’t see an adjunct professor career happening in the next 2 years so I put it on pause.
🟢 I updated my resume. In hindsight, this wasn’t a great key metric because only after finishing my resume, I realized my corporate communications career is incomplete. There are a few more milestones I want to achieve in my career before I consider pursuing academia which I will share later.
🟢 I’ve made a clear decision. While the adjunct professor career is on hold, I’m on a very solid path to where I want to go. I have a story and journey to share – will let you know when I’m ready!
Looking forward to 2022
2021 has been a proactive year and I’m glad I made the decision to pursue personal OKRs. For my dream projects, I’ve built a great foundation and put into practice the skills and development I need to get to the next level. So what’s next?
My hope is that I’ll be launching a YouTube channel next year which will focus on my career and sharing best practices to those interested in getting started or are new to my profession. Apparently, no one has specialized a vlog dedicated to internal communications best practices on YouTube so I think this is an exciting opportunity – or maybe there’s a very good reason why this has not been done yet 😆🔥 To keep the channel fun and dynamic, I may also blend in some personal elements. Excited about this momentum in crafting and developing my story – great things to come in 2022!