At the end of a calendar year, many people create New Year's resolution, a flimsy goal that rarely lasts beyond January. Instead, I follow an idea called a Yearly Theme. A resolution like "exercise more", for a goal that is supposed to last an entire year, is simultaneously oddly specific (there is more than just exercise in your life) and overly vague (what counts as exercise? what counts as more?). On the other hand, because themes are purposefully broad, they can influence many different aspects of your life and last the entire year. Today, I will be going over my theme for 2020 and my theme for the upcoming year.

My theme for 2020 was networking; building a stable network of friends and colleagues that will support me in my endeavors. Although, to be frank, that has been my theme since freshman year of university. Throughout my four and a half years in higher education, I have bounced between different social circles and clubs and everything in between. Drifting from group to group, I was homeless.

At the end of 2020, I feel quite secure in where I am. I have become a member of two wonderful Toastmasters clubs. I became an active chatter in a lovely Discord server based around one of my long-standing favorite content creators. I deepened my connections to some good friends of mine that I now talk to regularly. I am very happy to keep coming back to these groups time and time again.

However, what makes these groups different from all the ones I was previously a part of? The two main reasons are variety and happiness.

First, my connection to previous groups was built around a singular facet of my identity. I used to be a member of many clubs in university, but all those clubs related somehow to my Asian ethnicity. There's nothing wrong with joining a club for that reason, but I contain a multitude of interests and hobbies. In my Discord server, I can talk about all things nerdy. In Toastmasters, I practice professional development. I have friends for anime, friends for video games, and friends for complaining about life. The result is similar to what Ben Thompson describes in Social Networking 2.0; a Venn diagram of different interests and social circles whose primary connecting point is me, leaving no need unfulfilled.

Second, those groups were lacking reciprocal appreciation. I had joined research and study groups that were mentally stimulating and overall fun to be a part of, but they didn't benefit from anything I contributed. I was a member of cultural clubs and friend groups that constantly affirmed how much they cared and appreciated me, but I didn't enjoy being in those communities. The problem was always one side was happy, either myself or the group at large, and the other was indifferent. In the groups I have now, there is a strong mutual appreciation of myself to the group and the group towards me. This can be seen in my Discord server. I am thankful to the server members for fun conversations and companionship during hard times. Many of the members are thankful to me for being a good listener and providing interesting ideas. Both sides are happy.

Well, if everyone's happy, then no need for a 2021 theme, right? I think there's still more fun to be had. I believe having a solid and sturdy network is vital to a happy and meaningful life, but it's only the foundation. Now that I have that foundation, I can build something on top of it. Enter the Year of Building.

To understand the Year of Building, I will break it down like any creative construction project. First, you need a procedure; when and where the building will take place. Second, you need materials to build with. Third, you need a goal.

For the Year of Building, choosing a proper procedure is vital. Sure, I can say, "Write more blog posts!" and then write some blog posts. But once I've written a few posts, the goal is over. Instead, I need what Seth Godin calls A place to write. I need a regular practice that I can come back to over and over again to build with. Sure, not everything I create is going to be spectacular, but if I keep coming back again and again, I will get better. To this end, I have a few ideas in mind. Starting off the year, I hope to publish a blog post every single week. Additionally, I will continue to create Toastmasters speeches regularly and take programming assignments at work. These are not merely one-time goals, but ongoing activities.

Yet, I can tell myself to write something every single week, but I need something to write about. Thus, I must also consume a lot of interesting ideas and stories to fuel my desire to write. This can come in the form of anything, from books to poems to articles to anime to engaging conversations with friends to plain ol' real-life experiences. In a way, I'm not doing anything new in this regard, since I already know what kinds of things get my gears going. What is new is acknowledging that I need to make an active effort to find and interact with ideas that excite me.

Side note, I often find that by simply having interesting thoughts and ideas, writing becomes a lot easier. Many writers talk about writer's block, the dreaded situation where you sit in front of your writing device with no idea what to write about. I have found that an active brain solves this problem. For example, I have had the thoughts for this blog post floating in my head for the past few days without putting any of them into word-form. Writing the entire post, with an outline and proofreading, has only taken me one hour. This is only possible because the ideas are so engaging as to spew from my head at the slightest provocation.

Lastly, you can have a place to write and things to write about, but you also need a reason to write. There will be times during the year where I will be feeling down about one thing or another, and my writing practice must persist in some capacity through those times. I have a couple of reasons. First, writing is an investment. Once you've written something you are proud of and want to share, it exists outside of yourself. You can keep coming back to that writing and share it with other people for the rest of your life. Writing is functionally immortal. It is an everlasting resume of your thoughts and feelings. Most importantly though, writing is fun for me. I like using words to describe my thoughts and feelings about my life and my experiences. I want writing to be a part of me for as long as I can think. The Year of Building is not just about building a writing resume but building a lifetime practice of writing that will hopefully last well beyond 2021.