Monthly Goals Review: June 2021

What day is it already? 

We're more than halfway through 2021, and the realisation that we have been in strict lockdown for the most part of 2021 has been hitting me hard. 

June has been...a roller coaster. I left my job and felt the emptiness of it. I thought I'd be "jobless" and "aimless" but the opposite was true - I was fortunate to have gotten various freelancing projects. I went full-on with my home bakery business, Batter Together. I started teaching part-time. I did a few programmatic works for a social enterprise. I was having lots of fun and found a lot of fulfilment in doing all these - but burnt-out crept upon me, without me realising it. I was feeling really tired by the end of June, and some of the sparks that I initially had in me sort of died off. Thank goodness I have a really good friend helping me out for my side business, who has been keeping me accountable and my spirits going.

Similar to the month of May, I am feeling frustrated from the extended lockdown as well. I am missing my friends. Missing being able to go out. Missing being able to go jogging (I'm in a EMCO zone so jogging is a no-go). 

Perhaps my burnt-out was further fuelled by the frustration from the extended lockdown. The string of not-so-great news that flood our social media timeline recently. I decided to take things easy and slow in the first week of July, which explains this very late post. 

Financial Goals 

1) Save at least 40% of my income every month 

Took a huge pay cut in the month of June as I:

- left my full-time role

- ventured into a side business, where it's still in the infancy stage where I have not fully maximised my efficiency, and hence, low-profit margin

Despite the huge pay cut, I felt as though I was working much longer hours. I realised when you're running your own business/freelancing, you really have got to up your negotiation game, be confident and know your worth/rate. I have learnt and gained so much in the month of June on how to negotiate. 

Salute and respect to all the entrepreneurs, business owners and freelancers out there. It really isn't easy :")

I have also incurred some unexpected large-ticket expenses in June, such as my motor insurance renewal and car servicing, which I thought I had prepared using my bucket system BUT, the car servicing bill came up to twice the amount I was expecting :")

Despite so, I'm grateful that I have still side projects that provided me with some income. Grateful that I still have a roof above my head, and do not need to starve. 

Personal Growth / Learnings

1) Read at least one paragraph of non-fiction/fiction every day

For the month of June 2021, I've read two fiction and one non-fiction book.

I realised that once you forgo a habit, it becomes really easy to continue forgoing it. Felt rather disappointed in me for not writing reviews of the books I've read. It felt easy to forgo writing a review as well. 

Definitely, something to work on. Better late than never.

2) Participate in at least one online event and/or online course every month

Similar to (1), I lost my momentum for online courses since end-April and now it's really hard for me to swing back. Thought that I could invest more time in my own learning and development this month, but nope D: I'm trying my best not to beat myself up too much, since the month of June was really a packed one. 

I've managed to complete a Coursera Guided Project Course: Google Ads For Beginners which was helpful for me to understand how Google Ads work and will come into handy for the expansion of Batter Together :) 

I've attended a simple leathercraft workshop hosted by @tamanhatijz & @little.great.things. I won this workshop experience from their giveaway contest. I've got to say this was such a fun workshop! We made a simple leather cardholder and were taught the basics of leather care. I'm actually looking forward to join more virtual workshop like this, which would be a fresh respite from our lockdown routine.

3) Cook/Bake at least one dish per week

Similar to my other self-development topics...June was a month where I did not explore much on the culinary side (less my cookies R&D). My body is physically tired during the weekends from cooking baking :") trying to build up my stamina and strength and not lose my momentum!

Week 1 - Sourdough Tortillas and jerk pulled pork

Week 2: Korean Garlic Cheese Bread, Persian Love Cake

Week 3: Brownie Chips, pumpkin hummus, and pumpkin bread roll

Week 3

Week 4: Houjicha Cookies

That's it for June - a busy, yet fulfilling month, and a month where I felt drained, both mentally and physically. 

Things to look forward to in July

1. A new job

I received a job offer and am actually really excited about it! Will have to learn to manage my time and energy better in order to juggle between my full-time work life, my side business and also my personal life. 

2. Getting my second dose of the vaccine!

Definitely the highlight of the month, or maybe this year.

I don't think I have anything more to add for now :") But I've been curating "post-lockdown lists" with friends, which gives me something to lock forward to.

That's it folks :") Do stay safe and take care. And hope that things will get better. 

Monthly Goals Review: May 2021

The month of May passed by rather quickly for me. I started off the month feeling really refreshed - as I took a week off in April and went on a short staycation at The Sticks. Shortly after my vacation, things picked up quickly as I had a large-scale online event to coordinate. And by the second week of May, I had to start wrapping up my work and prepare for handover as I've decided not to extend my contract for the role I was in. And somewhere in May, we went into lockdown again, I fell sick post-vaccine (and hence a few days gone there) and started my cookie side gig. And wait what, it's June already???!! 

It's been a pretty productive month I suppose. Feeling a little tired due to the physical strength/energy required for my cookie baking, but feeling happy because I'm now doing something I love - baking & sharing my joy of baking :) 

I can't help but feel frustrated and upset we're in lockdown again. In my April post, I mentioned that I've been starting to go out and meet friends. And now with the cases at a new high, it isn't safe for us to do so. Like most of us, I'm upset that we have to go into lockdown again. And just today (1 June 2021). we have just begun FMCO. 

I'm trying to shift my thinking and focus on the opportunities from this - because of the lockdown, I had more time at home to plan my home bakery business. Delivery was in my favour as most people are at home. I could register my business from the comfort of my home without having to visit an SSM branch. I saved more this month because I can't go out and spend the money anyway. I've reconnected with some of my friends, despite the lockdown, through phone/video calls.

Financial Goals 

1) Save at least 40% of my income every month 

Because it's lockdown, I've managed to save a little more compared to the past two months. 

A huge chunk of expenses went to my car in May, as my car insurance and road tax are due for renewal come June, and I (finally) changed my car tyres. Thank goodness for the bucket system to keep my saving goals in check. Feeling bummed as we don't really travel that much nowadays D: 

Spent a little more on my family and friends, which is a similar pattern I notice I have for every lockdown. Lockdown just makes us more inclined to give, I believe. 

Feeling a little apprehensive for June, as I've left my job (bye-bye stable income!) and am taking the freelance route for now. Not sure how it'll go but we'll see! Definitely would want to cut my expenses, now that I'm not sure how my income would fluctuate.

 

Personal Growth / Learnings

Removing the podcast goal from here since my learnings will be documented in my monthly Good Reads post :D

1) Read at least one paragraph of non-fiction/fiction every day

For the month of May 2021, I've read two fiction books

You may read my review for The Kitchen Front on Good Read - this is definitely one of my favourite read! I find myself enjoy reading  Have not written a review for Last Night at the Telegraph Club. 

Would like to challenge myself to read a Non-Fiction in the month of June -- my last Non-Fiction read was back in March and I'd like to regain the momentum :) 

2) Participate in at least one online events and/or online courses every month

I've been taking a pause from my online courses on Coursera since the last week of April. In May, I didn't manage to keep up my momentum as

- Week 1 was a busy week for me, having to coordinate a large-scale online event

- I started my side gig in Week 2, leaving me lesser time to work on online courses during the weekend

However, I did attend an online Food Handling Training Course! A Food Handler Certificate is compulsory for anyone working in the F&B industry. Since I've decided to start my cookies side-gig, I registered for the course through this training company, EduFood Training & Consultancy. I'd highly recommend anyone who is interested to obtain a Food Handler Cert from this company -- the trainer was engaging and interactive. The course was 3+ hours long, but she (the trainer) was in high spirit at all time. 

As an educator myself, who has been facilitating online classes and event, I have to say, I really admire and look up to her enthusiasm and amazing facilitation skills! 

Also took away quite a bit of knowledge about food handling. Do you know that a freezer should always be below -5 degree celsius? Anything higher than that is the danger zone.

3) Cook/Bake at least one dish per week

Because we spent most of the month in lockdown, I managed to explore quite a few different dishes 

Week 1: Pork bolognese on a bed of mashed potatoes, full English breakfast and Guinness stew

Week 2: Pork quesadillas...and I started my cookies side gig, hence, picture of cookies

Week 3: Pulled pork, bagel & cauliflower soup

Week 4: Vavishka, Chocolate Orange cookie

Burger buns, chocolate orange cookies with a different base and Jamaican jerk meatball 

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That's it for the month of May. Come 1st June, we will be entering FMCO, which...god knows how long it'll last. And I want to acknowledge that I'm feeling rather anxious, now that I'm venturing into the freelancer path at least for now, and dahlah it's lockdown, job insecurity is in the air. As mentioned at the start of the post, I am feeling the blahs of lockdown, but I'll try my best to see the opportunities that arise from here and to still create things to look forward to. 

What I am looking forward to in June: 

1. Starting my new job!

Other than my new business venture, I'm starting a new role in the month of June - albeit a part-time role. Starting something new always makes me excited :)))) 

2. Growing my business, Batter Together 

Yes, that's the name of my side gig - will probably create a separate blog post all about it soon :D 

Looks like lockdown will be enforced for quite a while, and hence, I won't be able to set up a stall at a physical/event space anytime soon. But I'd like to try out having special "packages" for upcoming festive seasons such as Father's Day

Since starting my cookie side gig - I've been struggling with maintaining the optimum inventory. I find myself scrambling for raw materials often. I've been exploring Excel sheets to forecast if I'd have enough ingredients and would like to work on building this for my side gig LD.

3. Learning how to use tiktok/create video content 

If you've been following my blog since last year, you'd have remembered that I started creating food videos & editing them at the end of last year. I've stopped doing them for...no reasons, and would like to challenge myself to create more video content again :) Think this would be especially useful for my new cookie side gig as well! The lockdown gives me the perfect opportunity to do so! 

4. Working on Impian Kencana

One of my friend that I look up to and respect has initiated this project, Impian Kencana, and she has invited me to be part of her team :) We've been having bi-weekly meetings since March, and we've just recently launched late last month!

Will be assisting in the programmatic side of things. Really looking forward to the roll-out and implementation of this project! 

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That's it for May. Oh June, please be kind.

Monthly Goals Review: April

April. What a month. Definitely felt a lot better compared to March - I managed to break my routine quite a bit, and went on my very first hike of the year @ Sg Pisang! I celebrated my 26th birthday (wait, what? I've past quarter-life???), I also had a good week-long break end of April (which explains this late post) and managed to squeeze in an overnight trip to Kuala Kubu Baru. Feeling much more refreshed after a much-needed break & holiday :) 

At the start of April, I started to go out a little more and meeting friends (a small group of 1-3 friends at most because well, we are still in the midst of a pandemic!) at the start of April, which really felt great - I really miss the social interaction and connecting with friends :). However, as the cases are on the rise again, I decided to limit my social interaction once again, which is definitely a bummer, but much needed action. We are still in the midst of a pandemic, and we should not let our guards down yet! 

Financial Goals 

1) Save at least 40% of my income every month 

I was thiiiiiis close to not achieving my goal. Spent quite a bit for my trip but I've had some amount saved up in my sinking fund so phew! 

Like the month of March, as I have started going out more, a bulk of my expenses was spent on dining out. 

2) Establish a side income stream

Finally T_T 

(note: I have yet to break even hahah - figure in the box is just my revenue)

A very kind friend (Hi Nad if you're reading this) offered to buy some of my cookies, and I'm ever grateful for that opportunity. I plan to open my cookies order soon, and hopefully, I can break even....:D? 

And yes, I'm very excited to announce that I will be launching my home baking business soon :) You've seen me sharing a lot about my baked goods, and you may be able to have a taste of them soon! I'm excited and nervous at the same time. Hoping to be able to share more updates on this in May! 

Personal Growth / Learnings

1) Listen to at least one podcast every day

Will be sharing my takeaways in my Good Reads/Videos/Podcasts post so stay tuned :D 

2) Read at least one paragraph of non-fiction/fiction every day

I really love Totto Chan. It was such a heartwarming read - the story is an autobiography of the author, who was expelled from her primary school because of her "difficult" behavioural. Read my review for Totto Chan on Goodreads here

3) Participate in at least one online events and/or online courses every month

For the month of April, I've completed the Managing Emotions in Times of Uncertainty & Stress course by Yale University 

This course is designed for school staffs, but I find the content of the course helpful and relevant for each and every one of us - especially now that we're in times of uncertainty. This is one course I really enjoyed - the videos & reading materials are all bite-sized (2-6 minutes!). I'm trying to practice some of the strategies I've learnt in the course. Definitely, changing one's habit and shifting one's mindset is not easy but I'm trying :) 

Shared my reflection in this article on my LinkedIn profile. I'd like to shout-out to myself for mustering up the courage to share it on LinkedIn - I struggle in sharing things (I know - the irony is I share quite a bit of my reflection here on my blog, which is public) online. 

4) Cook/Bake at least one dish per week

Week 1: Hot cross buns!

Also sharing a photo of my sourdough pizza because this has been my most successful attempt on making a decently round pizza! 

Week 2: New & improved hot cross buns (included sultanas and baked them apart on a large baking sheet rather than cramming them all in a pyrex), and a toss all them leftover ingredients in a pan meal :p 

Also mass baked cookies for my friend who ordered them! 

Week 3: Guinness Beef Stew! Attaching a photo of my sourdough baked on that week too because it was one of my most beautiful loaf so far! I feel that I am really getting the hang of sourdough baking now - and am able to gauge the proofing time better :) 

This month, I'd like to end this post differently. I was really looking forward to my long break & short getaway & my birthday celebration, which all took place end of April and I realise it really pushed me forward to go through my day. I definitely feel a little empty, now that what I've been looking forward to for so long has since..been experienced, savoured, and come to an end.

I know I sound a little dramatic here, but I believe it is because that was my first trip in a long time I can't help but feel so...blue. I catch myself dwelling over my trip a littleeeee bit too much and thus, would like to dedicate a section here to write about things I look forward to this month, because having things to look forward to is really such a pleasant feeling, and it helps me focus on the present too :) 

Things I am looking forward to this month

1. Getting my vaccine

Yes, I've successfully booked a slot of the AstraZeneca vaccine! 

Honestly a bit nervous about the potential side effects, and also the pain during the vaccine huhu, but feeling kinda excited at the same time!

2. Hari Raya break!

Yay for more holidays :P Oh and, we'll have another public holiday for Wesak Day! 

3. Kick-starting my home bakery business

Planning to get myself a food handling license & register for my business. Will be sharing my progress here :D 

4. Developing new cookie flavours!

R&D for cookies is expensive. But this time around I'm excited as it'll be part of my business plan :D I have a few flabours I'd like to test out, and hopefully it'll pay off :) 

With the cases on the rise, it seems like a lockdown might be looming huhu. Hoping for a sane May and stay safe everyone! 

Monthly Goals Review: March 2021

For some reason, March seemed to go by painfully slow. March has always been the "drier month" during my stint as a teacher back in 2018-2019 (There are two dry months to me - March & July. Dry because these two months are always the months without many holidays, and I usually feel tired from pushing myself for one last sprint towards the end the quarter). We're one-quarter through the year, you might start to feel as though your "burning spirit/drive" is beginning to die off. You're beginning to feel a little tired with your routine. You're starting to feel wary about the goals/new year's resolution you've set at the beginning of the year. You're starting to question yourself and everything in life. 

Sounds familiar? Yes? No? Just me? 

Either way, I still want to keep myself accountable for the goals I've set for myself. For the month of March 2021, I definitely have slipped a little this month in terms of what I want to achieve and do. 

Financial Goals 

1) Save at least 40% of my income every month 

Overspent in March as I...

- did quite a bit of shopping for clothes (bought a new pair of block heels, a new pair of shorts, a dress, a camisole, workout clothes) 

One of my most coveted purchase so far - a new dress. Even though it costs a bomb. Do I need it? Absolutely not. But I really love how it fits. No, I don't need it but...

- dined out quite a bit (post-lockdown revenge spending, but hey I'm...contributing to the economy. Committed to write & share about these food places here on this blog! )

One place I've been to for drinks - Bistro Richard at Sentul. Loved the ambience there :) But yes, dining out expenses really do add up! 

- had my hair dyed professionally

post-hair-cut & dye hair - putting this here because the hairdresser spent quite some time straightening them :p (PS it kinda went all over the place a bit after that) 

- also bought some new baking tools since there were a few sales going on. 

Side note: I wish e-commerce websites would stop calling their sales the "Biggest Sales Ever" :p Really? There's 9.9, 10.10, 11.11, birthday sale, this sale, that sale. SO MANY SALES!

I don't regret each of this spending. (Also - it's a little too late to regret it if anything) I know I could have dyed my hair for cheap if I do it myself, but from my past experiences, I realised that people at the saloon will always do it better (unless you're a professional yourself!), and I really value the consultation they can offer - giving me advice on aftercare, on which colour to pick so that the colour could last longer etc. etc. 

Dining out. Definitely could have cut down a little. But what's done is done. I really do appreciate dining out and I often think of it as an experience, like travelling :) You get to try out something new, do not have to worry about cleaning up etc. And it is a great respite, after staying from home for so long. I realise I yearn to explore, to break my routine, to see and experience different things - and since travelling is restricted now, I find respite in dining out, and for some reasons, it feels particularly refreshing to dine out, especially when I dine out at places I've never been. 

I do recognise that being able to dine out is a privilege. But definitely, moving forward, I might have to set a cap on the frequency I dine out and/or the types of places I go to for dine-out if this trend is going to continue :p And to make sure that I don't go overboard with this, and fall into the trap of going out just to "distract myself" and/or "run away from my problems". 

I'm expecting to incur some big-ticket expenses soon (Renewal of my motor insurance T_T, servicing of my car, changing of tyres huhu) so I definitely have to plan & adjust my expenses for the coming few months, especially also now that it seems I will be going out more, and possibly to the office too, fixed expenditure will definitely go up so I have lower my entertainment expenses ;P

2) Establish a side income stream

A friend (Hi Nad!) had this prep talk with me and she has been really encouraging and pushing me to start my own side-business. I am giving myself a personal deadline in April 2021. My progress so far is 25% to launch. Please let this be updated in the next post for April 2021.

Personal Growth / Learnings

1) Listen to at least one podcast every day

Have been inconsistent with this for the month of March 2021. For some reasons I find myself sleeping much later than usual and thus waking up much later than usual as well (around 8am~). 

Based on my tracker, I've only done this 13/31 days. 

 

2) Read at least one paragraph of non-fiction/fiction every day

11/10 recommend How to Talk so Teens will Listen & Listen so Teen will Talk. This book is applicable to everyone, whether or not you talk to teens. It is easy to read, has really relevant real life examples, and there are pictures :D 

3) Participate in at least one online events and/or online courses every month

For the month of March, I've completed 

1. Project Management: The Basics of Success by University of California, Irvine

2. How to Create a Program Evaluation for Your Non-Profit (Guided Project) by Coursera Project Network

If you're new to program evaluation, I really recommend taking the How to Create a Program Evaluation for Your Non-Profit guided project course! You just need about 2 hours to complete this guided project course - the course explained step-by-step how to create a logic model, and also different ways we can evaluate the program impact :D 

For the Project Management course, I find that the first two weeks' learning materials were rather dry and theoretical, but from the third week onwards, things started to make much more sense and I could apply what I've learnt directly to the work I'm doing :) Things made a lot of sense as a huge part of my job scope involves project management

My main takeaway from the Project Management course:

- How to create an effective Work-Breakdown Structure & Gantt Chart & why you need them

All this while I've been creating Gantt Chart for my projects but the timeline element was always rather vague. I realised that I had trouble articulating the stage of planning my project is in and I finally understood why after taking this course - it is because I did not set the earliest start time & end time as well as the latest start time & end time, and also milestones. Besides being able inform others where your project is currently standing in terms of progress, you can articulate clearly whether or not your project is on track/delayed if you have a proper timeline structure. 

- Science of persuasion

Which I've shared in my takeaway in my Good Reads/Podcasts/Videos - March 2021 post

4) Cook/Bake at least one dish per week

Week 1: Lime Coconut Cake & some random mini pork tortillas + spinach & apple salad 

Week 2: Sourdough Bakwa Pizza and Biscoff NY Cookies

Week 3: Chickpea soup (a recipe inspired by Brazlian Fish soup - where coconut milk & lots of spices were used, somewhat reminds me of chana masala) & featuring a photo of one of my sourdough loaf, or this photo will look somewhat lonely ;P

Week 4: Sourdough tortillas and chicken fajitas! 

Week 5: A failed sourdough focaccia :p...

Failed because it is clearly under-proof & the focaccia dough got stuck to my pyrex...alamak. Oh well BUT for every failure comes new learning!

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Monthly Goal Review: February 2021

A super late post, because life has been kinda uninspiring lately. I've been finding myself lamenting about how tired and stretched I feel. 

I realised that I tend to put off writing my reflections whenever I go through this 'meh' phase, however writing these reflections posts actually helps me feel better, as it helps me really reflect on what I've done, what I can work on for the next month, and keep myself accountable to my goals. 

Better late than never, better late than never. 

Financial Goals 

1) Save at least 40% of my income every month 

Since it was lockdown most of the time, I managed to save quite a bit, and found myself spending more on groceries! Bought quite a lot of cooking & baking ingredients :) 

Also have been spending a little more on takeouts/dine-in towards the end of the month, when dine-ins were allowed because...I think the lockdown lethargic kicked in. 

2) Establish a side income stream

OBVIOUSLY, nothing happened again. 

Am I disappointed at myself? Yes. But I'll try my best not to beat myself up too much. I signed up as a delivery driver on Lalamove - but I realised it is really hard to accept a job, especially if you're not a motorcycle driver :O (or maybe I didn't try hard enough) 

3) Invest at least 20% of my income

Yes, it's automated, but I'm keeping it here to keep myself accountable! 

Personal Growth / Learnings

1) Listen to at least one podcast every day

In other to ensure that I take away something from the podcasts, I tried logging down learnings from the podcasts BUT I realised this sort of backfired - it worked for the first half of the month, but during the second half of the month, I got tired of logging my learnings and I realised that this exercise made me dread listening to podcasts, simply because I've conditioned myself to log down my learning after every podcast.

So what I am putting in place now is keeping a tracker on my bullet journal - and jotting down my key learnings at the end of the day when I feel like it. So far I find that this method is working better for me :) 

I've shared some of my key learnings from the podcast in my February 2021 Good Reads/Podcasts/Videos post :)

2) Read at least one paragraph of non-fiction/fiction every day

For the month of February, I've only managed to complete one book. I blame it on the shorter month :P 

3) Participate in at least one online events and/or online courses every month

For the month of February, I've completed: 

1. Learning How to Learn by McMaster University & University of California San Diego

2. Psychological First Aid by Johns Hopkins University

Managed to complete quite a bit of learning, thanks to my accountability partner at work :D somehow, it made me motivated to learn, and I look forward to the start/end of the week where we share our learning with each other :D

I really enjoyed the Learning How to Learn course - I find the tips/strategies this course shared are very applicable even to me as a working adult because, let's face it we all learn anywhere, anytime. 

Some tips/strategies I've learnt which I plan to incorporate in my daily learnings are:

- to always re-read your answers because if you're not doing so, you're not engaging a part of your brain

(ahem a reminder to me to re-read my blog post before publishing)

- to imagine yourself as the material you're learning

I do highly recommend that course :)

4) Cook/Bake at least one dish per week

Week 1: I made pork hamburger from scratch (yes, including the bun and patty :)), with a side of portobello fries & kale chips!

Week 2: Chinese Hamburger (Rou Jia Mo), Sourdough bagel + Asian pulled pork + Bakwa

Week 3: Korean fried chicken, Tahini rye chocolate chip Cookies & biang biang noodles

Week 4: Stir fried gochujang and cheese udon & seeded sourdough loaf (though as you can see...it didn't rise as much as I wished it did)

Week 5: Chicken Paprikash (inspired by WandaVision!) & Beef Nikomi Udon

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That isn't so bad, ain'it?