Happy New Year everyone, and happy first-Monday of 2016! Long time no see! I hope you all had a great holiday & safe new years.

It's been a year since my first annual review, which was something I was inspired to do at the end of 2014, after reading one of my all-time favorite books, The Happiness of Pursuit, by Chris Guillebeau. In the deepest slump of my life, this book absolutely woke me up & taught me how to create my own happiness, by living my life in the constant pursuit of what inspires me. It gave me a purpose. This book literally changed my life, and let me say, because of it, 2015 was amazing. Because of that, it inspires to keep going & continue with this pursuit for the rest of my life.

Part of the process of doing an annual review, is to first look at what (in your mind) went well in the last year, and what didn't go so well. It also involves at looking at how successful you were for your goals last year. Then from there, it becomes a lot more of an effect way to make goals for the new year, than resolutions alone. (Learn how to create your own Annual Review here). Here's mine:

What went well in 2015

You can now call me Jennifer Nguyen R.T.(R). This past August, the Monday after my last day of class, I passed my Radiologic Technology boards with a 90! After 2 years of non-stop studying, on barely enough sleep, and working part-time, I'm never going to forget the feeling of just sitting at the end of my boards, in the disbelief that I was finally done. I must have sat there staring at my screen for 4 whole minutes. Of course, I would never have made it, if it wasn't for the support of my parents, friends & equally sleep-deprived classmates.
Dream job? Check! As the cherry on top to my boards, I landed my dream job with my very first interview, 3 weeks before I graduated. I'm still literally excited to go to work, every single day.
Finally went to PAX.
Another year of fun travels. I celebrated my second birthday in-a-row, in Honolulu, Hawaii, and celebrated my graduation with yet another annual trip to Disneyland. This Disney trip was extra special though, because I...
Finished my first Half-Marathon. Along with doing my first 5ks with The Color Run & Electric Run, I flew to Disneyland to complete my first Half-Marathon. To be honest, before I did it, the most I had ran was 8 miles. A half-marathon is 13.1 miles. At first I was scared that I couldn't do it, but I just kept thinking, just one foot in front of the other. 3.5 hours and 9 water stations later, I did it!

What didn't go so well in 2015

My only regrets of 2015, involve the failure of several of the 2015 goals that I had set, which included

My Goal of Writing 2 Blog Posts a Week - This overambitious goal was quickly overwhelmed by schoolwork, finals, my rad-tech boards, & training for my first marathon.
Posting 1 video/week on Youtube - Same with this one.
Reading 1 book a month - I still read 5 books this year, which is pretty good for me.
Refresh on Japanese for a trip - Which I decided wasn't going to happen.

Thing is though, I am completely content with these failures, because they were the result of how busy I kept myself with everything else that made my year happy. You can't win at everything. It's just as long as you're happy.

Goals for 2016

The next step is to look at what goals you want to set for next year, separate categories of your own choice & creation (for example: writing, business, friends, family, travel, spiritual, health, learning, or financial). Here are mine last year, and here are mine for 2016:

Travel/OUTDOORS

Whistler
Franklin Falls
Mount Rainier
Blanca Lake
Florida
Crater Lake, OR
Work abroad
France/Italy/England

Writing

Vlog more & post more Youtube videos - at least 2/month
Post at least 1 blog post a week - no really this time.

Health

Improve my skiing skills
Disney World's Star Wars 1/2 Marathon
Seattle's Rock 'n' Roll (half) Marathon
The 5K Warrior Dash in July
Depending on if I get a spot, run my fourth half-marathon in Paris Disneyland

Learning

Educate myself on how to travel by earning/using points
Continue my education by specializing in MRI or CT
Challenge myself from a photography standpoint
Read 1 book a month - no really this time.

From there, you write out an action plan under each goal, on how you will accomplish those goals. I won't bore you with those details here. You can see how it can get lengthy, but success requires a lot of both planning & action, especially when planning an entire year. Then finally, after reflecting on all of that, you write out a title & mission statement for the year. For me, 2015 was "TheYear of Pursuit," and you can read my mission statement (here). Here's my mission statement for 2016:

2016: The year of Adventure

In 2016, I will prove that my first 1/2 marathon, was not a one-hit-wonder. I will push myself physically, more than ever before, through skiing, hiking, rock wall climbing, and training through a series of runs that will lead me through my second, third, and hopefully fourth half marathon, from Florida, Seattle, to Paris. At the end of 2016, I will be on the path to advancing my career/education, by specializing in a diagnostic modality. I will also have expanded my education through reading & travels. With my thirst for adventure, my pursuit to for greater photo & video content will be my catalyst.

I hope you guys enjoyed the read. I know it's lengthy, but it's been awhile since I blogged, and to me, this is one of the more important ones. I hope I inspired you guys to plan out your own amazing year. Let's make 2016 unforgettable! - JN