If you are reading this, it’s just me thinking aloud about my future, reminiscing and critically evaluating my decisions throughout the last few years.

I turned 25 this week.

It is the time of the year when I evaluate where I’m at and decide where I want to be next.

My overarching goal in the last few years was to focus on my career.

I was out of college with absolutely no idea what I wanted to do next. I tried different jobs, worked almost always to get better, and had zero social life.

There wasn’t much else in my life outside of work. I knew I had to figure it out and set up my career. And today, I feel like I did that.

I’m at a job I love. It is impactful work and aligned with my goals in life. I have immediately actionable and long-term plans to continue on this path.

Goal 1: Learn continuously and do things that impact the world.

Working on my career and having no social life has taken a toll on my relationships.

After COVID hit, I stopped using my phone and stopped being active on social media. It helped my mental health and career but disconnected me from my friends and family. Now even though I have a phone, there is no going back to social media.

This year, I traveled a lot. I met people who I’ve known online. I met my old friends and made new ones. With my career on track, I can focus on maintaining relationships.

Goal 2: Rebuild old relationships with friends, put more time and effort into maintaining relationships, meet new people and make new relationships.

Being forced to work on my own had rekindled my creative aspirations in the past years. Being curious and obsessively building things led me to great opportunities.

In 2020, I left my job to work on things that interested me. I gave myself the time and freedom to explore whatever I liked until I found something I could see myself doing for a long time.

Building up to a position to take that risk and taking that risk was probably the best decision I made in my life.

Goal 3: Always make room to take risks, be creative, and start from scratch.

Your experiences make who you are.

People often say I’m an impressionable person. I don’t think I’m naive, but many of my experiences have shaped me into who I am.

17-21 might have been when I frequently had many new experiences. Most people feel the same because that’s when you go into the real world.

I feel like experiencing a lot of things when you are still susceptible to change can be pretty impactful. The last couple of years went by without a lot of new experiences. But I’m still young, and it is not too late to change things.

Goal 4: Invest time, energy, and money in new experiences. Travel a lot, do a lot of different stuff, and be open-minded and impressionable.

The one thing I would recommend everyone to learn actively is personal finance.

You don’t need to be an expert but being financially literate is necessary for the future.

I’m earning more money than I ever had before. Apart from some responsibilities, I can afford to be liberal with my money. I have to start being systematic with how I spend and save money.

Goal 5: Diversify income and investment streams. Be responsible financially.

You can’t be genuinely wealthy without being healthy.

In the last few years after college, I have been taking care of my health pretty well. I exercise regularly and eat good food.

Being healthy physically has also helped my mental health. Recently I have been endorsing my friends to do the same.

What I don’t often do now is sports. Not having your old mates back home is one primary issue, but I have met new people recently who invited me to their teams. I have to find them and play a couple of matches. Awkward!

Setting up a routine to play sports and joining some clubs might be the best solution in the future.

Goal 6: Take active steps to be healthy and participate in sports.

Setting too many goals might make it harder to follow through.

An alternative might be to keep the goals short and see how I did on my next birthday.

I want these goals to be high-level so that I can see them as North stars in all my decision-making processes.

Ideally, all decisions I make and the things I do in the following years will be aligned with my goals. Only time will tell.