In this post, I’ll share my goals for this new year. Like most, I want 2024 to be #NewYearNewMe, so below I’ve outlined the measurable milestones that I’ll use to track my progress. My outline is based on the concept of OKRs, or Objectives and Key Results, as developed by Intel cofounder and former CEO, Andy Grove.

“There are so many people working so hard and achieving so little.”
— Andy Grove, Intel cofounder and former CEO

As mentioned in my previous blog post about grad school strategies for success, I consider myself a goal-setting convert, dating back to January 2020 when I made my first ever digital vision board for the new year. You see, even before Covid-19 really blew up and the racial unrest following the murders of both George Floyd and Breyonna Taylor (#SayTheirNames), by the start of 2020 I’d once again been struck with a bout of the depression which had been plaguing me since my early 20s (adulting, am I right?) and felt helpless to control all the change happening around me. Luckily, I’d already amassed several coping skills in my mental health toolkit and began writing in a gratitude journal to help take stock of the little things in my life that were going right to help balance out what I perceived as so much going wrong.

Admittedly I didn’t use my gratitude journal each and every day, and eventually let it fall by the wayside, but for the time that I did, it really helped open my eyes to the concepts of intentionality and affirmation. Each morning, I would start off my day reflecting on three things that I was grateful for, my plans to make the day awesome, and a positive affirmation for the day. At night, I would be prompted to think of the little things that made my day, what I’d learned, and my goals/plans for the next day. With my plans already written down the night before, each morning I was able to circumvent my decision paralysis and complete the tasks on my to-do list in order to keep myself on track for the things I hoped to achieve for myself, not only that day but throughout the entire year.

Fast-forward to Summer 2022 when, at the start of my Intel Data Analytics Graduate Internship, I was introduced to the concept of OKRs. While I’d already created my 2022 vision board, I could see the appeal of using this framework for setting your personal goals, or objectives, and further break them down into measurable milestones, or key results, which are in essence SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound – goals. So this year, in addition to creating a vision board (currently a work-in-progress), I’ve drafted my 2024 OKRs, shared with you below, in hopes that it will keep me honest with tracking my progress throughout the year.

My 2024 Objectives and Key Results

“Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.”
- John Doerr, author of Measure What Matters

Objective 1: Improve my physical and mental health to live a more fulfilling life

When I do my annual physicals, I get back positive results that I continue to be in good overall physical health per the usual panel of blood work my doctor does each year, but despite this, I’ve always had a high BMI due to the excess weight I caryry on my petite 4’11 stature. In my early 20s, I’d usually have yearly goals of attaining significant weight loss, but ever since reaching my 30s, I’ve realized it’s even more important to generally feel more energized and live pain-free, taking steps to achieve all three like cutting juice and soda out of my daily diet, and eating fruits and vegetables daily. For this year, I’m outlining the following key results, in no particular order, to track my progress on hitting this objective:

KR 1-1: Move my body more

I will 3-5 days of 30+ min/wk of moderate cardiovascular activity, perhaps through a combination of walking, Bachata lessons and cycling/spinning. In addition, by the end of this quarter, I want to increase my move score from 523 cal/day to 550, stand at least 12 hr/day and 10 min/hour (and increase of 1 and 3 respectively), walk an average of 2.5 mi/day including a 10-15 minute walk daily as measured by my apple watch.

KR 1-2: Prioritize my mental wellness

Firstly, because I’m a big proponent of it, I will continue attending weekly talk therapy, and also pursue career coaching. I will write in my gratitude journal daily and begin practicing at least 5 minutes of meditation and intentional mindfulness daily, which I’ll track on the Headspace app.

KR 1-3: Improve my diet

I’ll track the progress of this KR through the myfitnesspal app. Some of my metrics will be drinking at least 6 glasses/day of water, meal prep to ensure I eat at least two fruits and two vegetables daily, and eat more home cooked meals rather than ordering take-out (bye-bye DoorDash).

Objective 2: Enhance my communications skills to engage in more meaningful conversations

By conversation, I don’t necessarily mean only verbal, but written as well. When I first started this blog following my attendance to rstudio::conf(2022), it was mostly because I wanted to try out Quarto rather than a sudden urge to share my thoughts with the world. I’d long considered myself a bad writer, the consequence of a thoughtless third grade teacher who told me I was no good at it, and internalized it well into my young adulthood to the extent that I failed English composition in undergrad twice before finally just passing with a C on my third attempt. Riding the high of my first AmStat News article – I’ve (co-)written four more articles since then – and the positive feedback I received, my confidence about my writing chops were bolstered and sharing my thoughts in a blog seemed far less far-fetched. Although I may not blog often, I’ve come to really enjoy this form of communication and more generally, writing.

KR 2-1: Read at least 24 (audio)books for the year

I’ve always loved reading, and I definitely believe that seeing others’ writings is a great way to learn how to better communicate. For the past four years, I’ve participated in the yearly Goodreads reading challenge, but I was only able to read 9 of the 25 books I’d set out to read last year. For this year, I’m just going to aim for 2 books per month, with a stretch goal to read over 30 books by the end of the year.

KR 2-2: Make 12 blog posts for the year

One down, eleven to go. Over the past few days, I’ve gotten the chance to read several year-in-review blog posts from the extraordinary folks in the R community. Some folks have been blogging for years, while others have taken it up more recently, and I’m in awe of all their superb communication skills as well as their accomplishments, which has inspired me to want to blog more as well.

KR 2-3: Complete at least 12 Tidy Tuesdays

In addition to writing general prose, I’d like to increase my technical communication skills and data storytelling through Tidy Tuesday submissions. For those unfamiliar with it, Tidy Tuesday is a weekly social data project organized by the R4DS Online Learning Community, and despite being a part of the community for over 2 years now, I’ve never participated in Tidy Tuesday. It’s not for lack of interest in data visualization, but rather lack of confidence in my skills and ability to convey technical information on my own from scratch. That ends this year!

Objective 3: Continue upskilling to further my personal growth and career advancement oppurtunities

The past two years of my life have been filled with a lot of learning and personal development. Now that I’m out of school, I need to be intentional and disciplined enough to keep myself learning throughout the year, now that I do not have the deadlines and exams that accompany higher education.

KR 3-1: Do at least 4 python projects

I’ve been attempting to learn Python off and on for about a year now, starting with a short course I attended at the 2023 Conference on Statistical Practices and more recently in my participation in the first R4DS cohort of the ISLP book club. Admittedly, I’ve mostly been trying to learn through osmosis, and since that hasn’t been working thus far, it’s time to get my hands a little more dirty. With that in mind, I’m going to give myself the goal of completing four python projects, no matter how big or small, and as a stretch goal, presenting one to the R4DS project club.

KR 3-2: Do at least 12 R4DS presentations

Although I haven’t checked what’s the most presentations I’ve done in each of the past three calendar years, it’s probably more than six but less than twelve so I’d like to be intentional about presenting and continuing to learn new data science concepts firsthand.

Summary

“Ideas are easy. Execution is everything.”
- John E. Doerr, author of Measure What Matters

This year, I have three overall objectives that I’d like to work towards before 2024 comes to a close; I want to improve my health, communication and technical skills. These goals in themselves are lofty, but I’ve broken them down into measurable milestones which are the key results I hope to achieve. If you’re interested in creating your own personal 2024 OKRs, check out the resources below. In addition, I’d like to share with you my positive affirmation for today, and perhaps, the rest of the year which I hope resonates with you as well: I am in charge of my own happiness and health. I am proud of myself and all that I have accomplished.

Happy New Year, and I hope you hit all your 2024 goals!

Resources

Gratitude Journal: Invest few minutes a day to develop thankfulness, mindfulness and positivity
- I’ve used this exact 90-day gratitude journal off and on for the past three years. I’ve also used others which have more in depth writing prompts, but I think this is a great place to start for anyone new to gratitude journal, and it provides a space for monthly reflection as well.
The Power of Visualization by Ashanti Johnson
- In this TedX talk, Fitness Instructor and business owner Ashanti Johnson addresses the topics of self-sabotage, and how visualization can help you accomplish your goals.
Make a Digital Vision Board With Me! by Whitney White
- In this YouTube video, Whitney shows you how to make a vision board, digitally, on your computer through step by step instructions on how to find images and piece them together.
Measure what matters, by John Doerr
- This book illustrates how to collect timely, relevant data to track team and/or organizational progress through OKRs.
Goal Setting: Objectives and Key Results by Jessie Withers
- This LinkedIn Learning course walks through the concepts behind OKRs, how to design OKRs for groups, and how to implement the framework across an organization. It discusses how to manage OKRs throughout the year, measure results, and create a culture of accountability.