Dear diary

What is your vision for 2018?

What goals did you accomplish in 2017?

What goals are on 2018’s to-do list?
It’s imperative to have something you are fighting towards. A milestone that, when reached, will push you forward to another one.
This year, we should focus on investing in ourselves. Parents invest time, energy, and money in their kids. Business owners invest time, energy, and money into their businesses. We shouldn’t be any different when it comes to investing in ourselves.
For example, I’m a computer engineer. I want my career to focus on back-end development, where I could be using programming languages such as Java or Python. So I invest in myself by learning programming languages that would be useful. Right now, I’m doing my best to learn Python. Something else I’ve done before and plan to do again is participate in hackathons to increase my skills. These things take time, energy, and sometimes even money. Even so, it’s worth it. You should be able to see the value in investing in yourself.
It can be a struggle, though. Sometimes I find it a tad difficult to push myself to do things that don’t seem to be immediate necessities. When school is in session, I catch myself pushing certain tasks to the back burner because “school always comes first”. This habit was most prominent in my freshman year of college, but going into my first semester of my sophomore year, I’m more actively balancing and prioritizing. School is important, but there should be a constant balance. It’s true, the scale might tip every now and then, especially if it’s midterms or finals week, but fight to keep it pretty consistent.
By working hard in school, you are investing in yourself. By eating properly, exercising, and drink enough water, you are investing in yourself. By seeking every opportunity that is relevant to you, you are investing in yourself. By making personal and professional connections that positively build your community, you are investing in yourself. By learning new skills, that are relevant to your future career or not, you are investing in yourself.

And when people see you diligently investing in yourself, they want to invest in you too. You can get on the path of success by first investing in yourself.

Invest.