2020 was a pretty terrible year. If a sports team had a year like the world had, it’d be the gold standard for terrible seasons. It’d be worse than a team losing every single player to season-ending injuries, and the coaching staff to a train wreck. The silver lining has been rapid scientific developments and the amazing work of biotech companies in creating, testing, and manufacturing efficacious vaccines. As the injured heal, and we as a collective society stumble back to our feet, 2021 is clearly going to be a rebuilding year.
What do teams do during a rebuilding year? They focus on the fundamentals and get back to basics. That’s exactly what I’m planning to do this year.
As the new year approaches, what are your goals and plans to rebuild in 2021? What are you going to do to make the team better in future seasons? Grand plans are fine. We all wanna win the championship. But it’s never a bad idea to refocus on the basics—especially after a year like 2020.
Be a supportive husband
As a husband, my top goal in 2021 is to support my wife in her burgeoning career in America. As a non-native English-speaking Korean immigrant mother of 2 kids under 7, she’s got an uphill battle earning money in a country with 10-30 million receiving unemployment benefits.
My wife started her career in America with a stellar first year. She set her own professional goals, woke up at 5 a.m. almost every morning and somehow surpassed all of them! I couldn’t be prouder of her determination, hard work, and genuine passion for helping people buy and sell homes.
In 2021, I want to support her even more and make sure that she doesn’t feel the burden of home and family responsibilities are holding her back. This means being flexible in my work schedule to take care of the kids so that she can help her clients and grow her business. I’ll probably need to learn a few more recipes that the kids like as well. When she needs time for her work, I’m making it a focus to say “yes” more.
Be an attentive father
My other major goal for 2021 is to be present and attentive for my children. At 6 and 3, they are at super fun ages to play with. I want to double down on being present for them. This means:
- listening to their stories, no matter how rambling
- building and playing with Legos
- drawing pictures together
- folding origami and paper airplanes
- playing tag and hide-n-seek inside and outside with them
I also plan to take many small weekend trips together exploring nature and experiencing new things. We’re lucky to live within a 1-hour drive of many hikes, lakes, and public parks. I may even see if they can handle a few mountainous hikes this year.
The point is to be present with my kids exploring and being curious.
One random thing my kids have enjoyed is “going on adventures.” We walk through apartment complexes to a nearby shopping mall with a Latin market where we buy Inca cola and unique snacks. I want to go on more “adventures” with both kids this year.
They’re both at fun ages to play with and I want to make a point to take advantage of this time.
Focus on the important
I could write many more goals around health, wealth, and my job. Sure, I want to eat healthy, work out, earn more, save more and continue to contribute value at my job. But 2020 was the year to remind us of what’s really important. And there’s nothing more important than my wife and kids. So 2021 is all about them.