My Year in Review: 2020

It never gets easier, you just get better. 💪


This year is not that good for almost everyone. Many people lost their loved ones due to health situation. Many people also lost their jobs due to economic crisis.


Year 2020 showed us what essentials in our life and why we should be grateful. If we are still alive and have good relationship with our loved ones, these are more than enough to be thankful.


This blog post is an annual review of what happened in my life in 2020, what went well and what didn't go well, so I can learn something from the past year experiences.


Suitmedia Goes to Bali (2020)


January

I spent end-year vacation in Bali to attend my friend's wedding, returned to Jakarta on January 1st, and was greeted a flood. Our flight couldn't land at HLP and had to land at CGK airport. 😅


This month I felt productive since I wrote summaries of two my favourite books : The E-Myth and ReWork. Those are two of the most influential books for my professional life.


February

On February 10, we had a blessing to have a company retreat in Bali. We stayed in Bali for 3 days and some people extended their holidays. I feel really grateful for working with my current teammates.



On February 19, I joined Kelas Inspirasi Bandung and this time I took role as teaching volunteer after three years of being facilitator. This volunteering event was also the only Kelas Inspirasi that I involved in 2020 because there is no direct interaction in school during pandemics.



March

COVID-19 pandemics officially started happening in Indonesia in March. The government announced WFH recommendation on March 16. While we were still working at office on that day, we gathered all managers and decided that we got to activate our mandatory remote work protocol as soon as possible. So we started working remotely since March 17, initially just for 2 weeks, but we kept extending until July 1, 2021 at the earliest.


During this period, we also paused our company hiring for the first time ever. While we were still very optimistic in February, this month we got to be prepared that we had uncertainties in front of us.



April

At work many people got to adjust their work-from-home situation since it's not easy to work with constant distraction at home. I personally had terrible lifestyle since I ate junk food more regularly during that time.


On the other hand I wrote a blog post about managing personal finance (in Indonesian) since it would remind me (and some readers) that the crisis was real and we got to prepare for that.




May

I decided to declutter most of my books in apartment since I needed a fresh view. I held my first ever online garage sale, selling my books through Instagram and WhatsApp. Once confirmed with the requested book, the buyers should pay any amount to non-profit foundation (I chose Yayasan Pita Kuning, a philanthropic foundation for children with cancer), then I would send the books to the buyer which I paid for the delivery fee. It was fun, and I'm thinking to hold another event in the future.




I also signed up for an online course, CFA Preparation. I felt that I need to learn some new things, and I decided that finance is one of my interests.. 😁



I also learned that no matter how hard our economic situation, we always get to help those people in need. So we decided to increase our CSR program, not yearly anymore, but now quarterly.


We also launched Panti.id, mobile apps to help us find nearby orphanages. We hope this app can connect good people with those in need.



June

After three months living in uncertainty, we finally found some hope, "a new normal" where people have to wear mask, wash hand regularly, and keep physical distancing.


I wrote a blog post about heading to the new normal to share what I learned about this health and economic crisis in the last three months and what we could do ahead. We also held a 7-days webinar sharing about how companies can utilize digital technology to survive in the new normal era.



July

Things didn't go well as I expected, perhaps because I was too optimistic about this crisis situation. And since the economic recovery that was promised to happen in June didn't happen, we decided to make ourselves as effective as possible at work, and we had to reduce inefficiency.



August

At work we had a virtual ceremony of independence day. I shared my thought about "Interpreting Independence" on that occassion where it's not only about freedom, but also about autonomy and improvements.


In this month I also made a commitment to reset my lifestyle since my body mass index was already on obese-1 😂 I stopped eating junk food, reduced a lot of "unhealthy" food, and started to exercise regulary.



September

At work it looked that national economic was contracting for two consecutive quarters which means that we went to recession period. We still didn't know what could be happening later.. I tried to learn the situation as many as possible and did what beyond our control. I shared my thoughts on a blog post about what to prepare during recession: stay healthy, keep the spirit alive!


I also revisited my book collection and re-read "The 4-Hour Workweek" as it always reminds me what the ideal lifestyle I want to achieve, although I disagree with Tim at some points.






October

My fitness level was incrementally getting better. By the end of this month I already lost 15 kg compared to the early August when I started to reset my lifestyle.


I also learned about various cognitive biases which reminds me why I ever wanted to take another post-graduate study on behavioral science. I still hope I can study at London someday. 😊


In my daily life I re-learned that giving is a universal value. "The generous soul will be made rich, and he who waters will also be watered himself." (Proverbs 11:25)




November

By this time my body mass index was finally normal again! I will share the details of my diet in another post.


In addition to maintaining healthy food consumption and reguler exercise, I started to do something new : cycling ≥ 100 km and running ≥ 10 km. I did my first gran fondo by cycling Jakarta-Bogor-Jakarta. Meanwhile, I also did my first 10km running ever in my life this month.






December

The 'impossible things' had been done, so I tried to make those as 'reguler things'. I signed up for ITB Ultra Marathon and run 10 km for the second time in my life. I also commited to do 10k run at least once a month and would improve it to at least once a week.


Meanwhile I also signed up for Bali Cycling Marathon. It was actually just 60 km track, but since I rode my bike for round trip, it turned out to be 142 km of cycling! Now it becomes reguler that I do cycling ≥ 100 km once a month.





Epilogue

Getting to the next level means discomfort about adapting to changing situations, taking risks, and persistent efforts. If we keep pushing ourselves to achieve higher goals, we will learn, grow, and improve. It never gets easier, we just get better.



Posted on 31 December 2020 Category:

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