Stephen's 2025 Goals - February Update

Happy February everyone! This is my 1st monthly update to my 2025 goals. I made some good progress on some goals and not so much progress on others.

Outside of these goals, my wife and I went to Los Angeles for New Year's to eat some delicious food and catch up with some friends.

In addition, I was interviewed to share my experience with the San Jose State mentoring program for Calstate.edu. Here's the published article: https://www.calstate.edu/csu-system/news/Pages/CSU-Alumni-Give-Back-to-Current-Students-Through-Mentoring.aspx

Finally, my wife and I went car shopping for a new EV to help with my long commute. The timing isn't quite right now and we're hoping to get some deals later in the year!

Continue reading to see my progress!

1) Personal Development and Fitness Goals

For my personal development goals, I want to challenge myself to do new things and continue to grow! I want to be as healthy as I can be this year, so I want to emphasize consistent exercise throughout the year!

a) AHEAD (150 mins. above pace) Exercise for 10,000 minutes on Peloton (excluding walking)

I am well ahead of the pace I need to be with almost 1,000 minutes in January. I also PRed my 30-minute ride this month! I did a total of 16 strength, 16 cycling, and 4 running classes.

b) (ON TRACK): Maintain my weight of 180 lbs

In January, I averaged 180.4 pounds and actually stayed below 180 pounds since January 15th. I had more days at below 180 pounds than above and I will continue to track and maintain my weight throughout the year.

c)?(ON TRACK): Do 1,000 push-ups, sit-ups, and squats every single month

Every morning when I wake up, I do 25 each of push-ups, sit-ups, and squats. I also do some of these during my Peloton strength classes.

Overall, I did a total of 1,150 each of push-ups, sit-ups, and squats in January!

d)?Continue learning languages on Duolingo

I'm currently learning Spanish on Duolingo and have a 984 day streak. I'm excited to hit 1000 days again and surpass my previous streak of 1004 days!

e) Learn to cook something new every week

I want to develop this skill and will learn to cook something new each week with either her help or any resources online. I will utilize the weekends to cook something for my wife each week and share what I've made in my monthly articles.

I was good for the 1st 2 weeks of January where I learned to make shrimp and egg as well as Yoshida's salmon. Then, I got lazy, so I will have to be more proactive in learning to cook!

2) Professional Development Goals

a)?(AHEAD: 45.5 / 60 PDUs) Re-certify my PMP certification

I obtained my PMP (Project Management Professional) certification in July 2022 and the certification is valid for 3 years. I need to do 60 hours of continuing education by July 2025 to maintain this certification.

I made huge progress in achieving 60 PDUs for my PMP re-certification. I was able to submit 8 hours for work experience. I also took 2 classes and watched a bunch of webinars during the weekends to achieve 45.5 hours total!

3) Career Coaching and Public Speaker Goals

a) (BEHIND, 1 out of 52) Have 52 "coffee" chats

I want to be more intentional with networking this year and connect with people who I can learn from or who I can help. My goal this year is to have 52 coffee chats, whether in person or virtual to get to know someone better and continue building strong relationships.

I had 1 coffee chat in January where I talked to Do Hyun (Ricky) Park about the different opportunities at Applied Materials. I referred him to several entry-level positions and hoping for some good news for him!

If you want to have a virtual 30-minute Zoom call, you can find a time here: https://calendly.com/stephenhelpsyou/networking

b) (No Update): Post videos again on LinkedIn

I did 3 straight years of weekly videos from 2018 to 2020. Then, I did weekly livestreams from 2021 to middle of 2022.

Now, videos are coming back on LinkedIn, so I will start posting videos again. I will post them when I want to, so it may be multiple times a week or I may skip a week here or there.

I didn't post any videos in January, but I did post twice. Here's what I shared in January:

Have Flexibility in Achieving Your Goals

Networking is important for Opportunities

How was your January! Share in the comments!