What do I aim to achieve by January 2019?

Historically, January has been an important month for me.

January 2010

I had my first agency contract job in web development paying me equivalent of $55,000 per year so it was my first ‘grownup’ salary.  Later on, I had another job offer for an industry association.  I couldn’t do university full time and run at least three jobs (I also had my own startup) so I decided to leave my web development job.

The decision to work with the industry association ended up paying off as I learnt some valuable ‘soft skills’ and helped me launch into my first industry role in marketing.

January 2011

This was my first time spent overseas on my own – travelling in Canada.

Someone stole my wallet and passport in Toronto so I had to cancel a trip to San Francisco on that month.

This experience of being mugged was unpleasant and since then, I’ve made extra effort to take more precautions.  Luckily it hasn’t deterred me from moving to Toronto about 4 years later 🙂

January 2012

Lo and behold.  One year after having to cancel a trip to San Fracisco, I was now in San Francisco!

The reason why is to check out the Silicon Valley/tech scene in the city.  I made a few good friends, talk to a couple of startups that I have been doing some collaborations with back in Brisbane and getting a good feel of the city.

One of the people that I made friends with somehow took me under her wing and started giving me advice on how to look for rentals in the city and wanted me to meet her daughter (who worked at HR) at a shopping trip in Sephora.

January 2013

I was living in the UK by then.  Nothing special this month, from what I recall!

January 2014

This was the month where I made some major life decisions that affected the rest of the year.

It was a really stressful time for me.  Do I continue on with my career and live in London?  Do I continue on with the same career but try to move elsewhere in Europe? Do I take the risk and move back to Australia and do my Masters?  I took the risk and moved back to Australia with the Masters.

January 2015

Again, January was the month when I was making decisions that affected the rest of the year.

I was nearly finished with my Masters and I decided to go out interviewing for roles.  There was a role for $75,000 that I was in my final interview for but it meant that I had to stay in Australia. At the same time, I was interviewing with a European company.  I decided to take the ‘going with the overseas experience’ again and go with the European company and work for them as a remote contractor.

I was also told on that month that I was a recipient scholarship to go to a conference in Singapore for a specialist career field.

January 2016

I started making serious preparations with my move back to Europe to live and travel there, starting off with Ireland as the landing point.

This was in the middle of Toronto winter weather which didn’t really gel with me.  I didn’t like the cold temperature – I like winter but not the Toronto kind.

January 2017

This is probably the best month so far as it follows up on goals from January 2015 (entering into my desired field) and January 2016 (moving overseas and travelling life goals).

The next step is finding ways to extend it – finding more professional opportunities, education (ie certificates) and organizing my time and budget for combining the goals from those past two years with living, travelling, and work.

January 2018 ?

Hopefully, I am able to extend upon and grow on goals from the past few years or so.

January 2019 ?

There is a high chance that this is my final stint in Europe.

I have been slowly making some serious preparations since 2016 to ensure maximum coverage in terms of livability.  Though most of those preparations have been research and just increasing my knowledge in migration, visas etc.

A lot of things can change – recession, life events, change in goals.

I am constantly making future plans, making minor adjustments as I go along when new information arrives.