Welcome to 2024! At the beginning of each new year, I like to take some time to start the year with intention. There are many ways to do this from setting a word of the year to setting foci or even SMART goals. I personally like to set goals to help me focus on making incremental changes throughout this upcoming year. Below are my goals for the year and part of the reasoning behind why I selected each of them. I hope that by writing about my goals, it will inspire you to set goals or intentions of your own for the year!

Five goals I want to reach by the end of 2024:

1) Grow our Online STEM Community

It has been a wonderful journey growing alongside you all since 2019! The online STEM community is awesome and I hope to plan more collaborations with you all throughout 2024! This past year, I definitely did not focus as much on TikTok as I did other platforms, so a subgoal for this goal will be to post on there at least once a month. As an additional sub-goal for this goal, I want to book at least 3 speaking engagements throughout the year which will also help me to continue to work on my public speaking skills!

2) Focus on the Wedding and Being Present

As mentioned in a previous blog post, my partner and I will be getting married in October 2024. This is an exciting but busy time, so I am setting a goal that while all my professional society and STEM Outreach events and initiatives are important, wedding planning will be taking priority over this for most of 2024. Whenever possible with wedding planning items, we will identify tasks that can be handled by others, such as our family or friends, and delegate these responsibilities to ensure a more balanced and enjoyable planning process for us so we can be present and enjoy the journey.

We welcome any advice you have about wedding planning, so please feel free to email me with any information!

3) Post Monthly Blog Posts and Sustainable Swaps

I have loved sharing with you what I have learned along my journey and am excited to continue this through monthly blog posts and sustainable swaps! I have a few ideas already for both of these topics, but I would love to hear from you if there is any topic you would like me to cover. Many of you have asked for advice regarding co-op and full-time job search, so I will be focusing several blog posts on this topic moving forward.

4) Create and Maintain Boundaries

Setting healthy boundaries is crucial for self-care and positive relationships. In 2024, I will be focusing on creating boundaries, especially as we get closer to the wedding. For example, I may be doing less STEM Outreach in 2024, but am excited to ramp this back up in 2025. A subgoal here for me is to establish what a healthier work-life balance looks like for me. In terms of communication boundaries, while I love volunteering for opportunities, if it is a last minute ask, I will not be shifting my schedule around to accommodate it. I will also continue to do most of my professional society work on weekends, rather than trying to squeeze it in on weekday nights. For those who are working on this yourself, I want to remind you that “No” is a full answer!

What are your goals or intentions for 2024? I would love to read them in the comments below!