FWD Life Insurance recently released its newest campaign, Press play, to encourage people to press play on their goals that were halted by personal challenges, lack of resources or time, or perhaps the pandemic. Press play was inspired by FWD’s DNA and brand promise to celebrate living. For over five months, FWD searched all over Asia for real people who are doing just that.
One of the six featured individuals is Filipina Pau Javier, who switched careers and became a potter during the pandemic. The former producer for TV and independent films not only pursued her hobby, she also founded Wabi-Sabi Studio with her sister and now teaches pottery and sells her own creations.
Press play’s featured individuals reassessed their lives and goals, made changes, and are happier for it. That’s what we all aim for, isn’t it? Pursuing your goals can lead to happiness, according to a study by the University of Basel. As long as you have goals that seem attainable to you, your psychological wellbeing can improve, the study said.
Working on goals gives us a sense of purpose and control and leads to self-confidence and exploring life in directions we may not have considered before. Ready to restart on your goals and make new ones? Here are 5 goals that are worth pressing play on.
1. Health and wellbeing goals
People in good health are physically active and get adequate rest daily. No matter how busy your day is, get moving at least 30 to 60 minutes a day and aim for 7 to 8 hours of sleep to help your mind and body recharge. Eat more plant-based foods and swap fatty meats with healthy fats from fish and nuts. Maintain a healthy weight and less than 25 BMI.
It helps your mental wellbeing when you try to pass on joy to people around you and talk to trusted friends and family members when you’re feeling stressed. If you feel overwhelmed by your sadness for extended periods, talk to a professional and get help. Peace of mind is also an important factor in your total wellbeing. One of the ways to achieve that is not having to worry about your health. Getting a health insurance is the best way to avoid stressing about getting sick. Knowing you can focus more on your wellness and recovery in case you get sick takes some heavy load off your mind.
2. Financial goals
Learn to manage your money. This involves spending, saving, earning, and investing. Financial goals are essential to creating a household budget and getting a clear picture of what you have and what you aim to have. Building an emergency fund should be an essential part of your financial goals which can be used for unplanned expenses like medical bills and simple (but costly) things like roof repairs or a fender bender.
Talk to experts who know how to guide you in achieving your financial wellbeing, like an FWD financial advisor. It also pays to study and research money matters and tips on investing to grow your money even more. Experts can help you identify what kind of investment suits you, and having their expertise can help you focus on your goals.
3. Life and family goals
Do things together and impose a daily time limit on the use of gadgets—it eats up so much time than we realize or care to admit. Instead, exercise, do household chores, spend leisure time together, visit your parents regularly and be truly present when you’re with the family. Plan trips together—it doesn’t have to be expensive; it can be a day trip out of town or a visit to the museum. Learn to listen to others and to talk about your own feelings. Encourage the same with your partner and children. Be involved in their lives in ways you might not have been before.
4. Career goals
A career goal is where you want to be in your professional life. These goals can be short term such as getting a raise for a successful project or performance, or long term such as being promoted to the position you dream of, which also means more responsibilities. Be more involved at work, join work-related socials to get to know people in your industry and widen your network.
You might want to switch careers in the future, so it’s a good idea to enroll in professional certification programs that would be useful. Some of the online courses you may want to consider include data analytics, marketing, web design, languages, humanities—all geared toward developing new skills. Like every career or financial adviser says: working hard is key because there really is no shortcut.
5. Happiness goals
Happiness can sometimes sound like an ambiguous concept but it can also be defined as “subjective wellbeing,” meaning you evaluate or measure how satisfied you are in the different aspects of your life. Author of The How of Happiness and positive psychology researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky says that happiness is “the experience of joy, contentment, or positive wellbeing, combined with a sense that one’s life is good, meaningful, and worthwhile.”
Everyday self-care activities can help propel you to that state of wellbeing, like meditating, listening to music, taking a break, mindful eating and conversation, exercising in nature and the like. You need to allot time for self-care and it helps if you jot down activities you can incorporate in your day to be able to set aside time to do them. On the mindset side, remember to always look on the positive side of things. It’s harder to do this, but a little conscious change of perspective each day can get you there.
Having goals helps us achieve more in life, which makes us feel more satisfied about what we do. Check out FWD’s Press play video for inspiration.
We need to remind ourselves that every day is a new chance for happiness, for living life to the fullest, looking at things from a different perspective, and being closer to achieving our goals.
Let’s take that first step to fulfilling the goals that will bring joy in our lives.
