5 Goals I Accomplished In 2020 and 5 More to Reach in 2021
By: Zach Goreczny
Tags: 2021, Tips, Goals, New Years Resolutions, 2020

Let’s be honest 2020 was one hell of a year! This was a year of society growing as one on a global scale. We managed to create a vaccine for a monstrous pandemic in record time, uncovered and fought for systematic racism, and prevented a third world war.

While this year has been mentally exhausting, we never lost sight of our goals. This year I was able to cross a few goals off my life list, some thanks to the pandemic.

· Share My Writing with the World

· Create Udemy Classes

· Work an Internship

· Buy A Car Before I Graduate College

· Grow My Circle of Friends at College

I Began to Write Publicly

For many years I have wanted to begin writing. My past websites have included blogs, but I never utilized them property. I would create one or two stories and trust the mighty dollar to bring in views and reads. This model failed each time I attempted and left me with only a few views and little to no interest in my work.

I joined Medium in February and published my first story in March when the world shuttered. To date, that has only 5 views and 2 reads.

Fast forward to eight months later, and I have earned more than 600 followers. My 63 stories have been viewed over 2200 times and read 1372 times. Thanks!

In these last eight months, I have learned that Medium is more than a platform to collect cash for writing. It’s a community for both readers and writers where we can share our thoughts and opinions. I thank every one of you for that.

Created Udemy Classes

My first exposure to Udemy was last December when I continued learning data science after my semester had concluded.

Screenshot by Author

This class was beneficial, and I enjoyed the format of Udemy, an asynchronous learning platform where you can log in and learn at your own pace.

Seeing how passionate the instructors were on-screen made me more intrigued. I wondered what and how they were able to create a class that inspires others to learn.

After some brief research and planning, I had planned my first class, Life in Excel. This was designed to be an introductory Excel class for anyone who wanted to learn about spreadsheets and Microsoft Excel basics. Several hours of creating, recording, and editing later, I was ready to publish it.

Life in Excel went live in May, shortly after my spring semester had concluded. I was excited to release this but failed to promote it to my network, so it merely sat on Udemy’s servers until someone found it’s worth. However, that didn’t stop me from creating another class.

During our quarantine, I found that many people had found many hobbies such as baking and building computers. I have built a few computers and repaired even more, so why not share my knowledge with others.

I broke ground for another class in May and spend twice the amount of time developing this class. It included creating a 200+ slide presentation, many activities, and over seven and a half hours of video instruction.

In June, Building a Computer: From Zero to PC Hero was born. Growth was slow, but I chose to publish this with my network, leading to my first few students! To date, over 40 students have spent more than 80 hours viewing this course.

I enjoyed my slice of success. It inspired me to break ground on another class, one that offers personal finance advice. This has been a financially challenging year for many of us, so I figured creating a class with 15 Excel activities and a 160 slide presentation would allow people to feel more comfortable with budgeting and managing their finances.

In December, The Complete Personal Finance Class was born. This course was my longest in development, not because of content, but that I was developing it during my fall semester. I planned to finish all activities and the presentation before our winter break, so I just needed to record and complete the course. Goal achieved! Within three weeks of my moving back, I published the course for the world to see.

Author Provided Photo — Landing Page Photo

Every 42 of my students have inspired me to continue creating content and developing courses. I am currently working on a time management course that is expected to release shortly after the new year, and before my spring semester begins.

Work an Internship

One of my professional goals for college was to work an internship before I walked across the stage. To achieve this, I created a spreadsheet that tracked my internship applications. I applied to over 60 internships, and a bath fitting company in Lancaster reached out to offer me a sales fair position after our phone interview. I just needed reliable transportation, which meant I couldn’t take a bus to every location as I had not purchased my car yet.

When the pandemic grasped the United States, and we were sent home from college, this offer faded from existence. I turned to my other internships, such as Target, where I applied for a sales internship. I was declined an offer because of my current year in college, as they were looking for a junior or above.

Knowing that many organizations had closed their internship programs, I turned to apply for jobs. Whole foods, Target, and Sprint, were my top choices. After a phone and in-person interview, I found luck at Target, who brought me on as an Electronics Team Member.

While not an internship, I still have found part-time employment where I average over 30 hours a week. Target has been a great experience, and I enjoy working with the team and family there!

Buy A Car Before I Graduate College

My silly high school self believed the only way to be an “adult” was to own a car. Clearly, that’s not true as many have succeeded in life without ever purchasing a vehicle. However, I found that in college and with my chosen career path of sales and owning my own business in the future, a car would greatly benefit me in the future.

I had saved enough from working during the quarantine that I could put down a $2,000 down payment on my 2010 Toyota Corolla, Skylar. With my friends and family’s help and support, I found a reliable vehicle and works for me. (Hopefully for many years in the future too!)

Author Provided Photo

Now that I have a vehicle to call my own, I have opened myself to a world of possibilities and feel that I will be able to achieve more after graduation.

Grow My Circle of Friends at College

This indeed was one of the most challenging semesters college students faced. We had a strange “hyperflex” learning model where all assignments and exams were delivered virtually. Simultaneously, we only sat in a classroom for half the semester, while the other half was behind a computer screen. Mondays and Fridays I was to be in person, while Wednesdays were virtual and vice versa every week.

This model was too confusing for us as many of my friends and I found ourselves missing class and struggling to turn assignments in on time. After the third week or so, I had created a plan and my grades began to climb.

This plan included spending time with my current YCP family while growing my circle, even if it’s digitally. I had reconnected with old friends and met several more through my roommate and our honors fraternity, Phi Sigma Pi.

While the initiation process consisted of attending several events a week and meeting with each big, I grew with the other 14 initiates until we finally become brothers before leaving for our two-month long break.