Hello everyone, we are on the last day of the year and I know how bad the year has been for many. Fortunately, apart from me losing my regular job 2020 was kind to me in many aspects. This year I finally got to spend time with my wife and kid who were away for a long time. That way I was blessed and I really wish everyone to be kind to themselves because in the new normal many of us couldn’t separate work and personal life. If you feel less productive, or if you didn’t get around to learn something new it is totally okay. We are all well and alive, let’s cherish that. This is going to be a little long post, please brace yourselves.

2020 – Mistakes & Milestones:

1. Even though I started my Podcast in 2018, I was not consistently releasing content but towards the end of 2019, I started with a Series focusing on Introducing various Indian language movies, and in Season 2 I’m talking about Top Star Prashanth movies along with a friend. I not only posted consistently but I’ve also got good listenership. Currently nearing 17k listeners which is a really good milestone for the first year.
2. Revived my YouTube channel, after a big gap. I’m not posting regularly, for now, but I have planned to release videos every month just to get into the rhythm. I don’t want to rush and end up not posting content at all. I’ll take it slow and you can expect more videos in the next year.
3. On the blogging front, as many who read my blogs know that I have got my own little domain and after a long hiatus of setting it up, I started blogging on and off. In the last 2 months, I’ve started posting weekly and I’m planning to continue that next year as well.
4. One of my goals this year was to reduce my anger, although I had some outbursts here and there, it was a lot less compared to the previous years. Now, that I’m a father I’m more conscious now to not be a toxic parent. I don’t want to be a bad influence on my Son and I’ll keep trying to be a better person and a better father.
5. Long time followers of my blog might have known about my 2019 resolution, where I wanted to start journaling, which would also act more of a tracker of sorts. In 2019 I didn’t write much in that Journal except for some months but mostly I didn’t utilize it right. Even in 2020, I didn’t write down much but when the Lockdown was announced and I wanted to separate my work and personal life, I started journaling again. I read many articles about Bullet Journals and how I can bend them to suit my needs, I perfected my own way of keeping track of things and blocking my day. More on this in a different post but I’m happy that I utilized my Bullet Journal to keep my life in order.
6. Every Year I set a certain goal to read books, I made it a habit just a couple of years ago. Keeping myself a target helped me read consistently. That way this year I wanted to read 32 books, but things didn’t go as I planned, and ended up reading only 20 books. I wouldn’t really say 20 proper books, but Comics and Short Stories are also part of it, so we can reduce them and I read close to 10 books but I’m happy that I read. I really wish to read more books and the target is going to be 34 this year. Keep a lookout for a video on my YouTube channel on the books I read and many others.
7. On the financial front, this year taught me an important lesson. To be prudent of the future. I used to have savings but was very careless and haven’t had any plans per se. I’ve become a little more cautious and started investing in different forms just to secure my future and I have plans to do better next year. I’m following Freefincal and their YouTube channel. As a layman, Mr. Pattu is doing a fantastic job. If you are a beginner and want to learn more do check them out.
8. I’ve become a little more disciplined with regards to managing my Podcast, YouTube, and Website. Needed more discipline but for now, I’ve created a content calendar just in December which I took as a trial phase. Thanks to a good friend Karthik Pasupathy for being patient and helping me create on Notion. Maintaining a Content Calendar is a process, and in this trial run, I learned a few things and I’m going to utilize them better.

2021 Goals:

• Finish reading 34 books. Yes, that’s a goal and I already have chosen a couple of books to start with. From 2020 I decided to complete atleast one book series a Year. Last year I re-read Ponniyin Selvan and this year I’m eying to finish the Harry Potter series or the Lord of the Rings series or both. Let’s see. Also, out of these 34 books, I want to read 10 books written by Women.
• On the Podcast front, we are towards the end of the Season – 2 and I already have chosen the theme for Season – 3 but I’m going to be better planned. Between the first and second seasons, I did much better planning, and this time it is going to be even better.
• On the YouTube front, I need to stick to releasing one video every month and that’s all I really hope to do. Nothing much. If things go well, I might shorten the time but would still keep producing.
• One blog post every week, that’s the goal. By the end of 2021, I must have published atleast 52 blogs. I hope to keep up. Karthik Pasupathy has taught me one neat trick. I’m going to follow that.
• Exploring Indonesian movies, This is going to be really interesting because I haven’t watched much of World Cinema. Everyone will start with Iranian, South Korean, or Japanese movies, even Italian or Russian but I want to explore the unexplored. Yes, many must have watched Indonesian action movies but I want to go beyond. I found some interesting titles. Lookout for blogposts or Videos on them.
• Working on my anger issues is also going to be this year’s goal.
• Cycling on Weekends. When I was a bachelor I managed to cycle once every two days but lately, I’m struck with so much work and I couldn’t do this. Let’s hope I achieve this in 2021.
• On the personal front, I really want to save more. I’m learning one or two from Freefincal and trying to invest in Stocks and Mutual Funds for better returns and for the future.

What to expect from Chennaikaaran Content Universe (CCU)?

Isn’t it cool? ? Okay, don’t come teasing me but this is what I want to build. I want to build a brand. Sure, it takes time but I’m not going to stop trying.

1. First off, there are going to be three blog series simultaneously. Yes, you read it right.
   • DC Animated Movie Universe, many know there are DC Animated movies but as a cannon, there are 16 movies, which has a link between each movie just like MCU. There are almost 60 Animated movies in DC but I don’t want to take a giant leap but starting small.
   • Studio Ghibli Movies – Yes, I have been wanting to watch all these movies but kept procrastinating. I’m going to take writing a review as an excuse to watch those 22 movies.
   • Oru Pada Paadal Season 2 – I out of some push-started writing about that one Music album in movies and write my thoughts about it. It is definitely a tough task but it’s a challenge I’m going to pursue. Wish me luck ?. Here, you can read the albums I’ve written in Season – 1.
2. A complete makeover of the Website. I know the website is not slick and there is too much information. You will find a trimmed down slick Website soon. I also need some advice on plugins and if you are someone who knows things, your help will be greatly needed.
3. Adding a separate section for Podcast on the website, right now you can only find the links to various platforms, instead, there are going to be posting for each episode. I’m still working on certain ideas but this is definitely there.
4. For so long the focus was only on entertainment but I’m contemplating on writing more than entertainment and I don’t want to just stick to that. As a Salesperson by Profession, I have somethings to add and I might add a couple of them just to test the waters. If it goes well, I will keep writing more on that front as well.
5. How about a Newsletter? I know people must have subscribed to a lot of Newsletters and mine might be one among them or maybe not. Mine is an entertainment website and not sure how many will subscribe to it. Will you subscribe to my website? Do let me know in the comments.
6. This year I got a chance to explore many New Podcasts and please do expect Podcast Recommendations for 2021 in a couple of days.
7. I’m opening my website for contributions. It is not a gigantic place to get you more visitors but if you want to explore writing and don’t want to start your own blog or considering opening, you can use this as testing waters.

That’s all I’ve got. This post is just a little of what I want to achieve, I’m going to write down my entire goals on my Bullet Journal but in any way, if this post pushes you to be a little more disciplined or set up goals for yourself, I’ll consider that it served some purpose.

It’s okay that 2020 was bad for many but let’s reminiscent of the past, work towards fixing the mistakes and start afresh. Don’t commit yourself to bigger things, start small bring that into your habit then it will become part of your life.

With that, I wish you all a Happy Happy New Year 2021. May this year bring more joy and happiness to all our lives. Let’s be more kind and empathetic to everyone. ?