Last 15 months were some of the most uncertain ones i have seen so far and it has forced me to look within for quality of life as the number of things that were out of my control just kept growing :)
I'm a big fan of Patricia Mou's annual review process and tried a similar approach for my last 15 months
I absolutely loved the below recommendations from her
- Stoic Community
- https://pudding.cool/
- https://www.theschooloflife.com/thebookoflife/
- Open Masters (self directed learning)
- Five best books on everything
- Best essays to read (long form)
- Salon for intellects
- Less Wrong
What i have done well over the last 15 months
Personal Space
- Time away with people with different walks of life. Study groups, stoic communities, folks in my village.
- Flower subscription that literally lifts my mood every week
- Doubling down on music experience by expanding vinyl collection to 100+ and a usual schedule of winding down with music on weekends.
- Deep sleep (7+ hours on a fixed schedule ~1030PM - 6AM). Wake up at 6AM every day
- Knowing my limitations has helped optimize what i spend my time on and what i avoid.
Financial Space
- Built a XX year runway for more optionality in life.
- Moving away from "I will use FD and I will invest what i can afford to lose" thought process to using investments as primary lever for wealth creation.
- Going big on crypto. Meant reading up altcoins, the stack, team and sizing the opportunities.
- Bolder investments choices by investing in X startups. An earlier version of myself would have shied away due to lack of confidence on "worst case" scenario.
- Splurging on what gives me joy & happiness and not feel guilty about it.
Emotional Space
- Conscious effort in building a very nuanced opinion about world around me and the people i spend time with. An earlier me would have tried too hard to bucket things as "good or bad", "white or black". I'm now pretty comfortable knowing there is a nuance to most people and situations
- Practicing forgiveness - True closure is when you can forgive others and relieve the burden off yourself but also knowing i cannot possibly get a closure on every issue that worries me.
- Therapy - Seeking therapy and a personal coach has been a huge leverage in keeping my sanity in these crazy times. I wish i could be more religious about it.
- Built a small but a strong support system at work and life. Extremely grateful for the handful of people who take time to respond and converse without any judgement.
- https://maximustribe.com/
- https://www.joincoa.com/
Spiritual Space
- Practicing gratitude journal on a daily basis. It's amazing how small actions compounded over months/year can lead to big impact. Highly recommend the gratitude app from Pritesh Sankhe.
- Pursuing Liberal arts degree (M.A History & Philosophy) has been a truly eye opening experience. Spending time with folks who have spent 10+ years on studying history and researching is an enriching experience, a topic i have no expertise is a very stimulating time.
Work Space
- Saying NO to projects i don't truly enjoy or one that leaves little space for personal time. An earlier version of myself absolutely wouldn't mind working through weekends.
- Finding mentor at work to navigate imposter syndrome. Turns out it gets harder as you keep growing. you are not alone and it's easy for people to help if you ask for it.
- Finishing side projects - Side projects are a terrific way to keep the creative juice flowing as well as collaborate with people outside of your workplace.
Few projects i had built out as side project
Leo - Daily mood track
TeachQ.app - Tool for folks who run online classes
Social Space
- Eliminating most of social media has been the single largest positive change i have done.
- Deleting instagram account has helped drastically cut down on "passive browsing" and help with more writing. I use a heavily filtered twitter experience to maintain a high "positive feed".
- Turns out that a very reliable way to write well is to write a lot. 90% of what i write only gets shared with ~5 folks but hope to keep the momentum up.
- Writing pvt newsletters meant sharing thoughts with a close circle of folks who engage with feedback and discussions back n forth without any judgement.
- Building a smaller space via https://capp.fm/ app. It's like a daily check-in/podcast with your friends on video.
- Building with my partner - We have been trying to build raspberry pi 4 + thermal printer app that would print out something funny every time someone presses tactile buttons sprayed around the house. Something like "https://nordprojects.co/projects/littleprinters/" without the fancy build and form. She is terrific at hardware and i can write code.
Physical Fitness Space
- Pretty much lagged on this and motivation has been the biggest problem. Apart from 6AM 4.5K morning runs most things have been hard to do on a daily basis.
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