2022 In Review + 2023 Goals

I initially wrote this in a private Notion to share with trusted friends. Edited this for my website :) Removed specific names and some reflections for privacy. Hashed some reflections for when I'm ready to share for accountability.

Looking back

How’d you do on your 2022 goals?

• Mental & Spiritual
  • I’ve been more in tune with my own feelings
  • saying no to more things that don’t bring me joy
  • not taking things personally — we’re all trying to figure things out
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• Relationships
  • ended a relationship that wasn’t working for a long time
    • did a last date <3 got closure
  • more upfront about my feelings to close friends and how important they are to me
  • dealt with rejection (on both sides) — proud of how I dealt with it
• Health
  • did not exercise as much as I wanted to this year. Not being part of a structured team really took a toll. I lost the automatic friend group, social connection and workout structure that comes with being part of an organized (active) team
  • ate healthier - I was more conscious in not overeating, not eating my feelings away all the time
• Career
  • tumultuous year — started out thinking of dropping out to work at NFT startup, then reneging on a company to work at a big crypto company, then leaving that to work at a crypto vc. Then leaving that to work in b2b saas. accepted b2b saas offer but still itching to work somewhere smaller wrote too many career reflections in my "What do I do? Career Edition" saga (which I may share here one day). still lost. trying to be at peace with the decisions I’ve made.
  • I learned that money isn’t everything after having a taste of (basically) unlimited resources and realizing that the joy is in the process of working together with people that bring you joy to build something you are proud of
    • unlimited resources were fun for a while — travelling, eating, doing things without a care for the cost was great
    • having no concrete goals to work towards was not fun. I felt aimless.
  • trying to stop over-explaining. People don’t need to (nor do they want to) know the details of my situation.
  • Worked on more side projects — Rabbitholeathon, Referents, Personal website, zk sign in, zkPIN. Confident that I can ship and execute on things. The magic is in the execution ✨
• Family
  • Didn’t call my parents as often as I wanted to. Still don’t feel like I can be myself around family.
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  • how do I unlearn the scarcity, fear mindset that I was raised with. It’s take every job, optimize for money, never walk alone, never be alone, the world is out to get you. I admire people who can be trusting of the unfamiliar
• Social
  • I went through phases of too much social and then loneliness. Summer 2022 was a whirlwind of too much socialization. Not a moment of silence or peace.
  • my favorite SF weekends were ones spent alone where I walked down familiar roads and browsed things myself
  • Want to be more comfortable with being alone. I fill up my social calendar to the brim to avoid loneliness.
• Fun
  • I had lots of fun this year. My biggest moments of joy are when I’ve been able to hang out with people in small groups and have amazing conversations.
  • Hosting events was fun but I do it to escape having to actual talk to people while still getting the superficial feeling of social connection and being part of something. When I hosted, I just hopped from person to person with no fear, no stigma of being alone because the host is just doing the host things. Stop hosting to escape, host to entertain and bring the people you love (or could grow to love) together

What were your most memorable moments from 2022?

• HackLodge — realizing that everything is within reach if I work hard enough
• Venture — seeing the best and worst of people. what money can do to people. who I am without something to work towards
• SF coliving house — the parties, the long late night convos, the casual hangouts, the best moments were in the little things, coffee at 7 am on the boys side, running into people all the time
• vegas — seeing a side of crypto that was focused on purer goals, privacy, security. advancing the future of cryptography for humanity not for profit
• the little moments I was able to share with friends in SF <3 I want to create this kind of community for myself everywhere I go

What were the key themes?

• Places, people, and things feel unfamiliar at first, but with time and effort — everything eventually feels like a new home. I don’t need to be afraid of where I will move to, where I will work, who I will be around — I can build my community anywhere.
  • on people: people matter. I don’t want to be afraid of factoring them into my decisions and goals. Cut out people that don’t bring you joy, remember how people make you feel.
• Fate is within my control.
• Bias towards action. If something isn’t right, take action. If it feels right, lean into it.

Who am I grateful for? There are so many people I am grateful for this year :) redacted the list to preserve privacy. 23c51fd0fde45c69e0433480dd5b9fde8120d5f3e9227db50454f52274e1b11b

Looking ahead

What do you want to have accomplished?

• release 3 written pieces publicly before the end of 2023
• try a 1-month social life break
• try a week-long digital detox (no social media, no scrolling mindlessly)
• have an active routine that I can be proud of — no more weeks on end without getting my heart rate up
• artists way 12-week journey
• live in the moment. slow down time. stop planning 5 steps ahead

What are your goals for 2023?

• ship a technical project every quarter
  • hackathons are a good way to do this
  • socratica is also <3
• built better habits in general
  • I wanna be the type of person with a routine — morning routine, typical after-work routine, workout routine, habits that i am proud of
    • cut out bad habits. i don’t need to drink as a social lubricant every week
• leave waterloo with a core set of people I feel could be lifelong friends
  • leave university years with no (less) contempt. it’s time to move on from all the anger i felt about going to waterloo/covid/school circumstances
• I don’t want to be lukewarm about the things I focus my time on. Be excited, all in for everything that takes up attention
  • attention is devotion
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• make decisions and be at peace with them.
• take more breaks from doing work for others. life isn’t just about work. work on my own projects, have time for my own things. I’m not just a code monkey that needs to solve every problem placed in front of me.

I'll revisit this at the end of 2023 :) in the meantime. Happy New Year!