2023 Recap + 2024 Resolutions (Version 1.4)

If I had to define 2023 in one word, it would be Resilience. If I had to put myself in the shoes of myself on December 31, 2022, I would have thought the word would be Risk. 

In no particular order, 2023 was the year of:

• TodayPay

• Insight Partners

• Sofia

• Roommates

• Reading

• Penn Blockchain sponsored trips (s/o Jun Sun -- skiing, Denver, Disney, Cozumel cruise) and people

• UAE + Argentina Penn sponsored trips

• Getting more in touch with my interest in finance

2024 resolutions:

• Spend more time (this year especially) with people I want to make memories at the age of 65 with

  • Justification:

    • This is the last foreseeable time with extended breaks. Travel is one of the most fulfilling to share a good life.

  • Measurement:

    • How many weekend trips with fun memories did I do?

• Read more technically challenging books

  • Justification:

    • Enhance ability to learn how to learn

    • Non-pleasure reading will take lower priority when I have a full-time job. Conversely, I'll probably read my pleasure books more often (as a weekend break).

  • Measurement:

    • Did I self-learn 5 new topics which I consider myself not highly exposed to

      • Bayesian statistics

      • Neural networks / ML

      • Bayesian statistics

      • Biotechnology

    • Still try to read one book "for fun" every 2-3 weeks. That's ~20 new fiction books!

• Methodically training basketball

  • Justification:

    • Methodically training something is a process of learning how to learn. My home town friends beat me a bit too often.

  • Measurement:

    • Consistently train for 8 weeks using a methodical approach.

• Less reflecting, more doing

  • Justification:

    • I'm prone to overthinking. My goals are good, it's just worth putting my head down to achieve them

  • Measurement:

    • How many hours did I waste thinking about something without changing my mind, which probably didn't require the effort I put in

• Appreciate art

  • Justification:

    • New perspectives

  • Measurement:

    • Museums with Sofia. Journal of notes. FNAR class.

• Run a half marathon

  • F*ck the time

• Well-written opinions and essays

  • Justification:

    • I tend to use stream of consciousness with my writing. It was useful for a while, but well formed thoughts are the new vogue

  • Measurement:

    • Write an opinion piece every 2 weeks

      • Do a deep dive. Talk about what I'm reading. Talk about what I'm feeling (I'm sure others are feeling it too)

What's out:

• Doing a little bit of schoolwork everyday. So much more worth it do it all at once in a grind.

• Waking up with the lazy feeling

• Spiraling into comparing my timelines, my version of success, and my version of greatness. Thinking too much about "what" greatness is instead of diving headfirst into the habits of greatness.

• Dismissive mentality

• Treating people non-seriously if they don't appeal to my style

• Stubbornness

• Not being my biggest critic

• "Clout", "Popularity", "Brain-dead organisms"