Goodbye 2020! A Retrospect (Day 267)

On the last day of 2020, it's time for a retro!

The best decision I made to start the year 2020 is joining YEN camp (@8bit) for community building. I did my first ever vlog as a part of the YEN camp assignment, and it turns out to be one of the most important skills in the 100% remote work environment. I did not publish vlogs consistently, but I've done many video demos on my projects, and video updates are so much more impactful than email updates.

I'll start with YEN again in 2021! Looking forward to the Build a "Direction Document" that works course, starting Sunday 8 am!

I have built a really good workout routine before the pandemic shut down all the gyms. I was going to gym 4-5 days a week, alternating pull and push days, mixing swimming and running for cardio. The pandemic changed that. I ended up cancelling my gym membership. I bought the cheapest treadmill and started running 50k per month, I hit over 100k per month for a few months, until September. A combination of horrible air quality from the wildfire to the broken air conditioner at home, and the big push on the APIS project that took up all my personal time. I shedded 15 pounds and gained back 10 pounds since September.

In 2021, I want to pick up my running again. Running pumps oxygen and allows me to focus without distractions.

I have also built a very good learning habit in 2020. Every lunch hour I watched The Great Courses and blocked out time for readings and audiobooks. I also reserved about 1-2 hours daily to read technical blogs and participated in 5 hackathons that forces me to learn new techs in a short time. In Q4, I got so busy I have to cut back on my daily learning routine.

"Books are the training weights of the mind. They are very helpful, but it would be a bad mistake to suppose that one has made progress simply by having internalized their contents." --Epictetus

In 2021, I want to restart my learning habits. I want to be more hands on this year. "The words you read must be supported by the actions you take", as the Daily Stoic suggests, I want to build more products instead of just learning the theories.

In 2020, I constantly remind myself that instead of managing time, I should manage my focus. To accomplish that, I have stopped reading news, log off all my social media and chat clients, check email only twice a day, and I use focusmate to timeboxing myself to a "meeting time" for important tasks. I installed a plugin that auto-redirects news and sports websites to a study site. I still have lapses from time to time when I felt lethargic and ended up doing too many chats.

The best decision was blocking out all the news. From the constant divided political noise, to the depressing pandemic news, news take a huge emotional toll in additional to the time spent reading them. In 2020, I was usually the last to know, but it has little impact on my life. Instead I spent the time on reading the latest technologies, trying out new tools, and turned myself into a more geeky person. The result is that while most people already know what's going on, and that value probably lasts for a day as talking-capital, I built up more in-depth knowledge that fewer people know and increased my own value long term.

In 2021, I want to continue this "manage my focus" practice with one improvement. I want to tackle the tough tasks before my energy gets drained from different tasks. I'll try to build better processes to minimize meetings, and block out the beginning of my days on important tasks.

Lastly, my goal for 2021 is to fix the biggest regret I have for 2020--I failed to finish some projects I started. While there may be legit reasons, such as changed priorities or poor market response, etc., nothing gives more fulfillment in seeing real product launches! I want to see things through from beginning to the end, and I will make this my top priority.