The Skeptic's Resolutions

New Year’s Day has come and gone, as has the time to be setting new goals and resolutions. This year, I intentionally let this day pass me by in an attempt to prove to myself that change can be done at any point in time, irrespective of some convenient window. Okay, maybe I’m lying just a little bit - I really did intend to get it together and hit the gym come January, but the easy excuse of having family still in town let me sink deeper into the couch as I let what will almost certainly be my last winter break as a student move on without much of anything being achieved. However, now that I’m back in school, I feel the drive to really set some goals and commit to them, hard.

I could write extensively on the issues I have with hustle culture, the “grindset”, and, hell, even with the corny influencer-inspired self-improvement arcs I see much of my generation buying into it. I walked away from reading the now infamous Atomic Habits by James Clear a bit skeptical. Yes, getting one percent better everyday results in an easily grasped mathematical improvement. No, it’s not that simple. For myself, improvement is a non-linear process - some days, I achieve a two percent gain, on others, maybe a tenth of a percentage point gain, and, on all days, I keep up-to-date enough on my skills that even going an entire month without programming results in no regression. If you learn the skills right, it becomes more like riding a bike. My former classmate, Ethan Richards, wrote a great post on stressculture. In an attempt to grind my way into the next phase of life where I’m wildly successful and everything is so great and awesome (spoiler: there will always be stressors and it will never be perfect), I often forget to enjoy the here and now.

So, what does that have to do with goal setting? While I’ll keep the SMART details mostly to myself, I do want to share a brief overview of my goals and aspirations, as well as a reminder to keep things realistic. Will I have enough time to grind LeetCode 24/7 and break into FAANG? Probably not. Will I work my ass off to ensure I get a job in tech with the skills I’ve built over the last four year? No doubt. Will I get jacked? Probably not. Will I be able to run a half a marathon and get back to benching 225? With the right amount of dedication, yes. Here is a high-level overview of what I want to achieve in 2025:

• get a job as a software engineer or PM in tech, preferably in Seattle
• return to a basic level of physical fitness
• create a side project that demonstrates my skill set

and the loosely defined ones:

• make my mom happy
• write, write, write
• enjoy the present

I aim to place heavy emphasis on the last one. In high school, I looked forward to the freedom of college. In college, I look forward to the job market. From here on out, I will be actively trying to remind myself that life is a blessing and everyone moment spent not enjoying it is a mistake. To maximize this enjoyment, we must do things that aren’t enjoyable, e.g., going to school or work, but, as time passes, I continually find myself aligning more and more with “work to live” rather than “live to work”.

If you find yourself relating to what I have to say, I encourage you to go easy on yourself. For the past year, I’ve spent a lot of time passively worrying about what the future holds. Will it all work out? Yes, it will. If I stick to a routine conducive to my success, I have nothing to worry about. Make time for friends. Make time for family. Go for a walk. Go to the movies alone. Go to a coffee shop alone and don’t look at your phone. Read a book outside. Avoid the garbage.

I’m just on a tangent now. Anyway, I hope everyone has big aspirations for 2025, and I wish you all success. Don’t worry - WAGMI.