Starting a new year
For the first time, I’ve had a “holiday” and it feels a bit new
This past week, I’ve probably watched more movies than I have in the past 4 years. Mostly re-runs though.
Been working on a new line up of guests for the podcasts, once I feel I’m ready for a comeback.
Closing the year that was
Each year, between the 20th and 25th of December, I’d spend sometime to reflect on the past year and roughly plan the next year. And by plan, I mean visualise. I’d write down my reflections and email my team. This year too, I felt the need to do the same. Except share it with a wider network.
If I reflect back on past 12-18 months, I feel like I’ve done things I shouldn’t have. I compromised where I shouldn’t have and I didn’t stand my ground where I should have. I was quite on matters where I should have been loud, and loud on matters which made no difference to the end outcome. No regrets though. In many instances, I did take a step back and observe. I slowed my thinking, my reactions and exercised extreme patience.
I’m sure when reading this, you might be wondering what those events were and how I navigated them. That’s irrelevant. The point is, what I plan to do from now on. My goal/plan/visualisation for the next year is simple.
Respect the nonnegotiable
At the moment, there are 2 main nonnegotiables for me. The first is sleep and the second is movement. My ambitions in life have been clear to me for the past 15 years and I’ll be honest when I say I haven’t formed a concrete plan to work on that. I have, however, done lots of trial and error to work on my aspirations. For me to be able to achieve all that I set out to, I need to optimise my mental and physical strength. And for that, I need to ensure I sleep enough and keep my body in shape. Without either of these, I know I’ll be digging myself a hole
Being bold
If theres one thing I overthink, its people’s reactions to my actions. “Seek forgiveness, not permission” is easy for me to say and expect from others because I know myself and my reactions. I just haven’t been the best in applying it myself. I’ll be entering a new year in a relatively new location, with a new job and new people around me. I’ll also be turning 30 and for the next 30 years after that, I’d like to take bold steps forward and work towards achieving my big plans. And with each step, I need to actively remind myself to not be bothered by people’s thoughts, impressions or perspectives.
So, to conclude
I’m not going to share a TL;DR with this one.
But from next week, I’ll be going back to previous format of Unfiltered, i.e:
Bullet point thoughts, reflections, ideas, personal anecdotes
Major theme, lesson or insight to share
Summary
Some topics to keep your eyes open for in the new year are building culture, disruptive marketing cheat sheet, past Behind The Grind highlights and mentorship.
Happy New Year and all the best for what’s to come.
One last note
I hope you’ve been finding these to be valuable and not an utter waste of time. Would love to hear feedback/suggestions so that each new issue can become better.
Lastly, I’m hoping for Unfiltered to keep growing so please do share this along with someone who may need it.
See you all in 2025 🍻
