Waves Breaking, 1881, Claude Monet
Don’t be afraid to be confused. Try to remain permanently confused. Anything is possible. Stay open, forever, so open it hurts, and then open up some more, until the day you die, world without end, amen.
– George Saunders in The Braindead Megaphone
went to sf dmv to get my california license done today. waited 2 hours at the dmv reading zhendong's letter. took 106 photographs around japantown, alamo square, and city hall on the way. also got a $130 fine by sfmta on the bus as i was heading home. a great new years gift from sf. went to coit tower to watch the fireworks with friends. and 2024 ended just like that.
a few reminders and principles i want to take into 2025 from my safari tabs
- do not let perfection be the enemy of progress (hashimoto)
- iterate relentlessly: pay attention, adapt, and let feedback guide you toward what fits and feels alive (karlsson)
- resist summary: focus on details, build your own mental model, develop a chain of reasoning (sarris)
- trust your intuition, do the harder, less fashionable thing catherine
- "no man is a failure who has friends" (it's a wonderful life)
- read not for retaining information, but for refining your world view (anu)
- use action to achieve focus and take rest seriously (zhendong)
and a reminder and inspiration for why i write these blogs from dan wang's letters
In the last two weeks of the year, I sort through everything, try to coax out a structure, and then write the damn thing. I’ve complained about how much work it demands, but I also want to say that it has been great fun. I don’t understand why more people aren’t writing them. It’s not just about sharing your thoughts and recommendations with the rest of the world. Having this vessel that you’re motivated to fill encourages being more observant and analytical in daily life too
this task that i set for myself everyday, to just write something everyday is a powerful nudge to do more interesting things, a catalyst for action.
and a few reminders for achieving my goals for 2025 by Dr. Ana
- break down goals into sub-goals
- keep the goal in mind every day
- anticipate obstacles with "if... then"
- make it a group effort
- make it easy to take action
a few big goals that i hope to achieve
- graduate and get a full-time job in SF (doing what i love & >$100k)
- read all the books in by library (30 min before bed daily)
- complete my ghibli scenes sketchbook (sketch on sundays)
- make a photobook of SF (take more photos)
- write a book about my parents (in our weekly calls)
- launch an iOS app (saturday hacks?)
- complete crosstown trail (w friends)
- host a hackathon in sf (w friends)
- get into YC (w wei)
- get 10k followers on twitter (post whenever i find something interesting without hesitation)
- 5 links a week newsletter (on my blog and on substack – inspiration from celine)
that's all i can think of for now, signing off. Here's to 2025.
other 2024 reflections