It's the first time in three years that I'm writing a birthday post, ironically on the year that there's relatively little to provide an update on, but one that I think is important given the transitions that've happened and what I'd like for life to look like going forward.
It’s been almost two years since I’ve last posted so wanted to provide an update on how life is going.
The last six months were long ones.
Quarter 3 particularly was a busy one. During that time, I made 10 trips and it took its toll. It’s rare that I travel this often, usually, I prefer to stay in a place for six weeks at a time just so that I’m able to build up momentum and get more stuff done. But for the first time in years, I almost subconsciously prioritized traveling over stability and I think it’s because I just don’t like Phnom Penh much.
I’ve always measured success in terms of progress and given that, the first 11 months of being 25 has hands down been the most successful period of my life.
The tl;dr highlight version of this past quarter is:
· I got SMILE eye surgery (best decision ever)
· Left Bali and moved to Phnom Penh
· Video Husky has a new website and grew 70% revenue wise compared to last quarter
· Studied 143 hours of Japanese (much harder than French was)
· Launched this blog
With that said, life’s more than just the highlights so I also wanted to share three big lessons that I’ve learned in the past quarter.
If there’s one word that can summarize this past quarter, it’s stressful.
Moving from Chiang Mai to Bali with three weeks in Hong Kong as well as making two additional side trips was stressful. Juggling my time to so I could be with all the people who I care about in each place was stressful. Striving, but not reaching the goals I had original set for Quarter 1 was stressful.
And a result of that stress, I feel regret.
In Quarter 4 of 2018 I set five goals:
· Write 10 Medium Posts
· Use Contactually (software) to help me keep in touch with people who I care about
· Grow Video Husky to $50k MRR
· Practice 50 hours of salsa
· Study 100 hours of Japanese
I’ve always thought that 25 was a special age.
It represents the first quarter of life — the year that I would have a defined direction in life. While not everything is 100% certain, I’m grateful for the experiences I’ve had this year because they’ve helped clarify what I want out of life, provided me with the means to achieve those goals and most importantly, the hunger and desire to pursue them.
The biggest thing that happened for me this past quarter was moving down to Chiang Mai…and while it’s still early days, so far it’s been everything that I’ve hoped for.
I chose to leave Hong Kong because after almost two years of living there, I just felt like I didn’t fit. Between having friends and family around me, a great apartment and ample football opportunities — on paper I had everything necessary for a great life…but it just wasn’t right.
Today marks the final day of New Year’s Resolution and having posted on 99 out of the 100 days that I originally aimed to write on LinkedIn, I’m pretty happy with the ultimate result.
The original purpose for taking on this LinkedIn challenge was twofold:
