Focus.

Dear you,

I recently found myself slowly picking up habits that I started last year but with a twist. For example, today I re-subscribed to The Financial Times which by the way is the cheapest digital newspaper subscription amongst the big leagues ($13 AUD/month vs. $39 for the WSJ, $55 for the Economist and $70 for the AFR).

Some habits that I’m tweaking this year compared to previously:

1. Bringing back the Nokia 2660 flip.

   • 2025: I started using it strictly on weekends. I swap my sim between the Nokia and the iPhone to maintain WhatsApp account. I carry around both phones but I can only use the iPhone where there’s wifi. I’ve also designed my iPhone like a dumb phone with no colorful app icons on the home page. I’ve finally downloaded offline maps (duhhh genius) which is so helpful in the car.

   • 2024: Meanwhile, last year I went all in with the Nokia for 2 months whilst I gave away my iPhone 14 Pro to my sister. I used to rely solely on the gps navigation in my car.

2. Reading physical newspapers.

   • 2025: I look for news agencies to pick up the current week’s copy of the Economist. It arrives on Mondays and I always learn something new from it. Lately, there’s been stories about Kashmir on the front cover almost every week for the past 3 weeks. I also picked up a physical copy of the AFR during the Easter long weekend.

   • 2024: I used to subscribe and have the Economist magazine delivered to my front door. I had digital subscriptions to the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and borrowed a mate’s AFR account. For a brief period, I would print out the front page of all 3 newspapers and highlight them on my desk.

3. Signing up to a new gym.

   • 2025: Yesterday, I went to my first Barry’s class and walked out feeling like a million dollars. Today, I’m sore just from walking up the stairs but very grateful I didn’t get sick. Everything from the wet towels, to the green smoothie waiting for me after class, to the polaroid wall, had me completely hooked. Taylor’s video somewhat helped convince me to try it after a year of thinking about it.

   • 2024: I even changed health insurers to get a 50% discount on my Virgin Active membership. There were optional classes which initially excited me but I didn’t go to many and eventually switched back to complete the 12 month contract of my old gym.

🎓 Commencement Speakers

It’s graduation season and I always love listening to commencement speeches. Carmelo Anthony was the commencement speaker at Syracuse this year. And last year, Federer spoke at Dartmouth.

What would you tell your graduate self with what you know today?

💬 Made you think

In other news, life’s good when there’s an NBA conference finals game every day. I haven’t been this into the playoffs in a long time.

Ps. Knicks in 7.

Till next time,

Azam