Summer 25

Dear you,

Wow, it’s been over 6 months since I last posted. Thankfully one of my trusted subscribers reminded me that I have this newsletter after it honestly slipped my mind. I suppose the flip phone had something to do with that but after a couple months on the Nokia, I have in fact returned to an old iPhone for a bunch of different reasons. Ultimately it boiled down to the ease of messaging and hot-spotting for wi-fi on the go (which is coming in clutch right now at this cafe that I’m typing from).

Here’s some questions that I found really helpful to answer from Sahil Bloom’s new book ‘The 5 Types of Wealth.’

1. If I repeated my current typical day for 100 straight days, would my life be better or worse?

2. If I were the main character in a movie of my life, what would the audience be screaming at me to do right now?

3. If someone were to observe my actions for a week, what would they say my priorities are?

4. Am I hunting antelope (big important problems) or chasing field mice (small urgent problems)?

5. What did I do 5 years ago that I cringe at now and what do I do now that I might cringe at in 5 years?

Here are my answers - 1) worse; 2) wake up (early); 3) comfort; 4) field mice; 5) eating out. Sounds a bit grim but stay with me.

💬 Made you think

I was watching some of my archived YouTube uploads when I came across the above quote in my ‘21 lessons from 2021’ video which I filmed in Gold Coast on New Year’s Eve. Might I mention, I had so much energy on camera as a freshly turned 25 year old. I distinctly remember that I had just started a new job, tried a new hairstyle and generally things felt promising. It only took a year for the novelty to wear off as I started to set my sights onto the next thing.

Interestingly enough, I find myself in a very similar position now as it’s been a year since starting yet another new job. I only recently realized that I’ve been suspect of a concept know as ‘the valley of despair’ and I’m still figuring out how to beat it.

What I’ve learnt is that, the real work starts when you’re deep in the valley. This is when the excitement of something new fades away and you’re scratching your head as to how you couldn’t foresee the challenges you’re currently facing. To figure out how to overcome this, go check out Akta’s blog.

On a more positive note, here’s to my first newsletter of this year. I had a draft post titled as Spring 24 which I never hit send on. If you’re still here after 2 years, I appreciate you and thanks for staying around for the ride.

Till next time,

Azam