Review of the Year 2023

Trying out Sahil Boom’s Personal Annual Review template. Instead of putting the facts, it helps in identifying the effect the events had on me.

What did I change my mind on this year?

• Technologies(Hype)
• Politics
• I will never be prepared with all the facts so I should speak my mind out without the fear of being wrong as long as the intent is good.

  What created energy this year?

Activities

• Reading books
• Walking

  Projects

• CKA preparation
• Practicing programming
• Working with EV charging landscape.

  People

• Acharya Prashant, Andrew Huberman, Nassim Taleb, Slavoj Žižek, Sridhar Vembu, Naval, Ha-Joon Chang, James Clear, Lex Fridman, Phil Eaton, Debasish Ghosh @debasishg, Kelsey Hightower @kelseyhightower, Swami Sarvapriyananda

What drained energy this year?

Activities

• Watching Youtube Shorts :-(

  Projects

• Tiny projects others asked me to do with no skin in the game.

  People

• Some relatives chase only money.

Who were the boat anchors in my life?

• My family
• A few friends
• Advait Vedantic Philosophy

What did I not do because of fear?

Fear 1: I would not pass CKA, I’m not prepared

Downside

• Took me too long to take up the exam.
• Wandered and studied things that would not impact the result.

  Upside

• I learned the K8s internals

What were my greatest hits and worst misses this year?

Greatest Hits

• Studying Advait Vedanta

  Reflections

• I have never been at peace with myself more than ever before.
• I have no FOMO.
• I am much kinder and happier.

  Greatest Misses

• Failing CKA

  Reflections

• Exam demands more speed, it has nothing to do with my knowledge and the proctors do take some time away from the examinee

  What did I learn this year?

• Several technological hypes crashed and several will crash in the future, concentrating on the basics.
• With honesty and love, most relationships can thrive even if they are long-distance.
• Social movements are highly deceptive, staying away from peer pressure to participate in it saves a lot of energy.
• The strategy to avoid burnout is to take 1-2 major tasks and to not stretch working on a few days. Distribute the load with enough space to relax.