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My 2020

I thought I'd do a year recap. Since this year is probably one of the more impactful ones, it's probably important to document it. While the world changed drastically, I stayed learning and trying to improve myself, which was a goal for 2020. Here's what I did:

Journaling

This one was the game-changer. I built journaling into my routine in the fall of 2019, and I kept with it for a long time. The only reason I stopped was becaouse my routine went to hell as I'm sure yours did. I took the journaling philosophy of Benjamin Franklin, who used journaling as a tool for focus and self-accountability. I adapted his two daily questions: What good shall I do this day?, and What good have I done this day. I used the former as a way to set goals, since generally goals are a good thing to have. I reflected on those goals with the latter. If I didn't accomplish a goal, I would simply state why and steps I had to take to go. However, I found out quickly that it's important to set the right daily goals. You need to have "microgoals" that fit your schedule for the day. For example, if I had 4 classes in a day, I probably wouldn't put studying or working on a lab as a goal, since that would upset that balance of my day.

I also used journaling as a documentation tool. I kept track of my album of the day, which I didn't always get to, but when I did it was fun to explore some music. I also tried to pick three "moments" from the day that made me smile or drew some other emotion out of me. Finally I just did some self-reflection for how I could improve my mental state.

I used a powerful tool called org-journal in Emacs to keep a steady journal. I kept my laptop by my bed when I slept, so when I woke up I could set goals, and when I went to bed I could reflect. It was a great routine. Which leads me to...

Org Mode / Emacs

I've used Emacs for years, but this year was when I really ramped it up. I went 40% for my keyboard with the Vortex Core, learned Vim bindings, installed Doom Emacs, and never looked back. Org mode made note-taking excellent, and I learned a lot about elisp along the way.

I graduated

Anti-climatic, but sill important. I'll always remember my last day of finals because my roommate and I just binged Tiger King, which was funny to say the least. I started my job hunt, and I have some leads, but I'm not in complete rush. I did an insane independent study to write a compiler that took a lot out of me. Oh yeah...

I wrote a compiler

Completely insane. I learned more in 3 months than I learned over 4 years. Check it out here.

I moved out

Arguably a terrible move, but I needed to get out of the house. It's not that I didn't appreciate living at home expense free, but rather that I just like having my own space. My thought process was that I needed a job, and sitting on my ass at home would not get me a job. So, I'm forcing myself to by paying rent.

I evolved

Quarantining combined the best parts about me from my gremlin, house-dwelling self and my slightly more outgoing college life personality. I kept up with my friends and didn't burn any bridges, so that's a win in my book.

I helped start a company

Not something I'm really ready to talk about yet since it's still in the works, but it's a highlight because it was the first time I was paid to write code, which is huge.

See you next year

In my jack-of-all-trades fashion, I continued to learn a lot this year. This isn't really even going into hobbies, of which there are pleanty. This year sucked for all of us, and it won't get better on January 1st, 2021. We can't solve all of the world's problems, but we can try to solve our own.

Tentative goals for next year

#100DaysToOffload