I am Changing Myself In 2024
New Year, New Habits, New Goals, and New Sacrifices
2023 has almost come to an end and it is the 27th of December at 10 in the morning I am writing this to address what I think of this year, what I have learned, what mistakes I made, and how I am going to overcome all these in the coming years.
Why you should read this?
Maybe because I was able to identify my problems and also achieve a few goals for myself this year. In 2023, I became almost financially independent with a good-paying job + a decent side hustle earnings also. It’s a good achievement in my opinion
But before we begin, I would like to share a few lines about me. I am Neil Shah, I am 25 years old and working as a DevOps Engineer for the past 3 years after my B.tech in Computer Science Engineering.
In 2023, I switched to an international product-based company after working 2.5 years previously in a service-based industry I felt I needed more in-depth knowledge of technologies in my domain and hence product-based company was perfect for me.
Apart from the usual work, I like to read, write, and make videos. The last one is still in progress but yeah I do like the whole process of creating a video, editing it, and hitting the publish button.
If I have to describe 2023 in two words, it would be “eye-opener”.
Why?
This year I made more mistakes than learning and it made me realize what I am lacking and what I needed to improve upon.
So let’s begin with the main part of this article.
“The person you are the most afraid to contradict is yourself.” — The Bed of Procrustes
1. Being True to Myself
In a world that may encourage conformity, being true to oneself is a rebellious act of self-love and self-respect.
It empowers individuals to pursue their passions, chase their dreams, and build a life that resonates with their innermost desires.
“Over the long term, you are more likely to fool yourself than others.” — The Bed of Procrustes
Authenticity is a magnetic force that draws like-minded individuals who appreciate and celebrate one’s uniqueness.
It is not that I am lying to myself but in certain scenarios, I convince myself after doing something wrong and hence it creates a duality that can cause me to distract and pursue wrong-doings one after another.
For instance,
I lied to myself that I would work-out daily this year, but every time I try to give myself excuses and reasons that today is more work, I feel lazy, I have some more important things to do. But in reality, I am just procrastinating.
“Procrastination is the soul rebelling against entrapment.” — The Bed of Procrustes
There are many other such promises that I made to myself that were never completed and hence it is a must to admit that I am not being true to myself and I need to correct this behaviour.
2. Accepting the Reality
Consider an individual who had high expectations for a promotion at work. Despite putting in significant effort and demonstrating dedication, the promotion goes to a colleague.
Initially, this news might be disheartening, leading to feelings of disappointment and frustration.
However, accepting the reality in this scenario involves recognizing that the promotion outcome is beyond one’s immediate control.
It means reframing the situation by acknowledging the disappointment but also understanding that setbacks are a part of professional life.
Talking about myself, I have a bad habit of creating an imaginary world where I would like to go and when it is not achieved I feel like quitting it completely and I change my mind to something new and it happens again in a loop.
This year, I wanted to pursue learning frontend engineering but I never did it and shifted my mind to learning a musical instrument and then learning a foreign language and many other things.
While it is not that I cannot pursue all of the things I also have to accept the reality by keeping in mind who I am, and what are my pros and cons.
3. Actions Speak Louder Than Words and Tools
This age-old wisdom suggests that actions reveal one’s true intentions, character, and commitment more convincingly than spoken promises or declarations.
To get head of the 99% of the people, you’ll have to do what the 99% is unwilling to do
But if you have noticed closely, I have also added “Tools” in the proverb because for me I feel it makes a lot more sense.
We live in a world full of content and resource overload. You can get almost anything at your fingertips, be it food, entertainment, friends, sex, education, medication, or consultation. etc.
For me, this facility has become a curse in a somewhat manner.
How? Let me explain
As I said earlier at the beginning of the year 2023, I had some goals to do and achieve x, y, and z apart from a conventional job.
To pursue those I looked up tools and sources of inspiration rather than pursuing it, putting in effort and action.
For instance, I decided to start a YouTube channel one for movies and the other for tech-related videos.
To make them I purchased an editing course, editing software, and templates and watched over 100+ hours of content online.
In return, I only uploaded 4 videos in 365 days and crossed 1.5k subs with less than 10 hours of watch time.
If I had invested the same 100+ hours in making those videos and publishing them, it would have resulted in much better.
This reminded me of a nice quote from Nassim Nicholas Taleb which states
“To bankrupt a fool, give him information.”
That is why I am going to cut down my need for tools, complain about things I don’t have, and start spending more and more time pursuing it.
Finally, there are goals that I want to share publicly so that I can come back in 6 months, re-share my progress, and tell you if I am persistent or again fallen into my adversities.
I know this article is kind of meta and I wanted it to be like that, I don’t to write in the same manner as everyone does with short bullet points and actionable steps.
I wanted to write like I do in a journal and a natural manner. I am not looking for any grammatical or writing mistakes, I am just writing my mind and heart out in this.
In short here are my goals for 2024:
- Nice physique + Daily Workout
- Enable Monetization on YouTube channel
- International Trip
- Writing 10 Articles At least a Month on Medium
- Learning German
These are some of my very generic and basic goals for this year, I know some of you will think that there is nothing spicy about this article because most of us as readers like to read about people who have already achieved all this.
But for the readers who are reading this right now, I am firm mentally this year and I will show you the results.
“You have a real life if and only if you do not compete with anyone in any of your pursuits.” — The Bed of Procrustes
