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2020 was a weird year for everyone, most of the time it felt like the world might be on fire. Political, public health, and social issues were in the most aggressive state of broadcast of my adult life. I didn’t disengage with them, but I definitely did a lot of work to not become totally inundated with the news cycle and its issues of the day. I hoped, perhaps in vain, that if I could take care of the things I could control in my day to day, that the expansive issues of the world would somehow become easier to parse.
I started writing this after reading Linda Liukas’ year in review for 2019, while we do many things differently, I constantly find her to be an inspiration. This project would not be possible without the constant work of my peer coaching partner G. Who, every week makes time to have a lengthy phone call to go over the week’s work, the coming challenges, and dissecting past issues. I could not have written this review without his detailed notes from our coaching sessions.
January:
I got news that my job as an assistant teacher at a coding bootcamp, which I had only recently quit my restaurant gig to work at, was shutting down. I got a recommendation from ML, but it didn’t end up going anywhere. So I kept applying to a lot of jobs. I wrapped up my last stint at the non profit I had been consulting at. Wordpress drudgery, Ruby on Rails lessons, and lots of pushing to private GitHub repos were the order of the day. Spending a lot of time thinking about building apps, there’s a Chinese learning app based off of some ideas from D, and a bartering platform. Grinding on JS fundamentals, specifically promises and async/await. Going to numerous digital meetups. I gave myself 3 months to get a job in week 2 of the month. Ended up giving a talk at Grow with Google on Algorithms. Github goal is 1200 Github commits by end of year. Getting turned down by dozens of jobs. Started Google IT training, just want to better understand how the internet works. Spending lots of time on React. Going to meetups, meeting cool people. Got on Merit and had some great mentoring sessions, can’t overstate how helpful this was for getting me on track, and solidifying my mindset. Glad that I got to meet the cool people at YU, both coworkers and students. The plan is to get a full time remote job before the year is over.
Was trying to get a YouTube channel started. At this point I had been doing coaching calls with G for 3 months already. My plan for the year is to read 24 books. The goal for youtube was 1 video a month for the whole year.
I Flashed my first v4 (a month after projecting my 1st). Climbing 2–4 days a week in the gym. Want to lose body fat (~20–25% down to 10%) Finished my first v5 project, tiny crimps, toe hooks, and balance-y slab. Had my first time campus boarding. Started projecting my 1st v6.
Books read:
February:
Going to NYC Coders meetups, working on algorithms constantly, intro to Binary search trees, BFS, DFS and Binary Heaps. Had a phone interview, then a 4.5 hour in person coding challenge at P, thanks to MK’s connection from a hackathon. Went to a great digital meetup, where I learned about Netflix machine learning predictions. Doing several merit calls a week, and it’s really keeping me motivated. Going to so many meetups in person, did algorithms and Gatsby in the same day. MV taught me the basics of Redux one afternoon. I started working at the AWS lofts, going through react and algorithm courses.
I want to beat Jack Dorsey in a meditation contest. Posted my first video, about learning to juggle, I finally got consistent with three spherical objects, and to a lesser extent clubs. I began learning Hebrew online. I’m shooting a lot of footage, but not finishing any videos. Listened to discipline equals freedom audiobook over and over again.
Projecting v5s most climbing sessions, not always finishing them, but making it a more normal practice. Started projecting v3 on the moonboard, and finished a couple problems, the board is so much harder than the gym. Went climbing with M from NYCDA, miss that guy, he just got back from France, where he learned lead climbing. Signed up for a climbing competition in April, getting really focused on improving my technique.
Books read:
March:
Was interviewed by someone pursuing their PhD who is interested in tech and start up life. Interviewing for job/internship in Israel. Got coached by W from Merit right before the fourth P interview, super helpful! Doing LinkedIn assessments. Ended up having 5 interviews at P total, and I got the job! Working very part time to start, but there seems to be room for growth. So much to learn at P, lots of work to be done. Learning about Google Cloud Functions for the first time, building out React UIs at work, and solidifying the Redux stuff MV taught me.
Peter Freuchen is a badass. Met Magnus Midtbø at the gym, he’s such a nice guy. Said he spends 40 hours a week editing about 5 hours of footage, to make 1 video, not sure if I have the time to live like that. I want to meet him again. Started some capoeira/floreio training. Did a ton of filming, was starting to edit new videos. Bought 25lb of beans in preparation for apocalypse. Left NYC with L&AQ, fearing scarcity in urban areas, hiding out the HV. I’ve been considering teaching english online again. COVID lockdown is getting pretty serious, stressing me out from a distance, as I freeze in this 100 year old house with my friends. Had my first capture the flag hackathon, AQ joined in on the fun, and I realized how much better I need to get at linux commands and cryptography. Struggling to put out videos. How could I care in this state of the world? Thinking about going back to school.
So close to finishing my first v6! Thinking about applying for a job at a climbing gym. Finished my first v5 on overhang. Consuming a lot of climbing YouTube(love Dave Macleod and Lattice) trying to lose 5 lbs before competition. Got to last move before finishing v6. Injured my wrist doing too much campus board. I climbed outdoors for the first time with proper shoes on. Started doing weighted pushups and pull-ups.
Books read:
April:
I apply to first PM job. Start work on AH side of things at P, trying to push out code faster, not really getting much review. Still applying to lots of jobs, getting a few interviews.
C and L are staying with us. Totally gave up on Youtube. Started back up on Russian, missing travel. Build website for L. Set the Reading goal this month, starting to up the temp for reading. C gave me access to PG, what a mensch. Started looking into free college from my moms union. Looking at MIT micro masters programs.
Climbed outside with HM. Starting front lever and hanging work more seriously. Getting really into the Gulag. Did first gulag in a weight vest. Re-sprained wrist overdoing the pinch block. C taught me Tai Chi push hands. Did first 15 sec gulag. Learned the basics of fencing with a PVC pipe thanks to C. Practicing Kali in my room at night, worried about riots coming.
Books read:
May:
Worked with Marketing director(intern) G on a press release after doing competitor analysis. Learning more about Gatsby because of L’s project, going to use that to make docs page at AH. Getting more familiar with firebase and GCP. MV gave me a quick guide to streams, and why I don’t want to work with them. Pushed new AH docs with SSH live on production servers, first time doing that ever. Getting a lot of pressure at AH to work more, feeling pressured to work on the weekend. Contract is supposed to end soon, and it gets extended a month. Still working on Google IT and PG.
Finished L’s website, he’s driving from LA to NYC. Wondering how I can beat my reading goal. Still working on Hebrew and Russian. Spending time playing the market, trying to make trading plays off of the news. Dreaming about what it would have been like if Anthony Bourdain started on YouTube. Tried some free writing and loved it. Went back to the city for a min. Working at ML again getting paid more than double to give food away for free. Hebrew is starting to become a chore. MK wrote me an amazing recommendation, what a good person, I’ll do my best to reciprocate. Fantasizing about a digital shabbat. Trying to get college from moms union while simultaneously going through the SUNY process. Having a morning routine is great. The routine so far is:
wake up at 7
go for a run
drink coffee
code for 5 hours
Trying to do more journaling. Made 5 gallon bucket of sauerkraut. About to bail on Hebrew course.
PR’d on one arm hang at 15s. Doing lots of front lever and running. Found Iron Wolf on YT. did 130 navy seals. Started doing the rope climb. 200 burpees one day, 175 = 400+ pushups another day. Did 565 pushups in a single burpee workout. Did 200 pull-ups in a workout. Got a stationary bike stand. Did burpees 5 days in a row and burnt out.
Books read:
June:
Trying to reach out for guidance at AH more, still trying to skill up. Working two jobs this whole month, coding by day, serving vegan food to hungry people in need by night.
G asks me, in week 38 of coaching each other, if you could give advice to yourself before this, what would it be? I didn’t think about it much at the time, but now is probably a good time to reflect on that. Finished annotating PG videos for C. Doing a lot of research about PM roles. Journaling notes: Don’t depend on coffee. Keep smiling! Make the 50 year old you want to be. Went back to Hebrew class. Couldn’t get out of it. Got accepted back to Os and signed up for summer classes. Now my mom and I are in a race to our Bachelors degree. Started singing for the first time in forever, so cathartic. This was a good time to get into bitcoin. Started having calls with EH, to practice Russian. He’s a kick-ass dad and a good friend. Goal for Russian is a 5000 word vocabulary, and focus on story telling and reading. Left ML at the end of the month. Charity is over, and regular work is back, I pivoted to serving after cooking, and it just wasn’t worth it, I missed HV and my fam of friends there. Right after enrolling in classes, the free school from my mom’s college accepted me, but their communication is tenuous and I don’t know if they will actually follow through.
Doing Russian fighter pull up ladder. Reminded of how much joy biking in the city gives me. Went for a long run in the forest, felt the presence of the eternal within and without. 2 weeks of cardio every day.
Books read:
July:
Been pushing more code up to production without much supervision. Still applying to jobs 10 at a time. Gave a presentation for AH and it went well, doing a retrospective of my work up until this point. Trying to write cleaner code, improve the principles behind my logic. Getting worn out working on UI aesthetic updates, missing logic driven work. Spent 90% of my time one week editing a tool tip, and the other 10% implementing a huge multidimensional search. Guess which one was easier AND more fun? Working on refactoring code more. (red green refactor) Interviewed at Open Water VC firm for a potential product management internship, going to have to try out in a hackathon to prove my mettle.
Started doing multiple meditation sessions in a day after months of spotty once a day or not at all, really helped with programming. Started up on my Bachelors of Business Administration, nominally a junior in college now. Thinking about getting an Irish or Polish passport by descent. Time in nature is wonderful, do more of it. Got my first car ever, thanks to my parents, it has over 200k mi on it, but it is good to go! Trying to get a hang on calendar management. Want to speak more mandarin at home. First visit to my parents and see grandma since she moved. Was worried about COVID but I think things were fine. Moved up into the attic! It’s like 90 degrees in the summer, but spacious and ready for customization. Grabbed my kayak but didn’t use it. EH is a great teacher, he’s helped me so much with my Russian vocabulary. Moved the last of my stuff out of the old Brooklyn apartment. Got a giant bucket of black walnuts from M/Ks house, took forever to process, didn’t do a great job, next year will be better.
Doing lots of exercise. Gulags, pull up ladder, running in the forest, swimming, front lever, handstands, all the time. Gulag record is 6 min with 15 sec intervals. Blew up my elbow tendonitis with rope climb. Running 100 miles this month with L! Did a 3mi barefoot sandal run and wrecked by feet/calves. I want to run over rocky mountains in sandals. Ended mile 104 with a hill sprint!
Books read:
August:
Wrote my longest piece of code yet, 200+ lines. Trying to create a data visualization that accommodates weekly view of data that may be from different months, and accounts for hiding weekends. Took forever! Got onto the AH website, became a full-time Engineer. Got an offer from the VC accelerator, going to be a PM intern. Given a lot more leeway at work, supposed to find things and fix them without supervision, while still doing all the stuff being put on my plate. We are about to launch with our first client, started having 3 meetings a day, with a team of 3–4 people, it feels like a lot of video chats. Finally got a full time remote job, I did it! I did the hackathon and we came in third, I managed a team of 6–8 people, over a busy 3–4 days, and somehow managed to keep doing my job too.
Slipping on my language work a lot. Switched over to C and left Os for the second time in my life. I get to go to school for free, and its an HBC, hopefully I’ll learn something different there, and I get to graduate with my mom! Question I have to ask myself, am I covering up a fear of incompleteness or inadequacy with work? P showed me his project on trust-less voting with smart contracts, so FN cool!
Overtrained last month and having severe elbow pain. Trying to do more GST work, doing 45 min stretching sessions.Started doing parkour training again. Really need to work on my false grip.
Books read:
September:
Doing a lot of testing and debugging at work, trying to make the onboarding of FP go smoothly. Interviewed at a potential internship through the VC and ended up bonding with the founder over Wim Hof. Implemented UI testing chrome extension at work, so simple. Got accepted at K, now I’m the PM there, and we are starting building a mobile health and wellness app. Work is really pushing me towards burn out. The backlog is refilled as soon as its clear, and the errors never end. Small problems end up taking days, and I don’t feel very safe in my employment status.
Went on a monumental hike in New Hampshire, its the furthest north I’ve been in this hemisphere. Also was the hardest hike Ive ever done, over two 4000 ft peaks in vibram 5 fingers with a heavy Chrome Ivan backpack. Really enjoying Jujimufu’s books (though they aren’t on the reading list, considering they are primarily training programs, so I guess I read 2 more books this month, The Next Step, and The Almost Naked Athlete). I want to spend more time working on training routines. Thinking more and more about wild foods and what my diet should look like. Meditating on fear a lot this month. Got to hang out with some people I haven’t seen in a while, friends of friends, V & J, and F & Co. J reminds me about travel, he spoke about his time on cypress with people living on boats, I remember that I want to ride trains and sail and build weird off-grid houses. Started meditating with AQ. Tried to meditate every day of the month, but missed a couple days.
Started doing 2–3 mini workouts a day. Started learning bboying from AQ, its so fun! So much to learn, but moving is the best thing ever. I want to start training for the iron cross( give it 2 years) Composed the ultimate Ido Portal database of workouts. Realized my hamstrings are neglected, need to get my harop curls on. Read the GST handstand booklet at 5 am one day. Started doing the GST wrist routine and it is no joke!
Books read:
October:
E gave me a masterclass in PMing apropos of nothing one night, what a legend! He also suggested a few things to read, as well as pushed me to start leveling up my skills in Figma. Getting so stressed with the lack of boundaries in start up life at my main job. I proposed a b2b revenue stream at K, and B was super excited about it. Trying to get the app done by mid November for user testing. Onboarded our first 15 users at AH, but ended up leaving the company. The day before, started negotiations for a permanent position at K as a PM post internship.
I made a kanban board in real life for the first time, it was awesome! Remember when you studied civil engineering for a year and a half, even though you hated it? Well you can get through whatever is going on right now. No coffee challenge with EH, I ended up slipping at the end, but it was a pretty successful month, least coffee I’ve drank in 5 years. I did 2–3 weeks just drinking tea and feeling great. AQ got the whole house together to come meditate with us. Started getting back on my language work after a big lapse in intensity. Saw S for her bday and my whole fam was great to be around. Thinking more and more about reducing social media’s role in my life.
Spent some time trying to learn kip up, its much harder than i thought, I need to work on this again. Really blasting my shoulders with all this floreio and breaking. Started filming floreio and bboy work. This is the way of life I truly enjoy and I wanna document it. Hanged by my hands 7 mins a day. missed two. 2 hand hang pr at 90s. Worked on B kick and almost got B twist first or second try.
Books read:
An Astronaut’s Guide to life on Earth
10 arguments for deleting your social media accounts right now
November:
Trying to hit the KPIs at K, and be an integral part in the development process. Started looking into whimsical for flow charts. App launch is pushed back, won’t get launched until December. Trying to envision the current workflow and the future workflow simultaneously. Did a bunch of career research, and studied the job market.Watched Geohot speak, and got hyped about learning ML, I want to build some bots.
Completed the 24 book goal ahead of schedule. Thinking about starting a business since I’m unemployed. Started journaling on LiveJournal again.Failed a diet challenge with G miserably in the first week. Started building a climbing wall on the stairs! Singing and playing guitar all the time, hanging out with JLo one day really inspired me. Calendar is really making life better!
Did an amazing session at Brooklyn Zoo with AQ, 2 hours of tumbling. Dialed in my front flip a lot and drilled the backflip too. We agree that if I do 20 front flips in a row, we’ll get an air track. Got up to 170lb. Heaviest in a while. Not doing as much ring work as I need to be for my goals. Ran in a weight vest and it was brutal! Did a ton of front lever this month, tried to hit every day, but didn’t quite make the mark. Closed out the month with a ton of sauna because I was getting pretty rocked. Had handstand and plank contests with the kids. I beat a bunch of preteens.
Books read:
9 out of 10 climbers make this mistake
December:
We got the app up on TestFlight! Had our first batch of test users onboarded, and now we are working out the details.
Worked on shed and deck with H, did more work on the climbing cave. Got a ton of camping gear. Made a workout routine for mom. Playing so much music! Getting really consistent with Russian and Mandarin practice. Getting started working on deadlift and front squats, started using the Bulgarian bags too. Got to see M and C (self hackers/morning buddies) and it was great. We started doing a morning livestream on YouTube, where we just do our morning routine and sometimes talk. It makes me get up earlier, and I get to see my friends, so that’s awesome, maybe this is the new socialization. We had to have a socially distant Christmas, so I visited my parents and grandma, and we had a zoom chat with the rest of the family after dinner.
I decided to run 30km for my 30th birthday this month, so I ended up limping into the new year, exhausted but feeling accomplished. The climbing wall is almost done, and it gets bigger by the day. I learned a few songs in Russian and Hebrew this month. Had a lot of great time with family and friends, and set up two year long challenges for 2021. Hoping that more documentation of the work, and reflection on the results, will make next year even more epic!
Books read:
I didn’t manage to complete every challenge of the year, and on many of them I fell quite far from the mark. That being said I think that this process of setting goals, tracking them, discussing the process with friends, and documenting the work has fundamentally changed my life for the better, and I would not give it up for anything.
Throughout this year I found myself so grateful for the people in my life. After COVID-19 threw a wrench into everyone’s plans, I stopped seeing a lot of people in my life, but the people I did see, we did our best to have a great time. My family, housemates, coaching partner, morning buddies, former coworkers, fellow interns, and so many more people, y’all made this year awesome. Thanks for being in my life.
