At the end of every year, I sit down and write a retrospective. And somehow, every year feels like it surpasses the last. Just 1% improvement every day, every year.
This year felt like 10, but here are my top takeaways this year:
Away from Home building the best version of yourself.
Sometimes, stepping out of our comfort zone and leaving behind the familiar is exactly what we need to grow. Being away from home isn't just about exploring new places—it's about discovering parts of yourself you never knew existed.
Each day is a chance to learn, adapt, and thrive—both professionally and personally. From navigating new environments to meeting inspiring people, this journey is shaping me into the best version of myself.
What i have been observed is the students migrate to new country and try to stick with their own communities, I’m not telling to stay away from your community, but let yourself explore the culture and friendship across borders. This let you to observe the life in different perspectives.
Being average is mediocre. Think bigger and push harder
Life is about pursuing what truly matters to you. It doesn’t have to be grand, but it should ignite your passion. Whether it’s bringing joy to your family, encouraging healthier habits in your community, or creating spaces where people can connect—it all counts. People often fail when they try to bring major change in a go, it never works like that, maybe 1% changes every day, at the end of the year you will be a different person.
There’s no better feeling than waking up genuinely excited for life. As Sam Kolder wisely said: Do what makes you come alive.
“They” are not always right.
They said I wont be able to be successful, they said I’m wasting time working in India, then I choose to do so. They told me to give up, but I made more progress in the last six months than comparing last two years. They said I couldn’t build a organization, i build one sitting 1000 miles away and scaled up with 70k people and generated $20k USD. This comes with a cost of something i love, maybe i prioritized too much about my career, this is a great realization for me to balance work-life.
Trust yourself. The more you put yourself out there, the more opportunities you create. Show up, stay in motion, and let the improbable become possible. Again the success terms varies according to people, for some it will money, growth etc., for me in 2024 it is explore what I’m good at, pursue it and build something which others couldn’t do it.
Find a mentor, it’s easy in this online world, they need not be famous one, it can be anyone who is living your life now, or find the best 5 people and copy them. Redefine your circle, did you know your average salary is the average salary of your 5 best friends/5?
Your life is a movie. Do it for the plot.
Imposter syndrome hits every ambitious person I know. One way to combat it? View your life as a movie still unfolding. Keep adding scenes.
🌟 I got my first Job in Australia after Graduation! 🎉 Completed 3 Years in Sydney (This can be a survival movie plot 🎬😂) 🎙️ Launched my first podcast! 🏀Tried new sports: Basketball & Golf ⛳ 🏊♂️ Rediscovered my hobbies — Swimming 🚶♂️Found a new routine: Daily walks & GitHub Streaks 😄 📈 Scaled up my Content Curation — 1M Impressions in a 6-month time-frame. 🌍👨💻 Influenced over 70k developers around the globe. ✈️ 60+ Live Events across countries!📈 📈 Made 2 New Mentors Ali, Vinh Giang
What an amazing journey so far! 🚀
Life outtakes this year:
The definition of smart = the ability to get what you want out of life
Not everyone knows what they want in life and that’s okay.
If you know what you want to do with your life, then you are almost sorted, the cloudy brains are no longer there.
Everything compounds
Habits, relationships, and knowledge—all grow exponentially. The key is showing up consistently. Over the last eight months, I’ve experienced more growth than in a decade of building communities and exploring my skills to the max. I’ve worked over 12 jobs, failed upwards, and now I’m building my third community and co-founding a startup. It's still hard, but it gets easier every day, remember one step at a time.
Keep betting on yourself to increase your luck surface area
I wrote about the concept of
Secured $20K USD for the organization via outreach.
Made a best Canadian friend in Australia:😋
Connected with Developers around 35+ countries.
The world is smaller than you think.🌍 Trust your gut and keep showing up.
Fitness is a pretty good proxy for success
Many of my successful friends often maintain fitness routines. Maintaining a certain physique requires discipline that often spills into other areas—clean homes, skincare routines, and startups that eventually find PMF.
Everything is hard. Choose your hard.
Working out is hard; being out of shape is harder.
Working a tough job is hard; being broke is harder.
Choose your hard.
Operate on your own timeline
Success isn’t linear. Some friends are getting married and having kids; Here I’m figuring out the basics of relationships and finding my career path. It’s alright, what is important is a curiosity to learn and explore more, it won’t even take some time to outsmart the exciting one.
It takes a lot of courage
As a solo founder, Program manager, and Data engineer at one point I started enjoying things, and then I realized I was not alone in the journey. The world outside is a tough space, grind yourself now or regret it later. My friends across the globe have supported me in countless ways: angel investments, engineering fixes, listening to burnout tears, or sharing 💖.
