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Let’s catch up sometime :)
What I’ve been up to 🌱
I’m writing this to you from Miami, Florida—where I’ve just come back from a week-long cruise with my family from the Philippines. It’s always a real joy to be around with family (there was 15 of us on the cruise), especially when I’ll only get to see them sparsely every 3-5 years. I hope all of you had the opportunity to connect and spend time with loved ones this break.
A major milestone of December was finally finishing my final two university exams. Frankly, I’ve been mentally checked out of doing school up from the moment I decided I wasn’t going to pursue grad studies in mid-junior year, taking every opportunity do everything but school. Nonetheless, I’m so thankful for what the University of Toronto has given me—the pivotal Laidlaw Scholarship that was the start of everything, the opportunity to build both iAscend and Dojo with incredible people, and even content to take on one of the most difficult things I’d ever want to do, YouTube. It’s been a very pivotal past 4.5 years, and I’m excited for this next chapter.
What I’ve been thinking/learning about 💭
My goal in 2023 was for consistency—showing up when I said I’d show up and doing things I said I’ll do. I wouldn’t call it a goal actually, but more like a theme for the year. And maybe that’s a different spin on New Year’s goals that I’d probably stick to. I don’t know what an incoming 365 days will have, which makes it challenging for me to set goals, but I can thematically set a general intention or attribute for the year. For 2024, my theme this year is focus. I spent 2023 exploring—in a brand new living situation in Toronto, traveling around the world, and meeting the coolest people. In 2024, I now want to selectively identify a few things I want to hard commit to and focus on those. Curious to know if anyone’s heading into 2024 with any themes in mind?
Lmk if you are (or know someone who is) working on or thinking about the above!
Thanks for reading this month’s short update. Would love to hear how I can help you this month (maybe I can make some intros, work through some thoughts with you, or otherwise). See you next month 👋
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Incredibly proud of you man, excited to see how this theme of focus molds into what you do this year :)