New Year, Old Me

habits, tools, and reflections i’m revisiting this 2024

Jan 05, 2024

"We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time." —T.S. Eliot

I tried a whole bunch of stuff in the past four years.

I read tons of books, watched hundreds of educational videos, and saved collections of helpful posts online. I also tried out so many habits that I could probably get James Clear to sign my personal copy of his book (if you’re James Clear, this is me taking my shot).

Journaling, meditation, cold showers—you name it. I’ve been exploring all kinds of habits since I’ve been obsessed about them in 2020.

But here’s the interesting thing about habit development. If you stick with it for long enough, you’ll discover that more than half of the habits you tried out won’t work for you.

In my case, a handful have stayed with me today, but most of them were left behind along the journey. The same applies to apps, books, tools, and resources.

But after 4 years of constantly trying new things out, I finally figured out which ones work for me. And I intend to go back to them this year.

Here are 6 things I’m revisiting and keeping this 2024.

🪴 a habit i’m revisiting

Meditation. This is the very first habit I developed, which began when I was in senior high school. By 2022, four years had passed since I started, and I was already able to do it daily. But for some reason, I completely stopped six months ago.

Going on a journey of self-development occupied me with more habits than I could handle, and meditation was put on the backseat. But when I recall the times when I had good mental health, I remember meditation as a companion that helped me clear my thoughts.

So, I'm returning to it. And for this, I have Waking Up by Sam Harris and Balance as my trusty meditation apps.

I used to do end-of-year posts when I was doing 30-day habit challenges every month. This was from 2021 to 2022. Somehow, I felt like most of it was for bragging rights (lol), but I guess it worked out pretty well.

📖 a book I’m rereading

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie. This book is a timeless gem worth reading over and over again. Well, I say that despite having read it only once… but I stand by it. When I recall all the good things that have happened in my life, most of it came from the people I was surrounded with.

I got my current job, which I'm happy about, through a colleague at university who shared a job opening. And I continue to write these weekly essays despite all the struggles because I have friends from Write of Passage who keep me going. This is why I hope to nourish my relationships a lot more this year. And in the process, I can give back and provide value to more people as well.

✒️ a productivity tool i’m trying again

Pen and Paper. Typing on a document is faster, but I find it’s easier to organize my thoughts when writing on paper. Unlike typing, writing on paper offers more freedom. I can easily encircle, underline, and highlight things in a way that's simpler for my mind to remember and visualize.

Also, I've been using TickTick as my task management app, but it's funny how I still write down today's to-do list in a notebook. I find that doing this helps me gain clearer insight into today's priorities.

So, in a way, TickTick just serves as cold storage for tasks, while my actual to-do list is in my notebook. Nothing beats a good ol’ pen and paper.

Pro Tip: Buy a good pen if you enjoy writing.

🔔 a post i’m remembering

Summa Cum Laude graduate Chloe Borromeo on the importance of sleep and health:

“Something the public doesn't know is that the reason I sleep a lot is that I'm someone who easily gets sick. I guess I'm revealing this fact because I want to emphasize that, although our academics are vital, so is our health.”

I came across Chloe Borromeo’s post back in July 2020, when the pandemic was just starting. I’ve always wondered how all the exemplary students were able to get enough sleep every night while excelling in their academics.

But through this post, I realized the reason they probably excel in the first place is because they put their health and well-being first above everything else.

💭 a quote i’m thinking about

Author Karl Ove Knausgard on being fully immersed in life:

"What makes life worth living? No child asks itself that question. To children life is self-evident. Life goes without saying: whether it is good or bad makes no difference. This is because children don't see the world, don't observe the world, don't contemplate the world, but are so deeply immersed in the world that they don't distinguish between it and their own selves."

(H/T: Zach Pogrob)

📷 a photo i’m reminiscing over

*Ten-year-old me copying the pose of one of my favorite power rangers.*

I've been reconnecting with my inner child lately.

Life feels much more meaningful when I simply play around and have fun with things. At work, I time myself to have a solo race and see how quickly I can complete a task. When I write, I try to write as if it's meant for my 11-year-old self.

And in the morning, when I wake up, I try to remember what life was like when I felt like anything was possible.

Because deep down, I still believe it is.

Happy new year! Hoping the first few days of 2024 has been treating you well. I’m currently trying to fix my sleep schedule, which was wrecked over the holiday season… but I’m happy about how much more care I’ve been giving myself lately. I’m declaring it now. My theme for January is rest and recovery.

Thanks a ton to

Becky Isjwara

Beck At It

and

Treeckster

Treeckster's Substack

for the thoughtful comments on drafts of this piece.

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