Earlier this year, I began exploring the topics of personal finance, zero-based budgeting, and various software to make this easier.

At the recommendation of a former colleague, I selected YNAB and got to work.

I primarily used it to categorize transactions from my bank feed. Once or twice a month, I’d sit over coffee, review the previous cycle’s expenses, then come up with several things to change or do better in the next cycle.

This process worked well early on. Lightweight. Intuitive. It resulted in me canceling cards, zeroing out all subscriptions, deciding what to consciously keep and what to cut.1

I found this highly empowering. Yet, somehow the language and vibe of personal finance seemed uninspiring and dry: budgeting, saving, less.

This to me was strange for two reasons:

1. Corporate finance is fascinating

2. Capital allocation is useful

How could this be? Also, why is one in three books on personal finance written by an actor from Shark Tank?

Turns out none of that matters. But what did matter is that while standing around my apartment one morning, I realized I wanted a model of my financial life — a simplified version of the machine — such that I could see it with more objectivity and make improvements over time.

The best tool for this turned out to be a simplified P&L or income statement.

This is where the next asymmetry between corporate and personal finance emerged:

In corporate finance, profit is viewed favorably; in consumer finance, saving is often seen as a chore.

These two things are, however, extremely similar: money an entity keeps.

Clearly then given these two frames, it is advantageous to view one’s own gains as favorable, exciting, and interesting and less like a grim obligation.

The key flaw in consumer finance is not that it is uninteresting or not useful; it simply has a weak brand.

Part of the reason is incentives: it’s much more profitable to deeply understand corporate finance. Much more thinking has gone into these financial vehicles.

Moreover, people who understand highly complex vehicles usually have an easier time designing simpler versions. (It’s no coincidence that the founder building rockets has also built the most successful car company.)

As such, applying principles of corporate finance to one’s personal life offers a fairly robust set of conceptual tools: operating margin, risk-adjusted return, creating a balance sheet.2

These can be applied to any aim.

If your goal is to visit as many countries as possible, the daily latte may create drag. If your goal is to savor each day, the latte may be perfectly aligned.

At its best, personal finance is just skilled capital allocation: not solely about restraint but about aligning one’s goals and action.

(Idea credit: James Clear)

What went well this year?

Muay Thai

I started training Muay Thai this year.

It has been an incredible experience. There is no better way that I’m aware to increase one’s capacity for effort—pushing past one’s perceived limits is a victory for the soul.

There is also something to being in an environment where everyone is intent on getting better. There’s a level of focus to fighting that translates almost everywhere. It becomes evident that there is a way to progress in the sport. It’s not a secret. It’s just hard.

There is inherent value in doing hard things. Hard things require more of you and therefore you have to stretch to achieve them. In stretching, you’re doing more than what you thought possible. This is how you get better, and getting better is actually one of life’s most important “jobs” as a human. There’s a reason self-actualization is at the top of Maslow’s hierarchy.

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Professional goals: Ship it!

This year, I joined a new company: Ramp

It was my top choice across all companies. The reason is that every time I heard someone from the leadership team speak, I learned something.

To give a concrete example, one initial premise for the company was that card companies tended to want people to spend more: optimize for points, rewards, etc. The insight was: “What if there was a card company that helped people spend less?”

The lesson here is actually about the nature of innovation. I used to think of innovation as some new widget. The real innovation is actually a perceptual insight of how things could be. The widget or product is a result of that insight.

My experience at the company has not disappointed. The people are incredibly talented and kind. I’ve had the opportunity to conduct user research, shape aspects of the product, and most importantly, begin contributing to our code base. I couldn’t be more bullish on the company and my time there in the coming years.

What didn’t go so well this year?

Travel

I did not travel much this year. The primary reason is that I was focused on laying the foundation in areas of professional life. While I think it’s incredibly important to travel, I am fine with making that trade periodically. I’m planning a trip this coming year, so we’re back on track.

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Language learning

I took Mandarin lessons for the first half of the year. I only took one or two per week which is a cadence that allows for maintenance, but not necessarily enough to get better. I paused those in late summer to focus more on my professional pursuits. I may bring it back once I have more bandwidth for new quests.

What did I learn?

I learned a ton this year. These are some key takeaways in no particular order:

The experience of striving

I used to have an almost binary approach to goal setting and achievement. Achieving goals is better than not achieving them, of course. What I’ve come to appreciate is that the personal growth in striving for a goal is the reward, as much as the outcome.

—

There is a way to do everything

Spending time with fighters has taught me that there’s a way to get better. It always involves hard work. It’s really just practice. There is a sincerity of effort to getting good.

I’ve come to realize that most things are like that. There is a way to become a staff engineer, to run a marathon, to learn a second language. The bottleneck is almost always hard work. To quote the great Jamie Crowder: “You know what my favorite kind of hard work is... voluntary hard work!”

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Happiness is a decision

This year I reread Man’s Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl. It had been at least five years from when I originally read the book. It occurred to me that even in the worst of recorded human experiences, there remains a constant of deciding one’s response. This of course can be extrapolated to less extreme circumstances, but is nonetheless true.

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

– VF

Books read

• Powerful - Patty McCord

• Creativity Inc - Ed Catmull and Amy Wallace

• Scaling People - Claire Hughes Johnson

• Through the Looking Glass - Lewis Carroll

• No Rules Rules - Reed Hastings and Erin Meyer

• The Score Takes Care of Itself - Bill Walsh

• Amp it up - Frank Slootman

• Working Backwards - Colin Bryar and Bill Carr

• 7 Powers - Hamilton Helmer

• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen R. Covey

• Red Roulette - Desmond Shum

• Fluent React - Tejas Kumar

• Elon Musk - Walter Isaacson

• Eloquent JavaScript - Marijn Haverbeke

• Tidy First - Kent Beck

• Breathe - Rickson Gracie

• 1984 - George Orwell

• Man’s Search for Meaning - Viktor E. Frankl

1. What went well this year?

2. What didn’t go so well this year?

3. What did I learn?

(Idea credit: James Clear)

1. What went well this year?

Big bets: Last year I enrolled in a software bootcamp, and this year I did the bootcamp. When people ask how the experience went, I often mention “There’s a big difference between coding (scripting, leetcode) and building an application. The bootcamp was a useful vehicle for learning to build applications.”

Building an app is qualitatively different from writing stand-alone code. Suddenly, new things matter. The best metaphor is probably the difference between building a widget and building a house. If you make a mistake on your widget, you just scrap it and try again. If you lay the foundation of a house incorrectly, there is a massive cost to doing it again.

The bootcamp was also a medium for experimenting with decisions: what should the app do, what should the app not do, how might we construct an MVP or wireframe, which database best fits these use cases? And so forth for hundreds of other choice points.

It was also important to work with different teams. The experience of gelling, working with people’s strengths, and succeeding together is a valuable one. At the meta-level, it was useful because it was challenging. There’s inherent good in doing hard things. Would I recommend one? It depends. Bootcamps arose around 2013 to address a supply-gap in tech. That gap no longer exists. In fact, the opposite problem exists. That said, if you’re an outlier on determination, there are ways to find an edge.

Main quest: The main quest is going reasonably well. This year, I developed a web app that solves a real problem in my own life, applied to YC, and enrolled in a pre-Master’s program at NYU. The learning curve in software development is steep, but you can do a lot once the right pieces are in place.1

Language learning: In May, I resumed taking a few online lessons in Mandarin each week. The value of learning a foreign language has been surprisingly multifaceted.

For example, the experience sparks joy. It’s lighthearted, improvisational, and the goal is simply to have better and better conversations. There’s also an element of challenge. You’re constantly pushing the boundaries of what you can express or comprehend. One side effect is that you also learn a lot about your preferred methods of learning anything.

Perhaps more interesting, the experience shifts one’s perspective. You can’t help but put down your conceptual lens while trying on another. As Charlemagne said “To have another language is to possess a second soul.”

People: One of my favorite parts of living in New York is the high density of interesting people. This year I spent quality time with new and existing friends, which I deeply appreciate.

I averaged around 2-3 coffee chats each month. It’s been an effective way to learn new things, build relationships, and increase my surface area for serendipity. I plan on doing more of this with intention next year.

2. What didn’t go so well this year?

Inner work: In 2023, I did less journaling and meditation than in previous years. I read 21 books, but didn’t necessarily prioritize these things. In 2024 I’ll create non-negotiables in my schedule for reading and meditation.2

Travel: This was a busy year. I went to SF, which was great, but didn’t do as much travel as I like. Similar to reading and meditation, I’ll carve out time on my Calendar in the new year.

Working out: I worked out a lot this year. I was almost entirely process-focused (train x days per week, y minutes of cardio, etc). This is mostly good, except it might be even better to have specific goals. As a result, I’m concretizing some specific goals around lifts, body weight, and so on.

3. What did I learn this year?

Betting on oneself: Most saliently, the bootcamp taught me that I can figure things out. It’s quite risky to walk away from good options in pursuit of better ones. However, it is essential for minimizing regret. This skill generalizes across situations. There will never be a better time to learn that second language, get in shape, or build the career you want. If you don’t do what you want now, when will you?

Embracing discomfort: Applying to YC is uncomfortable (you’re recording yourself for the application). However, I found that everything in the immediate aftermath seemed comparatively easier. Next year I’ll make a practice of seeking out discomfort and find one new uncomfortable experience each week.3

Conviction: The most important thing I’ve learned this year isn’t so much a semantic fact, but a way of being. After reading a few biographies, or watching impressive interviews, you may observe that conviction is an important trait. I would even assert that the accomplishments we tend to respect have an element of boldness. If you’re also prioritizing an interesting life in 2024, enjoy the climb~

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Cheers to a great 2024!

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Photos of the year

A coworker once said to me “The thing I look for in people on my team, is the person who finishes their work early, raises their hand, and says ‘Hey boss, what else can I get started on?’”

Unblock yourself

From Dan Heller’s Making Career in Software: “Perhaps the easiest way to separate effective and ineffective engineers is into those who Do Something when they encounter a problem and those who… do anything other than Something.” Refusal to stay blocked is the job.

Always be learning

One of my mentors holds this as Priority 1: “If you’re not actively optimizing your rate of learning, nothing else matters.” It’s easier to steer a moving ship than to accelerate one that’s stopped. As Lewis Carroll eloquently wrote: “My dear, here we must run as fast as we can, just to stay in place. And if you wish to go anywhere you must run twice as fast as that.”

Choose your character1

Employees fall into three categories

• Person 1: you tell them something once and you know it will get done.

• Person 2: you tell them something once and they figure out the next two things. They go to you for the fourth thing.

• Person 3: you can tell them something 27 times and it won't get done.

The first person doesn’t get fired. The second person gets promoted. The third person gets fired.

Find the right ingredients

Most people think they want a title or promotion, fill in the blank. Oftentimes, it’s not until getting it, do people realize that they actually want something else. This can go on for entire careers!

Instead, it can be useful to pay attention to the ingredients we want daily or weekly or embedded in our lives. This beautiful insight comes from a mentor: “I realized what I actually want, is to work on a business that can be successful, on an interesting problem, with intelligent people who care about the problem and want to work on it. When all that’s in place, it feels like I’m just playing Settlers Of Catan with my friends.”

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For the technologies you work with, read the manual cover to cover

This idea (from Dan Heller) changed the way I view my craft. It made me realize how almost comforting it can be to gain proficiency with one’s tools. You want the chef who feels at home with a knife.

Be a multiplier

Many people don’t get there alone. Help others go further.

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A recent observation is that people tend to be way more intentional when they travel. I first noticed this while reviewing my writings for the Annual Review piece. The defining characteristic of my three weeks abroad was a glaring sense of intentionality around what mattered. In my case, it revolved around career changes and health. Perhaps more interestingly, though, I’ve since noticed this in friends’ descriptions of their travels.

Why? The straightforward answer is that we leave parts of our lives at home for these trips. We tend to leave our relationships, routines, and troubles at home when we pack up. “I’ll return to my problems of wanting a promotion, better relationships, and half-marathon training when I get back,” we justify to ourselves as we Uber to the airport. And it turns out, that without those things, the only thing left to do is be intentional. That’s our job while traveling.

In few scenarios in life, do we wake up and ask “what do I want to do today?” for days or weeks. In daily life this is chaos. But while traveling, it’s the playbook. It also highlights the paradox that while you could try and will yourself to be more intentional, environment often matters more. And while that may seem like a concession to external circumstances, it’s actually a defense against the wrong abstraction.

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On starting

In some ways, I lucked out. I met a few wonderful engineers. They made time to explain their work, answer my questions, and encouraged me to dig deeper.

It felt like having a faint interest in music and then bumping into Yo-Yo Ma. I knew software was interesting, but I didn’t know it was this interesting.

It’s amazing how much the people we meet can influence our lives. There’s the cliché about averaging the five people you spend the most time with. While five seems arbitrary, there’s some truth to it. When I started going to a Crossfit gym, I got in shape. When I joined a startup, I later decided to pursue engineering. It’s obviously not that easy (I enjoy these pursuits), but maybe it’s not that complicated either.

On continuing

After recently speaking with a dozen engineers and managers about their work, I remember having a distinct aha moment. It was the realization that I now had a good intuition about what hiring managers care about, what makes a good engineer, and how to prepare myself to become one during and after bootcamp. This was the result of many conversations, books, and time spent on the craft, but something clicked when I realized that I had enough information. My map of the terrain was good enough.

Interestingly this leads to other kinds of conversations, a focus on projects and the next steps after my program, and figuring out other aspects of designing good software.1 But I think the important takeaway here and with startups is that your objectives cascade forward through time.2 As one competency is attained, you can then layer skills on top of that. It is difficult to sort a linked list if you’re thinking too deeply about how to reverse parts of it. The reward of practice is less cognitive overhead.

Embracing unknowns

The other surprise thus far has been discovering how interesting the modern world actually is. The reason people like mystery novels (I assume) is that it’s intrinsically satisfying to figure things out. There’s a part of being human to discovering something you don’t yet know, and then trying to find it out.

I recently heard the surfer Laird Hamilton on a podcast describe horror movies in this way. His point was that fear feels good and taps into a certain part of being alive. When asked if he enjoyed horror movies, he basically responded, “No thanks, I get plenty of the real thing.”

Computer programming is like this but with a different genre. For every answer, there are several more questions. I occasionally find answers to things I’d been wondering about months ago.

“Oh, this is the reason for strongly typed languages.”

“Oh, this is what a chip is. Its purpose was once served by transistors. Before that, vacuum tubes. Before that, relays and logic gates, but the same concepts apply today.”3

It becomes an ongoing dialogue with colleagues and friends and between oneself and the world. Every answer reveals more adjacent complexity. This is true whether learning about ML, design best practices, or the pros and cons of migrating to a new system.4 It's a rainforest of intellectual biodiversity for the curious person. And it was only after befriending ambiguity, did I realize how many aha moments exist.5

This year I’m using the following format:

1. What went well this year?

2. What didn’t go so well this year?

3. What did I learn?

(Idea credit: James Clear)

1. What went well this year?

Reading: As an avid reader, I found that I read 26 books this year. I’ve also found that a sustainable pace for me is around 20 pages each morning. My topics typically clustered around business, technology, and psychology. Unsurprisingly, I helped with our industry-specific book club at my last company. (Full list1) Next year the goal will likely be 30 books.

Travel: I had the wonderful opportunity to spend three weeks in Switzerland. This was one of the highlights of my year. I also visited Los Angeles for a work retreat, where I got to hike, bike, and swim in the Pacific Ocean. I’ll certainly look to spend more time abroad in 2023.

Photography As a result of my trip to Switzerland, I started taking photos. I hadn’t realized it prior, but photography itself is a fun and creative pursuit. As the weather warms up, I’m excited to continue taking nature photos.

Career Pivot: I pulled the trigger on enrolling in a software bootcamp. I view as a big win. I’d been interested in CS for some time, so I couldn’t be happier with the decision. This was the result of meeting engineers who spoke highly of that path, and also from realizing I enjoyed this type of work through online tutoring lessons.

2. What didn’t go so well this year?

Language learning: I discovered a passion for learning foreign languages while abroad. Speaking only a little Swiss-German brought so many joyful and funny experiences. I also met a few polyglots who showed me that language learning is a very achievable thing. After two months of foreign language lessons this summer, I put it on hold to focus on professional development. That said, I intend to pick it up again in 2023.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: In the first third of the year I was doing a ton of BJJ. This was great. But I took a much-needed break to recover from injuries, free up time, and focus on powerlifting. That said, I’ll return to it in the new year.

3. What did I learn this year?

Small events can have a big impact: It can be amazing to look back and connect the dots on certain experiences. In June, I had dinner with friends I knew through jiu-jitsu. One attendee shared that she had learned Hindi online cheaply over the previous eight months. She then visited India and was fairly fluent. This opened my eyes to the affordable world of online tutoring and led to some of the changes I mentioned above. Hard to imagine if I had never gone to that dinner. (I ended up taking 26 hours of technical lessons this year)

Lean into strengths: I’ve spent a good deal of time trying to work on my weaknesses. This is a common tendency, as we should probably be well-rounded. That said, a professional coach once pointed out:

“We spend so much time trying to turn our 3’s into 4’s. What we should really be doing is turning our 7’s into 8’s. It’s like, now you’re a 4 at this thing. Big deal.”

The realization is that you want to get good enough at your weak points, but spend more time operating from your natural strengths. (This is good strategy, no? *Spoiler* it is) Creating a substack is actually an expression of this idea as someone who enjoys and wants to get better at writing.

Success is highly individualized: I think it is quite common to spend our early years looking to parents, coaches, and teachers to define success for us. This may even transition to professors, managers, or peer groups. A good friend, a good manager, a partner, they can all help. In fact, I leverage ideas from my network all the time. But there are certain questions in life that no one can answer for you.

Cheers to a wonderful 2023!

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Photos of the year

“Tourist attractions are defined by their collective popularity, and that very popularity tends to devalue the individual experience of such attractions. - Rolf Potts

I’m not the first to point out the recent talent migration from crypto to AI. Twitter abounds with opinions on the trend. It’s a relevant theme for me as someone who’s evaluating industries at the moment.

The role of hype

Hype exists for a reason. Presumably, it starts when someone discovers a technical insight into a particular problem. However, hype itself is a reinforcing feedback loop.

At some point, hype becomes uncoupled from the actual potential that early technologists are excited about in the first place. People become excited about excitement when something is the hot passion of the day. I assume this ties into belonging and the desire to be a part of something larger than ourselves.

There are obviously many considerations when picking an industry to work in. It’s probably foolish to learn bank telling at this point. Economic viability probably should trump passion in these decisions. That said, the question I’m asking myself is: “would I still want to work in this field even if it weren’t the hot passion of the day?”

I say, “Yes, Americans are so foolish,” and proceed to take a train to Lucerne.

After a two-hour hike, I arrive at the trailhead. I think this seems like more of a path than a trail, but, all semantics, really. I begin the ascent.

As I go higher up, the experience itself becomes more vivid. I feel my heart pounding. The air feels clean but thin. I reflect on the concept “afraid of heights.” How absurd that anyone wouldn’t be afraid of heights! They’re objectively dangerous.

The route requires some scrambles on all fours. It would be much harder to go back the same way. I repeat the German word Langsam (slow) internally and attempt to control my breath.

It’s quite steep as I reach a snow-covered portion. I later describe to a friend, “I may not necessarily have died, but I definitely could have died if I fell.

At this juncture, I turn around and see a couple climbing one hundred or so meters behind me. I take a few minutes and wait since they are approaching.

The couple arrives. I say “Hallo! Sprechen Sie Englisch?” The woman responds “A little!” in a heavy Swiss accent. They are in their mid 50’s. I learn their names are Heidi and Walter.

I gesture towards the snow, “Look, I think we’ll need to find another way down. How will you get down?”

They seem puzzled.

“Yeah, we are going to Hergiswil. Want to come?”

I say, “How do you get across? Do you have ice picks? Crampons?”

They say, “You just walk across.”

I consider for a moment and say, “Okay.” It is too steep to go back.

At the edge of the crossing, my adrenaline skyrockets. I’m acutely aware of the foreboding message from earlier, and the real possibility of slipping and sliding violently into a rock. Walter begins to cross. He stomps his boots into the snow, creating little ledges for his feet. He’s holding hiking polls for balance, which I’m extremely envious of at the time.

Heidi crosses next, stepping in Walters's footsteps. They seem unconcerned by the risk. It is roughly twenty feet across.

At this point, I’m still intoning Langsam silently under my breath. I have a sudden flashback. I’m staring at the snow, I look up and see Heidi and Walter cross and then look back at me. I’m then transported to the days of my youth when I was learning to skateboard. I remember not having the courage to drop into a halfpipe. I had viewed that event as a failure up to this point and think No, not again. I’m going to cross this time.

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I’ve found increasing interactivity online lately. I used to view the internet as primarily read-only. But I’m finding that less and less to be the case.

Similar to NYC, the web is actually a wonderful place to find your people. The prerequisite is simply to have a few interests. From there it’s pretty straightforward. In New York, you just see where events are in your interest domain. For me, it’s been around art, mindful communities, tea, tech, etc. But you still have to show up. And I think the corollary of showing up online is having a voice.

Succinctly put, my thesis for this endeavor is:

1. Lean into writing (I enjoy writing, so why not?)

2. Up the serendipity (I’ve connected with some great folks simply because I know what they’re about, based on public works. This is my attempt to refine and define what I’m about)

Thanks for reading! You can expect a couple of articles each week. Cheers!

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Bio coming this week!

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