My 2024 lessons
(1) Words may change, but the patterns stay the same.
This year, I’ve met only a handful of new people. It means I’ve been working with the same faces, hanging out with the same circle, and having the same conversations. When people say they’re going to change, only a few truly follow through. Many just offer lip service. The latecomers still show up late. The over-promisers still break their promises. The ones who struggle to get the job done still haven’t figured it out.
I’ve rea…
Learn endlessly. Keep your brain fresh with new challenge every day. New insight every day. New wisdom every day. Be it sporadical or structural. Even if it don’t add direct value to your current role.
“Study hard what interest you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.” - Richard Feynmann
As a software designer, domain-specific or industry-specific knowledge you get from past employer or education don’t let them vanish in vain. It might help you in future opportunities.
When you are a statistics graduate, the foundational knowledge may help you working on data-centric designs like Amplitude.
When you shifted from freighting to product design, the supply chain knowledge may help you build a good supply chain SaaS.
Keep learning. Allocate at least 30 minutes uninterrupted to learn anything new, interesting, intriguing. Explore until you're bored. Repeat next week.
Apply critical thinking on most things, not all things. Make a contextual decision by asking 'why' questions to the conditions.
Limit time watching social media. If you spend 8 hrs on social media a week just to kill the time, try to reduce it to only 6 hours, use the additional 2 hours for journalling, writing, reflecting, or read something. Try …