
## Currently reading
- The Making of Prince of Persia
- The Dark Forest
- Why The West Rule for Now
- The Acent of Money
- Master of the Senate (Lyndon Johnson Biography #3)
- Antifragile

## Read
- Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! `5/5`
- Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future `5/5` (*Just finished rereading*)
- Man's Search for Meaning `5/5`
- American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt for the Criminal Mastermind Behind the Silk Road `5/5`
- Sapiens `5/5`
- [How to Take Smart Notes](/blog/how-to-take-smart-notes) `5/5`
- Skin in The Game `5/5`
- The Courage to be Disliked `5/5`
- Unshakable `3/5`
- The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck  `3/5`
- The War of Art `5/5`
- Atomic Habits `5/5`
- Deep Work `5/5`
- This is Marketing `3/5`
- Factfulness `4/5`
- The 48 Laws of Power `4/5`
- The School of Greatness: A Real-World Guide to Living Bigger, Loving Deeper, and Leaving a Legacy `3/5`
- Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All `4/5`
- Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days `4/5`
- The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future `3/5`
- Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business `2/5`
- The Power of Habit `4/5`
- Think and Grow Rich `3/5`
- Contagious `4/5`
- Rework `5/5`
- Shoe Dog `5/5`

## Want to Read
- The Power Broker `(Pending)`
- Snow Crash `(Pending)`
- Why Nations Fail `(Pending)`
- Range `(Pending)`
- Elephant in the Brain `(Pending)`
- 7 Powers `(Pending)`
- The Fish That Ate the Whale `(Pending)`
- Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content 
- Humankind: A Hopeful History
- A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy
- The Path to Power
- The Design of Everyday Things
- Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
- Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
- Ender's Game
- Fooled by Randomness
- Mistborn Series
- The Stormlight Archives
- Tools of Titans
- How to Read a book
- Narconomics: How To Run a Drug Cartel
- Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
- Range
- The Bed of Procrustes
- Siddhartha
- Superintelligence

<br>

*Updated: December 28th, 2020*


List of books that I have read, want to read, and currently reading.

Bookshelf


This is a [now page](https://nownownow.com/about), and if you have your own site, [you should make one too](https://nownownow.com/about).

### Work
I am currently working for [Jumpcut](https://jumpcut.com) as a Full Stack Engineer. I am grateful that I can work remotely especially in this kind of situation.

### Writing
I am creating my own [newsletter](https://juliancanderson.com/subscribe). I am trying to write regularly and currently sending email once a week.

I also write here in my own [blog](https://juliancanderson.com/blog). I am writing about self development and planning to do a book review too.

### Reading
- The Making of Prince of Persia
- The Dark Forest
- Why The West Rule for Now
- The Acent of Money
- Master of the Senate (Lyndon Johnson Biography #3)
- Antifragile

### Learning
Currently learning how to learn better. The thing that I am currently using now is the [Zettelkasten](http://zettelkasten.de) system.

Currently learning Korean for fun.

### Game
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- DOTA 2
- Uncharted Series

<br>

*Updated: December 28th, 2020*

What I am focused on at this point in my life.

What I’m Doing Now


Have you seen these pictures lately on your social media feeds?
<img style="width: 100%; margin-top: 20px;" src="/pfp-nfts/nfts.jpeg"></img>

If you've seen them then you probably already know or heard about NFTs. NFTs are one of the hottest topics that are being discussed these days. People are spending millions of dollars on it and many are still skeptical. The biggest argument is that you can right click and save it instantly.
There are many kinds of NFTs, but there is one kind of NFT that caught my attention which is the profile picture / avatar NFTs project. This essay will cover my thoughts about this kind of NFT and why they matter.

---

## What is an NFT?

> NFTs are tokens that we can use to represent ownership of unique items. - ethereum.org

NFT (Non Fungible Token) enables us to tokenize art, collectibles, and many more. It's impossible to modify the record of ownership of NFT. This thing is called non fungible because it's not interchangeable because of their unique properties.

> NFTs and Ethereum solve some of the problems that exist on the internet today. As everything becomes more digital, there's a need to replicate the properties of physical items like scarcity, uniqueness, and proof of ownership. - ethereum.org

This is a huge thing for collectible art since you can easily prove your ownership of your art and even if someone tries to copy / forge a fake, people will know.

NFT also allows the creator to set the scarcity of the collectibles. This is of course the main thing about collectibles, you want to collect rare stuff.

Beside all the points I've mentioned, NFT powers the creator economy since everyone can mint or create NFTs. You can easily upload your art to Open Sea now by having an ETH wallet and some ETH to pay for gas fee. (more on gas fees [here](https://consensys.net/blog/metamask/what-is-a-gas-fee-on-ethereum/)). It’s never been easier to sell your art.

## What is profile picture / avatar NFTs?

This kind of NFTs are projects that release an avatar image that can be used as profile picture.

> NFT avatars are images of a character, usually from the shoulders up, frequently used as digital profile pictures. - The Defiant

These avatars are uniquely generated and have different traits. Some will have rare traits and some will look more common.

This kind of project not only offers you a jpeg that you can use but also it offers unique benefits for all owners. For example some of them will send you airdrop if you are the owner of the NFT project, some will offer you an access to a private space in the Metaverse, and there are many more.

The first avatar NFT project is called Crypto Punk. It was created by Larva Labs in 2017. These punks can be claimed for free back then as long as you have an Ethereum Wallet. Right now if you see on their official website (https://www.larvalabs.com/cryptopunks) the highest sale of a punk is \$7.57 Million dollars.

<img style="width: 100%;" src="/pfp-nfts/punk_sales.png"></img>
<div style="margin: 20px auto; text-align: center; color: #b4b7b8; font-weight: 400;">Top sales screenshot from larvalabs.com</div>


> The CryptoPunks are 10,000 uniquely generated characters. No two are exactly alike, and each one of them can be officially owned by a single person on the Ethereum blockchain. - Larva Labs

The next wave started last April with the launch of Bored Ape Yacht Club. They released 10,000 apes with unique traits into the NFT space. The price was 0,08 ETH (around $200 at that time). It blew up and as I'm writing this (August 4, 2021) their lowest price is at 11.58 ETH (US $28925). And right now during the update (Sept 12th, 2021) of my essay their lowest price is 31 ETH ($106,190). They're 3x in a month.

<img style="width: 100%;" src="/pfp-nfts/curry.png"></img>
<div style="margin: 20px auto; text-align: center; color: #b4b7b8; font-weight: 400;">Stephen Curry is using Bored Ape PFP on his Twitter.</div>


<img style="width: 100%;" src="/pfp-nfts/bayc.png"></img>
<div style="margin: 20px auto; text-align: center; color: #b4b7b8; font-weight: 400;">Screenshot from BAYC website</div>

The question you might ask is why do people want to spend that amount of money for a JPEG?

### Community

People are buying these NFTs because they want to be a part of the community. By being a part of the community you can gain many things for example a private channel on the discord server, access to merch drops, being able to participate in the next release, and many more.

People love being in a community since we're social creatures. You can make new friends and meet a lot of interesting people inside it. Even by buying a Bored Ape you can gain many followers because people know that you belong in the community.

A project will be nothing without a community behind it. A community can be their "free marketing" since people will share about the project without even asking for free from the team. The community keeps the discord server alive by welcoming new people and also helping them onboard.

Humans love being in a tribe. They want to feel a sense of belonging. Being in a tribe means you have faith in one another, you can somehow “be yourself” and authentic, and also the success of a tribe does not depend on one person but it depends on the whole members.

### Social Status

This is the point that I really love. People are buying NFTs for status signaling. By having a Crypto Punk you can signal that you can afford such a premium price for a JPEG and that you belong in the NFT community and you're up there with the elite.

Status signaling is one of the biggest motivations in the crypto space. From what I've observed during my time here in the NFT space, Avatars / PFP NFT Projects gain the most traction especially for new users. It's easier for them to choose the one they like and if they have the money they can join the big projects instead. Also, these kinds of NFTs are easier to show off since you can put it as your profile picture.

From Eugene Wei's essay:

> Status isn't worth much if there's no skill and effort required to mine it.

Of course having a top tier PFP NFT project requires effort, you need to have the capital to buy one. Top tier NFT projects have a high bar to entry, not a lot of people can afford it and this is why buying a PFP NFT project is a great way to signal.

It used to be hard to signal in the digital space. It's of course easier to signal in the physical world since people can touch and see it. In the digital space everything doesn't seem real enough for people to notice. One of the biggest reasons I used to hate NFT is because you can easily right click and save those images and it's yours. It doesn't work that way. By right clicking and saving the image you might own the image but there's no proof that you really own it. NFT enables this proof of ownership.

> Signaling, however, grows stronger the larger the out-group is – as long as the out-group knows about the in-group.
> Limited supply creates FOMO and hype which increases the size of the out-group and results in higher social status for members of the in-group.
> Banking on Status - Julian Lehr

Next thing that makes NFT grew so fast these couple of months is because the outer group (people outside of NFT) is huge since most people still don't know about NFT and the inner group (people inside the NFT space) is spreading the word every single day. Even celebrities are buying PFP NFTs to put as their social media profile picture. Because NFTs are designed to have limited supply, FOMO increases, thus driving prices.

### Financial Gain
Of course money is important when it comes to investing. A lot of people come to the NFT space not just to collect them, they are aiming to get a significant gain on the NFTs that they buy. There are many kinds of NFTs and it's hard to choose which one is good and which one is not. Art can be subjective and newer people tend not to look for another project beside PFP.

The entry points for this type of projects are relatively low (around 0,02 - 0,1 ETH) compares to Art Blocks or any other projects. This is the reason why people are getting into PFP projects, low barriers of entry and a high amount of gain. There's no better place right now to gain 10-100x besides NFTs. Sometimes it looks too good to be true but it's just the truth right now.

### Pseudonymous Identity
> Pseudonymous identities let you traverse the internet (and soon the metaverse) and create or find parts of yourself that cannot be discovered with a single identity. - https://shreyashariharan.com/2020/12/19/pseudonymous-identity/

People have been using Anime PFP, cartoon PFP, or any other kind of random pictures as their profile pictures to stay anonymous. Some people want to hide their identity for their own good. Sometimes they are afraid of being fired because of something they posted online. PFP NFT is a great way to hide your real identity and I've seen a lot of people online start appearing after they buy a certain NFT. Being pseudonymous can make it easier to express things into the outside world, since people don't know who you are. It helps us to become the person we want to be.


> Pseudonymous identity is the first step. The next step is building reputation with that identity, porting that reputation across different identities, and making a livelihood with that identity. - https://shreyashariharan.com/2020/12/19/pseudonymous-identity/


---

It's hard not to think about NFT right now since it's becoming mainstream. A lot of people still think this is some kind of scam and it won't be here for long. I believe that NFT is going to stay here in the long run, but just not all of them.

PFP projects are on the rise right now because it fulfils human nature. There will be a point where it will stop and people will move on to the next type of NFT. But since most of the top tier projects are getting too expensive, people will keep on finding the next one so they can be a part of something. The demand will always be there once newer people are coming into the space.

I hope that this short essay can be a good explanation on PFP NFT projects. My [twitter DM](https://twitter.com/juliancanderson) is open if there's anything you want to discuss.

---

Thanks to [Kalani](https://twitter.com/ScarrottKalani) and [Greg Isenberg](https://twitter.com/gregisenberg) for giving feedback and reading the draft of this essay.
Thanks to [Evan Tan](https://twitter.com/evantan) for letting me use his Ape and Punk on this essay.

---

#### References
- [https://shreyashariharan.com/2020/12/19/pseudonymous-identity/](https://shreyashariharan.com/2020/12/19/pseudonymous-identity/)
- [https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service](https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service)
- [https://julian.digital/2020/12/03/banking-on-status/](https://julian.digital/2020/12/03/banking-on-status/)
- [https://decrypt.co/79071/cryptopunks-bored-apes-nft-avatar-trend-is-about-community-building](https://decrypt.co/79071/cryptopunks-bored-apes-nft-avatar-trend-is-about-community-building)


The Rise of Profile Picture NFTs


I haven't been writing that much for these couple of months. I stopped sending monthly updates and I stopped my quantified life report. I felt tired at work so I took some time off by playing video games and watching TV shows. I tried to get back into my writing routines but it seems really hard. This update is my attempt on getting back into writing.

### NFT & Crypto

I discovered crypto in 2017 and I bought some coins then I lost my money. It was the end of the crypto bull run and it was pretty bad for me since I did not have enough money when I was in college. I ditched crypto and never look back.

Last year I read about Bitcoin and Crypto then I bought some Bitcoin. The bull run started and I could feel that my money was growing so I bought more. In January I discovered Ethereum and I was pumped. You can build so many things in the Ethereum ecosystem. I loved it so I invested my money in it. ETH was \$1000 back then and for the first time in my life, I was not scared of losing my money in Crypto.

At the end of June, I discovered NFT and I bought my first NFT called Rude Boys. It was a digital toy collectible and I love it. To be honest, before this I thought that NFT is dumb and I did not get why people spend money on it. After my first purchase, it starts to snowball. I bought more NFTs and here I am right now living the NFT life every day. It's not just because of the financial gain but it's about the people I met along the way. NFT would be nothing without the community.

### Joined Late Checkout

So I decided to resign from my previous job and joined Late Checkout. The first time I talked to them was back in April and it wasn't a good time for me to join them. Then we talked around a month ago and I decided that this is the right time to join them.

I'm excited to join Greg and the team to build the Berkshire Hathaway of Community. Late Checkout is into crypto/web3 also and that is one of the main reasons I am pumped up to join them. I might have not been a crypto OG but right now is the right time to contribute and build something in the space and not just watching on the sideline.

### Writing an article about NFT and Status Signaling

I have been interested in status signaling since last year. It's one of the most interesting things I've encountered so I dig deeper into it. Since I joined NFT world I feel like one of the biggest contributors to the space is status signaling. Currently trying to wrap my thoughts around it in an essay. It's far from done but hopefully, I can manage to deliver it asap.

### Created a small NFT/Crypto community

I have no experience in building community but I think it's an underrated skill in 2021. Building a community is a core thing especially when you're building a product. I build this small community as a way for myself to learn. You can email me or DM me on Twitter if you want to join!

### Making bets with Kalani

So I made some bets with Kalani. One of them is that I need to deliver my monthly newsletter and this is my attempt of not losing to him. The second one is just reading books. Currently, I'm picking The Dark Forest as my main book to read. I love the Three Body Problem and this one is the second book.

### Learning Solidity / Web3

Besides enjoying the consumption part of web3 (DeFi and NFTs), I want to build something as a contribution to this space. I have been learning about Solidity and right now I am not confident yet about building something with it. Some part of it is easy to understand but there are new things that are still new to me. Excited about how this process will go!

These are my updates from August. These couple of months has been awesome, with lots of ups and downs but here I am surviving the cycle. Excited for what September brings!

If you want to reach out, my Twitter DM is always open!

Thanks for reading and see you next month!


August 2021 Life Update


I joined Jumpcut in September 2019. I was excited to finally work remotely. I did not even imagine I can work for a US company from Indonesia. 

During the interview, I was unsure that they will accept me as an engineer. I did not have a good portfolio back then. I aced the front-end interview but I was struggling during the back-end interview. (I was applying for a full-stack role).

Eniz (engineering manager) and Rahim (VP of Engineering) took a chance on me and I am forever grateful for it. They saw something in me and decided to hire me as a full-stack. 

There was a layoff on my third month there and I managed to stay. We lost most of our engineers and were left with only 2 engineers and 1 designer. We decided to build a new product called [Creatives Club](https://creatives.club) with only 3 people inside the team.

I was excited and scared at the same time. I didn't have any seniors or managers inside the team so I had to make huge engineering decisions. This experience taught me the most. Building a product from scratch is a different experience from managing an existing product. We managed to ship the product and we are proud of it. 

Sadly my journey at Jumpcut must come to an end. I was shocked and sad when I heard the news. I know this was a tough decision for them too. They've tried to keep the 3 of us in the team as long as possible. I enjoyed every moment and Jumpcut has made me a better person during my time there.

Leaving a great company is hard, you get used to the culture and everything inside it. Finding a new one is even harder, you need to take a risk and adapt to a new environment. I don't really like job searching experience overall and it feels bad to be rejected especially by your dream company.

I saved most of the rejection emails from companies that I've applied to. I treat them as a motivation that I still need to improve. But to be honest, sometimes it's painful to see.

During the whole month of February, I did some interviews. I feel like a tech interview can be tiring. The best thing about it now is that I don't have to come onsite for those interviews. Some of the technical interviews were a stretch for me. I was not a fan of whiteboard interviews, I prefer to do a project straight away because for me it's easier and more natural.

I'm still early in my career and there are a lot of things that I should improve. I still want to work at a startup and develop my skills. 

Last Friday was my last day at Jumpcut and I decided to join Xendit. Today is my first day at Xendit and I am grateful for it. Working here is a good opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and I guess it's a good thing for me in the long run. I am excited about what's ahead!

I want to thank Kong, Peter, Kel, Alex, Osama, Eniz, Rahim, and everyone that worked with me at Jumpcut.

The Next Chapter


I hate to start a new year in a bad way because I thought that this year will be better than last year. I received bad news earlier this month, I can't share this publicly yet. I might share it in a month or two. I shared this with a small number of people and I am glad they all supported me in many ways. I hope that things will get better in the next few months and I think this year will be a year for me to get out of my comfort zone.

## What Happened This Month

I got engaged. This is one of the biggest things that happened to me. It's a huge commitment but I am excited for what's ahead.

I used my time to learn Clojure and Ruby on Rails. It feels good to finally learn new things. I have been bored for a few months because I did not challenge myself. Learning new things means getting out of my comfort zone. It's uncomfortable but it's good for me. Getting started is always the hardest part of learning new things, once you get better things started to become fun.

I read a lot about Bitcoin and Ethereum. Some of them are hard to understand but in my opinion, both of them will play a huge role in the future.

I joined Sahil (@shl) The Minimalist Entrepreneur Course in February. The timing is perfect and I am excited to connect with all of the students and learn about building a sustainable business. The course will start tomorrow and one main problem for me is the timezone. The course will be held at midnight my time so I better be ready.

## Recommendation this Month

### Articles

- [https://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person/](https://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person/)
- [https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/writing/](https://www.collaborativefund.com/blog/writing/)
- [https://a16z.com/2021/01/24/investing-in-clubhouse/](https://a16z.com/2021/01/24/investing-in-clubhouse/)
- [http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html)
- [https://ccorcos.github.io/filing-cabinets/](https://ccorcos.github.io/filing-cabinets/)
- [https://nav.al/bitcoin-the-internet-of-money](https://nav.al/bitcoin-the-internet-of-money)
- [https://danromero.org/the-toothbrush-test.html](https://danromero.org/the-toothbrush-test.html)
- [http://www.paulgraham.com/useful.html](http://www.paulgraham.com/useful.html)
- [https://stratechery.com/2020/stripe-platform-of-platforms/](https://stratechery.com/2020/stripe-platform-of-platforms/)

### Podcasts
- [Growing Ideas with Andy Matuschak](https://open.spotify.com/episode/6s2Z9SMryJGpZZde8Y0SDz)
- [Tools for Thought](https://open.spotify.com/episode/50d8SobXwtep3C90hMimkr)
- [Human-Computer Interaction](https://open.spotify.com/episode/7tPmKlfb7UVEET54avIFor)
- [Sweetgreen](https://open.spotify.com/episode/1CifpKnJSumRhUhZOOjQKS)

### Video
<div class="videoWrapper">
  <iframe width="400" height="225" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sfqTlk4vDJw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div>


## Books I'm Reading

- [The Revolt of the Public: And the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/42286006-the-revolt-of-the-public-and-the-crisis-of-authority-in-the-new-millenni)
- [Order Without Design](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39644188-order-without-design?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=uCZcZ3kbGa&rank=1)
- [The Art of Doing Science and Engineering](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/53503835-the-art-of-doing-science-and-engineering)



2021 January Updates


#### 🛌 *Average sleep time:* `6:48h`

#### 📱 *Daily screen time average:* `5:00h`
Failed to decrease my screen time. Need to do better next month.

#### 📺 *Total media consumption time:* `2615 minutes`
`TV` 605 minutes

`Podcast` 300 minutes

`Game` 1020 minutes

`Audiobook` 0:00

`Books` 690 minutes

#### 🏃🏻‍♂️ *Distance ran:* `57.87 km`

### 🎤 Top artist
- *Twice* (280 plays)
- *Justin Bieber* (47 plays)
- *Ed Sheeran* (30 plays)

### 📚 Books Progress
*The Dark Forest*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 30%;"></div>
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  <span>30%</span>
</div>

*The Art of Doing Science and Engineering*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 35%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>35%</span>
</div>

*The Revolt of The Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 10%;"></div>
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  <span>10%</span>
</div>


### 📺 TV Show Progress
*Friends* (Re-run)
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 38%;"></div>
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  <div>45%</div>
</div>

*Lupin* 
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  <div>100%</div>
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<br>

<br>

<span style="font-family: Space Mono;">Articles and Podcasts were moved to my monthly updates.<span>

Quantified January 2021


- Run daily.

- Read 24 books. `(2 books a month)`

- Reduce my phone screen time to 2 hours a day. `currently 4 hours`

- Write a daily journal. `Tried before and I was inconsistent`

- Drink Coke only once every 2 weeks. `I usually drink it weekly`

- Send a monthly newsletter. `If it goes well then I might send them more often`

- Visit family at least once a month.

- Learn in public.

- Invest at least 15% of monthly income.

- Connect with at least 10 people on Twitter.

- Finish games that I bought in 2020. `Ghost of Tsushima, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order, Red Dead Redemption 2, Uncharted Series, Persona 5 Royal`

- Write a consistent monthly quantified report.

- Eat veggies every single day.


---

*I might add another goals later on.*



It is a little bit late to share but here I go.

2021 Goals


#### 🛌 *Average sleep time:* `7:10h`

#### 📱 *Daily screen time average:* `4:30h`

#### 📺 *Total media consumption time:* `3960 minutes`
`TV` 473 minutes

`Podcast` 338 minutes

`Game` 3060 minutes

`Audiobook` 0:00

`Books` 890 minutes

#### 🏃🏻‍♂️ *Distance ran:* `52.42 km`

### 🎤 Top artist
- *Twice* (250 plays)
- *ITZY* (21 plays)
- *BLACKPINK* (25 plays)

### 📚 Books Progress
I managed to read more this month which is really good. 

*The Murder of Roger Ackroyd*
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  <span>100%</span>
</div>

*The Making of Prince of Persia*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 10%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>30%</span>
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### 📺 TV Show Progress
*Friends* (Re-run)
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 38%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>38%</div>
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*The Sopranos Season 2* (Re-run)
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 38%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>31%</div>
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*The Bureau Season 1* (Re-run)
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 38%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>50%</div>
</div>


### 👓 Favorite articles

- [Patrick Collison's Advices](https://patrickcollison.com/advice)
- [An Interview With Stripe President John Collison – Stratechery by Ben Thompson](https://stratechery.com/2020/an-interview-with-stripe-president-john-collison/)
- [Stripe: Platform of Platforms](https://stratechery.com/2020/stripe-platform-of-platforms/)

### 🎤 Favorite Podcast

- [Dylan Field - The Growing Importance of Design – [Founder’s Field Guide, EP.14]](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3kpZFGCVsESlTEyfUSNlWU?si=JQqmYVAOQMyEWuyrWjr6EQ)

- [Sam Hinkie – Find Your People - [Invest Like the Best, EP.204]](https://open.spotify.com/episode/5grQ5Qd4SJCYVczMB7DOwW?si=39Guvg3sToGalmmu7uKwIw)

Quantified December 2020


This is my third Year in Review ([2018](/blog/2018-year-in-review) and [2019](/blog/2019-year-in-review)). 2020 has been a tough year for most of us. But we all can learn from what happened this year and become better in 2021.

I consider myself lucky. I still have a job up until now and I am healthy. I can spend time with the people that I love and they are healthy too. Here are some things that I’ve learned this year:

### Take more (calculated) risks
I am not a risk-taker and looking back I regret that I did not take a risk at all earlier this year. I started to invest around a year ago. Earlier this year the stock market crashed and sadly I did not invest at all. I was putting all my money on my emergency fund (even if I had enough at that time). I am planning to invest more in 2021.

### Read more books
I planned to read 2 books a month this year which means a total of 24 books this year. In reality, I read about 10 books this year. The reason why I read fewer books is that I started to take notes from each book and it makes it much longer to finish. And I started to read multiple books at a time, so I have many books that are currently in progress. 
I believe that reading books and following my curiosities improved my thinking this year. I used to follow people’s recommendations without thinking whether those books will fit my curiosity. I enjoy every book that I am currently reading because these books are within my interest.

### Being healthy should be a priority
I was overweight in 2019. I managed to lose 10 kg or 22 pounds in a year. Sadly I gained some weight back later this year. 
I lose weight by running around 500 km this year. This is a huge achievement for me since I did not like running before. I feel a lot healthier after I lose all that extra weight. 
I am planning to keep this habit and also develop a more healthy eating habit for 2021.

### Things take time
I must say that I am not that patient, I usually rush on things. This year taught me that most things in life take time and I should not rush into it. Being more patient has made me happier this year.
Time is more precious than money
We can always make more money but the same does not apply to time. We can’t take back time. Sometimes I still waste time and I am not proud of it. Hopefully, I can manage my time better and don’t waste my time on unimportant things.

### Being busy does not mean being productive
I started this year being busy. I did not have any priority so I worked on a lot of things and to be honest, some of them were not that important. I had a project earlier this year that I did and regret. I learned that I should be able to say no to those projects that do not align with my long-term goals. 

### Writing is hard
My goal for 2020 was to write weekly and I did not make it. I ended up writing only a few new blog posts. It was really hard for me to stick to this habit. It felt like I am writing to impress and not to express. This is the one thing that I should change for 2021.

### Think for myself
It’s easy to be influenced by other people’s thoughts. I rarely think for myself this year. I mostly consumed everything from books and articles. [This essay](http://paulgraham.com/think.html) by Paul Graham, which I read later this year was a wake-up call for me.

>  if your goal is to discover novel ideas, your motto should not be "do what you love" so much as "do what you're curious about."

>  The end goal is not to find flaws in the things you're told but to find the new ideas that had been concealed by the broken ones.

---

I am grateful for 2020, the people that I’m closest with, and the people I met along the way (mostly on Twitter). You guys made my 2020.

*My family, Josephine Thallia, my high school friends, my junior high school friends, Ivan Tjandra, Cullin McGrath (my earliest friend on Twitter), Kalani Scarrott, Jan König, Kent de Bruin, Julian Lehr, Jon Borichevskiy, Steven Kneiser, Alexander Hugh Sam, Robin Dechant, Marco-Andrés Camilo, Ben Greenman*

Hope you are having a great year ahead!

Looking back on what I have done in 2020.

2020 Year in Review


#### 🛌 *Average sleep time:* `7:08h`

#### 📱 *Daily screen time average:* `4:45h`

#### 📺 *Total media consumption time:* `3960 minutes`
`TV` 659 minutes

`Podcast` 91 minutes

`Game` 1980 minutes

`Audiobook` 0:00

`Books` 1230 minutes

#### 🏃🏻‍♂️ *Distance ran:* `28.31 km`

### 🎤 Top artist
- *Twice* (698 plays)
- *ITZY* (47 plays)
- *BLACKPINK* (38 plays)

### 📚 Books Progress
I managed to read more this month which is really good. 

*Three Body Problem* - Cixin Liu
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  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>

*The Art of Doing Science and Engineering*
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    <div class="inner" style="width: 10%;"></div>
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  <span>10%</span>
</div>

*The Power Broker*
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 13%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>13%</span>
</div>


### 📺 TV Show Progress
*Barry*
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>100%</div>
</div>


### 👓 Favorite articles

- [What you should be working on](https://www.julian.com/blog/life-planning)
- [The Munger Operating System: A Life That Really Works](https://fs.blog/2016/04/munger-operating-system/)
- [Elad Blog: You Don't Need A Good Idea To Start A Great Company](http://blog.eladgil.com/2011/01/you-dont-need-good-idea-to-start-great.html)

### 🎤 Favorite Podcast

- [20VC: Benchmark's Sarah Tavel](https://open.spotify.com/episode/38Y4ARo1UwxxpAQhNwOlKR?si=iWJmPuIWS56P5lTVG83q2w)



Quantified November 2020


#### 🛌 *Average sleep time:* `7:02`

#### 📱 *Daily screen time average:* `3:30`

#### 📺 *Total media consumption time:* `5219 minutes`
`TV` 1574 minutes

`Podcast` 300 minutes

`Game` 1990 minutes

`Audiobook` 0:00

`Books` 1355 minutes

#### 🏃🏻‍♂️ *Distance ran:* `39.5 km`

### 🎤 Top artist
- *Twice* (887 plays)
- *ITZY* (189 plays)
- *BLACKPINK* (84 plays)

### 📚 Books Progress
*The Master Switch* - Tim Wu
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>

*Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman* - Richard Feynman
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    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>

*Freakonomics*
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>

### 📺 TV Show Progress
*Slicon Valley*
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  </div>
  <div>100%</div>
</div>

*Ted Lasso*
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  </div>
  <div>100%</div>
</div>


### 👓 Favorite articles

- [Early Work](http://www.paulgraham.com/early.html)
- [See your Career as a Product](https://eriktorenberg.substack.com/p/see-your-career-as-a-product)

### 🎤 Favorite Podcast

- [Rahul Vohra on Invest Like The Best](https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Z1xGRgSyfblB9RJ4n76P6?si=WXxmttdzSaqzyGxS3LTNOw)
- [Naval on Tim Ferris Podcast](https://open.spotify.com/episode/5IIMmgac27IaeChTYQMKIn?si=ZUtZMg7UQTuWOxzphLfkOQ)



Quantified October 2020


I have been into this game called DOTA2 since high school. My friends introduced me to the game and I was pretty bad at the game before because I was new to the genre. As I got better the game became more enjoyable for me. I have spent not only a lot of time on the game, but also money.

DOTA2 is not a pay-to-win game. There’s no advantage to spending money in game. It might sound silly, but a lot of people buy numerous in-game cosmetics in-game cosmetics. They want to have the latest and the best one out there. Some cosmetics are really cheap($0.03) and some can cost [up to more than $1000](https://win.gg/news/4170/these-are-the-most-expensive-cosmetic-items-in-dota-2). I did not realize when I started that this is related to status signaling.

The company behind DOTA2 is Valve, [currently valued at $10 billion valuation](https://www.bloomberg.com/billionaires/profiles/gabe-newell/#:~:text=Steam%20can%20support%20millions%20of,based%20analyst%20at%20Wedbush%20Securities.). Valve owns their own online game store called Steam whilst also developing their big titles like Counter Strike Global Offensive, Half Life, and Team Fortress. Valve's CEO is Gabe Logan Newell or people usually called him Gaben. He used to work for Microsoft for 13 years before started Valve in 1996. One of the reasons he built Valve is because he believe that video games were the future of entertainment. Currently, his net worth is around [$4 billion according to Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/profile/gabe-newell/#4b780d407da0).

In this blog post, we will take a deep dive into signaling in Video Games from the perspective of DOTA2.

Some resources to read more about Signaling:
- [Status as a Service by Eugene Wei](https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service)
- [Signaling as a Service by Julian Lehr](https://julian.digital/2020/03/28/signaling-as-a-service/)

---

## History of DOTA2
Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) began as a mod for Blizzard's Warcraft 3 in 2003. By the late 2000s, DOTA became one of the most popular mods worldwide, as well as a prominent esports game. Valve's interest in the original DOTA intellectual property began when several veteran employees, including Team Fortress 2 designer Robin Walker and executive Erik Johnson, became fans of the mod and wanted to build a modern sequel. After IceFrog (the original creator of the mod) announced he was joining Valve, Dota 2 was announced a year after that.

DOTA2 was planned to be a Social Network so in 2012 Gabe Newell announced that it will be a free-to-play game. They were planning that [community contribution would be a cornerstone feature](https://web.archive.org/web/20120530235418/http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/dota-2010/1223419p1.html). And this decision paid out: by 2015, sales of Dota 2 virtual goods had earned Valve over $238 million in revenue, according to the digital game market research group SuperData. 

DOTA2 is huge in the Esports industry. In fact, they have the [biggest price pool in Esports history](https://dotesports.com/general/news/biggest-prize-pools-esports-14605). Last year the prize pool was $34.3 million, this year it has already reached $37.8 million and it's still increasing.

---

## Signaling in DOTA2
There are 2 ways you can signal in DOTA2: in-game cosmetics and Battle Pass. Let's dive into every single one of them:

---

### In-Game Cosmetics
This is the most popular one and a lot of games have done similar things, for example: Fortnite, Counter Strike Global Offensive, PUBG, and many more. Companies gain a lot of revenue from in-game cosmetics because people are willing to spend a lot of money on it. But this kind of monetization might not make sense for a lot of people. People always wonder why would you spend your money on something that can only be seen online?

<div style="display: flex; justify-content: space-between; align-items: center; margin-top: 20px;">
  <img style="width: 48%;" src="/how-dota2-takes-advantage-of-signaling/ecb6fb50d89ce5b93f6d516037f2b797.gif"></img>
  <img style="width: 48%;" src="/how-dota2-takes-advantage-of-signaling/88a3f717e5413ae678399ced68120a05.gif"></img>
</div>
<div style="margin: 20px auto; text-align: center; color: #b4b7b8; font-weight: 500;">Example of 2 of the most expensive items in DOTA</div>

There are a lot of reasons why people are willing to do this. According to [this paper](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/335101010_Who_Purchases_and_Why_Explaining_Motivations_for_In-game_Purchasing_in_the_Online_Survival_Game_Fortnite?enrichId=rgreq-70f999b49745131129b53d4b580c4ff5-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzMzNTEwMTAxMDtBUzo3OTA0MTU5NjM4NTI4MDJAMTU2NTQ2MTI1OTkyMg%3D%3D&el=1_x_3&_esc=publicationCoverPdf): `Players want to be different and unique, and one way to do it is by having a rare and expensive cosmetic item.` 

Also, the player's avatar or in-game cosmetics act as `not only the extended self but also a more distinctive self as opposed to the offline self.`

> all of these are signaling amplifiers with different signal messages to uniquely express yourself in the game. - Julian Lehr

#### But what makes DOTA2 cosmetics different from Fortnite?

In Fortnite cosmetics will change daily. So, everyday the cosmetics in the store will be unique. The rarest skin right now is called Aerial Assault Trooper. It costs 1200 V-Bucks (1000 V-Bucks = USD$7.99). People can spend this money easily because the skin is relatively cheap. But it has [not been available in the store for a very long time](https://fnbr.co/outfit/aerial-assault-trooper). It’s impossible to purchase a certain skin or cosmetic whenever you want to. You have to log in every single day to check whether the item that you want is available in the store.

Besides that, Fortnite usually uses an event to release cosmetics that are only available for a few days. Recently they released [a collaboration with BTS](https://www.epicgames.com/fortnite/en-US/news/light-it-up-like-dynamite-bts-arrives-in-fortnite-party-royale). They released 2 emotes that are only available for 2 days. 

In DOTA2 you can buy skins/cosmetics whenever you want to. They sell some of them on their official store or you can purchase them through the Steam Market, but some of them are only available through a Battle Pass purchase reached at a certain kind of level (we will get to this later on the Battle Pass section). The most interesting thing about this is that prices may fluctuate over time. I owned an item that used to cost around $5 and [now it costs $16](https://steamcommunity.com/market/listings/570/Inscribed%20Blade%20of%20Tears). Sometimes a certain kind of item gets really rare after a hero is buffed (gets stronger) or the price may go down if the hero is nerfed (gets weaker).

Another thing that makes DOTA unique is that you can create your own skin or item then sell it on the market. In fact, people [have made six figures](https://www.pcgamer.com/valves-robin-walker-on-six-figure-item-sales-and-the-future-of-modding/) just by creating skins and selling them on the market.

---

### Battle Pass
DOTA2 was the first game to introduce battle pass. [According to Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_pass), a battle pass is a type of monetization approach that provides additional content for a game usually through a tiered system, rewarding the player with in-game items for playing the game and completing specific challenges.

Basic level 1 Battle Pass in DOTA2 costs $10, with 50 levels costs $30, and with 100 levels goes for $45. Each additional level unlocks something new. People usually buy the level 100 bundle to save time because it can be hard to level it up yourself. You can also add levels after it by spending more money.

On Fortnite, the base-level Battle Pass costs $9.50. You can add an additional level by paying 150 V-Bucks (around $1.2). You can add this up to level 100, but after that you won't get any additional items.

The most interesting part about DOTA2 battle pass is that you can add as many levels as you want to. The highest one right now is [level 20,000](https://www.earlygame.com/the-saudi-crown-prince-has-the-highest-level-dota-2-battle-pass/#:~:text=Dota%202's%20Battle%20Pass%20was,climbed%20over%2020%20000%20levels.). I don't really know how much he spent to reach level 20,000. The maximum reward that you can have is only up to level 2,000 and beyond that you only receive a treasure boxes with random items. So adding more level is unnecessary and it's probably just for fun or signaling purposes.

#### How do you signal using Battle Pass on DOTA2?
On DOTA2 every time you enter a lobby you can see 10 players, all with their Battle Pass and their level visible. In contrary, on Fortnite each player's level will be shown even when they don't purchase Battle Pass. It is interesting since showing level doesn't seem necessary and doesn't really show anything important for other players. One can only assume they show the levels to encourage others to buy battle pass and level up the level.

I think this goes back to signaling, the higher the Battle Pass level, the more it indicates that player's spending and dedication to the game. Even you can see your friend's level like a leaderboard. This way, besides showing random strangers your Battle Pass level, you can also show it off to your friend list.

<img style="width: 100%; margin: 20px 0;" src="/how-dota2-takes-advantage-of-signaling/leaderboard.jpg"></img>
<div style="margin: 20px auto; text-align: center; color: #b4b7b8; font-weight: 500;">You can see all of your friends level here</div>

<img style="width: 100%; margin: 20px 0;" src="/how-dota2-takes-advantage-of-signaling/battlepass-on-lobby.png"></img>
<div style="margin: 20px auto; text-align: center; color: #b4b7b8; font-weight: 500;">DOTA2 shows player that purchased battle pass + their level</div>

Beside showing off your level, the items from Battle Pass are limited and really cool too. People are willing to spend money on Battle Pass to acquire these cosmetics because it will be only available for that year's Battle Pass. You can't buy or sell it on the Steam Market and makes them rare.

<img style="width: 100%; margin: 20px 0;" src="/how-dota2-takes-advantage-of-signaling/arcana.jpg"></img>

Other than cosmetics, there is a thing called chat-wheel in DOTA2. These are basically texts that are pre-made that you can send to your team or to the game's lobby. Basic chat-wheels are free. Some of the chat-wheels from Battle Pass are limited and it's not just a text, it's a text with a sound. It might sound silly but people are into this kind of thing and DOTA2 realizes this. They put their legacy chat-wheel on higher level of Battle Pass and the most unique chat-wheel is the evolving chat-wheel, it gets longer the higher your level is. If you're curious about the chat-wheel, these are the videos.

<div class="videoWrapper">
<iframe width="1198" height="674" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/c6WMe9o7q5U" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div>

<div class="videoWrapper">
<iframe width="1198" height="674" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kc03k80FCsk" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
</div>

These chat-wheels come from iconic game commentaries, so most people that play the game know these moments. It can be used to taunt and mock opponents too. chat-wheel is being used not just in public games, but also in professional matches.

One last thing that DOTA2's Battle Pass differs is that 25% of the money you spend contributes to The International (DOTA2 biggest tournament) prize pool. Making players feel a sense of contribution to the game and community. 

---

## Conclusion
I think DOTA2 realizes the role of signaling and how to gain benefits from it. People might not realize the main reason why they choose to spend a lot of money on virtual products. They will keep using cosmetics and Battle Pass to monetize because it just works. The International will always be held yearly and of course, the Battle Pass is the best way to monetize on this kind event, especially right now they can't held a live event because of the Corona Virus. 

Video game companies can use status signaling to monetize better. I haven't seen another company use the same approach as DOTA2 right now. And I think can adopt some of the things that DOTA2 has successfully benefited from status signaling and implement them accordingly.

---

This is one of the hardest article that I have written and it took me a long time to finish. If you have any feedback on this article you can [message me on twitter](https://twitter.com/messages/compose?recipient_id=58103383) or <a href="mailto:juliancanderson@gmail.com">email me</a>. Thanks a lot for reading!

Thanks to [Julian Lehr](https://twitter.com/lehrjulian), [Cullin](https://twitter.com/cullinmcgrath), and [Kalani Scarrott](https://twitter.com/ScarrottKalani) for reading the draft of this article.








How DOTA 2 Takes Advantage of Signaling


#### 🛌 *Average sleep time:* `6:56h`

#### 📱 *Daily screen time average:* `4:33h`

#### 📺 *Total media consumption time:* `3440 minutes`
`TV` 1340 minutes

`Podcast` 126 minutes

`Game` 1520 minutes

`Audiobook` 0:00

`Books` 660 minutes

#### 🏃🏻‍♂️ *Distance ran:* `39.5 km`

### 🎤 Top artist
- *Twice* (400 plays)
- *ITZY* (340 plays)
- *John Mayer* (49 plays)
- *Honne* (41 plays)
- *IU* (39 plays)

### 📚 Books Progress
I managed to read more this month which is really good. 

*Elephant in The Brain* - Kevin Simler Robin Hanson
<div class="progress-wrapper">
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  <span>20%</span>
</div>

*Range* - David Epstein
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 37%;"></div>
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  <span>37%</span>
</div>

*7 Powers*
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 15%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>15%</span>
</div>

*Zero to One*
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%;"></div>
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  <span>100%</span>
</div>

*Man's Search for Meaning*
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>


### 📺 TV Show Progress
*How I Met Your Mother* (rerun)
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  <div class="progress-bar">
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  </div>
  <div>100%</div>
</div>

*Silicon Valley*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 5%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>5%</div>
</div>


### 👓 Favorite articles

- [Curators are the New Creators](https://medium.com/@gabygoldberg/curators-are-the-new-creators-the-business-model-of-good-taste-5852727d4b54)
- [Personal Moats](https://eriktorenberg.substack.com/p/build-personal-moats)
- [Career Decisions](http://blog.eladgil.com/2015/03/career-decisions.html)

### 🎤 Favorite Podcast

- [How to Start and Grow a Newsletter with Lenny Rachitsky and Nadia Eghbal](https://open.spotify.com/episode/3N8vLyBfUnSF76BwD3bdqi?si=8a5GMaHbQ-GIOOBaGPHlDw)
- [Evaluating Social Capital with Julian Lehr](https://open.spotify.com/episode/5it41elC6jmDggSjlqFiCt?si=oVRUA46zQDmVvqAP02tG0g)



Quantified September 2020


#### 🛌 *Average sleep time:* `6:51h`
Still not getting enough sleep this month.

#### 📱 *Daily screen time average:* `3:54h`
I am planning to reduce it more next month.

#### 📺 *Total media consumption time:* `3440 minutes`
`TV` 1520 minutes

`Podcast` 226 minutes

`Game` 850 minutes

`Audiobook` 0:00

`Books` 844 minutes

#### 🏃🏻‍♂️ *Distance ran:* `66 km`
I lost my streak because I was sick for a week this month. But it's okay tho.

### 🎤 Top artist
- *Twice* (600 plays)
- *ITZY* (223 plays)
- *Bigbang* (64 plays)
- *John Mayer* (50 plays)
- *Honne* (43 plays)

### 📚 Books Progress
I managed to read more this month which is really good. 

*Antifragile* - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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  <span>30%</span>
</div>

*The Power Broker*
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    <div class="inner" style="13%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>13%</span>
</div>

*Snow Crash*
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="15%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>15%</span>
</div>

*Siddharta*
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="24%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>24%</span>
</div>


### 📺 TV Show Progress
*How I Met Your Mother* (rerun)
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 53%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>53%</div>
</div>


### 👓 Favorite articles

- [Tencent: The Ultimate Outsider](https://notboring.substack.com/p/tencent-the-ultimate-outsider)
- [How to get a job in Venture Capital](https://medium.com/pitch-perfect/how-to-get-a-job-in-venture-capital-be1a6054d1f9)
- [First Principles: The Building Blocks of True Knowledge](https://fs.blog/2018/04/first-principles/)

### 🎤 Favorite Podcast

- [The Knowledge Project - Shane Perish](https://pca.st/JCWG)
- [The Knowledge Project - Derek Sivers: Innovation Versus Imitation Podcast Note](https://pca.st/7qq9xwey)



Quantified August 2020

Investing in Gaming - Blake Robbins


#### 🛌 *Average sleep time:* `6:55h`
My sleep schedule is getting better this month.

#### 📱 *Daily screen time average:* `4:01h`

#### 📺 *Total media consumption time:* `79h`
`TV` 24:40

`Podcast` 5:48

`Game` 38:28

`Audiobook` 0:00

`Physical Books` 10:04

`Kindle Books` 0:00


#### 🏃🏻‍♂️ *Distance ran:* `89.16km`
I managed to run daily 3 months in a row.

### 🎤 Top artist
- *Twice* (1000 plays)
- *Red Velvet* (200 plays)
- *Ed Sheeran* (120 plays)
- *John Mayer* (100 plays)
- *Honne* (80 plays)

### 📚 Books Progress
I did not read too much this month and planning to read more in July.

*Antifragile* - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 30%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>30%</span>
</div>

*Sapiens*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width:100%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>

*The Power Broker*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="6%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>6%</span>
</div>


### 📺 TV Show Progress
*Dark*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>100%</div>
</div>

*How I Met Your Mother* (rerun)
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 23%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>23%</div>
</div>


### 👓 Favorite articles

- [Charlie Munger on Getting Rich, Wisdom, Focus, Fake Knowledge and More](https://fs.blog/2017/02/charlie-munger-wisdom/)
- [Tech VC Foundation](https://www.notion.so/Tech-VC-The-Foundation-c6ad4b799aa4490dbe05b3d49c288aa3)
- [Peter Thiel’s CS183: Startup - Class 9 Notes Essay](https://blakemasters.com/post/22405055017/peter-thiels-cs183-startup-class-9-notes-essay)

### 🎤 Favorite Podcast

- [The Knowledge Project - Derek Sivers](https://pca.st/7qq9xwey)
- [The Knowledge Project - Naval Ravikhant](https://pca.st/FkUp)
- [Blake Robbins – Investing in Gaming](https://pca.st/m9musvx9)
- [John Collison – Growing the Internet Economy](https://pca.st/6luynnnz)



Quantified July 2020


This year I wrote [my goals](https://juliancanderson.com/blog/2020-goals/) publicly. One of my reasons is that I want to be accountable for it. It is easy to set a goal, what is hard is to do the things to achieve the goal itself. I set a lot of goals this year. I don't know if that is a good or bad thing to do. I feel like 2019 was not my year. I didn't achieve anything or do anything significant. So I decided that 2020 should be my year or at least better than last year.

I separated my goal into areas: health & personal, finance, learning, traveling, and relationships. In this first part of this post, I want to review each area.

---

## My Current Goal

### Health & Personal

My biggest goal this year is my health. I was overweight in 2019 because I don't exercise regularly and I eat unhealthy food. I am still 23 years old so I did not feel the impact at that time. But I know that this habit will have a bad impact in the future.

#### - Workout at least `3 times/week`

So the first goal that I want to achieve this year is to exercise at least 3 times a week. Currently, I am on a 60 days streak of running. I can't believe that I can do something like this. I started with 2 times a week and now it becomes a habit. I lost a lot of weight and I am healthier now.

#### - Spend at least `5 minutes` meditating per day

I did try to meditate but recently I stopped. I haven't felt the benefit up until now but I will give it another try.

#### - Wake up at ~~6 AM~~ `5.30 AM` every day

I am an early bird, that is why I set this goal. To be honest the goal is not to wake up earlier but to get enough sleep. Sleep is one of the most important activities for me and lately, I have been catching up on my sleep.

#### - Cook my own meals

The fourth goal is to cook my own meals. I think this one is the easiest for me this year. Since moving to an apartment with a kitchen, I have been cooking my own meals. 

#### - Reduce social media time

I spend most of my time on Twitter now. I uninstall Instagram once in a while and I don't think I enjoy Instagram right now. My screen time is around 4 hours a day now. I am still planning to reduce my screen time and do something more productive instead.

#### - Track my life
I am publishing my monthly quantified report regularly. The hardest part is just to be discipline to track everything that I am committed to track. I am also still experimenting on how to properly store those data in Airtable. I feel like this a really fun personal project to do and I can really know where my time will go. 



### Finance

#### - Save `50%` of income per months
I saved more than 50% of my monthly income which is nice especially in this very uncertain situation during the pandemic.

#### - Stop spending money on things that are not important
I bought a Nintendo Switch about 2 months ago. I don't know whether that purchase is unimportant. I really enjoy playing games on it.

#### - Invest
I stopped putting my money into the stock market during the pandemic. I mostly put my money on cash. I have prior investment and I am still going to hold on into it.


### Learning

#### - Read `2 books` per month

My current approach to books has changed. I usually read 2-3 books at the same time. It works fine for me because I am a person who gets bored easily. I also take more time to read books right now because I take notes on it.

#### - Finish online courses

The current online course that I am trying to finish is about web development. I go back to the course every time I need to apply something to my current project or work. This way I can learn by doing. 

The other course that I bought was a mistake. I don't think that it is worth the investment, sadly I can't do a refund for it. This is a lesson to learn in the future that you need to do a lot of research before putting an investment even on education and your personal growth.

#### - Learn a new language
My initial goal was to learn German but currently, I am learning Korean for fun.

### Travel
During this time I don't think I can fulfill my traveling goals. The conference that I should have attended also got canceled. 

### Relationship

#### - Visit my family once a month

I haven't met them for a while now. Once the situation gets better I will definitely visit them.

#### - Spend more quality time with my girlfriend
Also because of the pandemic, I could not meet my girlfriend a while ago. I can finally meet her now and I am grateful for it.

---

## What's Next
Reflecting on what I have done for the past 6 months, I do have things that I really need to improve. Here are those things that I have in mind:

### Read more
Sometimes when I don't feel like doing anything I just play video games. Don't get me wrong, I am not against video games. It is okay to enjoy your leisure time too. You don't have to put yourself on hustle mode at all times. 

If you see from my monthly report you can clearly see how I spent too much time playing video games compares to the time I spent reading. I don't think that this is a good thing in the long run.

> “In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn't read all the time -- none, zero. You'd be amazed at how much Warren reads--and at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I'm a book with a couple of legs sticking out.” - Charlie Munger

It is clear that if you want to improve in life you have to read. Not only read but also applying those you have read into your daily life.

I am planning to reduce my time on TV, Video Games, and Phone this July and spend those time either reading or learning something new.

### Spend more time creating
This has also been in my mind for a while. 

> How much time do we spend consuming things compares to the time we spend creating?

This one is related to my previous point. I want to read more but I want to create more. Creating something has been a struggle for me. I want to write more but sometimes I feel like I don't even want to write and when I want to write I always think that what I am going to write will not be good enough. 

I guess this is a part of writing itself, fighting [resistance](https://julian.so/about-resistance).

### Prioritize Sleep
I used to sleep at 9-9:30 PM every single day. But my sleep schedule is really bad right now. The weird thing is I can't wake up late in the morning. So no matter what time I go to bed I will just wake up around 6-7 PM. And I don't usually get a good 7-8 hour of sleep right now. I need to get back to my old sleep schedule. Those *Netflix* series can wait.

---

This is all I have in mind for now. I have some things to refocus and improve on right now. The rest of my goal has been going great and I will just have to keep being consistent throughout the rest of the year.

Thanks to [Cullin](https://twitter.com/cullinmcgrath), [Alexander](https://twitter.com/alexhughsam), and [Binyamin](https://twitter.com/binyamingreen) that helped me during the writing process.

Shoot me an <a href="mailto:hello@juliancanderson.com">email</a> if you have feedback on this post or we can talk on [twitter](https://twitter.com/juliancanderson).

Reviewing my goal for 2020 and what I am going to do next.

2020 Mid-Year Review


#### 🛌 *Average sleep time:* `6:36h`
My sleep schedule is still pretty bad this month.

#### 📱 *Daily screen time average:* `4:01h`

#### 📺 *Total media consumption time:* `136:20h`
`TV` 21:51

`Podcast` 3:28

`Game` 49:55

`Audiobook` 0:20

`Physical Books` 4:45

`Kindle Books` 1:00


#### 🏃🏻‍♂️ *Distance ran:* `86.27km`
I managed to run daily 2 months in a row.

### 🎤 Top artist
- *Twice* (1500 plays)
- *Bigbang* (110 plays)
- *Ed Sheeran* (95 plays)
- *John Mayer* (60 plays)
- *Honne* (58 plays)

### 📚 Books Progress
I did not read too much this month and planning to read more in July.

*Antifragile* - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 20%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>20%</span>
</div>

*Sapiens*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 30%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>30%</span>
</div>

*A Guide to The Good Life*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 20%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>20%</span>
</div>

### 📺 TV Show Progress
*Dark*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 73%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>73%</div>
</div>

*Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Season 2*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 80%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>80%</div>
</div>

### 👓 Favorite articles

- [Will HEY work?](https://divinations.substack.com/p/will-hey-work)
- [The Notetaking Cold War](https://superorganizers.substack.com/p/the-notetaking-cold-war)
- [Why Figma Wins](https://kwokchain.com/2020/06/19/why-figma-wins/)

### 👓 Favorite podcasts

- [Dithering](https://dithering.fm)
- [Talk Therapy](https://talktherapy.substack.com/)

### 🗒 Favorite quote

> “If you don't appreciate something, you won't mind losing it.” - A Guide to the Good Life



Quantified June 2020


This is a book summary from [How to Take Smart Notes](https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/34507927) by [Sönke Ahrens](https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14876464.S_nke_Ahrens).

We take notes every single day but we tend to overlook note-taking. Note-taking falls under the radar because we don't have an immediate feedback on our notes. We don't know if we done it badly. It is a relatively simple task to do, you take a pen and paper or your favorite note taking app and write things on it. But the truth is note-taking is a skill that we can develop. After reading this book I realized that note-taking is an important task to do and without a proper method these notes will not provide any values in the future.

I have consumed a lot of books, articles, podcasts, and audiobooks. Those informations sometimes just go to waste. I used to only highlight and think that I will just come back to these highlights later. The truth is I never go back to those highlights. 

I want to write more this year and one of the many things I am struggling with right now is to find ideas on what to write. I have no proper notes and that is why I could not generate ideas easily.  This problem is really common among us and this book covers the method on how note-taking can be a huge game changer in our writing process.

> The quality of a paper and the ease with which it is written depends more than anything on what you have done in writing before you even made a decision on the topic.

---

## Things about Note-Taking that We should Know

We usually got stucked on some tasks and then we lost our willpower. This happens because we don't have a system or structure that can fix this kind of problem. A good system will help you to move from task to task without losing the bigger picture of every tasks.

With having a good structure / system we will have something that we can rely on. We will not need to remember and keep track of everything in our head. We can just put everything inside the system and it will take care of things for us. Our mind is limited so don't try to put everything inside it. By letting things go into our system we can focus more on what's important.

Procrastination and lack of motivation comes from our routines that don't allow us to take control of the process. This doesn't come from ideas that are not interesting to us. To conquer this we should take back the control of our workflow.

Having a structure is not the same with having a plan. Having a plan restricts you and this can result in less creativity. Note-taking should be flexible so we can have more creative work.

> Planning won't make you an expert at writing, learning, and note-taking.

It doesn't mean that we should have a complex structure or system. The way to deal with complex problems is by keeping things as simple as possible. The mistakes that I have made in the past is putting too much time configuring the tools. You can use Notion, Evernote, Apple notes, Roam, or anything else.

> Tools will not improve your productivity if we don't change our daily routines.

---

## The Slip Box (Zettelkasten)

I discovered this method 2 months ago. It was a life changing discovery since I never organise my notes before. I could not retrieve any old informations or ideas that I have encountered. At first I wasn't really good at it and this book helps me to understand this method better.

### What is Zettelkasten?

Zettelkasten is a method created by Niklas Luhmann. He made a note everytime he encountered something that interest him. He then realized that those notes wasn't really useful for himself. After this realization he then put his notes according to context not categories. He thought about how an idea can contribute into different context.

> One note was only valuable as its context, which was not necessarily the context it was taken from.

This system helped him to publish 58 books and hundreds of articles in 30 years.

### How Zettelkasten Works

- Whenever he read something, he put the bibliographic information on one side of a card and the notes from it on the other side of the card. This note will go to the bibliographic slip-box.
- After this step he will take a look at the content and think about how this information is relevant into his own thinking and writing.
- Then he would go to the main slip-box and write his ideas on a new piece of paper. Only one paper per idea and he restricted himself to only write on one side of the paper. (This is one aspect of Zettelkasten which is *atomic*).
- He wrote his notes with a focus on his existing notes to find a connection between them. He rarely put his notes in isolation.
- He use his own words without taking away the original meaning.
- He did not organize his note by topics, he gave them fixed number.
- The last one is putting an index for notes that are connected.

Luhmann used paper for his slip-box, right now there are a lot of great softwares that we can use for this. I personally use [Obsidian](obsidian.md). I am in love with it and I think this is the best for my current workflow.

To read more on Zettelkasten: https://zettelkasten.de

---

### Note-taking into Writing (Step by step)

#### Make fleeting notes

Fleeting note is a reminder of information. We will discard these notes later. You can put this note in some kind of inbox and then process them later. We need to make capturing ideas a habit.

#### Make literature notes

Literature notes is a note for everything that we read. Keep it short and don't forget to be selective. Don't just copy words from the things you read, put it in your own words. By only copying we won't understand the meaning of it.

#### Make permanent notes

In this step, you will process notes from step 1 and 2. After going through them you can turn into the slip-box and find connections between your existing notes and your new notes. Write one note for each ideas and write it as you write for someone else. You can safely throw away notes from step 1 and 2 right now.

#### Add permanent notes to Zettelkasten

- Find connection between notes to see if they're related
- Add links to related notes.
- Make sure you can find these notes later.

#### Develop topics, questions, research from bottom up.

   After putting those notes to the slip-box you can do another research to see what's missing and develop arguments for those notes. Build upon what you have.

   > The more you are interested in a certain topics the more you will read about it. By reading more then new arguments and questions will appear.

#### Now you will have a topic to write about

   This topic will be based from what you already have which is great. The problem with coming up with a topic that is new to us is that we're not familiar with it. 

   On this step you can pull out those notes and see also the related notes and collect them together.

#### Turn notes into draft

   After pulling out your notes you can turn them into a draft. When doing this, don't just copy things from your notes. You need to translate them.

#### Edit and proofread the draft.

The steps are simple enough to apply directly into our current workflow but it definitely needs some practice.

---

### Principles of Writing

#### Writing is the only thing that matters

It is clear that our main task is writing but it doesn't mean that we ditch other tasks beside writing. What it means by this principle is when we focus on writing we see other tasks differently. You will put more effort while reading because you have an end goal to write about it. You don't want to waste time figuring out "what to learn". You will also learn to separate *good* and *bad* arguments. By doing this we will have better quality notes and by having good quality notes we can write better.

#### Simplicity is Paramount

People usually think that big result comes from big ideas. The truth is sometimes big result comes from a very simple idea. We tend to overlook small ideas in the beginning.

With the current system everything will be put inside the slip-box and using this method we can simplify our workflow. Our ideas will compound and become more valuable as our notes grow.

But one thing that we have to keep in mind for this to work is that we have to be able to distinguish the type of notes that we collect. There are 3 types of note: fleeting, permanent, and project notes. By separating these notes we can build a critical mass inside our slip-box. 

#### Nobody Ever Starts From Scratch

What keeps us from writing is that we think that we will always start from scratch.

Our process usually looks like this:

- Make a decision on what to write.
- Plan the research.
- Do research.
- Write.

This is a linear process and in the real world, writing is never a linear process.

To be able to come up with a question to write about, we must already have put some effort or research on a topic. To be able to decide on a topic, we must have done some research on it. Every writing process will start by an already existing knowledge.

Writing and developing ideas ​​continuously grows. So instead of thinking that we always start from scratch, we should focus on what interests us and keep track of our learning process. By doing this we can develop ideas easier because we get better at it.

One common way that people suggest is to do *brainstorming*. Ideas that come from *brainstorming* usually comes from the outside through reading, listening, conversations, etc.

> Having trouble finding the right topic usually comes from the attempt of relying heavily on the limitation of our brain.

Instead of trying to come up with something new, go to the slip-box and develop your ideas there. Improve from what you already have.

#### Let the Work Carry You Forward

There are 2 types of energy: 

- Endorgenic: once triggered, it keeps on running.
- Exorgenic: we need to add energy for it to keep running.

Sometimes I feel like not doing anything at all, but sometimes once I am in the flow I can work on something non stop. This kind of dynamic of being in the flow/momentum is the type that we want. A workflow with positive experience can carry us through this kind of flow/momentum. Once we're inside it, we keep on coming back to it because it makes us feel amazing.

> If the work is rewarding, dynamics of motivation and rewards become sustainable and propel the whole process forward.

One way to be inside an endorgenic process is by having a constant feedback loop. Feedback loop can gives motivation and also improves our own learning process. Beside feedback loop, one thing that can keep us motivated is by getting better. As we get better, the thing that we do becomes more fun to do. Keep on finding feedback whether it's positive or negative, by doing this we can have a growth mindset.

> If we're being praised for what we are, we will do something to impress.

> If we're being praised for what we do, we will be exposed to failure and new challenges.

---

### 6 Steps to Successful Writing

#### Give each task your undivided attention

It is getting harder to not get distracted right now. There are Netflix, Twitter, Instagram, and many more. Get rid of these distractions so that we can do the work.

#### Don't multitask

We think that multitasking is equal to being productive. The fact is multitasking gives us the "feeling of being productive" instead of "being productive". Multitasking won't make you an expert. Focus on one task at a time.

#### Give each task the right kind of attention

Each task that we do requires different kind of attention. Know which attention to give for each task that we have.

#### Become an expert instead of a planner

> The moment we stop making plans is the moment we start to learn.

Making plans means not being flexible. In order to grow we need to be flexible.

To become an expert we need to make our own decision and accepts mistakes along the way for us to learn. This means that we need to do it for us to learn. We can't just read about it and learn about all of the theories of writing.
We need to gain insight and making it public.

We need to know how to handle the real life situation, not just following the rules / theories.

By becoming an expert we will have the necessary knowledge so we don't have to keep looking for rules. Also we can rely on our own intuition to make decisions. To have this intuition we need to have exposure to feedback loops and experience. 

#### Get closure

Our attention is limited, so is our brain.

> We can hold a maximum of 7 things in our head at the same time, plus or minus two. (Miller 1956)

This is why we should trust our system (slip-box) to hold our information for us so we can lift the burden of having to remember every information that we have.

#### Reduce the Number of Decisions

Decision making is a tiring task. We should limit our decision as small as possible. One way to do this is by having the same workflow. Use the same notebook for quick notes, extract the main ideas the same way, turn them into the same kind of permanent notes using the same way. By doing this we will have the energy to do more essential tasks. 

---

This book teaches me a lot about note taking in general and what I did wrong in the past. I realize that note-taking is a very important process in learning an writing. It is not an easy process to do and it needs deliberate practice. Make it as a habit and I believe that it will change your life. 

Thanks to [@josephinethlia](https://twitter.com/josephinethlia) for reading the draft.

This is the first book summary that I write. The next summary will be a book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
If you have any feedback feel free to reach me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/juliancanderson).



Notes from the book How to Take Smart Notes.

How to Take Smart Notes


#### 🛌 *Average sleep time:* `6:43h`
My sleep schedule is really bad at this moment.

#### 📱 *Daily screen time average:* `3:43h`

#### 📺 *Total media consumption time:* `78:50h`
`TV` 75:42

`Podcast` 2:58

`Game` 59:00

`Audiobook` 4:36

#### 🏃🏻‍♂️ *Distance ran:* `77.29km`
I managed to run daily this month.

### 🎤 Top artist
- *Twice* (1500 plays)
- *Big Bang* (377 plays)
- *BTS* (100 plays)
- *Black Pink* (92 plays)
- *Mikel* (59 plays)

### 📚 Books Progress

*Skin in The Game* - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="margin-left: 40%; width: 60%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>

*The Courage to be Disliked*
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  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>

*How to Take Smart Notes*
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 70%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>70%</span>
</div>

### 📺 TV Show Progress
*The Sopranos Season 1*
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>100%</div>
</div>

*Strangers from Hell*
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  <div class="progress-bar">
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  </div>
  <div>100%</div>
</div>

*Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Season 1*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 50%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>50%</div>
</div>

### 👓 Favorite articles

- [The Arc of Collaboration](https://kwokchain.com/2019/08/16/the-arc-of-collaboration/)
- [30 life lessons I learned before turning 30](https://nesslabs.com/30-life-lessons)
- [Doordash and Pizza Arbitrage](https://themargins.substack.com/p/doordash-and-pizza-arbitrage)

### 🗒 Favorite quote

> “"The hard truth is that most things in your life – good and bad – are your fault. The sooner you realize that, the better things will be.” - [Farnam Street](https://fs.blog)



Quantified May 2020


### Introduction to The PARA Method
The PARA System was introduced by [Thiago Forte](https://fortelabs.com). It is a method to organise informations that will enter your life. It consists of 4 things:

#### Projects

Projects are series of tasks with `deadlines`.

#### Areas

Areas are activities to be maintained `overtime`.

#### Resources

Resources are `topic / theme` of ongoing interests.

#### Archives

Archives are `inactive items` from the other 3.

<br>

You can read more about it here https://fortelabs.co/blog/para/

---

### How My System Looks before PARA
My system was very messy. I usually put everything in random places from my files, notes, and todos. And because of that I found it hard to find them when I wanted to. Beside my messy systems I don't integrate every single one of them between my apps. So some things will be on my todolist app and some things will be on my notes app. It was a disaster.

Where did I put those important links for work?

Where did I put those books recommendation?

Where did I put those notes?

It was really hard to answer these questions.

How can I be productive when I couldn't retrieve informations when I wanted to?
That was the moment when I realized that I need to change my own system.

---

### Why Did I Choose PARA?
I discovered PARA from people that I admired from Twitter and that was the moment I got interested in it. Then I did a research on it and I found the idea of building a second brain is really interesting. 

I tend to forget most of the things that I have learned. I love to read but it seems really hard to regain those informations from books that I have read. I thought that by building a second brain it will also help me to fix this kind of problem.

Lastly, I think that this PARA method is really simple and straightforward so I can implement this straight away and incrementally improve on it.

---

## My Early Struggle with PARA
Because of my old messy systems, it was hard to group files, notes, etc into the PARA system. So when I first implemented the PARA method into my current system I need to filter out everything and put it in place. It was a struggle and it took a lot of time. I don't want to do this all over again so I made sure that everything was in its place.

I also messed up my understanding of Projects, Areas, and Resources. I misplaced a lot of things and ended up confused. I had a call with Dan Shipper about it and he helped me to understand it better. To be honest I still misplace stuff up until now. I guess that is a part of learning.

It was hard to sync everything at first between my notes and todos. This happened because I keep my notes separated from my todos. I need to find a way to sync them. It is still an ongoing process for me.

---

### My Current System after PARA
My current setup consists of [Roam](https://roamresearch.com), Apple Notes, [Notion](https://notion.so), and [Things3](https://culturedcode.com/). Each app has their own limitation so I had to combine everything and integrate them together. 

I know some people put their todo list on their notes or maybe even Roam. I find that using a separate todo app is better so I use Things3 to keep track of my daily todo and also my goals either yearly or monthly.

I use Roam and Apple Notes to keep up with my thoughts and the things I am currently interested in. I think both of them is the best way for me to put all of my Resources.

I mainly use Notion to have all of my thoughts curated.

---

These are my thoughts and experiences from using the PARA Method. I am still doing experiments with the system and it will improve overtime. It is better to start than chasing perfection.

[Dan Shipper](https://twitter.com/danshipper) wrote a beautiful [article](https://superorganizers.substack.com/p/if-your-system-was-a-house-would)  about it and here are some quotes from it.
> To be clear, you can build your hut using Notion, Roam, Evernote or a plaintext editor with grep. The tools themselves are not the problem. The problem is how we use them.
> We shouldn’t feel like we have to make large, cumbersome, and expansive systems that try to accommodate every use case all at once.
> Instead, we should be making simple systems that we can live inside of. By living inside of them we can fix flaws as they come up, and get on with our day.

If you have any questions or feedback you can reach me out on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/juliancanderson).



Reorganizing My Life Using The PARA Method


#### 🛌*Average sleep time:* `7:07h`

#### 📱 *Daily screen time average:* `3:52h`

#### 🗣 *Total media consumption time:* `78:50h`
`TV` 53:20

`Podcast` 1:32

`Game` 20:15

`Audiobook` 3:43

#### 🏃🏻‍♂️ *Distance ran:* `46.3km`

#### 🏋🏻‍♀️ *Time spent working out:* `5:06h`

### 🎤 Top artist
Listened to more K-Pop than I have ever imagined.

- *Twice* (1962 plays)
- *Big Bang* (260 plays)
- *BTS* (122 plays)
- *John Mayer* (105 plays)
- *Black Pink* (80 plays)

### 📚 Books Progress

*Skin in The Game* - Nassim Nicholas Taleb
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 40%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>40%</span>
</div>

*The Power Broker* - Robert Caro
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 1%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>1%</span>
</div>

*Working* - Robert Caro
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 20%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>20%</span>
</div>

*Stillness Is the Key* - Ryan Holiday
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 50%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>50%</span>
</div>

### 📺 TV Show Progress
*Attack on Titan S1-S3*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 25%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>100%</div>
</div>

*Money Heist Season 4*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>100%</div>
</div>

### 👓 Favorite articles

- [If your system was a house, would you want to live in it?](https://superorganizers.substack.com/p/if-your-system-was-a-house-would) - *Superorganizers*
- [Advice · Patrick Collison](https://patrickcollison.com/advice) - *Patrick Collison*
- [Introducing Mercury OS](https://uxdesign.cc/introducing-mercury-os-f4de45a04289)

### 🗒 Favorite quote

> “If we wasted money the way we waste time, we’d all be bankrupt.” - *Seth Godin*



Quantified April 2020


#### 🛌*Average sleep time:* `7:17h`

#### 📱 *Daily screen time average:* `4:10h`

#### 🗣 *Total media consumption time:* `63:57h`
`TV` 45:31

`Podcast` 7:15

`Game` 3:12

`Audiobook` 7:59

#### 🏃🏻‍♂️ *Distance ran:* `39,09km`

#### 🏋🏻‍♀️ *Time spent working out:* `21:32h`

### 🎤 Top artist

- *Justin Bieber* (312 plays)
- *Twice* (156 plays)
- *John Mayer* (65 plays)
- *Post Malone* (30 plays)
- *Eminem* (21 plays)

### 📚 Books Progress

*Shoe Dog* - Phil Knight
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 60%; margin-left: 40%;"></div>
  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>

### 📺 TV Show Progress
*Breaking Bad*
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 25%; margin-left:75%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>100%</div>
</div>

*Slam Dunk*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%;"></div>
  </div>
  <div>100%</div>
</div>

### 👓 Favorite articles

- [Signaling as a Service](https://julian.digital/2020/03/28/signaling-as-a-service/) - *Julian Lehr*
- [Black Swan Events](https://danco.substack.com/p/black-swan-events) - *Alex Danco*
- [The Antilibrary: Why Unread Books Are The Most Important](https://fs.blog/2013/06/the-antilibrary/) - *Farnam Street* 

### 🎤 Favorite Podcast

- [Matt Clifford - Investing Pre-Company](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/matt-clifford-investing-pre-company-invest-like-best/id1154105909?i=1000462456930) - *Invest Like the Best*
- [How to Get Rich: Every Episode](https://nav.al/rich) - *Naval*


### 🗒 Favorite quote

> “In my whole life, I have known no wise people (over a broad subject matter area) who didn't read all the time -- none, zero. You'd be amazed at how much Warren reads--and at how much I read. My children laugh at me. They think I'm a book with a couple of legs sticking out.” - *Charlie Munger*



Quantified March 2020 (Longest month in my life)

Quantified March 2020


I am writing this in the middle of Corona Virus Pandemic. To be honest I am scared of it but being in a state of panic won't really help.

Many of us will work remotely soon and I have been working remotly for almost 6 months. I am not saying that I am a pro but I would love to give some tips on remote working.

## Make a schedule
It is easier to have a schedule when you work in an office. When you are working at home it will be harder since no one will know what you are doing every single day. Your family may interupt your work and it is the hardest thing to avoid. 

One thing that I have done for the past 6 months is have a schedule for the day. I usually set a fixed schedule for myself because I find it easier. Don't let your time slip away because you don't know what you should do at the given time.

Resource: [Timeboxing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbAYK4KQrso)

## Exercise
Exercise is one of the most important thing even if you are not working remotely. Your energy won't be at the same level throughout the day. It is important to maintain your own energy level while working remotely. The reason is that it is easier to just take a nap or even sleep in the middle of your working time and you don't want that to happen.

Resource: [Home Workout](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ml6cT4AZdqI)

## Eat healthy
Beside exercising the other thing that you can do to maintain your energy and fitness is by eating healthy meal. If you are working remotely then it is a really great chance to learn how to cook your own meal. Not only it is cheaper but it is also healthier than ordering food from food delivery services. One way to cook is just to do meal prep every Sunday. It will only take around 1 hour to do so. 

These are my favorite resources for meal prepping : [Meal prep playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfvuM_wAPe4a488LCFhLwIzNXforaiDDw), [Reddit](https://www.reddit.com/r/MealPrepSunday/)

## Put your phone away
It is easier to access your smartphone when you work remotely. No one is going to judge you for being on your phone all day. Smartphone is distracting. You are committing to only take a look for 5 minutes and it turns out to be 30 minutes. I know that it is hard to control your smartphone usage, so one of the thing that we can do is to put it away, either in your drawer or in another room.

Resources: [6 Ways to Reduce Screen Time](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQQUo2gmUs4), [Break Your Phone Addiction](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQQUo2gmUs4)

## Learn how to communicate
It is going to be hard not talking face to face with your teammates. You have to know how to communicate well and effectively. Make sure they know what you mean and if it is hard to be communicated via chat, call them. It is going to save you a lot of time.

## Take a Break
Don't forget to take a break if you are getting tired. Pushing your body beyond its limit won't do anything. You can try using [Pomodoro](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNBmG24djoY) or you can choose how you are going to take your break.

---

These are the things I can think of for now. I might add more in the future and update this post.
I hope that this is helpful.

Take care, stay *inside*, and stay *healthy*!

Remote Working Tips


This is my first quantifying project. The main reason to do this is to track my time and be more present. This project require dedication to build. It makes more more disciplined throughout the month.

I am currently using [airtable](https://airtable.com), [notion](https://notion.so), [Apple Watch](https://www.apple.com/id/watch/), [IFTTT](https://ifttt.com/), [Strava](https://strava.com), and [Last FM](https://last.fm) to track everything.

Hopefully I can improve the way I track and present every single month. I still have some ideas on what to track and haven't found a way to track it yet.

---

#### 📱 *Daily screen time average:* `4h`

#### 🗣 *Total media consumption time:* `39.51h`


#### 🛌*Average sleep time:* `7.17h`


#### 🏃🏻‍♂️ *Distance ran:* `45.66km`

#### 🏋🏻‍♀️ *Time spent working out:* `7.47h`

<p align="center">First line indicate running, second line is lifting weight, and the third line is walking.</p>

Mostly I don't workout on the weekend, things will change in March. I am planning to keep working out on the weekend.

### 🎤 Top artist

- *Justin Bieber* (212 plays)
- *John Mayer* (124 plays)
- *Eminem* (60 plays)
- *Leeland* (43 plays)
- *Ed Sheeran* (40 plays)

### 📚 Books Progress

#### January

*Factfulness* - Hans Rosling
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>

*Make Time* - Jake Knapp
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>

*Atomic Habits* - James Clear
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    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>

#### February

*Rework* - Jason Fried
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>


*It Doesn't Have to be Crazy at Work* - Jason Fried
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>

*Shoe Dog* - Phil Knight
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 40%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>40%</span>
</div>

*Never Eat Alone* - Keith Ferrazzi
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  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 25%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>25%</span>
</div>

*How Not To Be Wrong* - Jordan Ellenberg
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 35%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>35%</span>
</div>



### 📺 TV Show Progress
*Breaking Bad*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 75%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>75%</span>
</div>

*The Stranger*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>

*Friends*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 100%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>100%</span>
</div>

*Seinfeld*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 3%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>3%</span>
</div>

*Narcos*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 7%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>7%</span>
</div>

*Rick and Morty*
<div class="progress-wrapper">
  <div class="progress-bar">
    <div class="inner" style="width: 36%"></div>
  </div>
  <span>36%</span>
</div>


### 👓 Favorite articles

- [Overwhelmed is a Choice](https://seths.blog/2020/02/overwhelmed-is-a-choice/) - *Seth Godin*
- [Circle of Competence](https://fs.blog/2013/12/circle-of-competence/) - *Farnam Street*
- [Focus is for Winners](https://themargins.substack.com/p/focus-is-for-winners) - *The Margins* 

### 🎤 Favorite Podcast

- [Be a Platform](https://mastersofscale.com/tobi-lutke-be-a-platform/) - *Masters of Scale*
- [Minimalist Business](https://open.spotify.com/episode/4DrtQ2TCTLF9QowKEDTOGX?si=so5Txc-QSaesJCW6HtpG9g) - *The Minimalist Podcast*
- [Naval Ravikant: The Angel Philosopher](https://open.spotify.com/episode/5W0RQCDr28VSxVZOYJn3f5?si=z91n2I6OS0-fgcrSEl0F2g) - *The Knowledge Project*

### 🗒 Favorite quote

> #### What is the ultimate quantification of success? 
>
> It is not how much time you spend on the things you love, but how little time you don't spend doing what you hate. - Casey Neistat



First time doing self quantifying project

Quantified February 2020


I usually write things that I want to achieve for the next year in December. Sometimes I tend to rush it without thinking clearly about it. The goal of sharing my goal is to keep myself accountable. Writing my goals publicly puts pressure on myself, not bad but good pressure. 

Without goals you don't know where to go or what to achieve. Goals don't have to be yearly. You can do it quarterly or anything you want. I love to write it yearly but track it quarterly. I usually make adjustment on my goals and reflect on what I have done for the past quarter.

Here are my goals:

## Health & Personal:

#### -  Workout at least `3 times/week`

Good health is one of the primary things I want to achieve this year. I have been unhealthy for the past couple of years. I didn't exercise regularly and I mostly ate unhealthy food. Realizing that my own future is at risk motivates me. Currently I am exercising regularly. If I did not go to the gym I usually go for a run.

#### - Spend at least `5 minutes` meditating per day

I get angry easily. I don't usually live in a calm state. From the resources that I have read, meditation can improve a lot of things in life and controlling your emotion is one of them.

#### - Wake up at ~~6AM~~ `5.30AM` every day

I wrote 6AM before but currently I wake up at 5.30AM every single day. It has been great for me. I feel like I have more time in the day.

#### - Cook my own meal

I love to cook and I am currently meal prepping all of my meals. (it is mostly chicken, beef, and salmon with veggies)

#### - Reduce social media time

I did a detox a year ago and I am currently doing another detox on Instagram.

#### - Track my life

I am publishing a project inspired by [Julian](https://julian.digital) (we have the same name). I am currently using Strava, Apple Watch, and Airtable for everything.

## Finance

#### - Save `50%` of income per months

I am not that good with money so this goal is really important.

#### - Stop spending money on things that are not important

Important can differs between each individual. I am trying to buy high quality item right now instead of high quantity.

#### - Invest

I don't invest that much last year because all of the money that I have earned went to my emergency funds. My main goal is to invest in `bonds` and `stocks`.

## Learning

#### - Read `2 books` per month

I love books but I tend to not finish them lately. This year I want to read more books, not just read but really implement them in my own life. I usually buy `physical books`. I also bought a `kindle` earlier this year and I have been subscribed to `audible` since last year.

#### - Finish online courses

I bought 2 software engineering course last year and haven't finished them. I also bought a business course and currently halfway there.

#### - Learn a new language

I can only speak Indonesian and English currently. I really want to learn `German` this year. Currently I am using [Duolingo](https://www.duolingo.com/) for learning.

## Travel

#### - Visit Japan

I have a plan to visit Japan this year because I heard a lot of good things about Japan.

#### - Visit US `(New York and LA)`

I am currently working remotely for a US based company so I really want to see the team in person. Visitting United States has been my childhood dream.

## Relationship

#### - Visit my family once a month

I live outside of my hometown. I can totally achieve this goal because I am working remotely right now.

#### - Spend more quality time with my girlfriend

We usually meet once a week and I want to make sure that we spend it well.

---

I will add more along the way and I am planning to do a quarterly review on my own goals. Would love to know your own personal goals. You can <a href="mailto:hello@juliancanderson.com">email</a> me!















2020 Goals


It was 5 AM Monday morning. I woke up and I could not go back to sleep, then I reached my phone and checked Instagram out of boredom. The first thing on my feed was the news of Kobe Bryant. I am shocked and I thought it was just a joke or something. I scrolled more and I saw some stories. It did not feel real.

I grew up during Kobe's era in the NBA. I was not a huge NBA fan at that time. But I knew about Kobe because people talked about him a lot. I saw some videos of him and I loved it. I became his fans even if I did not buy any of his merch at that time. For me Kobe was the GOAT, more than MJ and more than LeBron.

His work ethic is what he was known for. He worked hard every single day. He said that he put all of his eggs on one basket, because he knew that it will work out in the end. There are a lot of great [interviews](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9GvDekiJ9c&t=1826s) out there with Kobe, but the one with [Valuetaiment](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9GvDekiJ9c&t=1826s) is one of the best. I think you will get so much value from it.

For me Kobe's death is a wake up call that I have always needed. 
His death made me rethink my life. 
I haven't done much. I haven't even impacted people around me.
I work hard, but I can work harder. 
There are still a lot of things that I want to achieve in my life. 

What are the things that you wish to achieve in life?
Have you worked towards it every single day?
Whatever you are doing right now, do it in the best way possible.
Life is short and tomorrow is not certain.
All we can do is focus on the present moment.

Another thing that I also realize because of his death is my relationship with people that I love.
I live away from my parents and I usually go back once a month to spend time with them. 
Right now I always try to call them at least once a day just to talk about anything and spend my time with them.

Have you spend your time with the people you love these days?
Don't take it for granted.
Be grateful that they are still there and let them know how much you love them.



How many wake up calls do you need in life?

A Wake Up Call


I read a book called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield about a year ago. I picked up the book because I am interested about the topic that the book covers. The book taught me about resistance. This book changed the way I think and this is one of the best book I have ever read on this kind of topic.

What is Resistance?
> a universal force that has one sole mission: to keep things as they are. It is the force that will stop an individual's creative activity through any means necessary. - Steven Pressfield

## Why is Resistance Dangerous?
Resistance is dangerous because it keeps you away from your dreams. It stops you from chasing your goals. 
Have you ever wanted to lose weight? Resistance will keep you away from going to the gym, eating healthy, and many more.
Have you ever wanted to start writing? Resistance will keep you away from your laptop.
Have you ever wanted to learn new things? Resistance will also stop you from doing so.
> Most of us have two lives: The life we live and the unlived life within us. Resistance stands between the two of them. - Steven Pressfield
This quote from the book hits me really hard. It made me realized that resistance is the force that keeps me away from the live I have always wanted.
Some people think that all of those successful people don't face resistance on daily basis. The thing is they do. They face resistance each and everyday. 

The Form of Resistance
I think the one that I have always faced is procrastination. We always tell ourself that "we are going to do the things later" not "we are never going to do the things". This is the main problem, the more we procrastinate the more we feel okay about it. Procrastination is not okay. It will become a habit and it is going to be hard to kill that kind of habit. 
The thing that I do everytime I want to procrastinate is if it can be done right now then I will immediately do the task. It keeps me away from procrastination.

The next form that I learned after reading this book is Criticism.  I have never thought about this one before.
To be honest with you, I do criticize a lot in my daily life. It is a bad habit that I should get rid of. 
> People criticize because we start to see other people living their authentic life and we haven't even started yet. - Steven Pressfield

How to Fight Resistance?
First thing that got mentioned in the book is to turn pro.
Turning Pro means that we are dedicated to our craft full time.
Turning Pro means that we are in love with the game that we are currently in.
Before we turn pro we can't really beat resistance.
What are the traits of a pro?
- Showing up every single day
- Showing up no matter what
- Committing over the long haul
- Mastering the technique of our job
- Having a sense of humor about our job
- Receiving praise or blame in the real world
- Getting paid
- The stakes are high and real
- Staying in the job all day

The pro accepts money but the thing that keeps them going is because they love what they do.
I think it is impossible to be a pro in a field that we are passionate about. 
I didn't love my college degree that is why I am not good at it, I studied on every exam and I forgot everything the next day.
If you enjoy your craft, work doesn't even feel like work because it is fun.
The thing that we should do is just focus on the work and keep showing up every single day, it won't be easy but I promise you that it is worth it.
>There is no mystery to turning pro, it is brought by an act of will. We make up our mind to view ourself as pros and we do it. - Steven Pressfield

## One last thing
There are too many things I got from the book, it is impossible to write it all down here.
Resistance seems impossible to beat until you realized that there are a lot of people that have defeated it.
I hope that you learn something from it and I hope that this will help you fight your resistance.

Thank you for taking the time to read.
I appreciate it always.
See you on the next one!

About Resistance


This is my yearly recap like the year before.
I can say that this year is my favorite year of all time. 
There are a lot of unexpected things that happened this year and I am grateful for it.


### 1. I Started Working Remotely
Working remotely has been one of my biggest goals. I don't really love to work in an office with fixed schedule. I had the opportunity to join a US based company in September and I took it. It has been my greatest decision this year! By working remotely I can do many things outside of work and it is the most amazing thing about remote working. I wrote about it in a seperate [blog post](https://juliancanderson.com/blog/working-remotely).

### 2. I lost 5 kg
I put a goal to lose 1 kg a month and at the end of the year I only manage to lose 5kg in total. I am not disappointed about it, in fact I am happy that I finally lose some weight. I failed for so many years because of my eating habit. This year I lost some weight by doing intermittent fasting, eating salad (I don't really like salad), and carbs diet. I am planning to lose another 7kg and gain some muscle too in 2020. Fingers crossed 🤞🏻.

### 3. I saved up some money
I am not that good with money. Once my income increase I tend to reward myself by buying stuffs or upgrading some of my older stuffs. In the middle of the year I read [I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramith Sethi](https://www.bookdepository.com/I-Will-Teach-You-Be-Rich-Ramit-Sethi/9780340998052?ref=grid-view&qid=1577762136252&sr=1-1) and it changed my life. I managed to save up more money by making a spending plan each month. I also tracked all of my spendings by using [Spendee](http://spendee.com/). Subscribing to their pro version turns out to be a great investment for me. 

### 4. I failed my workout routine
I planned to work out 3 times a week. I managed to do that routine for 6 months and I stopped. The reason why I stopped is because I got busy and working out is not a priority for me and I got stressed out in the middle of the year and it made me lazy and went back to my unhealthy routine. I know that working out is important and somehow I still didn't prioritize it. Being healthy is my top 3 goals next year and I will have to start small to redbuild the habit.

### 5. I rebuilt my website
I have rebuilt my website for a couple times. I had this plan in mind for a really long time but I did not really have the time to do the rebuild. I finally finished my personal website this November and I am happy about the end result. There are still some things to improve and I should find time to do the improvements.

### 6. I rebuilt my wardrobe
I used to love graphic t-shirts and this year I made a decision to ditch all of them. I went for a more minimal clothing like plain t-shirt, plain oxford buttoned down, and plain polo shirt. It feels really good to wear them and it makes me stop spending a lot of money on those expensive piece of clothing. You can get a plain t-shirt for $10 at Uniqlo with a decent quality!

### 7. I launched a newsletter
I am inspired by my good friend [Micah](https://micahcarroll.com/) to launch my own newsletter. My main goal is to develop my writing skills. I am planning to write at least once a week for this newsletter for 2020.

### 8. I stopped podcasting
I built my own podcast earlier this year. I talked to many amazing people on my podcast and I loved it. I stopped because I have some problems at that time and then I lost the momentum of building the podcast. I don't know what will be the future of the podcast, I might continue building it or I might build a new one. Nothing is certain until now 😕.


### 9. I did not read 24 books
I planned to read 2 books per month or 24 books a year for 2019. I was confident that I can achieve this goal easily. But, I failed. The reason why is that I reread most of the books that I have finished in 2019. I can go through the book 2-3 times because I need to digest more from the books. I think it is okay to read less in a year, the thing that matters is that you apply what you have learned from the books.

<br>

I think these are all I have in mind for now.
I have been preparing for 2020 since the start of December. I have a lot of things to do and achieve this year.
But the 3 main focus are : <b>financial, health, and mindset</b>.
<br>
I hope that you all have a great 2019 and 2020 ahead. If you have any feedback, comments, or things to share feel free to message me on [Instagram](https://instagram.com/juliancanderson) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/juliancanderson).
<br>
<br>
Talk to you soon and happy new year!

Looking back on what I have done in 2019.

2019 Year in Review


I dreamt about working remotely since last year. And I finally got it on September. 
I am currently working at Jumpcut and all of the engineering team is working remotely. It has been three months and I really enjoy my time here. 
<br>
<br>
There are pros and cons about it for sure. Some people hate it, some people love it. Here are the things I love and hate about remote working.

## Pros
### I can work at my most productive hours
I was a night owl back in college. I hate waking up early and really enjoy working or studying at night. I felt like I was missing things when I slept in early. Things changed when I started working last year. I started to enjoy waking up early in the morning. Right now, I love to start to work earlier in the morning and finish early in the afternoon. Remote work allows me to do this because I can choose my own working hour. I can even take a rest at noon and continue my work after I finish resting.

### I don't have to waste my time commuting
I love commuting sometimes, but not all the time. I enjoy reading and listening to podcast while commuting. But since the traffic is really bad in the city that I currently live in I need to take a motorbike to work. The place is not that far but sometimes because of the traffic it can take up to 30 minutes - 40 minutes of commute time. I need to face all of the pollution also and I don't really love it. By working remotely I can remove all of those unecessary commute time!

### I can spend more time with my family
I live in a different city with my family. I can't really spend time with them because I usually go back just for 2 days and there is not much time to spend. Now I can spend more time with them and be there for them when they need it. I guess we all want to spend more time with my family and our day to day job doesn't really allow that.

### I can spend time on my hobbies
I have a lot of hobbies because I love to learn new things and I get bored easily. I could not spend time on my hobbies before because my energy was drained by the commute time and everything. I can finally spend time more on my hobbies now because I can basically do it anytime and it is the best feeling ever!

## Cons
### It feels kind of lonely sometimes
I am an extrovert so I guess that explains it. I love to talk to my coworker and spend time with them when I was still working in an office. I love our talk over coffee and everything. When I first started working remotely I feel okay about not having to talk directly to the teammates. After a couple of weeks I started to feel something is missing. I talked to my current team and they feel the same too and they said that it gets better over time. I am still figuring things out about this kind of problem.

---

As you can see I wrote more pros than cons. 
I really love remote working and I could not imagine myself not to work remotely in the future.
But I think remote working is not for everyone since it requires self dicipline and self motivation too. It can be tough and some people may prefer working in an office too. A partial remote job can be really amazing too.
<br>
I wish people can work remotely too because it can open up a whole new world to them. 
I think there will be more remote opportunities in the future.

It is the best thing that have ever happened to me.

My Thoughts on Remote Working


I am really active on Instagram. I put myself out there around 1 year ago. I think Instagram is my favorite Social Media because of its features. I spend so much time on it each day without concern before. I love commenting on pictures or stories. I also love to share my work there because I do enjoy photography.
<br>
In the middle of last year I decided to become a minimalist. I get rid some stuffs and change my mindset around purchasing. Then I realize that being a minimalist is not about owning less thing but also choosing the things that matter most in life. It is about being mindful on the things that we do. I never apply the minimalist principle to my digital life. I still use social media mindlessly until I track my time on social media.
<br>
I use an iPhone and the newest iOS offers a feature called Screen Time. Screen time can also block some apps when it reach a certain limit of time. I set 1 hour and a half for all social media each day. But as you can guess, I went beyond limit. I don't do my work. I can't focus on my work because I keep on checking my social media in the middle of my work. I check it when I am queueing for food or any kind of queue. I can't put my hands off it.
<br>
The next thing I realize when I am using social media is I compare myself to others. People on social media post their best moment. Their life seems so beautiful and fun. I was having some problems this year and when I look at social media it puts me on comparison mode. I feel worse, not better.

## What Did I Do Next
[**Matt D'Avella**](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ24N4O0bP7LGLBDvye7oCA) made a video that he decided to do a social media detox. It made me want to do my own detox. Then I delete Instagram. It is the most distracting application on my phone. I don't scroll on twitter that often so I keep it for my source of News. It is a huge decision for me since I use instagram to keep up with my friends and message the guest on my [**podcast**](https://open.spotify.com/show/6pzJgcYA7XCOKJz8Hi7QXw). But I chose to face it.

## What Happened During The Detox
The first few days of the detox I keep looking at my phone. I scroll into the folder where I put my Instagram. It is not there... <br>
Then the feeling of scrolling into Instagram gone after a week. Actually my first plan is to uninstall it from the morning until the night so that I can keep up with some friends at night. But after a week I don't feel like installing Instagram. It is hard at first but after a few days or weeks you will get used to it. <br>
My screen time drastically dropped because I don't use Instagram. I am more productive because there is no distraction. I can do what matters most to me.

## What Happened After The Detox
I finally finished my detox. Even the day I finish my detox I still don't want to install Instagram. I feel like it is not a part of me anymore. I don't miss it at all. And the most important thing is nothing changed. People is still there and it is the same thing as before.
I am happier. <br>
I am more productive. <br>
I suggest that you try the detox if Social Media is keeping you away from what matters the most in life. If you feel unhappy because you compare yourself to others. It can be frustrating to see people out there having their best time of their life while your life still sucks. <br>
Try it for a month or maybe a week. You will feel better.

[**Link To Matt's Video**](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXInjuTkjoM&t=443s)


30-Day Social Media Detox


I guess this thing called minimalism has been there for a very long time. Saw many videos and read a lot of articles about it since years ago but I was not a fan of it. How can you live with a small amount of item? How did you manage to survive with the same item over and over again? For me it does not make sense at all. At least for a couple years ago, until…

I found something interesting on youtube. There are a lot of videos from this person called Matt D’Avella and every video speaks about minimalism. I consume the video daily because there are a lot of them. He makes very interesting points on minimalism and for the first time I feel like this thing called minimalism is very interesting.

## What is minimalism?
> Minimalism is a tool to rid yourself of life’s excess in favor of focusing on what’s important — so you can find happiness, fulfillment, and freedom. — The Minimalist

There are a lot of definition on minimalism and I think this one sums it all up. I used to think that minimalism means living with less stuffs, living with no television, living without any sort of kind of entertainments, and every negative things I could ever think of.

The fact is minimalism is not about the things you own but it is all about mindset. The mindset of pursuing what actually matters in your life. That means getting rid most of the things that are not align with our vision / purpose in life.

## My Life Before

I have been ungrateful for many years in my life. Problems got in my way and they seem like a never ending waves that keep hitting me. The main problem that I got is basically a financial problems and it didn’t get any better. But despite of the financial problem I have, I keep wanting more stuffs in life. I want the “hypest” clothing out there and I am not even doubting my action of buying the newest and coolest clothes on the market even if I don’t even need them. I bought a watch that I don’t even need and I still regret spending money on the watch until now because I never wear the watch. I bought shoes just to be cool so that I could catch up with the latest trends. After everything that I bought I have no savings. Even without any savings I still want to buy stuffs (I know it is crazy).

So because I still have many things left to buy I decided to work really hard and earn money to buy those things. I used to work just to buy luxurious items in the futures. Buying all those expensive watches, expensive cars, expensive clothes, and many more. Those are my goal in life, I don’t really have any other goals beside buying stuffs.

## My Life After

The first thing I did after watching Matt’s videos is I reevaluate my goals. I sat down and think what should I do in life that will actually make an impact. I took some time off and start writing all of them down. For the first time in my life I have a very clear goal for my life. My goal is not all about “things” anymore but I have a goal bigger than that. Not only for myself but for others.

The second thing I do is I started to declutter most stuffs I owned. I am still doing it right now because I think most stuffs is valuable not in materials but in memories. I could not believe that I own a lot of unimportant things that I don’t even use. How much money did I spend on those things and how much impact can I do today with that amount of money.

## The Impact of Minimalism

There are a lot of things that happened to me after being a minimalist.

### **1. Minimalism reduces the amount of time for us to decide on things**

After being a minimalist I reduce the time of choosing which clothes should I wear today, which pants should I wear today, which shoes, and which everything else. I used to take some times to choose which thing I should wear because there are to many choices. By being a minimalist, living with less stuffs it is really easy to decide on things.

### 2. Minimalism increases my productivity

As ironic as it sounds, we can totally achieve more things by living with less. Have you ever felt overwhelmed by things that are in your life? I have. I used to live with too much activities that is totally unimportant. By being a minimalist I choose which activities to do that are aligning with my bigger goals.
> ### Doing more stuffs doesn’t mean you will achieve more. Doing less but important stuffs will have a bigger impact.

How many times have you ever said yes even to the things that does not make you excited at all? How many times others’ priorities become your priorities? We should totally avoid these kind of things in our life.

### 3. Minimalism makes me happier

As I told you earlier, I am usually not grateful for everything in my life. I used to compare myself to others. I used to feel like I don’t have much in life. Things that I wanted to buy is the things that make me ungrateful. I used to think that buying more stuffs and having more “luxurious” stuffs can increase my happiness. In fact it does not even related to my happiness.

When I became a minimalist I get rid of that thought. The first thing that I did is by unfollowing many accounts related to sneakers, clothes, and any other things that make me craved for more. I can’t believe I am a lot happier now and I am so grateful for every little things in my life.

### 4. Minimalism makes my goal clearer

I usually get bored with the things that I do. I do many stuffs because I love learning new stuffs. I never get into something so deep. I usually stop until I feel like I can do it “pretty good”. That is why I don’t have any clear goal before. I am distracted by many things in my life. I want to pursue everything in my life. I guess that is not how life works. You were born with a purpose. You can’t be good at everything in life. After being a minimalist I tried to be honest with my self. What is my passion and what are the things that I want to do for the rest of my life. I do believe in the power of focus. When you focus on creating things and improving on what you are good at, you can be unstoppable.
> ### “There are two ways to be rich: One is by acquiring much, and the other is by desiring little.” — Jackie French Koller

I hope that this articles can help you in a lot of ways. Don’t be a minimalist when it comes to the clap! Do things you love and don’t forget to be grateful every day! 🤘🏻

Here are Matt D’Avella Youtube Channe land The Minimalist Website <br>
[**Matt D'Avella**](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ24N4O0bP7LGLBDvye7oCA) <br>
[**The Minimalists**](https://www.theminimalists.com/)



Becoming A Minimalist


This year has been a really great year for me. There are a lot of ups and downs. There are goals that I have completed and there are goals that I forgot to accomplish. There are things that made me happy and there are things that broke my heart. Those things change me as a person and I am grateful for it. This is my 2018 recap.

### 1. I Became a minimalist

Around May 2018 I discovered Matt D’Avella’s Youtube Channel. I was hooked into his videos, especially videos around minimalism. After a while I decided to try this thing called minimalism. I tried to declutter my stuff and it felt really bad. I used to be the person who holds on to everything that I own even the smallest thing is sentimental to me. It was tough at first but it gets easier for me. Then I realized that living with less is not that bad.
The next thing minimalism teaches me is that you don’t have to own expensive watches, expensive clothing, expensive gears, etc to be happy. I was totally unhappy with my life earlier this year. I don’t have a lot of money but I have a lot of wishlists to buy. Every sneakers release was a nightmare for me because I could not afford it. Minimalism changes the way I think about stuff and after a couple weeks this feeling started to disappear. I don’t want those stuff anymore and I am happier.
I want to thank Matt for changing my life this year. <br>
[**Matt D'Avella**](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ24N4O0bP7LGLBDvye7oCA)
<br>
[**Becoming a Minimalist..**](https://medium.com/@juliancanderson/becoming-a-minimalist-fd7ba8f8c412)

### 2. I Graduated from a Coding Bootcamp

I was an Industrial Engineer Student. I got stuck in it and in the last semester I found out what my passion really is. I started to buy Udemy courses on Web Development and I do the course every single day. I do my courses inside my class at the university, I don’t even care about those classes anymore. After a couple of months, I started to do some freelancing stuff and I made some money. Then I got stuck. I feel like I am not improving fast enough. My parents knew that I was hooked into this “Web Development” stuffs. They told me to find a course or school that can help me to improve. I did not expect this because my financial condition is not that great this year and Coding Bootcamp’s fee is a lot. I started to browse some of the options and I choose Hacktiv8, a coding bootcamp in Jakarta. It was around April and I was still working on my Undergraduate Thesis. The bootcamp started in late June so I had to rush everything and I am grateful that I finished everything on time. Long story short, I finished the bootcamp in 4 months and it has been a tough journey for me since I have to wake up at 5.30 am every morning and went back home at 8.00 pm every single day. But in the end, it is worth it. <br>
[**My Experiences in a Coding Bootcamp for 2 Months**](https://medium.com/@juliancanderson/my-experiences-in-a-coding-bootcamp-for-2-months-ba90d80f9326)

### 3. I Started working as a Frontend Engineer

After the bootcamp I was accepted in a company as a Frontend Engineer. This is my first job and I can do the things I love the most which is Web Development. This is a surprising thing for me because I did not have this on my mind. I did not write it on my 2018 resolution. I learned that sometimes life can be surprising and we can own those moments by preparation. I was learning and grinding really hard this year so I was prepared for this kind of moment.
> ### Luck = preparation meets opportunity

### 4. I started my personal brand on Instagram

I was not that brave to put myself out there. I wanted to share what I have learnt to others but I am afraid of people’s judgement. I was afraid to post my picture to Instagram and I was afraid to post that blogpost. The first picture that I post on instagram is the picture of my laptop showing my personal website. It is a simple picture and even the website did not look really great. I received nothing from that picture but I conquered my fear of putting myself out there. From that moment posting a picture seems a lot easier. The hardest part is to decide what content should I post. The more I post the harder to find another idea for the next post. I guess that is the main challenge of content creation and we all should embrace it.

### 5. I did not lose weight

To be honest my goal this year is to lose 5kg or around 11.0231pounds (according to google) and the most actionable thing that I can do is to go to the gym. I was planning to go 3 times a week then I started going to the gym earlier this year and I stopped after 3 months. I went back to my old habit of eating unhealthy and not going to the gym. As you can guess, I gain my weight back in a short amount of time. Why did I fail?
I learned that building a habit is not that easy. I made unrealistic goals to hit the gym 3 times a week. It is hard going from 0 to 3. So around 1 month ago I tried to hit the gym again. I reduce my goal from 3 times per week to at least I hit the gym 1 time per week. It is easier to accomplish and I finally built a habit of going to the gym 3 times a week now. I feel healthier now and losing weight will be my main goal for 2019. It is okay to fail on a certain goal. The thing is you just have to keep going with a new strategy. Tiny changes will make a huge impact on your life.
> ### 1,01³⁶⁵ = 37.78 , 0.99³⁶⁵ = 0.03

Learned a lot about habits from James Clear’s Book — Atomic Habits. I really recommend the book. <br>
[**Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones**](https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits)

### 6. I failed to save money

I made a goal to save up Rp 500.000(around $35) per month. I succeed to save up only in January. I spent a lot this year so I have no money to save up each month. Most of my spending earlier this year is on clothing which is a terrible choice. I made a change in the middle of the year, I started investing in myself for more online course and books. Then another mistake happened, I overspent on myself. I did not make a plan for my spending. The lesson I learned this year is when you make a saving plan you should also track your spending.

### 7. I failed most of my New Year’s resolution

I just saw my New Year’s resolution last week. I forgot most of them because I did not review them daily or at least weekly. The thing that I will do for 2019’s resolution is to make them as visible as possible so that I can remember every single thing that I am going to write.

So 2018 has been an awesome year for me. I am grateful for everything that I have achieved this year and I also learn from all those mistakes that I have made.

I am still writing 2019’s resolutions.

I am excited for 2019 and I have a feeling that it will be one of the best year in my life.

What have you learned this year?

Make a recap of 2018 and I would be glad to read it. Just send me an email to julianjca11@gmail.com !

Don’t let 2018 brings you down because next year is a whole new year for you and don’t forget to write your resolutions for next year!


juliancanderson

hello!

my name is Julian,
a software engineer.
a writer.
a reader.
a learner.

writing

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