Planning for 2021

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Goal for the year: to get closer to freedom – financial, intellectual, physical.

Meta-Approach

Epochs, tasks, and subtasks

To break up the year into multiple Epochs — large scale projects that I want to finish. Then, I want to break up these epochs into tasks. These tasks are both recurring and non-recurring. Each non-recurring task takes between 1 to 2 weeks.

Each task is further divided into sub tasks. Each subtask is between 1 to 8 hours.

Each task has a bunch of goals and timelines associated with it

Principles

At the same time, I want to have principles that lay down overarching approaches to how I will work on these problems

Operational Principles

Get a consistent 4-5 hours of focused work in every weekday

Work on the 5 weekdays. Do not work on weekends

Read regularly and widely. Barbell approach to reading (either books, or things that pop up on Twitter) is great

Get a bit of exercise every day. Either resistance training (pull-ups, pushups, dips) or cardio (running/hiking)

Multi-task when not doing deep work. Listening to podcasts while cooking or eating. Try to go for hikes when socialising or spending time with my partner etc

It’s okay to slip up. This time spent distribution is a guide, not an excuse to beat yourself up when you don’t stick to it. Just self-correct when you do slip up

Build leverage. All work done should contribute to something repeatable — not just be a one-off exercise

Don’t overdo it. Reading and exercise are great for you. But they will take up valuable time away from other things without putting in the add

Weekly time-table

Rough daily schedule

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I have not religiously stuck to daily schedules in the past. But when I have, I’ve been really productive. I should try to stick to one — with the understanding that it’s totally okay if I can’t always stick to it

11PM - 7AM: Sleep

7AM to 8AM: Cook lunch + dinner, eat breakfast, podcast, shower, poop+brush teeth

8AM to 9AM: Reading + Social Media

9AM to 1PM: Deep work (write code)

1PM to 2PM: Lunch

2PM to 6PM: Shallow work (writing prose, reading, emails, social media)

6PM to 11PM: Dinner, exercise, socialising, YouTube

The work (epochs)

There are 4 epochs I want to finish this year:

Make all the products I’ve built more self-serve and integrate them with stripe. Then market them with effective content marketing!

Analytics Dashboard

Recommendation System (bundling + search + other recommendations)

Media + politician analytics tool

Name analytics API

Image analytics API

GAN API

Data APIs + dashboard

Article RSS feed

Satellite imagery APIs and feeds

Data visualization tools

HWZ Trends

Omnilistening

Website benchmarking

Launch fullstackdata.com and associated products

Dashboard creator
Investor dashboard
Web analytics and prediction creator
Courses to teach other people how to be awesome data scientists

Build personal brand

Write more blog posts
Create more YouTube videos and free courses
Appear on more podcasts and write more guest blogs
Export my Notion as a website
Generally engage more on Twitter, Hacker News, reddit, and IndieHackers

Get physically fitter

Cardio (get score to 52). Just run regularly and you’ll get there
Back/biceps (get to 10 pullups). Start using a weighted vest to train
Chest/triceps (get to 15 dips). Start using a weighted vest to train
Glutes/Hams/Thighs. Kettlebell swings
Core. Do the ab-roller and planks
Gaining more muscle mass. Eat more protein, maintain calorie surplus. Aim to hit 70 kg

Things I want to get better at

Skills to improve and acquire

Name