I'm starting my day early today. I want to get after it this morning, as I feel that I desperately need a victorious day.

It's been a while since I've felt good about the way my day has gone. Yes, yes, I'm fine: I just need to get out of a funk. It usually happens around this time of year since it's right before my own business' busiest season and smack dab in the middle of retail season, a time when I go back and help my parents at their work. To be honest more so than getting ready for my own insanity is doing this last bit.

I just came back from the gym: I did a routine of the Peloton, lifting, a 15 minute treadmill walk, the sauna, and the cold plunge (twice, but for like 10-15 seconds apiece... It physically hurts. Oh well, I'll work my way up to 3 minutes). I feel a lot better, and I feel like I want to take on my day.

Sometimes we need to just release, and thone of my favorite ways to do that is going into the gym, sauna or steam room, or honestly even for a walk or a run or a swim. It's a slow kind of a burn, and it really makes you face some realities about yourself when you're doing something difficult (walking is more of a relaxed enjoyment, to be honest). I had some experiences like that this morning when I was on the treadmill, and my mind started wandering into some dark places.

I do wonder, a,ctually not really wonder but more so am curious about the impact, of certain foods and how the] impact you in the hours after consuming them. There is a thing that whole foods give you more mental clarity than processed foods, which makes sense. I just feel also that while you're working out, they can help you finish stronger. When you're in the cold plunge, they can help you stay in there and embrace the suck longer. When you're in the sauna, they can help you withstand the heat longer. I think this is because they are exactly what were used to, and since we've been doing difficult things for hundreds of thousands of years, whole foods and non-ultra-processed foods are exactly what our bodies have adapted to consuming to get those things done.

Anyways I have a long day and I need to get a move on. Let's get after it today and revisit our thoughts tomorrow.

Vivek

Note: I was checking my inbox this morning and found an email from the great Chris Williamson presenting this Annual Year End Review template for everyone to use. As such, I've decided to do this for my post today. Some of these questions are self-reflective, some of them are awkward. I haven't deleted anything, but have answered to the best of my ability and to what I feel comfortable sharing. Please know that each question has been answered extremely honestly and in order. Let's get to it.

How has this year gone? It's been a mixed bag. I've traveled, moved, seen new places, experienced new things. I've gone through good times and bad, happy and sad. I've done well in business and other times I've failed. But overall, my blessings have been greater than my sacrifices and trip ups, and for that I am always thankful.

What went well? I've grown as a person: as a husband, son, brother, friend, business owner, and overall human being. I've exercised a lot more and focused on my health, and I've done decently when it comes to business. I've entered into new arenas and areas in my life, both physically and metaphysically. I've accomplished a lot, and I'm proud of what I've done.

What went badly? I've fallen in the wayside in many ways. I certainly feel like I'm in a funk now. I think I've learned that as I grow older I lose more and more of who I was and am growing more into who I'm yet to become. It's a gradual process, not something that happens overnight. But there are a few things in my mind that come about when I reflect on this.

People who don't see you for a long time see the change in you immediately but you don't. However, those people don't see the actual change, so they don't get the full story. It's interesting: people like that are good gauges for how far you've come, but not how well or worse it's actually going.

On top of this, I've also realized that I'm currently in a funk, and the thing I'm working on now is seeing how I can be more in tune with my body and mind in order to see when things are and are not working. (btw, these answers may seem like they are abstract and not answering the questions, but they are if you read it.)

Why? I think the things that went badly for me went badly because I might be taking too much on, also because I am of two minds of what I actually do now. I also am a person who may not be comfortable with, even if I'm used to, the idea of change, and there may be certain things that I know I need to leave in the past that I feel like I am not ready to leave yet, or that want to stay with me that I want to let go. In short, I feel like things that go badly for me go because I'm trying to pull too many reins of too many horses precisely in too many different directions all at the same time.

What lessons did I learn? Let go.

What habit or system accounted for most of my success? Honestly? Being comfortable with allowing others to make decisions that are ultimately my responsibility but that I don't feel like I need to or I trust others enough to be able to make.

What are the most valuable ways I spend my time? Exercising, spending time with my wife and family and friends, calling and speaking to loved ones, reading new books, listening to new music, making new music, writing, creating new software projects, exploring new places, and trying new things.

How can I find more time for this? I would need to secure a certain level of success in my day to day life and my business that I would need in order to buy back my time whereby I can do the things that I want to do.

What brought me the most happiness? The thing that brings me the true most happiness while I am doing it is making music, but that has ebbs and flows.

How can I help these activities to happen more often? I can refuse to let work get in between my personal life. I can work on projects that are fulfilling to me more. In order to do this, I need to shift my perspective on what it is that actually is valuable in my day to day, in that what gives me the most value.

Who are the people that had the greatest impact on me? My wife and family, my friends, my colleagues.

How can I see and collaborate with them more? I try to see, work, and collaborate with them on a regular basis, whether it's a personal or business. I can continue that momentum.

What did I expect to complete, but didn’t? I expected to hit $25K MRR this year but I did not get to achieve this goal.

Is this still an important goal of mine? If so, how can I make future follow-through more likely? This is an extremely important goal for me. I can make this happen by a. developing systems which allow me to collaborate with the number of clients in the way that I want to that will help me achieve that, and b. make sure those clients are of high quality and are able to fit into my own systematic needs with whom I can develop a relationship.

What are the least valuable ways I am spending my time? I am spending too much time deciding on what to do, and, let's say, on things that are not the best things to do. I'll leave it at that.

How can I prevent myself from continuing to spend time in this way? Focus. Meditate. Keep my eye on the goal.

How have my goals or priorities shifted over the last few months? My goals and priorities have become less about attaining a specific goal than it has about attaining a specific day to day life. Also, I'm working less on trying to gamify things than I am to become the person who does that habit anyway.

Is there anything I am still doing that is no longer in alignment? Why? Probably many things, especially since I am trying to juggle so many things. In 2026 I want to hone my focus in on a few things.

Best Surprise: New home

Best Meal: Not even close: Khao Soi in Chiang Mai

Coolest New Experience: Trying Luwak coffee in Bali

Favourite Weekend: When my entire family came to visit us in Miami

Favourite First Meeting: That's a good one, I'm not sure to be honest.

Favourite New City: Chiang Mai, Thailand

Favourite New Emotion: Serenity, probably

Favourite New Walk: Walking around Brickell Bay in the mornings

Favourite New Friend: Probably Marcelo? Good dude.

Favourite Tour: Elephant Tour in Chiang Mai (I really like Chiang Mai lol)

Favourite Day: The day we got our new home

Most Intense Week: It might have to be the week of my sister in law's wedding: that was hectic

Best Sex: I'm going to keep this private, thanks

Favourite Artist: I cycle through artists, but for now I'm listening to a lot of Westside Gunn so I'll keep that at the moment

Favourite Song: Victory Lap by Fred Again

Favourite Quote: "I have not yet grown wise enough to deeply enjoy simple things." - Visakan Veerasamy

What would I do this year if I wanted to make 85 year old me miserable? Keep up the fat and lazy lifestyle that I am trying to run as far away from as I humanly can.

What would 85 year old me wish I did more of? Somehow I feel either work and spend time with my loved ones at the same time... Definitely more physical/sports things. I'm not sure to be honest. I've been trying to think of an answer for the past 20 minutes.

What are the things I do to make my day go great? Show gratitude, try and reflect and mediate, EXERCISE, read, write.

What things make my days go terribly? Smoke, drink, fall to bad vices, not exercise, overeat.

What do I think is productive that isn’t? I think they are productive but if you overindulge, then podcasts and audiobooks are truly attention grabbing time wastes. If done in excess. Which might happen more often than I think.

What is productive that I don’t realise? Silence.

What do I want to do less of with my time? Waste it.

What do I want to do more of with my time? Be more productive in my output. Also, forgive.

What does an ideal normal day look like? Write it out. Wake up. Go out for a nice long walk. Cold plunge/sauna. Exercise. Speak with friends and family. Have lunch or coffee with my family. Write/create/work. Make dinner. Eat dinner. Wind down with the family (read, watch a movie, etc). Sleep early.

What conversations do I need to have? I need to have honest conversations with people who I love about the things I want from my life and how it may impact their life. I left where I grew up for a reason.

What are the habits I’m committing to starting and stopping?

Starting: Not putting things off for tomorrow.

Stopping: Putting things off for tomorrow.

I know this seems like a cop out answer, but this is a real problem for me.

What would have had to have happened by the end of next year for me to look back on the year and consider it a success? Have six pack abs, $250K invested that I made on my own, and be able to step away from my business without worry.

Who do I need to become for next year’s chapter of my life story to turn out the way I would write it? I need to become a person who grabs life more by the horns and doesn't let things distract or sidetrack me.

Knowing what I know now, what advice would I give to myself 12 months ago? (pssst - you probably still need to hear this now) Don't say yes to all clients just because you want money. Say yes to the clients who actually want to give you money. This is the same for time: don't say yes to anyone because you want to spend time with them, say yes to people who actually want to give you their time.

This was actually a lot more difficult than I thought it was going to be, but I am glad I did it. Let's get after it today and revisit our thoughts tomorrow.

Vivek

What are the motivations for improving yourself? At face value, it seems that for everything you do that is better for you, there can be a thousand reasons, different angles, and different ways of doing it.

When did we, collectively, stop doing things for the sake of doing them?

It seems like everything is gamified these days. I touched upon this in my last post, and I'd like to go a bit further here. It seems like we optimize for everything in every way. Why do something if it brings no usefulness, no utility in your life, no supposed good?

I believe that life is made up of balance: for every good there is a bad, for every bad a good. Now, there are different terrains of good and certainly different terrains of bad: we can choose the good and choose the bad. Here's an example: a person who's 100% optimizing their health for the purpose of longevity and the fact that it's "good for you" will not enjoy the simple pleasure of meeting a buddy and having a conversation with a friend at a bar late at night after dinner. They'll never understand letting loose and having a cigar while on vacation, or enjoying a bucket of butter popcorn at the movies. There's a sadness in that, really.

These things, though "bad for you", have a profound impact in the moment. They heighten your experience, and they are there specifically because something else going on in that moment is bigger than that little indulgence.

Published as is.