Life Update v8.21

Hello everyone 👋

It’s been a while since I sat down and started writing. To be honest, it’s been a while since I’ve been creating in general (or at least having the same output as I used to have). Don’t worry, I’ll explain why. I’ll take this week’s edition as a little update one. Thanks for tuning in!

PS. I’ll release these newsletters at 8 am weekly on Monday’s from now on :)

This summer, I’ve made it a priority to really slow time down. Over the past two years, I’ve realized that my output was inversely proportional to my experiences — meaning that as I did more “work”, I unfortunately sacrificed on the experiences I could’ve had instead. I mean it could work both ways, but it was more often the former than the latter. COVID has really exacerbated that reality, limiting the experiences I could exploit. Resultantly, time flew by — “work” was something that I would wake up doing and fall asleep to. The past year and a bit was a blur, with all I can recall being longer stretches of projects sprinkled with those few days of spontaneity.

Don’t get me wrong, I love what I do. I had just wanted to be someone who does both, someone who could get the best of both worlds, and balance discipline with freedom.

So over the past few months this summer, I’ve been making that a point. I wanted to structure my summer around that ideal, resulting in some sacrifices needing to be made. I’ve been running on a 6-6 pm working schedule nowadays, taking the evenings to do whatever I’d want to do as well as the weekends. My time has been filled in the lab and preparing for future experiments. When it isn’t that, I’ve been working on designing a pilot workshop for youth in need or tying loose ends up at BioDojo.

And yes, sometimes I do feel guilty that I haven’t been spending every single waking hour of every day grinding something out. But, I can definitely say that this summer was a success in terms of making time for those experiences that I had initially prioritized. I would even go as far as to say that “taking a step back” has allowed me to reappreciate the journey and rekindle some of that motivation that has been diluted by the diminishing value of routine.

Full transparency, I’m going to be putting down my six goals for this coming academic year. I’ve spent this summer focused on research and taking somewhat of a break, but I’m eager to get back. I’m still considering adopting a balance between discipline and spontaneity, albeit somewhat of a less-relaxed version of it.

As we head into the last month of “summer,” take some time to reflect on your goals and how you’re currently breaking down your time. Are you happy with that? Is there anything that you want to change?

Time is fixed, but malleable. You can make time for what matters, and it’s important to do so and focus on what you really want to achieve. Good luck, and see you next week!

I really appreciate you for being a part of The One Percent today! if you are enjoying this newsletter, I’d love for you to share this with a friend or two by hitting the share button below. I’ll see you back here again in a week!