I took some time today to think through what I felt most lacking in, and ended up with three general “buckets”: breadth, people, and systems.
By breadth, I really mean practicing curiosity. This past semester was the first time I consistently finished the projects I started, and it feels like I’ve finally discovered this just finish it muscle. I want to ingrain that across all areas of my life. To rephrase: my focus isn’t maximizing breadth (stumbling on a cool longer-term project would be sick), but more so developing a habit of finishing what I set out to try. That means I’ll probably have to settle for 80% quality for time’s sake sometimes, which is ok if I’m still learning something new.
I also want to meet more people. Obviously always a good thing, but it feels especially relevant for some areas I’d like to improve: like my tendency to do things alone, or the nervousness I feel when meeting figures I respect. I trust that the latter will go away with more reps – I’ve started by reconnecting with old friends and talking with potential mentors. The former feels harder for me to pin down, though. I joined a newly funded nonprofit, and it’s been interesting helping out with that. But I really miss collaborating with people on ideas I discover. Maybe I have to proactively reach out more, or make myself more discoverable.
Finally, systems describes the problems I notice but currently struggle to measure. While reflecting on 2025, I realized I learned a ton, but also let slip a ton too. I want to have more consistency across a longer term — themes I focus on beyond a mere month or two. I’ve known that my hs systems were too structured, but it’s just hard finding a system flexible enough for all the change and exploration going on. I need to figure out how to capture what I learn, organize it (ie in essays), take action on it, and know what to work on next. I think there could be interesting ways to use language models somewhere in this process.
This is a lot of ground to cover, so I’ve thought of two simple mechanisms for accountability. First, as much as possible, I’ve scheduled events (ie meals, trips) so I always have something looking forward. Then, as I do things, I plan on documenting the experiences that made me think, so I have a trail to look back on.