Goals for 2022
Every single day, I think about what I’m gonna do with this newsletter 🤦♂️
From now on, it’ll look more like a friend’s email / personal diary. So feel free to reply 🤗
Disclaimer: today I’ll share some of my goals for this year, but I won’t dive too much into the why (too long, and frankly, I probably lack the self-awareness to know it myself). So it does sound like I just want to be rich and famous, which couldn’t be farther from the truth. Please don’t judge me 😅
I feel overwhelmed
I’ve always had a problem with saying no. I easily get excited about new projects and being helpful.
This means I’m constantly working on 10 different projects...
And even if I like having more than one thing running in my life (because I get bored pretty quickly), I have to admit, I’ve never found a healthy balance. There’s always one or two things I know shouldn’t be doing.
But usually, I don’t actually work on all of them at the same time as one project might be on pause for a few months and another one just requires a few minutes here and there.
But this week was one of these weeks where everything comes after you to kill you in your sleep:
I’m running late with deadlines;
people I haven’t heard from for months are coming back for fixes and updates;
some projects are suddenly moving forward leading to more deadlines and sprints.
It’s stressful, but honestly, I love it! I just wish these projects were more interesting.
I did however make some huge progress at the end of 2021, by rejecting a ton of offers:
joining an NFT startup as the CTO;
several 10K€ freelancing projects;
and more. I learned to value my time and work. But it wasn’t without consequences…
Opportunity cost
If you’ve never heard of it, it’s basically setting an hourly rate (e.g. 500€/hr) and then evaluating opportunities based on that number:
Is it worth spending 2 hours to return a 5€ t-shirt? Probably not.
Two years ago, my hourly rate was exactly 12€ (according to my tutoring ad on Leboncoin 😂). Today, it’s somewhere around 80 and 200€ (this is an artificial number, not what I actually get paid).
The problem is, it sets the bar way too high for any opportunity. Knowing that I could be paid 10K€ for a 1-month freelancing project is a hell of a high bar for any side project to be compared with. Plus, money is ranked pretty low in my book for what could be an interesting opportunity (below craft, knowledge and novelty).
It paralyzed me!
For the past 6 months, I was:
having an idea for a project;
considering the opportunity cost;
throwing it away and moving on to the next one.
Over, and over, and over…
Systems > Goals
Clearly, this framework didn’t help me. So in 2022, I want to focus on repetitions instead of accomplishments.
It’s basically the same thing, but instead of focusing on the end goal, you focus on the daily routine that is supposed to help you achieve your goal.
Here are some of mine for this year:
Financial freedom
In 2021, I finally came to the conclusion that a regular job wasn’t for me. Through internships and freelance projects, I saw that working in a company makes me feel miserable. I want to have control, make decisions and take full ownership of their outcomes.
But I don’t see myself graduating and then spending the following years trying to build something without any stream of income.
On top of that, I come from a very modest family. Even though my parents have been supporting me to study for as long as I want to, I know an engineering salary would be much appreciated 😂
Figuring out a way to cash out (talking about 10-30K€ here, not a million 😅) before graduation would allow me to focus on working on the things that are meaningful to me, instead of just trying to make a living.
The solution: selling a business on microacquire.com. The maths are simple, you can sell for 100 times the monthly revenue. So if you can grow a business to 1K, that’s a 100K check for you 🤝
Now, I know this is a huge goal, and as I said, in 2022 I don’t focus on the goal but on the reps: I will try to launch 2 products every month.
It doesn’t really matter if it’s a big or small project. The point is to try a lot of different things, learn, and move forward without thinking too much (as I did in 2021).
Honestly, I’ve seen people make millions with crappy ideas using this strategy. So why not 🤷♂️
Becoming an influencer
That’s a funny one.
I’ve always been afraid of sharing what I’m doing with my close network. That’s why I avoid Linkedin where my connections are just friends and family. I go to Twitter instead 🥲
But in 2021, I’ve seen the power of creating content and growing an audience. One creator managed to get a job at Deepmind - the place where only the PhDs with a brilliant background go - without any higher education or publications, but because he was posting videos on YouTube (he didn’t join as a content manager but as a research scientist!).
So in 2022, I want to become an ML influencer on Linkedin and reach 10K followers 🚀
Again, focusing on the reps here, I will be posting at least twice a week. I want something that is:
easy to consume (short messages, swipe through the images, short animations)
high-value (code snippets, curated lists, short tips and tricks)
(I won’t do the horrible 10-page useless cheat sheets. You can’t imagine how much I hate these 🤬)
The goal is to help students get better at research in the field of ML.
To be honest, I have no monetary or selfish (read ego) expectations. I just think it’s fun and will teach me how to create content and might lead to unexpected opportunities further down the line.
Longevity
As announced a few weeks ago, I resumed my longevity journey!
I started with 3 things:
daily cold showers 🥶
intermittent fasting (eating only between 11AM and 5PM) 🍽
morning meditation 🧘🏻♂️
It’s still early to see any major benefits, but I do feel a sense of stillness and control over my day, which feels amazing!
Whether we chase big goals or none, the only thing that matters is to be intentional with our decisions and to surround ourselves with empathy, positivity, and kindness 🥰
And that’s the only thing I wish you for this coming year: deep, lifelong relationships and memories!
Cheers,
Achraf