Bye bye 2016, welcome 2017!

6 min readJan 17, 2017

I call 2016, as my year of ignition. At the very beginning of this year I started shaping my future & took some bold steps that are going to be some of the biggest decisions of my life. It takes a lot of guts to return back from the valley of depression, sadness, idleness and move forward. 2016 has been a year of learning. Through out the year I have learned so many new things, having unique experiences and moments as lifelong memories.

It’s already 2017, so bye bye 2016, welcome to the future!

Below are the key points from my 2016 timeline. If you like my journey, feel free to 💬 your valuable suggestions. Also, this is my first blog & I’ll be happy to have your views.

1. Back on career track

Since the start of 2015, I was searching for a way to move forward and make progress in my carrier. I have been in idle stage from the beginning of 2015. I was working but it was scattered. My direction of work was lost. I was clueless about what to do next. Opportunities were there, but I was so messed up in myself that I was not able to either see or flourish them.

I, along with Arpan Rank decided to work on anything of our field. We just started working and then decided to give it a proper direction. We did freelancing at the beginning for 3–4 projects and discussed various ideas on which we can work out.

Finally, after a long time friendship with Dalpat Prajapati, we decided to work together (obviously, there were many discussions between us before we took this bold successful step!). In last 6 months we have been fully focused on Iconscout. From designing entire layout to making new features, the whole platform has been developed in this period.

After successful launch of Iconscout at InOut Hackathon 3.0, we’ve added some more features on the platform along with removing many glitches. In October we’ve been featured on ProductHunt as #1 Product. After that Iconscout has also featured on some other platforms such as Smashing Magazine, HackerNoon, TemplateMonster and some more. We’re very glad to start this marketplace and looking forward to build a very successful Designer Community at Iconscout. Iconscout is one of the biggest achievements for us.

2. Back to Home

After 5 and half years at Ahmedabad, I returned back to Surat to my home. Not everyone gets the opportunity to be at Home! It gave me many learning experiences; starting from being with parents, caring for them and managing my time well!

Earlier when I was in Ahmedabad, I used to work 24x7. It was like work work work whole day. I didn’t have anything else to do. Being away from home, my day started very late in the morning and ended at mid-night. But here at home, I need to wake up early and go to bed around 10–12 in the night. I learned to manage my timings and cultivate new hobbies like reading and swimming.

I learned to differentiate my work timings and my personal timings and I would say this is one of the things which I lacked before. I started giving time to myself, thinking and planning for my future.

3. Reading

The most important hobby that I wanted to have is reading. Previously I tried to read some books, but I couldn’t go beyond 2 to 3. After returning back to home, I managed little time in the morning and at night. I started utilizing my time with reading. Thanks to my friends Mori Rushirajsinh, Varun Trivedi & Dalpat Prajapati for bringing me some of the great books such as Robin Sharma Pack, Mad Genius, Warren Buffet, etc. I read almost 8 books in the period of 4–5 months along with busy work schedule.

Below is the list of books I read:

Also, suggest me some good books to read for this year! 😁

4. Swimming

Still I was unable to wake up early! (major complain by every parents 😛) I had a bad habit of not having breakfast in morning (still I do this). And I wanted it to change it with having some healthy breakfast.

At the time when I was in LD Hostel, I used to go for running with my roommates and followed it with breakfast in LD Mess. To follow that habit at home I decided to start swimming. Swimming helped me in waking up early, followed by healthy breakfast.

Swimming is tough, it asked for more stamina than I thought 😅, and sometimes scary as hell. Trust me, diving from 9–10 feet is not easy (Jemis knows this better). But most hilarious part was taking shower in the winter.

I must say it was one of the most pleasant experiences of my life. I will always remember going for training with Jemis every morning for 3 months (2 months to be precise 😛). I just loved every day of it.

5. Travelling

I love this! I have been travelling a lot since past 4 years. I don’t even mind to go at the same places every year. This year I went to Dalhousie for 3rd year consequently. Travelling gives me the time for some sabbatical, to read, to meet new people and have some adventure.

This year I got a chance to try paragliding at Khajjiar. It was fantabulous. Those trees, the cold air, the glider, and conversation with pilot about his experiences still give me goosebumps every time I think about it. I will definitely try again next time with higher starting point. Thanks to Invincible for adding adventure in my life.

6. Turning 23!

Ahh time travels so fast! It’s like I was kid moments back, then entered in college, made memories in hostel, and now back to home; adding 23 years of moments. I actually wanted to write a blog on this, but couldn’t. I’ve to accept that I am a grown up now! So, happy 23 to me!

There are many people, who have influenced my 2016. I am thankful to all of you for being with me and supporting me continuously.

At the end I am looking forward for new experiences, hobbies, books for 2017. I’ll be grateful if you can suggest some! And I’ll try to write maximum blogs as I can.

Thanks for reading! ❤

Bye bye 2016, welcome 2017!

Written by Tarun Mangukiya