An open letter to myself — 2017
A piece of mind to myself & my 2017 best moments
Dear readers, this post is for myself, yet I’m okay if you read it. You can choose to ignore it as well. I’m documenting important moments of my life happened 2017. Why? consider it like a yearly audit of my life. Just to improve myself.
I’m going to motivate myself and give myself some piece of mind for the next year. Once again, you can choose not to read this. But if you feel you will gain something, continue. This post will have my good moments and some advice at the end. Thank you if you choose to read this.
Dear Hari,
Hope you had a wonderful year. I hope you’re ready and focused for the next year. I’m going to highlight only your good memories. You can ask me why not the bad memories? I’ll not reveal your insults and bad moments in public — not because that you will be ashamed, it is because of the fact that they are very precious. You’ve literally earned it. Those lessons are only for you. Plus you haven’t done something extraordinary to talk about your failures and your life :-P
BTW, I did not introduce myself. I’m your healthy competitor. Yes, you’re right! I’m your future, talking about your another competitor — your past, to the present you. confusing? just ignore. :-P
(I consider myself as my competitor. Every day I try to become better. So yes, the future me is talking about the past me to the present me :-P)
Let me recall what your past you has done so far.
Starting new activities
January 24, 2017 — You created your first digital art. It was good. People really appreciated. Here’s the picture of your art.
Good job on creating this wonderful scene using your Wacom. BTW, where is your next art? This was posted on Jan and till now, you haven’t created anything. Looks like your past did not manage his activities properly.
You’ve also forgotten your art of magic. You did not create or learn new tricks as well.
I know that you’re a man of many interests, a multipotentialite. You have done a good job to start something good. But you need to manage your time properly in the future to plan and execute all your interests. But at the same time don’t over complicate your life
March 29, 2017 — #1 AAD. One of the best moment of your life. You were the first one to be certified by Google as an Associate Android Developer. Kudos! for that. You gave a nice interview and got a full sponsored ticket for US to attend Google IO 2017. Cool!
Good job on coming being the first. But don’t let this get to your head. You were wondering if you were lucky in getting this recognition. Yes, maybe a little luck. But I know that you really worked hard. You do deserve this recognition. But don’t let this get on your head. There are n better developers than you. Be an empty cup and strive to gain more knowledge and be better every day
May 16, 2017 — Google IO 17. One of the best moments ever. You were exposed to the people and to the culture of Silicon Valley. You met with the best people in the industry and you were exposed to the rare knowledge. I agree, for once you felt like you stayed ahead of many. Kudos!
After IO 17, I know you were scared to the core. Seeing all the people there, injected some inferiority complex in you. It’s natural. I completely understand. Remember, you need not prove to anyone but you. Try to become better every day. You’ll get there one day. Just don’t give up. Be different, be unique. You need not copy or follow anyone’s footsteps. Have inspiration but not too much fear. Treat fear as your friend. Just like how Bruce Wayne climbed the pit without the rope. If you treat fear as your enemy, it will consume you. So don’t worry, don’t get disappointed by other’s achievements. Just keep getting better. That’ll do
May 20, 2017 — Vacation. I’m happy that you had a much needed and a deserved vacation in the US. Good job! You decided to spend your time with nature and later with the SFO city.
Hope you had a nice time on your vacation. Also, remember that you did not plan this vacation. It just happened with the IO. So don’t be proud you idiot. The year before, you were not in a position to spend a rupee or your time to take even a one day trip. So my piece of mind is, you need to plan a vacation at least once in a year. You need to think about it and execute it properly.
June 2 2017 — Starting a new job. You started a new job at Habba.org. Well done. Hope you’re doing well.
I’m proud of this decision that you took. You had many big offers, but you chose to do the work for an NGO to help the rural artisans. You chose the cause over money. Good job on that. Next time, remember this decision and I advice you to take a better decision than this. You have already set a bar in choosing the job for you. So yes, be better.
June 4 2017 — Reality check. An Uber driver gave you a wonderful lesson. A reality check to try everything without fear. Happy that you took this seriously and tried something. I know you failed. But it’s okay. You at least tried.
I’m really happy that you tried to be an entrepreneur. Even though you don’t know to type entrepreneur without the assistance of auto-correct :-P it’s okay. My piece of advice is, don’t stop trying. Keep doing the same. You’ll get there. Also, remember that you had wonderful learning on failing. Make sure you don’t repeat the same next time.
June 10 2017 — Meeting Adhi a.k.a Hiphop Tamizha. Met a good friend after a long time, who has reached many heights. You gained a lot of management lessons from him and make sure you read your notes again.
You gained a lot of interesting lessons from him. Keep it up. At the same time, you should also notice what he did wrong and what you should not do that when you reach some heights in future (you may or may not). Every celebrity you meet, you should always absorb their negativity and should not do it.
July 18 2017 — Stanford Certificate. Nice job once again. I know how much American series you skipped to stay in line to finish this course. Kudos!
I know you did this course to explore ML. You would have got a nice idea regarding ML and AI. You pursued on getting answers for your curiosity. Nice. But think about your interest. Are you really interested in ML and AI? or any specific branch in it? You still need to run many experiments on yourself to find what’s next after Android and UX. Don’t just do ML and AI as it will pay more. Do what you’re interested and what you like. So I hope you find your next big thing in 2018. All the best for that.
August 31 2017 — Interview video and handling criticisms. Your interview video released. You got pretty famous. Congratulations on that. At the same time you received hate and dislikes from some people. I’m glad that you handled it well. You also took your time to reply most of the souls who commented on your video.
It’s good that you got featured. Now that you have set a bar for yourself, how are you going to keep this going? it’s time to think about it. People are expecting a lot from you (I know that you did not do anything that great!) but people around you will definitely expect something big. So plan it. You need not try very hard for it. Just try and execute, if you fail, just leave it. Living for others is always the last priority.
October 14 2017 — GDG Speaker. You were invited to give a talk at GDG. Great. You started to talk after a long time. You talked about Kotlin and I’m glad that you inspired some people.
I know you like public speaking. Good. You also spoke at another summit regarding UX. You need to keep this flowing atleast every 3 months or something. Teaching others will really make you more knowledgeable.
October 22 201 — One more interview. Appachhi featured you in a story. You once again inspired few people. Congratulations on that.
November 18 2017 — Series on Dagger 2. It’s really great that you wrote this. Many developers really thanked you for writing this piece.
I want you to continue this. Your way of explanation for beginners really worked. Please do pick up similar topic and teach the community. Try to write something for a week or at least for the month. If there’s a pressure for you to write, then you will definitely have some pressure to learn. You will grow soon.
Meeting new people
You met many great people in the US and in India. Make sure you don’t miss any of their teachings. Keep them close and cherish their relationship.
Attending Events
You also attended many events on the go.
- AAD Alumni Summit
- Google IO 17
- BlrDroid June Meetup
- App excellence summit
- GDG DevFest 17
- GDD India
Just remember, don’t attend events for swags. Attend for networking and knowledge. I know you’re on track. but keep a check on it always
Final Note
Guess 2017 was amazing for you. Always remember, success will give you motivation at the same time, it has a lot of side effects. Failures will definitely teach you valuable lessons. Never forget those. Embrace and cherish.
Apart from these many good moments, I know you had equal and more worse moments in this year. Take this up as a learning and try to get better.
Create your own definition of success. According to me, success is — Freedom to do what you like to do. It’s not the money or fame. It’s about your originality. If you are having that freedom, then you are happy and if you are happy, you are successful. So you can now proudly say you are successful.
Don’t ever worry about other’s achievements. Everybody has their own timeline and everybody will get where they want in their own timeline. Just don’t give up. It will definitely take you there.
As you see, I’m the future you, I’ve already accomplished something in 2018 and I’m already ahead of you. My best wishes for you to chase and reach me in 2018. I know you already planned your goals for 2018. May you accomplish everything. May the force be with you! :-D
Happy New Year!
