My life in Weeks // v27

Hi, i’m thinking about you and I want you to take time for yourself, slow down, and find moments that belong only to you and may your spirit savor them. Be blessed with all that makes you happy and healthy today and everyday. (ODESZA No. Sleep Mix.12)

What a f***ing year.

We’re in the middle of a global pandemic and on the edge of the next worldwide depression. I have only left my apartment a few times per week since the middle of March. Billions of people are in quarantine. Millions have lost their jobs. Hundreds of thousands of people have died.

Yet the past year has been one of the most rewarding personally and professionally. Whether it was spending time with new friends in Singapore, going to another OU football game with college roommates, or working with a world-class team to bring a new product to market, my past year has been a whirlwind.

At the life-scale, my priorities remain pretty similar to last year. Which, I’m starting to think is a good thing. I have rediscovered my love for working with and mentoring students. I continue to prioritize exploring while regularly disconnecting from technology to embed myself in nature.

One new addition is the beginning of the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order. We’re living in an unprecedented time in human history. Never before has a disaster unique impacted every single country on earth. World War I & II both impacted certain regions more, but spared others. The 1918 plague was mainly focused in Europe. Massive famine has killed millions yet, mainly focused in certain regions.

Check out version 27 of my life:

Overall, my 27th year on earth was defined by friends. I cannot express how much of an impact other people have had on my life over the past year. From old friends, to new friends, close friends and distant friends, I spent the year realizing how much I have been shaped by those around me.

Some things were new. I traveled around the world with friends who I just met this year. We met through a set of random experiences and ended up traveling around the states and even Singapore for New Years Eve. I became close with new people living in San Francisco.

Some things stayed the same. I spent another year skiing with my old college roommates in Utah. I spent time exploring Bangalore, India with some close friends from work. I spent 5 nights camping in Yosemite, including hiking half-dome, my hiking group of friends. The old roommates got together for one of our favorite past times, watching football in Norman.

This year in particular, my friends have taught me so much. Three learnings stand out…

1. Stay focused on what is important to you — The world is full. It is full of adventure, people, food, news, music, opportunities, challenges, and in today’s society, it is the default to be caught up in the swirl of new. This random path can be useful sometimes, but i’ve found that it is important to be deliberate about it. Over the past year I have pushed myself to stay focused on the friends, activities, and work that are truly important to me. This sometimes means skipping taking time off work to visit family instead. Or staying in to watch a new movie instead of going clubbing. Identifying what is important to you is difficult, staying focused on it can be even harder.
2. People come and go AND memories last forever — Over the past year, I have lost several close friends for various reasons. Some moved to new places, others we simply grew apart. This led to an important lesson - people are dynamic. We adapt. Someone once said “we are the combination of the 5 people we spend the most time with” and I think this is incomplete. We are the combination of the 5 people we spend the most time with AND will always be shaped by those we have spent time with.
3. Small gestures go a LONG way — A call, a text, a shared memory, whatever it is, I have been both on the receiving and sending sides of small acts many times over the past year. I re-discovered the impact a small act has on someone’s day. One of my best friends shared a trick: end every day with “just one more”. He was referencing “at the end of your day do just one more thing, whether sending another email, slack message, or finishing another commit, and you’ll be way more productive”. Over the next year, I’d like to adapt this to focus on making a small impact on someone’s day. At the end of each day, i’m going to do “just one more” small act for someone and see where it takes me.

One reason I was able to spend so much time with amazing people over the past year was simply because I traveled more than ever before. Most people who know me recognize that I am always on the road, but until you see it on a single picture, it is hard to visualize.

Check out my year of travel on a single picture:

Each and every trip was unique in it’s own way. Most importantly, COVID-19 has put all travel on hold. During the quarantine, I had planned trips to Lake Tahoe, Berlin, Bangalore, and Dallas (twice) all canceled. We’re living through a unique moment that has not only taught me more about myself but showed me what life is like staying in one apartment for 8+ weeks!

Some of my favorite moments

As I did last year, here are some of my favorite moments from this year. I couldn’t include all of them but these particularly stood out…

Yea, thats me standing on a nearly vertical surface climbing to the top of Half Dome in Yosemite. 5 days of backpacking leads to lifelong memories with new and old friends.

I’m lucky to have friends from nearly every part of the world, from all backgrounds, living all types of life there is — In today’s world, we have to build bridges, not silos.

What a ride it has been — from Austin, to Singapore, to Skiing — cheers to many many more adventures.

Marina Walker-Guevara and I met randomly at the Stanford d.school one night, an encounter that has massively impacted me. Marina is a world-class journalist who won a Pulitzer Prize for her work on the Panama and Paradise Papers. She reminded me that passion is what matters — not money, awards, or prestige. Even though she won the most important award in journalism, you’d never know. She is one of the most humble, yet badass, people i’ve ever met.

The crew back together. Since graduating, we’ve all gone to work in some incredibly badass parts — after this trip to Seattle Jawanza went home to work on the G7 private jet and Skuta went back to the set of WestWorld. I love nerding out with you all about photos, videos, and all things tech.

Spending time helping others learn and grow continues to be extremely important to me. This year, with several incredible colleagues, I taught ‘Design for AI-Powered Futures’, another wacky and wild course offered at d.school at Stanford University.

Once again got to spend time with this motley crew — we’ve grown up and grown closer together over the years. These are moments we will cherish for decades to come.

So much fun rekindling our love for OU football. This year celebrates 10 years of rooting on the Sooners with these guys. Here’s to the next 10 years.

When the restaurant you’re eating at in Bangalore randomly turns into a full-on dance club, you dance! Lucky to work with this amazing group of misfits on a daily basis!

Spending time with passionate people is my hobby — amazing to reconnect with people like Abhay, an amazing entrepreneur changing the world through plant-based milk in Bangalore!

Songs that i’m listening to

Past Years:

My life in Weeks // V26

My Life in Weeks // v25

Originally inspired by WaitButWhy