2024 Week 5: Personal Updates
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So, I haven’t updated my post for about three or four months. One reason is that I’ve discovered once I have an opportunity to focus on something, it’s really challenging to find enough time to write it down. I’ve realized that it’s very difficult to consistently maintain high energy levels. Moreover, it’s really tough to complete building products in a short span of time.
In the past three months, I’ve made progress in several areas. One of these is I got a relatively stable job position, then I launched my indie hacker career. Additionally, I’ve been applying to North American universities for a master’s degree. These tasks have been substantial enough to consume all my energy, leaving me no time to maintain routine activities like writing weekly recaps or handling accounting tasks. I feel quite regretful about this.
In the last several weeks, I’ve been working around 70 hours a week just to finish tasks, and yet there are still a lot of things to do and many new things I need to learn. It’s really tough.
So, there’s a plan. I need to have a precise and reasonable understanding of my energy levels and I should allocate this energy into different tasks. I have always put forth my “best effort” for a long time, but things just got out of under-control. I suppose it’s NOT the way it should be.
I believe I must clarify what I want to achieve. I need to determine how much time I will spend playing video games, how much time I will dedicate to building things, how much time I will allocate for learning new things, and how much time I will set aside for exercising. I think it’s essential to plan these clearly. I must always be disciplined and abide by these rules.
I have to be honest with myself - I need some time to rest, or in other words, play video games to keep me happy. Therefore, I must allocate enough time for this. If I don’t, I won’t be happy and won’t be able to maintain focus on other tasks.
Recently, I watched a documentary called Stutz, and a very interesting point from it is that all people, regardless of whether they are rich or poor, old or young, always need to face three things. The first is pain, the second is uncertainty, and the third is constant work. We can’t escape these aspects of life. However, despite this, life is beautiful and can bring happiness, even amidst pain, uncertainty, and constant work. I totally agree with this.
I remember a time when I was playing a game called Blade and Soul during my bachelor’s. After I built the final weapons in the game, I lost all motivation to continue playing it.
Many people believe that having enough money will rid them of these three things (pain, uncertainty, and constant work). However, after they attain wealth, they find that these problems do not disappear. Some may think that accumulating even more wealth will solve these issues, but that’s not the truth. Regardless of wealth, people cannot completely evade pain, uncertainty, and the need for constant work.
That’s the life, life is a journey that we should enjoy, even with the presence of pain, uncertainty, and constant work. It’s crucial to find the right methods to effectively manage these aspects of our lives.
So, I believe that in the coming days, I need to be honest with myself and acknowledge that I can’t always be a productive machine. There are many things in life that I deserve to enjoy.