Sometime this morning, I turned 24 years old and casually entered my mid-twenties. This one feels a little bigger than the last few.

Maybe it has to do with everything that's taken place this year offering some new perspective. Maybe it's all in my head. Regardless, I've done a version of this post for the last two years and I want to keep this going.

I don't see a ton of people doing this in public, but I've found it therapeutic to curate the principles that have been most meaningful to me over the past calendar year. I'll refer to last years post for a more concrete description:

After skimming through my previous notes and journal entries, I picked out the things that I felt most strongly about. These are the ideas that brought me where I am today.

I don’t know if all of these principles will resonate with anyone else, or even if they’ll still resonate with me when I look at this again next year. But that's kind of the point, isn't it? But enough introduction. Let's get into it.

  1. Tail end events are all that matter
  2. Life isn’t short — we make it short
  3. How you spend your time is who you are
  4. Almost everyone wants you to be average
  5. Both bad and good things happen in waves
  6. Do things that make your friends say “wow”
  7. There are both more and less people like you than you think
  8. Double down on what works
  9. Principles don't get suspended when things are hard
  10. Learning in public compounds
  11. Writing is keeping a relationship with your mind
  12. Take time to understand how you have been programmed
  13. Study the endgame first
  14. You can’t enjoy the highs without experiencing the lows
  15. The best art divides audiences
  16. Most things can be solved with faster feedback loops
  17. Discipline can be both learned and unlearned
  18. When you’re told you have two options, you almost always have more
  19. Ask for forgiveness, not permission
  20. There's no advantage quite like being willing to play the long game
  21. When we get comfortable is when we stop growing
  22. Take mental health just as seriously as physical health
  23. Action trumps inaction, almost every time
  24. Nobody can teach us the things that matter

That's all I've got. Some of the principles stayed the same from last year and others are brand new, which seems about right to me. It will be fun to look back on these lists when I'm older and see them evolve over time. But for now, I hope you found something in here that stood out. Until next time.

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