3 - Journaling, Tzedakah, and Networking

Something I did

I’ve been writing personal journals since 2020. My main one is a simple Word document that I update at least a few times a week. In the same document I do weekly, monthly, quarterly, and my annual review. My document in 2022 was over 300 pages and over 133,000 words long. I essentially wrote a personal book. I create a new Word doc for each calendar year.

Not only that, but I do some handwritten journals too. During 2022 I completed a daily positivity journal. It gave a prompt for each day and some space to write a paragraph or two. I wasn’t super consistent on it. Sometimes I would fall behind and then spend a half-hour catching up several days’ worth of entries. I kept on track and finished it on Dec 31.

Right now, I’m working on two other handwritten journals. One is a simple Q and A journal that asks a simple personal question. What’s neat is that it has space to have answers for 5 different years. I don’t know if I will be that dedicated.

Another journal I keep is a simple gratitude journal. Writing down a few things each day that you’re grateful for happening or made you happy goes a long way to a more positive outlook on life.

I highly recommend a website called Future Me. I use it to write and deliver emailed letters to my future self. Likewise, I write quarterly letters and an annual letter. Future Me is free, or you can upgrade to a premium version for extra features.

Recently I wrote a letter for 5 years into the future after I was inspired by Sahil Bloom’s recommendation for it. In my own life, there are so many events that have taken place since 2018 that I would never have imagined. I feel the same about 2028.

Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom

Each year, starting on my 25th birthday, I sat down and wrote a letter to myself 5 years in the future. Why 5 years? I have found that 5 years is the amount of time in which meaningful life change happens. It was the right number for me, but you can adjust to your preferences.

Something I watched

This movie-like video from Berel Solomon explains the concept of “Tzedakah” to a general audience. I thought it was heart-warming and it intrigued me. While this video is from a religious perspective, I thought it was a good reminder for anyone about the importance—and reward—of helping others.

Something I read

One of my goals for 2023 is to do more networking, starting internally at the company I work for. In preparation for it, I listened to The 20-Minute Networking Meeting.

A quick summary is that you can accomplish an effective networking meeting in 20 minutes flat by doing your homework and having a prepared agenda with five questions.

The first three questions should be questions related to the contact. Roughly, it follows a format of Stated Observation (fact about the contact) and then asking a Related Question (the follow-up to the fact). For example, “I noticed you have XYZ certificate. Do you think the certificate helped your career? Do you recommend it for those starting in your area?”

The fourth question should politely ask if they have any recommended contacts you should talk to next. The last question is asking if there’s anything they’d like to request from you for help.

I haven’t put any of this into practice yet, but I plan to try it out soon and see what my results are.