🎉 Design life for fun! #HappyNewYear2021
2020 was the first year in a long time where I didn’t burn out. I want to keep this sustainability for the long run.
My yearly theme serves as a conscious reminder of what’s important to me right now, and that’s enjoyment. So yeah, I want to have fun. There, I said it. It took me some time to internalize this.
Everyone has a different definition of fun. Here’s mine: being able to wake up one morning and change what I’m doing on my own terms. In other words, fun is freedom for me. Freedom to do things I like. When I like. With people I like. For however long I like.
Does it mean I’ll slack off? Not really. I’ve already built good habits in the last few years. This year, I want to balance it right. I want to design life for fun. I want to stop and smell the roses. Have a good time. I want to do more of what I like right now (everything is temporary anyway).
Sustainability is my overall theme - I don’t think reading 50+ books is sustainable for me so I’m aiming lesser this year. I’ll now optimize my life for happiness over everything else. 💪
I’ve experimented a bit to figure out some sweet spots. In the short term, I’m currently taking a long weekend (defined as 3 continuous days) off every month. It can be a trip with friends or simply a break (read detox). This 3:1 ratio (3 normal weekends and 1 long weekend) gives me something to look forward to in the short-run. In the long-run, I’m planning to take another exploratory sabbatical in 2024 (again a 3:1 ratio). I’ve yet to figure it out in the middle-run (does it even exist?) - something like one month break after 5 months - need to test its effectiveness.
P.S. Fun rhymes nicely with 2021! And so “Design life for fun!” is going to my theme for 2021.
Until We Meet Again…
🖖 swap