What Are Still Points in Our Life?
A Letter to My Future Self
Dear Zake,
I’m the 28-year-old of you from 2022, how have you been? Since 2015, I have decided to take a day every month to reflect on work, life, relationship, and mental clarity. This is the 64rd mail that I’m writing to you.
What Are Still Points in Our Life?
It’s been almost 5 months since I wrote to you back in Summer, how are you doing? My life is filled with too many projects, ideas and information, which leaves me no space to reflect… or you can say I failed at prioritizing them.
Besides swimming, writing review letters monthly to my future self, is probably the thing I stick to for the longest period of time. I remember back in 2015, I was inspired by a speaker during a workshop hosted by Greg Nance in Shanghai, which brought personal development and mental clarity topics to my life.
I started writing blogs, as well as photos and videos to document my personal growth, in the meantime, sharing with the world to get more accountability and positive pressure.
It has been tested many times in the past 7 years, and makes me who I am today. It’s part of my identity. We might never meet in real life, but I’m confident to say if you read 3–5 review letters I wrote to myself, you would have stronger bonds and deeper connections than a coffee meetup.
These things, I call them STILL POINTS in life.
I borrowed ‘‘still points’’ from a book I recently received from Liu Xin, who is co-founder of Enlight Foundation and Xinhe Foundation. And I’m fortunate to be selected as one of the Enlight Scholars back in 2016.
As the gift card says, “protect still points in your life…”, which indeed reminds me of things that make me and differentiate me from somebody else.
Since we are having the Chinese Lunar New Year this Feb, I think it’s a good time to reflect and set up a new framework for 2022. Many things must be changed this year.
My Annual Review/New Year Resolution Framework
1. Review: List your highlights and darkest hours
Some good questions to kick off the review process:
What are my highlights? What are my darkest hours?
What have you learned in the past year? Skills, knowledge and people?
Ask for advice and suggestions
2. Reflect: Learn who you are and what you want to be
Why do you think they are highlights or darkness?
What are the most important role for you? (If you can only pick 3)
What does an ordinary day look like 5 years from now?
By answering these 3 questions, I think you would have a clear mind of what to prioritize and what to let go of, only work on things that truly matter to you.
3. Plan & Execute: OKR everything
In the past year, I’ve been applied OKR to my life besides work. However, the results are not ideal. I realize I fail at most of the todos and results, and objectives can never meet.
First, my time and energy are not fully spent on them. Having a day job and working on different content projects is hard. Usually you only have 2–3 hours in total for side projects, and they are scattered in the morning, noon and late night. Sometimes you really put a lot of effort into a single project, and the results/data can be disappointing and discouraging.
Second, lack of pivoting and being practical. For creators who don’t have a team to delegate, an OKR could be a load of work and never get finished. Even I finish on the number, the quality always has a lot of space to improve. I have to admit my video editing skills, and understanding for making hit content, stay the same in the past year.
So this year, rather than making OKR monthly, I’d love to set objectives and todos annually, adapting and pivoting along the journey. I want to spend more time on making GREAT HIT content, be bold to try something new and forget about the numbers and data.
Only post the best content I can possibly make, while focusing on learning new and making a group of people proud.
My Annual Objective
Become a self-reliant, healthy and caring human being who owns freedom.
My Definition of Happiness
“A calm mind, a fit body, and a house full of love.”
年终总结与2022目标 (Chinese)
我的年终总结模版 (Notion)
Wish you a meaningful and life-changing 2022! Don’t forget to protect the still points in life!
Rap music & MV
I had this idea to rewrite HUMBLE by Kendrick in May, 2021. It takes me almost 9 months to finish the song, recording and music video. There are more than 10 times I want to give up, or I gave up for a while but eventually decided to pick it up again.
May~September: Rewriting lyrics
September~October: Recording demo
November~January: Shooting videos and editing
It’s a lot of work and I don’t recommend the others to do the same. Yet it proves again that I love making content, in a way of spreading positive energy and influence. (for me, it’s a childhood dream come true as well)
What I’m Digesting
Why We Sleep — Matthew Walker
Initially, reading this book is a reminder for me to go to sleep early, but it failed completely. Even we know the downsides of staying up late, our body stops listening to us at night…😂
At The Still Point of The Turning World — Liu Xin
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert M. Pirsig
Lost patience again at one forth of this book, probably I will pick it up again when hiking later this year. For now, this book is still difficult for me to digest in many aspects.
Niklas Christl
I found Niklas videos days before, never surprised by his content and topics, but learn a lot from his video pace and authentic personality.
LIFE IS A DRUG. LOVE IT. LIVE IT.
Zake
