Merge pull request #79 from it176131/year-in-review

Year in review

_posts/2025-01-31-year-in-review.md

@@ -0,0 +1,150 @@
+---
+title: "2024: Year in Review"
+layout: "post"
+date: 2025-01-31
+images: "/assets/images/2025-01-31-year-in-review" 
+---
+
+> [!NOTE]
+> 
+> This is a personal, vulnerable post.
+
+I've been thinking long and hard about what to put in this post.
+I considered doing something similar to my first post of January 2024,
+[_New Year_]({{ site.baseurl }}{% link _posts/2024-01-01-new-year.md %}), but I want it to be better somehow.
+
+I considered adding a "Goals" section at the end.
+Figured if I made them public, then maybe people would cheer me on and ask about my progress.
+Something akin to [OKR](https://www.whatmatters.com/faqs/okr-meaning-definition-example)s.
+
+On December 30, 2024, I wrote this list of goals that I wanted to complete in 2025:
+> - Purchase two properties
+> - Hire an accountant to manage my business expenses
+> - Consult an attorney to navigate real estate business laws
+> - Add my mom to my business as co-owner
+> - Transfer my most recent property title to my real estate business
+> - Read 22 books
+> - Publish 20 blog posts
+> - Answer six Stack Overflow questions
+> - Increase my total assets to $2.25 million
+
+After reading [_10x is Easier than 2x_](https://10xeasierbook.com/),
+I'm not sure if I still believe in some of these goals.
+Most, if not all, of them feel more like to-do items on a checklist.
+I think I need to sit down and _**<u>really</u>**_ think about what I want and come up with options for how to get "it."
+
+Moving away from the monthly bullet points, I've decided to write about my "wins" and "losses" of 2024.
+
+# Wins
+What are my wins?
+- My patent application made it through H&R Block's internal review
+  process and was submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office.<br>
+  <br>
+  ![Patent]({{ page.images | relative_url }}/patent.jpg)<br>
+  <br>
+- I published 19 blog posts.
+  Most were technical writeups documenting a solution I came up with to a problem I was trying to solve.
+- I read 21 books, beating my official goal by three.
+- I purchased my first official investment/rental property with my mom and supervised my first minor renovation project.
+- I fully recovered from my accident and got back to the boulder gym. 
+  Towards the end of the year I finally got back to where I left off and completed a V7,
+  my first since before my accident.
+
+# Losses... ?
+What about my losses?
+Can I, or should I, call them losses?
+If I don't call them losses, what are they?
+Challenges?
+Things I'm not proud of?
+Experiences with a lesson to be learned?
+
+Regardless of what I call them, I feel I should still talk about them because they show what not to do in the future.
+Or rather if I should do something differently.
+
+I'll call them "areas for improvement."
+
+# ~~Losses~~ Areas for improvement
+- My blog post,
+[_Basket Analysis, Part I:
+  Navigating the API_"]({{ site.baseurl }}{% link _posts/2024-05-07-basket-analysis-pt1.html %}).
+  I'm not proud of this post, and I keep it on my blog as a reminder to not write something similar.
+  I think it's because it doesn't talk about basket analysis at all,
+  and that I called it "Part I" without ever writing a "Part II."
+  Not that I didn't try; "Part II" just didn't flow.
+  After I published "Part I" and gave up on "Part II" I looked at what was working for me.
+  What I enjoyed writing.
+  That included problems I was actively or had recently solved,
+  or follow-ups to questions or comments from an earlier post,
+  like [_scikit-learn's Pipeline and Friends, Part II: Efficient Fitting_]({{ site.baseurl }}{% link _posts/2024-02-17-sklearn-pipeline-pt2.html%})
+  or [_Contributing, Part II: Test-Driven Development_]({{ site.baseurl }}{% link _posts/2024-03-24-contributing-pt2.md %}).
+- Overspending on my investment property.
+  This isn't exactly a "loss"
+  as I did get the property for less than the asking price
+  AND was able to get most of my closing costs covered by the seller,
+  but I feel I could have done better.
+  There's a saying that goes something like, "time in the market beats timing the market," and I agree with that.
+  But it's not as straightforward or easy as it sounds.
+  Buying a property for too high a price and renting it out may put you in the market,
+  but not in as good of a position as someone who got it for less.
+  I'm challenging myself to get a better deal on the next property as measured by some metrics I haven't yet decided on.
+- I have time to read more books. 
+  Reading 21 books in a year is probably above average, but I could read more.
+  My official goal for 2025 is 22 (always one more than the previous year),
+  but my unofficial goal is 24. That's two books a month, or one book approximately every 15 days.
+  Now I don't read just any books.
+  No.
+  I typically read nonfiction with the intention of learning something about the world, or myself.
+  This doesn't mean I don't read an occasional fiction book;
+  one of my sisters is a big Stephen King fan, 
+  and I discovered
+  that I really liked [_The Shining_](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11588.The_Shining) last year.
+- More blog posts.
+  This ties to my first area for improvement in that "more" should also imply "better."
+  I wrote 19 posts last year which is actually quite a few more than I thought I'd write.
+  This year I'd officially like to write 20 (again, always one more than the previous year),
+  but unofficially I want to write 24.
+  I intend to keep the majority of my posts technical with the hope that they help people solve a problem,
+  or act as a resource to my future self.
+  However,
+  to improve them, I may branch out
+  and write about some other topics like my thoughts on a book I just finished or my journey in real estate.
+  Whatever they are, I want them to be better.
+  I'm not sure exactly how to measure that, but I will be looking at analytics.
+- Climb a V8+ boulder route at my gym.
+  Before my accident, I had just broken into the V7 routes at my gym.
+  I completed three, and on my way to complete my fourth, I broke my arm.
+  Nine months after recovery, I finally sent another V7.
+  Ten days later I sent another.
+  A couple of weeks after that, I sent my third (the first of 2025) and another couple weeks after that my fourth.
+  I feel
+  so much more confident working on V7 routes that I actively look for them on the walls
+  and am willing to spend four days projecting.
+  I'd like to push myself and go to the next level, which would put me in the top climbing difficulty at my gym.
+  Along the way, I hope to do my first muscle-up (I think it comes down to form),
+  hit 30 consecutive pull-ups, and do a handstand push-up.
+
+# 2025
+I've got a lot of goals/areas for improvement this year.
+To keep me honest, I'd appreciate any feedback and support from my readers,
+and to keep you in-the-know I'll post regular updates on all of my goals.
+Heck, I'll even make a dashboard and put it on my blog site and GitHub profile.
+
+Yeah.
+I like that idea 🙂.
+
+<script src="https://giscus.app/client.js"
+        data-repo="it176131/it176131.github.io"
+        data-repo-id="R_kgDOK1ukqg"
+        data-category="Announcements"
+        data-category-id="DIC_kwDOK1ukqs4CcOnS"
+        data-mapping="pathname"
+        data-strict="0"
+        data-reactions-enabled="1"
+        data-emit-metadata="0"
+        data-input-position="top"
+        data-theme="light"
+        data-lang="en"
+        data-loading="lazy"
+        crossorigin="anonymous"
+        async>
+</script>