Now № 9

The end of an era, the start of an era. That’s a cliche way to reflect on the closing of another year, but it’s fitting.

We’re settled in lovely apartment in the Oosterpark neighborhood of Amsterdam. Thus begineth a new chapter of life in the Netherlands.

I don’t think I’ve really come to terms yet with the fact that, I’ve left Ukraine—the country where I’ve spent the majority of my adult life, the place I identify with more than any other. Of course, I plan to visit, still have an apartment in Kyiv, but I realize that in all likelihood I’m not moving back again.

The best book I read in 2021 was Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. It’s the anti-productivity productivity book. The average lifespan is a mere 4,000 weeks. Getting anything done depends on accepting that fact and dramatically limiting what you decide to even try to do. The non-mystical paradox is that the less you try to do the more you end up doing. The key point to take away is to limit your work in progress buckets and make sure you’re removing something if you want to bring in something new.

With that in mind I made three book lists for 2022: fiction (5), non-fiction (10), professional (5). I’m going to force myself to stick the number of books—if I want to make a change, it has to be a swap.

I have two big skills I want to study in 2022: learning Dutch, for obvious reasons, and getting betting at visual design. For the latter, I’ve already enrolled in Google’s UX design course.

That’s it. I keep coming back to the idea of a depth year. Instead of piling on a bunch of new things, going deeper with those you’ve already done. 2022 will be a hybrid. Being in a new country means a lot of novelty, but I also want to scale back the constant quest for the latest new thing.

To a great 2022 🥂