You know, there's only like three more weeks left in this year. Everyone always thinks, like, you know, once it becomes New Year's or whatever, they want to, like, make new resolutions and, um, like, start then. Like, I think it's, um, I think that's stupid. Like, the time is

like, to start now. You know, honestly, New Year's is just another day. Dude, the sun comes up, the sun goes down; it's just the same [__] different toilet, you know what I mean? Why can't tomorrow be the day, or even today be the day that

you start your new coding journey, or your workout journey, or weight loss journey, or your whatever-you-want-to-learn skill journey. You know, just New Year's is the same day as December 4th, 2024. The days that you wait for things to start, you lose that many days to get

that much better at something. You remember when I first got laid off, right? And, dude, I gained like 50 pounds since COVID, and um, I always told myself—I told myself this exact trap—I said, "Uh, I'll lose the weight, you know, once uh, you

know, it's the new year or whatever." But um, that wasn't it, dog. Like, um, I was just giving myself an excuse to kind of do something later, and uh, honestly, like, it wasn't even that hard losing the weight, you know? Like, not that I lost all 50 lbs, 'cause I think I was

young and my metabolism was still good, but now I got the dad bod, dude. But um, like, I think I lost like 25 lbs in like a month, you know? And uh, I just started that day or whatever. Yeah, so uh, you know, by New Year's, like, I'm

I'm not in the mood to really lose weight; I'm more in the mood to maintain what I've built. I'm not scrambling to fit pieces in or slide things into place as 2025 approaches. I'm there to kind of maintain

and keep things in place for 2025.  When I was younger, I used to make a huge deal out of New Year's. We used to go to Pier 39 every New Year's Eve with my friends.  Um...

One of their friends said, 'How you spend New Year's is how you spend the rest of the year.' So we always tried to be around a lot of friends, be at a party, or

whatever, and spend it happy. But in the end, that's maybe how I felt when I was young. Now that I'm a little older and wiser, another day is just another day. How I

spend today might change from the next day, but usually, the days I spend are maintainable. There are days to celebrate and party, but it's more about maintenance; it's a

marathon, not a sprint.  Like with coding or learning any skill—maybe your New Year's resolution is to lose weight, gain muscle, learn coding, or change your career—and you're

Giving yourself the excuse, "Okay, once it hits 2025, I'll do that," you know what I'm saying? But actually, the time is like... like, if you have an extra, you know, even if you have an eight-hour-a-day job, a full-time job, you have, like, I don't know, you can sacrifice like an hour of sleep or something to get an hour of studying done. And um, you can start now, you know what I mean? Your New Year's is going to be no different than your

position now. You might get those extra, like, holiday... uh, what is it? Holiday, like the New Year's holidays or whatever days off, but um, and then but you probably have to spend that time with your family. So just um, start now, and you'll be that much

more progressed in your journey, like, you know, three more weeks than, you know, uh, starting on New Year's 2025. And um, honestly, like if you start now, you could probably get a job and, like, um, if you work hard and you know you understand what you're doing, you know,

like it takes six months, right? That's how long it took me, but I'm not I'm I'm not saying that's like a, uh, like a super common case. But even if you start now, right? That's one less month that you have to do in January, so that's a month

faster to change your life, I think. So, okay, "Once it's 2025, I'll start." Right? That's the same mindset as like procrastination, right? Like, even if I get a big project and I'm like, okay, I can, uh, I can finish in a night, you know, you know what

I mean, but honestly, why put that stress on my body? It's too hard. It's like, uh, I've been through that; I've been there, done that. Uh, even like an essay that you have to write, I'm sure you can do it in a day, right, but

um, you have to make things less stressful and keep things, you know, comfortable for yourself. So, you know, it's not about procrastinating and finding other things to do at a busier time, because that's all you're doing, really. Like you're

you're just finding things to make yourself busy so you don't have to do that thing. Just do the thing now so you don't have to keep busy, and then you can keep that time busy being productive. This goes to a point that I want to say

like, procrastination: after you do it a couple of times, you've been there, done that. You have to start learning about yourself. Like, yes, you can build a whole app overnight if you need to, but it's not very—it's not going to

be that good, and it's not going to be very comfortable on you because you're going to be freaking stressed, you're going to hit a lot of bugs, and, um, you know, it's not going to be easy. But I mean, the, you know, like, um, my

experience, like as a senior developer, I guess, um, you have to know what you're capable of. Yes, everyone feels like they're super smart; everyone feels like, uh, they're super capable to a certain degree, at a certain point, but, um,

Crape, this guy being out, but um, you have to know your limits, man. That's like, that's the biggest lesson you need to learn about yourself. Like, um, yes, you know, like, uh, you have to learn how long some things are going to take. You keep putting weight on your

name, like, say, uh, you got a project. Like, you you will know exactly, and then you start asking questions. Okay, I need authentication, I need this kind of data. I want to do this and this and this with the website. You can kind of say, okay, I know exactly how long, uh, setting up

login and sign-up has taken me before. Oh, Google sign-in, I know how long that's taken me before. Uh, but this kind of stuff I still have not done, so um, I will need some time to research it and tell you how long it's going

to take me, but I will give you an exact timeframe of how long it's going to take me. And if you hit that timeline, you put a lot of weight on your name, you know, and they make people—and you make people want to work with you. And uh, you

got to be, you know, you got to know your capabilities and know your limits. And that's how a job—like, even to get a job—that's how you're going to be, um, you're going to be graded, you know. They're going to give you a task; they're going

to give you some time to finish it. And then you finish it on time, or you know, even early, you ask for a review, and then um, they give you the next task. If you miss your deadline, then it's kind of like, okay, I can't give him this much, uh, this

much next time, and then you get—you kind of start to get engaged. And then, even if you know your limits now, you know your limits, you can kind of push the boundaries and get even better, you know, and more thorough. And it's a lot of—it's a lot

of coding, and it's a lot of knowing yourself. Yeah, like everyone feels like they can do it all in one night. I'm sure everyone's felt that: like, 'I have to study for a test; okay, I can get all the studying done in one night.'

Don't worry, but why put yourself through that much stress? You know, it makes no sense. And to hold yourself accountable for that kind of stuff, you know, like—like say I have a new goal. I think there are these black and white speckled journals that you can buy

from CVS or something; it's like a dollar or something, maybe two dollars. But um, I just—I think writing something down on paper and writing your goals, writing deadlines, is going to hold a lot more weight than typing it on a computer.

Um, I think it'll help you a lot. So just learn to write things down. I'm not saying it's for everyone, but for me, definitely, if I write it down—like, even when I take notes, I could type it, but I like to write and take notes to

kind of—like—like once I write it, it feels like I have it; it's going in my mind a little better. And even like the—like goals and stuff, like even like what I'm going to do and what I did in the day, so I can kind of compare what I did.

And I mean, it's just holding yourself accountable for each task.  Say you have a start date and a deadline: I have to learn this, track your progress, because the progress is the most important thing. So, like, at the beginning of the day, what you want to do and at

the end of the day, what you did. And then you can get a sense of what you're actually capable of in that comfortable amount of time, and then you can kind of strive to get better the next time. And um,

so, like, definitely, in the Discord server, we have a coding accountability workout accountability, but in the coding accountability, people just put what they did for the day. But I think we've got to flesh that out a little bit more, and like what you wanted to do at the beginning of the day and what you actually did at the end of the day. And then, at the beginning of the month, you have to set a goal,

right? So, and then, by the end of the... and then you have checkpoints,

like every, uh, every week, yeah, or every 10 days, you put, "Oh, how, what's your percentage? Like, how much percentage are you towards getting to 100 percent, or what is your progress percentage?" You know, and you can gauge that kind of

stuff. And by doing this, you kind of learn yourself a little bit better, so you can gauge tasks, gauge yourself, gauge your limits a little bit better next time. And that's super important. Just, uh, time is now, and it's not really about

Like waiting for this fake energy, or like this, um, you know, this energy that you get from this weird day that's just another day, but it's more about these, uh, mentality changes or these lifestyle changes that'll actually change your life in the end, you know.

You will break into tech in 2025 as a software engineer

Phillip Choi

Rejecting the New Year's Resolution Mindset

The speaker argues against waiting for New Year's to start new goals.

New Year's is just another day, and starting now is better than waiting.

Waiting to start means losing valuable time for improvement.

Personal anecdote about weight loss: delaying until the new year was an excuse.

The speaker now focuses on maintaining progress rather than scrambling before the new year.

Past belief that how New Year's is spent influences the rest of the year.

Previous focus on celebrating with friends on New Year's Eve.

A mature perspective: each day is similar, focusing on maintenance and consistency.

Life is a marathon, not a sprint; consistent effort is key.

Strategies for Goal Setting and Achievement

Avoid delaying goals until the new year; start immediately.

Even with a full-time job, find time for personal goals (e.g., an hour of studying).

Starting now provides a head start and more progress before the new year.

Example of potential job acquisition through early start and consistent effort.

Avoid procrastination and last-minute stress; work consistently.

Importance of Self-Awareness and Time Management

Avoid unnecessary stress by managing workload effectively.

Procrastination involves finding busywork to avoid tackling the main task.

Learn from past procrastination experiences to improve self-management.

Understand personal capabilities and limitations to set realistic goals.

Knowing your limits is crucial for effective time management and project delivery.

Accurate time estimation builds trust and reliability in professional settings.

Avoid unnecessary stress by breaking down tasks and managing time effectively.

Writing down goals and deadlines in a physical journal enhances accountability.

Writing notes by hand aids in better retention and understanding.

Tracking daily progress helps in understanding personal capabilities and setting realistic goals.

Regularly reviewing progress allows for adjustments and improvements.

Using a Discord server for accountability, tracking daily and monthly progress with checkpoints.