2023 Intentions | straightupjac's thoughts
I spent most of 2022 continuing my time off school to embrace a playful approach to life, which allowed me to pursue side quests that didn’t have an obvious “forward” or “upward” trajectory. Returning to school for my last year after a two-year stint in industry has, in ways, felt like taking a step back, but I trust that the break from industry will provide me with a fresh perspective. I’ve learned to be more intentional with my time, to say no to things that I’m lukewarm towards to leave more space for projects that excite me. I’ve been identifying what values matter to me and am more comfortable with letting personal values guide my decisions rather than following paths that society deems to be “right”. In 2022, I launched Referents.xyz, a web3 linguistic exploration that blended my interests in linguistics, crypto and building something from the ground up. I co-founded Rabbitholeathon where we organized retreats with technologists across North America to dive down rabbitholes and t
Intentions Jan 30, 2023 30/01/23 journal Looking back I spent most of 2022 continuing my time off school to embrace a playful approach to life, which allowed me to pursue side quests that didn’t have an obvious “forward” or “upward” trajectory. Returning to school for my last year after a two-year stint in industry has, in ways, felt like taking a step back, but I trust that the break from industry will provide me with a fresh perspective. I’ve learned to be more intentional with my time, to say no to things that I’m lukewarm towards to leave more space for projects that excite me. I’ve been i
related reading
- 2022 In Review + 2023 goals | straightupjac's thoughtsstraightupjac.xyz
- 2023 in Review | straightupjac's thoughtsstraightupjac.xyz
- 2025 year in review | Kevin Liukliu.io
- 192 Weeksnotes.ekzhang.com
- Lessons from 2025: Non-Linearity, The Games We Play, Side Questingmartinsit.ca
- returning to stanford | writingmasonjwang.com
- Live in the future, build what's missing.boxx.substack.com
- Jumping into the voidbitsofwonder.substack.com
- 2023 in Review | straightupjac's thoughtsjaclynchan.me
- I'm Backsubstack.com
- Manifesto - Rabbitholeathonrabbitholeathon.com
- 2025: A life built from the daysjzhao.xyz