Lessons from 2025

2025 taught me a lot of lessons. Here are some of them:

I am mostly putting these lessons to writing so I can return to them. Life tends to repeat lessons when you don’t learn them properly. While these are primarily for me, you may find them useful too.

1. It’s Probably All in Your Head

Overthinking means you are making assumptions and then stacking assumptions on top of assumptions. You eventually arrive at conclusions that are often untrue.

Overthinking puts you at the center of situations that are not about you. But the world does not revolve around you. Avoid making rash decisions after overthinking, it’s probably just in your head.

You may think someone hates you, but they don’t even know you exist.
You may think they love you, but they don’t care that much.

Before making decisions, share the thought with someone. It probably makes sense only in your head. Even better, share it with someone smart enough to poke holes in it and refine it with you.

2. Not All Moments Are Equal

They don’t have to be.

Leverage peaks. We all have 24 hours, but not all hours are equal. Any 7-8 hours can be used for sleep, yet some work far better than others.

If you do creative work, you will agree with me. On average, something may take an hour. But on certain days, you will get a boost and will be able to do it in 15 minutes. When that happens, don’t stop there. That’s your chance to produce four things or even more instead of one.

Passion fades. You can be very passionate about something now, and the morale has gone down in 6 months. The real question is what you did while you had it. Take advantage of the moment. It may not last forever.

Opportunity does not always introduce itself as one. Spot it early and go all in.

3. It’s a Numbers Game

The bigger your lot size, the better your outcomes.

Talk to more people.
Take more chances.
Run more distance.
Save more money.
Get more visibility

Whatever you want better results from, increase the volume. Bigger numbers improve your odds.

4. Insist on Excellence

Have standards. Finish your work properly.

Some people will say you’re too demanding or extra. Those same people wouldn’t survive the results of half-effort.

When choosing between quality work and pleasing mediocre people or expectations, choose quality. You lose nothing.

5. Never Settle

When you’re ambitious, you will have these lofty dreams, it is important that you don’t let them die.

As you keep these dreams, you will come across mediocre, watered-down versions of your dreams. They show up as shortcuts. Avoid them.

Say no to the easy exits, but don’t sit still expecting your dreams to be handed to you either. Take one small step towards those dreams. Then another. Progress compounds.

6. Know Where the Finish Line Is

Be ready to let it go. Some things are long-term. Others are not. Know the difference.

When you realize you’ve made a mistake, or you’ve hit diminishing returns, leave. Do it quickly.

Don’t add two more weeks. Don’t wait for one last sign, when you have already gotten all indications it is time to leave.

“No matter how good you are, if you stay too long, you spoil it. A good dancer must know when to leave the stage.” – PLO Lumumba

Holding onto the wrong thing may be why your hands are not free for what’s next.

7. Shorten the Gap Between Idea and Execution

Move fast.

The faster you execute, the faster you learn if something works or not. If it doesn’t, move on quickly.

Imagine waiting a lot of time to finally implement an idea, and it didn’t turn out as well as you expected, but time has also gone. Waiting too long only increases regret. There are not a lot of upsides to moving at a slow pace.

8. Take Notes

I trust my memory less every year.

Sticky notes. Jotters. A stack of A4 papers. Notes app. Google Keep. WhatsApp “chat yourself”. I use them all, together. If it’s not written down, I may forget it, even if it’s important to me.

Mental notes are like “view once”. Paper helps me think clearly. I can flesh things out better or go back to them with a paper.

If you want to get me a gift, buy me a reMarkable.

9. There’s an Attitude to Leadership

Leadership requires a lot of decision making as well as setting examples

Sometimes, you must be stern.

Assume only you are responsible. Don’t leave things to chance. Don’t wait things out.

You’re cutting yourself short as a high agency person if all you do is strategise and plan but never execute, especially for yourself.

10. Balance Is a Myth

This year, I juggled church, work, entrepreneurship, academics, running, and family.

What helped was prioritizing ruthlessly. While I was overwhelmed a lot of the time, the way I could get by was to pick the most urgent thing at that moment, and every other thing will wait.

Ask yourself constantly:

• What one thing will ruin everything if I ignore it now?

• What one thing offers the highest return if I focus on it now?

Trade-offs are more realistic than balance.

11. Clear Communication

I grew up keeping things to myself.

But clarity requires vulnerability. Communication works best when ambiguity is removed. It is not the responsibility of the other party to figure it out. It is your responsibility to spell it out.

Never assume the other person knows. Over-communicate if necessary.

12. Antifragility Is Necessary

Things can go wrong and they will.

How fast can you move on after the unfortunate event?

Emergencies will happen. Don’t glamorize problems. It’s just another day. Handle them and move on.

13. Never Liquidate on a Whim

Don’t sell assets because you’re broke.
Don’t sell because you made profits.
Don’t sell because you need an urgent fix
Don’t sell for emotional reasons.

Don’t liquidate for any reason other than a laid out plan. If you do, chances are high you will lose your investment and even have the money disappear in a breeze. Make concrete plans before you liquidate assets.

Only liquidate with a clear plan.

14. Hard and Soft Choices

I used only Samsung devices and Windows laptops for years. I defended them in any argument I found myself.

I had an impressive run with Samsungs, but I had to replace them so frequently.

Now I use an iPhone and a Mac. This got me thinking of how many good things we’ve shut ourselves out of by saying things like “I’m not xyz kind of guy”.

Know choices to go hard on. Know where compromise won’t hurt. Reassess often.

15. Rant

Rant to God. To a friend. To someone wise.

This is an underrated lesson for me. You may think you have become independent and can process all of your emotions by yourself. But when certain things happen to us and we get overly excited, or overly disturbed by it, we can make very irrational choices because our view on the circumstance is limited.

Processing everything alone limits perspective. Strong emotions distort judgment.

Sharing with someone will help you whether just by being listened to, or by the feedback you get.

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In my newsletters, I think out loud and share reflections from my experiences. If this resonates with you, subscribe.