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Hey guys,
Today, I wanted to share a bit of general life advice and offer a different take on the typical "rah rah, hustle" content you often see.
Right now, I’m in a different country, doing an intensive 21-day sprint to build some new habits.
In my experience, three-week intensive “accelerators” work better than a long, drawn-out effort when it comes to making meaningful changes.
Why is this?
The 21/90 Rule
This idea, introduced by Dr. Maxwell Maltz in 1960, suggests it takes 21 days to build a habit and 90 days to make a lifestyle change.
I’ve found this to be true in my own life. The takeaway? Don’t aim for huge, overwhelming lifestyle changes right off the bat—just commit to something for three weeks and evaluate from there. You might decide it’s not for you, or maybe you’ll keep going to reach that 90-day mark. Committing for a shorter duration takes a lot of the pressure off.
To me, one of the things that will change with AI is that deep tech will become more common compared to SaaS companies. Now that AI can code, it erodes any individuality of software companies. So I try to read more about deep tech.
If you’re interested here is a newsletter about Nuclear energy. Check it out!
The Fresh Start Effect
There’s something powerful about a fresh start—a new year, new month, new living situation, new school, new job—the list goes on!
Why? Psychologically, it helps people distance themselves from past shortcomings and failures.
That’s part of why I traveled to another country, but you don’t need to go to such extremes. What could be a psychological “fresh start” for you? A new month? A fresh notebook?
You can get creative with what counts as a fresh start.
The next question is, how do you make sure you stick with it? I use something I like to call Intense Accountability Systems.
What are Intense Accountability Systems?
Let me explain with a story. When I was in university, I interviewed for a web developer internship. When they asked if I knew frontend coding, I confidently said yes (even though I didn’t know a thing). I just had this belief that if I had something on the line, I’d make it happen.
Somehow, I got the job and had five days to prepare. After asking the technical lead about their language and stack, I locked myself in a room and learned frontend coding from a bootcamp until I had passable skills.
By Monday, no one was the wiser—and by the end of the internship, I’d actually become a better frontend developer than my boss (though he was still better overall as a full stack engineer—but hey, I’ll take the win!).
Intense Accountability Systems can work in various ways:
Financial: Having your job or a client contract on the line.
Social Accountability: Posting publicly about your intentions and reporting back frequently.
Incentive Accountability: Receiving a big reward or gift for completing your goal (e.g., parents promising to buy you something nice if you get high grades).
I hope this gives you permission to start today rather than waiting until New Year’s to set new goals. I’ll report back after my 21-day sprint too!
Cheers,
Ajay
Poll Winner! Thank you to all 900+ people who responded to my poll about where you’re from. The winner for the $50 USD was d**[email protected] . (The specific email is obscured for privacy purposes!) I’ll get in touch directly with the winner to organise payment.
Hoping to do more giveaways in the future so please keep reading future editions 🙂
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