We start the year with anxiety. A new year feels like both a reset and pressure; you begin tallying everything that came before. All your yearly goals start piling up: “In 5 years I wanted this... in 10 years I wanted this...”
The truth is, it’s just another day. But because it feels like everyone is going through this change together, it becomes amplified. Comparison breeds more anxiety, and the focus turns inward in an unhealthy way.
Let’s take that away. This isn’t about anyone else but YOU.
Ask yourself these fundamental questions:
What made you happy last year?
What made you unhappy last year?
What would you like to change?
Answer in the most basic way, not in sections like career, work, or health. Just basic, honest answers. That will give you simple insight. You can dig deeper later, but this is a great start.
CARE FRAMEWORK
Now, I use a framework that has helped me get clear on how to achieve each goal.
Don’t overcomplicate it. Just write down your main goals and use the CARE framework to get them done.
CARE stands for:
Clarity
Alignment
Reduce entry cost
Evidence
Example: “I want to read more”, using the CARE framework
Clarity
Decide once, not daily.
“At 9 PM, I will read one page before I plug my phone in.”
Alignment
Choose a time that fits your real life.
If nights are chaotic, move it to the moment you’re least pulled—morning coffee, lunch break, or bed.
Reduce the entry cost
One page is the goal.
Opening the book counts. Starting is the habit.
Evidence
Don’t track streaks. Track returns.
Proof looks like: “I came back after missing a day.”
That’s it.
Small. Specific. Sustainable.
Consistency isn’t about pressure.
It’s about creating something you can return to.
The Moment You Stop Forcing It
I recently read an article on Taoism that shared a story about French artist Fabienne Verdier, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it.
She spent ten years in China in the 1980s studying calligraphy. In her book Passenger of Silence, she describes her master’s teaching style: repetitive, ascetic, almost brutal. The same strokes, over and over, for months—sometimes years—with progress deliberately withheld.
At one point, she collapses. She admits she can’t go on. She doesn’t know where she is, where she’s going, or who she is anymore. She can’t even tell the difference between “me” and “nothing.”
And instead of reassuring her, her master responds with joy:
Good… even better… bravo.
Because to him, that breakdown wasn’t a failure. It was the threshold.
The moment her certainty, her ego, her need to “get it right” finally fell away.
The lesson wasn’t “push harder.” It was that scarcity and constraint can be teachers—that real learning, and real endurance, often begin when you stop trying to control the outcome and let the process change you.
What I’m Reading
The 5 Types of Wealth — Sahil Bloom
This is the first book I finished this year, and it was the right place to start. It challenges the version of wealth we’re taught to chase and asks us to look more honestly at what actually matters. Too often, we follow a definition that isn’t ours, only to realize it too late. This book helps you pause and question that before you commit your life to the wrong pursuit. Highly Recommend It!
The Mindset - Carol Dweck (Currently Reading)
This book explores how our beliefs about ability shape the way we learn, grow, and respond to setbacks. It’s less about motivation and more about awareness, noticing when we see effort as failure instead of progress. Reading it right now feels grounding. A reminder that growth isn’t about proving yourself, but staying open to learning as you go.
What Else Dropped This Week
Off Script
Why Most Goals Fail — And the Framework I Use Instead
Under the Hood
Shop-in-Shop: How Starbucks, Sephora, and Ulta Make Billions Inside Other Stores
Skin Deep
Start Fresh: A No-Stress Guide to Building a Skincare Routine That Actually Works
On My Reading Desk
This AI Startup Just Landed a Deal That Could Transform Newsrooms
5 Steps Founders Can Take to Protect Their Businesses During a Major Tech Outage
Amazon And Google Are Fudging With Agentic Shopping Already—Hold On to Your Wallet
Note to My Future Self
You don’t need to arrive this year.
You just need to stay at work.
Let go of the timelines you inherited.
The pressure to know.
The urge to prove you’re “on track.”
Nothing is wrong because it feels small or uncertain.
This is how trust is built — quietly, through return.
Choose what fits your life, not what looks impressive.
Decide gently. Begin honestly. Come back when you drift.
That’s enough.
Be bold. Be real. Be Anomalous.
— Sai Menon
New Debrief is out every Friday