Rudrank's Dispatch: Inverse Objectives for 2024

Happy new year 2024, lovely people! 🎊

I spent the last week of the year on some introspection, reviewing my journal and notes. Setting particular goals did not give me the fulfilment and motivation I sought the previous year. I failed to achieve both the goals I wanted in 2023. Why? I did not work on them consistently. Even when I did try, I would fall back to the old habits and then back to square one.

I am trying something new this year. I want anti-goals. The term sounds negative to start the year, so I use inverse objectives. The idea is to look at my objectives from an opposite perspective and gain clarity on what I truly value and prefer to pursue.

Things that I do not wish to do in 2024.

I have divided them into four parts, covering different aspects of life. To grill down to have a clearer vision of what I want to avoid and, inversely, what I want to achieve. I will share them in the last dispatch of 2024, so stay tuned.

Notion!

I hated Notion at my previous job. Looking back, it was mostly because of how I was using it. I want to give it another try and risk moving my digital life to this app.

Maybe I can give Notion another try? 🤔 https://t.co/32WwdCgbei

— Rudrank. (@rudrankriyam) December 24, 2023

I can type much faster than I can write notes on GoodNotes on my iPad, and the concept of a second brain intrigues me. From journaling to a prioritised to-do list to planning for this blog and financials. From chaos to clarity.

visionOS

I was scared to try the visionOS framework in June and overwhelmed with all the new concepts associated with the heavy word Spatial Computing.

In the last week of last year, I got to hang out with Raghav, and we tried the visionOS simulator while watching a basic WWDC session about creating immersive apps. I enjoyed it a lot! This new platform is feeding my shiny object syndrome, so here we are, with me going all-in and exploring visionOS in 2024. 🎉

I also wrote my visionOS article on creating the unique app icon specific to this new platform:

Exploring visionOS Fundaments: Creating the App Icon

A shoutout to RevenueCat for sponsoring the website and this newsletter! I have been an unofficial advocate since 2020, using it for personal and client apps.

Their latest feature, Paywalls, helps you add paywalls in one line of code. I already used it at work, making it much quicker to iterate, edit, remotely configure and test your app's paywalls!

Quote of the Week

I am halfway through the Elon Musk biography, and the book is unputdownable. The way he manages different companies simultaneously, with a similar reality distortion field to Steve Jobs, is commendable. I also started another book, Same as Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes by Morgan Housel. The quote from the first chapter highlights how the future remains uncertain and unpredictable:

If you know where we’ve been, you realize we have no idea where we’re going.

Conclusion

This year, there is a lot to do while keeping sleep and health a priority. With all the hustling over the years, the quote "Health is Wealth" makes more sense, and I want to avoid regretting not prioritising it sooner rather than later.

Like what I write, and want to support me? Check out my technical and experience books.

Have a great year ahead! 🎊