Sections

My theme for 2024 was Momentum.

Overall, this year was a very positive year for me.

However, over the year, my interpretation of momentum changed unexpectedly. It dawned on me that when I wrote MOMENTUM, what I really meant was building HABITS.

Consistent habits are what allowed me to build “speed like a snowball rolling downhill” in my relationships, health, play, wealth, and business. Habits are what compound into bigger impact.

Fortunately, I feel like I integrated long-term habits in multiple parts of my life in 2024—from daily Spanish practice to weekly bouldering sessions to weekly writing.

These habits have been deliberate, meaningful, and even sacred. The older I get, the more I treat habits like rituals. They give me a sense of purpose. They feel timeless and forever. They feel like a foundation of who I am as a person.

Without further ado, here are my highlights, lowlights, beliefs, fears, and learnings from my year of momentum:

What were highlights of my last year?

Started an energizing new chapter with Lily in Mexico City, made ourselves feel at home, and and built a small but mighty community of friends.

At the beginning of this year, Lily had just moved from Saigon to Mexico City. I had arrived a couple months earlier. We were staying in a Blueground apartment with a leaky bathroom issue. We didn’t know anyone in the city. It felt like starting over.

But by the end of the year, we moved into our current luxury apartment with fantastic amenities for hosting friends (loving it). We found our groove with routines like daily morning coffee walks around Parque Mexico. We tried new activities together like bachata dance (paused), bouldering (still going), and Spanish lessons (still going). We continued our Saturday date day tradition, discovering the Ballet Folklorico at Palacio de Belles Artes, brunch at Bosque Chapultapec and Cinemex Platino at Artz Pedregal. We celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary with a splendid Japanese-Mexican fusion dinner at Animal (St Regis) and 5th relationship anniversary with a delicious Mezcal tasting in Oaxaca with one of Lily’s best friends and her fiance.

We also made great memories with new friends in CDMX. My highlights included bouldering sessions, hot pot dinners and karaoke, and eating dumplings at our friends’ new restaurant. Even though I realize our new friends are fairly nomadic, we share many common values, so I’m optimistic we’ll continue to grow as friends beyond this year.