Jan 1, 2021, I decided to take certain decisions around how to function which transformed my life in a great way.

Freelance

I decided to stop doing freelance/consultation on projects to which I could not connect. Why did I take this call? Well, the answer is not so simple, I started doing freelance as a hobby and passion project but slowly I started to realize that since I was getting paid on an hourly basis, I started to become a code printing machine and slowly started to pick projects just for the sake of money rather than sheer interest. Obviously, it meant that I was taking stress for my freelance projects which is unacceptable to me. Also at a certain point I realised that I have hit the limit where I would only earn 2X of the current amount via freelance and maxed out my time limit.

To summarise

• I started to not enjoy all the freelance projects which I was working on.
• I started to work for money rather than having fun and learning new stuff, which was my primary motivation to pick freelance
• I started to max out the time-money ratio, i.e. I could not earn more via freelance since - I was already hitting the max limit of my available time. Hence I decided to wrap my freelance from 2021 and start working building products/brands of my own.

Now on 31st Dec, I can say, I did stand my ground,

I stopped almost all of my freelance Stuck to only one of the projects, which helped me improve my leadership skill. I did pick some small gigs where I was either networking with folks or helping friends to get started. Super proud and happy to take this decision on Jan 1,2021.

Blogging

Jan 1st was the first day I started my tech blog, The TLDR Tech, with almost zero experience in blogging I started writing from scratch. I still remember all these years I always wanted to get into running and always kept it as a far-sighted goal. But this year I really got all pumped up with an ambitious goal of writing 100 blogs.

Well I definitely didn't write 100 blogs, but

• I did write 50 blogs in 2021, quite an achievement.
• I did think that I would achieve 1 Million impressions, but due to my inconsistency I couldn't, but definitely super proud on starting from zero and achieving such stats. :)

• A lot of my blogs started to show on the number 1 spot of search results, which meant my blogs were hitting the right nerves. And something very special happened through my blog, on the last week of December, keeping my fingers crossed, will make the announcement once things are more concrete.

Trekking

Finally, after 3.5 years I did go to the Himalayas. The universe had a different plan for my trekking, I had canceled 3 treks previously before going to Buran ghat on by birthday. Couldn't have had a better way to turn 30.

Turning 30 into the heart of the himalayas

Marathon

2021 was a year of injury for me, every 2 months I incurred some form of injury which put my training on hold. But against all odds I managed to run a marathon on 12th December, 2021.

What made it more special?

• I did run it with less than 8 weeks of preparation, ie. started from almost 0 km weekly mileage to build the base and run 40-freaking-2 km
• The whole run was injury-free
• I enjoyed thoroughly my run
• I felt much strong after the run and more confident towards my running form.
• Achieved a time of 04:29:39, unexpected, though not my PB.

Knight of Sufferlandria

I become a Knight of Sufferlandria this year and the first person from India to do so.

For those who don't know what Knight of Sufferlandria -

• It is an indoor cycling challenge
• Ride 10 videos back to back
• Each video is around 50-70 min duration
• You can take a maximum 10 min break between each video.
• This challenge was really tough since you are sitting only at one place and riding for almost 12 hours. But the happiness and satisfaction you get after the last video are beyond imagination.

Bhaago India

After running for more than 2 years I realized a few major pain points which every runner in India goes through, and surprisingly these are solvable problems. The only question was who is going to solve it. I waited for 2 years to realize that this isn't a priority for existing startups, so why not solve this problem myself.

I started to talk to different runners in the community and finally narrowed down the idea and slowly build a team around it. Since it is my part-time gig and also it is a first-time entrepreneurship journey for me, I did hit a lot of roadblocks and got a lot of learning, but still going strong. The journey has just begun. :)

Bhaago India - A community for runners in India

Well that winds up few of the major life-events/achievements from 2021 to wrap this year. 😃