I remember reading years ago in a book — was it in “Indiscrete Thoughts” by mathematician Gian-Carlo Rota? — that there are two distinct phases in one’s life: the first phase is when you are the youngest person in the room, and the second phase is when you’re the oldest. I am safely in the second camp. Although I am not that old (just celebrated my 41st last week), more often than not I work with younger and much younger people in my daily life.

Which led me to realize, I am almost exactly halfway through my working years. There are as many years from when I started working until now, as there are years from now until the usual retirement age. Yes, the retirement threshold might be higher in the future (than the usual 55 in the Malaysian civil service) due to better healthcare, longer life expectancy, and general economic necessities, but I am at the place in my career where I should be thinking seriously about what else to do.

There are many things that everyone wishes they would’ve done more, whether in personal or professional life, and it is better to at least make some effort to not make these future regrets.

Like me, there are many things I wish I would’ve done earlier, such as:

• learn another language and be conversant in it;
• be more capable technologically;
• save more money;
• learn more things (some of the things I regretted not learning earlier are neuroscience, i.e., how the brain functions, and statistics. I know a bit of statistics and have passed several courses on the subject, but I still feel I do not have the statistical chops to see scattered data and make truly insightful analysis, like those possessed by some friends I envy. Some statistician-writers I admire are Michael Kaplan, Scott Alexander & Nate Silver);
• write more and share my ideas with the world.

All those regrets (about not starting earlier) aside, these are not really out of reach. I am still relatively young, and my mind is still nimble to learn new things. My daily life is not so busy that I do have time to do things I really want to do. My kids are getting older and thus need less attention. So let me start 2024 by sharing with you a modest list of things I want to do in the year. This is not a resolution, simply a to-do list for the next 12 months:

• write more and share ideas, however imperfect and un-fully baked they might be;
• talk to more people and learn more;
• allot time for formal learning;
• read a lot more (like in the years pre-2018, before my eldest kid was born);
• think more.

The last one needs some explaining: by “thinking,” I mean to actually sit down and do nothing else but think, for which I need to allot a “thinking time” for the day, which is separate from the time for reading, researching, learning, browsing the internet, etc. It is being in silent mode and thinking about something really hard. The only tools allowed are pen and paper to record my thinking process. Even 15 minutes a day thinking truly hard about something is enough. I plan to do this more, perhaps every day, throughout the year.

Boring, I know.

Happy New Year!