Merry Christmas, Happy Birthday and a Happy New year

I know the title is not optimised at all. It is literally what came to my mind.

25th is Christmas, 27th is my birthday, and then comes New Year’s. December is quite festive and special for me.

But for the longest time, I kept waiting for external factors (people) to make it special for me. Of course, not anymore. I learned that only I can make things special for myself. And that is exactly what we’ll be discussing in today’s letter.

So let me ask you a question.

How was 2025 for you?

Good? Bad? Exciting?

How was it really?

I want you to think harder and deeper. Think about every positive thing that happened this year. It could be as small as finding a nickel while walking down the street.

The reason I ask this is because most of us, me included, for the longest time around this period, feel left behind. Disappointed that we were not able to tick all our goals off the list.

And that same energy gets carried forward into the new year, repeating the same cycle. In 2023, I read this book called Manifest. That book made me pause and reflect on the entire year.

It forced me to focus on the highlights of each month, no matter how small or how big they were. Turns out, I had achieved a lot that year.

Graduation. Getting selected to represent my university in France, sponsored. Landing a job even before my semester exams ended. That was huge.

And that made me think, okay, something is intense here.

So I started thinking about what actually makes us feel disappointed despite having things done.

And that is when I came up with this framework, inspired by Substack essays, books, and YouTube videos.

This is the only thing that will:

a. Make you feel special

b. Help you achieve your goals

So let’s begin.

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Step 1: Direction before effort

Part of the reason I felt disappointed was not because I didn’t do enough.

Clearly, I did.

But it was because I didn’t know the direction I wanted or rather I was headed into.

I didn’t know whether I followed a direction, changed the course midway, or never even started. There was no clarity. No reference point.

So let’s fix that first.

Sit down with a cup of coffee, a notebook, and a pen. Ideally.

Divide your life into these four segments:

• Health

• Relationships

• Work / Business (Career)

• Joy

Now ask yourself the following questions for each segment.

I’ll take my YouTube channel as an example.

• a. What is my satisfaction level? 7/10.

• b. What’s working for me right now?

  Posting one video per week works well.

  Having at least 2–3 ideas in the bank helps a lot with scripting and shooting.

  I work best when I know what I’m doing next.

  What video. What topic.

• c. What’s not working for me right now?

  Increasing frequency to two videos a week.

  Honestly, things haven’t been working well since September.

  A team member left. I hired a new editor. Then I was travelling. Which led to no content bank being created.

• d. What were my wins?

  Brand Deals. YouTube monetisation money coming in despite inconsistency.

• e. What are my limiting beliefs?

  Every video has to go viral. The videos are not good enough or value packed. Perfectionism kicking in. The niche is getting saturated. The ROI might not be worth it.

• f. What did I learn?

  I work best when I plan ahead.

The best way forward is sitting down and writing random video ideas. Not finalising them. Not judging them either.

Some ideas may convert into videos. Some may not. And that’s completely fine.

This can be done by blocking 4 hours per week in my calendar and executing consistently for one quarter. Enough data will be generated to analyse plus I will gain momentum.

Also, learning how to read YouTube analytics properly will help.

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Step 2: Understand yourself

Now answer these questions.

1. What themes and patterns do I keep noticing across different areas of my life?

2. When do I feel most energised?

3. Who am I with?

4. What am I doing?

5. What am I wearing?

6. When do I feel my lowest?

7. Who am I with?

8. What am I doing?

9. What am I wearing?

10. How am I spending my time?

11. What places do I want to go?

12. What does my ideal day look like?

13. Who am I spending my time with?

14. How am I nourishing my body, my mind, and my soul?

15. How do I want to feel this year?

16. What does financial freedom mean to me?

17. What does my dream home look like?

18. What would I do if I knew I couldn’t fail?

19. How do I want to celebrate my wins?

If all of this feels boring, answer just one question:

“What will happen if I continue doing what I am doing for the next five years?”

That alone will give you enough purpose.

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Step 3: Set real goals

Now divide your goals again into the same four life categories.

Be very specific. For example

Bad goal:

I want to pay off my debt.

Better goal:

I will transfer X amount into my savings account every month. No matter what happens, I will not touch that money. It will only be used to pay off debt. I will update a note on my door every month showing how much is left.

Side note:

At the start of the year, write down numbers. Loan amount. Salary. Follower count. Even number of pints you had. (Could be anything)

Trust me, by the end of the year, the comparison will be humbling. I won’t disclose numbers here, but I’m ending the year with a 75% salary bump.

And although I thought I didn’t contribute much towards my loan, the difference between what I started with and what I have left is insane.

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Step 4: Break goals down

Yearly goals are vague. Break them into quarterly, monthly, and weekly checkpoints.

Example: landing a job.

If you applied to 100 places and got 1 interview, then you need more interviews. To get more interviews, you need more applications or better applications.

That could mean: 300 applications a month Or 100 applications with referrals. Considering you are aiming to get atleast 3 interviews each month.

Just run the numbers.

Once you know the numbers, you know the daily actions. This might sound boring. You might even feel Tanmay I have heard it everywhere. And that’s because simple things work. If you need excitement, go play a sport or a game.

Also, you’re allowed only one goal per category. Two extra if you really want to be lenient. Now go on a seasonal quest.

For example for me: I want to pursue English literature, speaking Spanish, Learning Guitar, Swimming and prepare for a full marathon. This is what I am planning.

Jan–Mar: English literature

Reading. Writing. Essays. Short stories. Investing into Mentorship.

April onwards: Running.

Then something else. You can still casually flirt with other interests. But don’t go all in on everything.

And that’s it.

That’s your sauce for a happy new year. If you still prefer fancy vision boards with supercars and cash stacks, go for it. And I’ll see you here next year on the same page.

See be realistic. Set goals within reach, but slightly uncomfortable.

I don’t want to be Dubai millionaire boy rich. But adding €1000 per month to my account sounds good.

I had no running background, running for a min used to kill me but I went and ran a marathon. That’s what I mean being realistic but uncomfortable with ambition.

Until next time.

Cheers,

Tanmay :)