Like a gratitude journal, I love reflecting on the things I’ve learned. It shows that as humans, we’re capable of progress. It’s one of the most hopeful feelings I get.

Here’s a list of things I found in my personal notes from 2020. A year where we felt particularly hopeless…

• It’s important to tell myself nice things about myself

• How to cope (sort of?) with insomnia

• How to roast a trout

• How to unclog a dishwasher

• How to depend on and share a life with someone else

• More about the history of San Francisco (link to

• How to work remotely? Sort of?

• It’s important to “thrive, not just survive” during a pandemic

• It’s okay to (sometimes) interrupt someone in a Zoom call

• To feel more comfortable in my job

• What it’s like to have a Coronavirus pod and have The Hard Conversations with friends that (sometimes) hurt each others’ feelings

• America’s history with capital punishment, the death penalty, etc.

• More about the housing crises across America

• To love San Francisco

• How to cut Joey’s hair like Cillian Murphy’s in Inception

• How to ride my bike up big hills

• How to be a normal person who cooks 90% of their own meals

• That taking photos of people I care about is a thing I care about

• My feelings have names!

• I can and should be more compassionate to myself

• My fears and anxieties are a lot of what’s stopping me from doing more / better, not just my skills and abilities

• More about the automatic, unhelpful thoughts I have

• You can be “romantic” about friendships. You probably should be!

• I have a limit to alone time. Social activities give me energy when it’s with people I care with and we’re all present.

• Lots more on building high-fidelity prototypes

• A little bit more peace about not having “productive” hobbies

• Building a 0 to 1 product

• How to run an interview loop

• More on how to compromise in a relationship, as opposed to just fighting tooth and nail for what I want

• How to be a (little bit more) comfortable with gaining weight throughout the pandemic

• That I say “um” and “like” way too much in public settings!

• All the names of counties of cities in America (thanks John King!)

• It’s okay to make decisions people don’t agree with