My Ongoing Journey

How to Live Well? It’s a journey every human being experiences.

Since I was young, I have been marked by uncertainty and ignorance, with external judgement being my utmost fear. Fear of judgement consistently deterred my self-expression; I lacked grace when faced with criticism. Overthinking and the need for perfection are the monstrosities that I will forever work to keep under control.

Yet, I am grateful for it, as no journey is straight-forward, no such thing as a wasted experience; each teaches a valuable lesson. It also has given my overthinking mind something worthwhile to reflect on what went wrong, or right.

My search for greater purpose and relevance over the years have led me into deep reflection on myself, guiding me towards philosophy and learning. Frankly, I’m happy just to have gained even a glimpse of that awareness.

Building My Foundation

This reflection has led me to focus on a critical new phase: building my foundation. Now, as a father, I feel driven by something significant. Raising my son has revealed how much I still need to learn, intensifying my need to build this foundation, to align my actions and share that knowledge with him.

This means actively learning to authentically express myself, dedicating time to continuously growing through writing and exploring my core niches – web development, creative arts, and navigating modern life. I do this in hopes that it solidifies my own foundation and inspires others along the way.

This is the core of my personal vision and mission, and there is much more to explore as I continue this journey.

The Blueprint: Principles, Systems, and Clarity

My reflection on building a foundation led me to look at how I handle information. Before, I simply gathered notes haphazardly – bookmarking interesting websites, documenting for my work, accumulating a mass of digital material. Sieving through this mountain of information naturally led to a key question: How can I build an efficient workflow to make sense of it all? The answer I found was: Frameworks.

Besides my existing affinity for frameworks as a web developer, I found they offered something crucial for navigating a rapidly changing world, not just the technology side of things. Frameworks can by no means ever replace the complexity of reality, but they do help simplify things for our limited human capacity for various areas in life.

By learning fundamentals and principles, and building a framework around them, you gain a toolbox that outlasts hype and stays with you for life. This is the core of building from oneself: cultivating a robust personal foundation of principles, focusing on timeless wisdom, and managing knowledge mindfully, all through intentional learning and practice.

This journey has also highlighted where I faltered, particularly my poor communication, a challenge directly linked to my earlier fear of judgement.

Developing personal systems and applying frameworks provides essential structure and clarity. This process of organizing thoughts, aligning values, and declutter information offers a tangible sense of progress in the “right direction”. Like any powerful tool, this can be a double-edged sword: it can be a source of resilience, or at times, simply procrastination.

However, during a period of burnout, I quickly regained my footing, largely thanks to the notes and systems I had set up. Focusing on iterative workflow grounded in simplicity and efficiency helps cut through complexity and prioritize what truly matters.

Learning Through Sharing

Building this foundation has led me to Knowledge Sharing. Teaching what you learn should be a fundamental practice. Yet, many of us were discouraged from sharing early on, perhaps out of fear of losing advantage to competition, or simply that nagging question: “Who are you to teach? You’re not a teacher”.

In fact, the best way to truly learn is to teach it to someone else. Today, my need to teach & learn has intensified as my child grows up. How do I raise him? He’s teaching me how to understand a child’s tantrum, how to play with watercolors, and much more about life than any school ever could. Knowledge sharing is not just a goal, but a method for learning and solidifying your own understanding.

And this leads to Knowledge Management. As Adam Savage puts it:

“The only difference between screwing around and science… Is writing it down”

– Adam Savage, Mythbusters

I ain’t doing any science, but definitely not going to screw around.

I wish to share the method I have found effective for managing my knowledge vault.

Declutter, declutter, declutter

My inclination towards cleanliness and order stems partly born from a love of efficiency, and managing my eczema-prone skin. This obsession extends beyond the physical space. As The Zen monk advice on cleaning resonates deeply - tidying the external environment clears the mind and enhances clarity. This principle applies just as powerfully to the digital realm, a topic I look forward to exploring further.

A Choice Made, A Voice Found

I could have just chosen an easy path, content with a 9-to-5 job, computer games, simply drifting where the winds blew. But I cannot bear myself to do just that.

Now, I need to learn how to:

• Live Well
• Share my thoughts though art and writing

Not practicing writing or speaking because I wasn’t good at it was probably the biggest mistake I made. Telling myself I wasn’t good enough stopped me from even trying. To get good at anything, you need to practice – and I didn’t practice these skills at all.

Nothing will ever be perfect or final, and this entire process is iterative. The key is simply to keep going, keep building, keep expressing.

For decades, I was haunted by this quote:

“I thought what I’d do was, I’d pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes.”

Not anymore. I am finding my voice, building my foundation, and embracing the journey ahead.

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