Interview Was Completed and My Case Must Be Reviewed October 2018

2018: My Year in Review

This year has been a cyclone of adventure — a menses of unpredictable chaos and extreme learning. This essay is not communication. I am nothing and luck plays a significant role in my life. Motion is non progress and talking is non doing. So delight recall for yourself (if you desire) — my life is no instance. I actually practice owe everything to everyone…"While life is largely a single player game, I know that I am standing on the shoulders of giants." I am infinitely indebted… the continuous support, the irrational favors, the "putting upward with Jordan"…information technology all ways the globe to me, give thanks yous.

the days are long but life is short

I cannot believe that this year is coming to an end. 2018 has been a whirlwind of adventure — a period of unpredictable chaos and extreme learning.

I publish this "Yearly Retrospective" (2016 , 2017) as a machinery for remembrance, reflection, understanding, and gratitude.

Get-go, I desire to emphasize an important disclaimer:

This essay is not advice. I am weird . I am nothing and luck plays a significant role in my life. Furthermore, lists of tiny achievements are non impressive or important . Movement is not progress and talking is non doing. No participation trophies. So please recall for yourself (if yous want) — my life is no example.

Secondly, thank you for an awesome year.

I actually practise owe everything to everyone…"While life is largely a single actor game, I know that I am standing on the shoulders of giants." I am infinitely indebted…the continuous back up, the irrational favors, the "putting up with Jordan"…it all means the world to me, give thanks you.

"Mankind has ever feared what it doesn't empathize"

Anyways, thank you so much for taking the time to review my year with me. Please do not hesitate to reach out if there is everything I can practise to be particularly helpful — enjoy!

This whole essay is about an 11 minute read. I linked to lots of relevant content and bolded my favorites throughout.

Personal Summary

• Published an essay every single day this year, bringing my "writing streak" to one thousand+ days in a row. 300,000+ views! I am past no means a professional (nor hope to be)…I write to learn to think, not to teach…information technology has been an amazing journey thus far. I likewise arts and crafts a newsletter where I share the most interesting links I find every week (chiliad+ active readers).
• Saw the globe by visiting 39 cities and 15 countries beyond Europe, Asia, and North America. I made some incredible memories…partying in Nippon and Barcelona, solo-touring Central China, and wandering centre-of-nowhere Missouri. I lived in PHX, STL, HK, and SF. I attended 6 big concerts/festivals, tried the most amazing foods, and went to really exciting sporting events. I *tried* to live in the moment, putting experiences to a higher place possessions and making a conscious effort to do new things. (travel web log here)
• I met with hundreds and hundreds of incredible people, from all over the earth, who challenged me in a variety of means. I also tightened relationships with family, close friends, and peers…the days experience long just life is curt. Cipher was easy (nor was it supposed to be). In that location were lots of ups and downs this yr, as I was reminded that everyone is fighting battles that you likely do non know well-nigh. I made lots of mistakes, I sparred demons, I unleashed ego, and finally constitute some sense of harmony.
• Challenged my intuition and explored my curiosities via cosmos…publicly launched ix full-stack projects, acquired tens of thousands of users, and shut downwardly two profitable businesses. No big wins (however). I likewise interned in San Francisco again and learned a ton (more on that below). Was extremely fortunate to work with who I believe to exist some of the absolute best people in the world…and, yes, nosotros are continuing to slowly bring together The Avengers.
• Finished with 3.5 years of higher —one semester left until graduation. Trying to make the almost of my time remaining, optimizing for fun and unique experiences. More doing, less donuts.

January

• Spent New Years at abode in Arizona, generally playing overly competitive option-up basketball and communicable up with one-time friends. Also visited Taliesin West (Frank Lloyd Wright Museum).
• Experienced "digital nomad life," couch-surfing with my ultra-minimalist friend Jeremy for a calendar week in NYC. While I was there, I made some hard business decisions in an effort to be more aligned with my hereafter.
• Was named Runner Up to Product Hunt's Maker of the Year Award.
• Flew to Barcelona and was lucky enough to be able to crash with two of my best friends (Benji & Justin) for a week. Was an crawly time — visited Army camp Nou and La Sagrada, ate lots of Tapas, and enjoyed Spanish nightlife.
• Ventured to Singapore! Met up with several friends from school and spent half-dozen days wandering effectually the technologically advanced, humid jungle. We stayed in a scary hostel and did all of the touristy stuff you would expect from naive travelers.
• Landed in Hong Kong (my home base for the Leap semester), where I would be studying figurer scientific discipline at the Hong Kong University of Science and Engineering. Lived with one of my best friends Kenny in a shoe-box sized dorm.

February

• Studying abroad with several of my closest friends from school (and dozens of peers) was an incredible adventure. Over the v calendar month period, I was super lucky to take had and so many unique experiences. From going out in Lan Kwai Fong to watching horse-racing to hiking beyond random beaches…I made a very conscious attempt to "say yes" to doing more than things. HK is a special place that I could write endlessly about — please do contact me if you need recommendations.
• Traveled to Taipei — visited museums, attended an incredible cooking class, elevated up Taipei 101, and ate lots of DTF.
• Historic the Chinese New year's day in Hong Kong. Also went to an Asian Champions League soccer match.
• Arani, Jacob, Jared, Sachin, and I launched StartupSift — a search engine for breakout startups.
• Flew to Shanghai (with Anthony, Mack, Nofal, and Ryan) — visited several temples, toured the second tallest building in the earth, and went to some of the most interesting nightclubs I have e'er been to. Drank Baiju. Also, ate lots and lots of dumplings.
• Crossed two years of daily blogging and moved back to Wordpress.

March

• Traveled solo to Primal Vietnam (Da Nang, Hoi An, and Hue) — biked the countryside, relaxed by the beach, ate gallons of Pho, explored Marble Mountain, went beyond the Hai Van Pass, and toured the Majestic Metropolis.
• Traveled solo to Xian, China — visited the Terracotta Army, got super lost in an outdoor food market place, and ate some of the most astonishing accurate foods (probably my favorite meals ever).
• Flew to Beijing, Mainland china — sled down the Swell Wall, toured the Forbidden Metropolis, drank more than Baiju, and, once again, got super lost. Beijing too has some of the nearly unexpectedly overwhelmingly massive nightlife.
• Ventured to Chiang Mai and Bangkok with four of my closest friends — made some awesome memories mud-bathing with elephants, climbing a viscid waterfall, and visiting scenic temples. Also, kept Passover throughout the trip.

April

• Flew from Bangkok to Siem Reap — watched the world'due south about cute sunrise at Angkor Wat and rode ATVs across Cambodia's rural countryside.
• Took an overnight bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh— had an emotionally transformative experience visiting the tragic killing fields and genocide museums. Also biked beyond the bustling urban center. Finished with a 12 60 minutes overnight layover in the Bangkok airport.
• My friend Jacob and I took the MTR from HK to Shenzhen, China. In Shenzhen, we got lost and toured the electronics market. The next day we took a bullet train to Guilin, where nosotros hiked and explored aimlessly. Nosotros and then rode a bamboo raft into Yangshuo (the well-nigh beautiful town I have ever been to) — where we biked to Moon Hill (and captured some incredible photos).
• Traveled with four friends to Seoul, Republic of korea— explored vintage wear markets, toured the DMZ, played in VR, ate tons of KBBQ, and went out in Hongdae and to Octagon.
• Adventured to Southern Thailand (Ko Phangan, Ko Samui, Surat Thani) for the Full Moon Festival — an all-nighttime beach party which devolves into fire jump-roping and flaming torches (a really unhealthy environment for humanity). Was awesome!

May

• Flew to Bali (with Alanna, Julia, Nofal, and Rachel) for Kenny'south Birthday — relaxed at beach clubs, hiked a volcano before sunrise, and ate succulent foods.
• Jacob, Alex Banaga, Ben Lang, Henry Kaufman, and I built Bookclub — a elementary way to build and share your digital bookshelf. Thousands of people set up accounts and explored the product. While the site is yet functional, we have since de-prioritized the experiment to focus on other things. Nonetheless definitely an opportunity to perfect something awesome in this space.
• Hashemite kingdom of jordan Singer, Morgan Heck, Shiv Kanth, and I finally launched Wonder for Slack, as Wonder Bot passed 100,000 installs.
• Traveled to Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan — visited beautiful gardens, ate Kobe Beef, played with Mario Kart VR, and went to EDC Nippon (in the pouring rain), where nosotros saw Jai Wolf and Martin Garrix perform.
• I turned 21 and wrote an essay about my problem with birthdays. Took a ferry to Macau and visited the largest casino in the world!
• Somehow passed my four final exams and said cheerio to Hong Kong. Here are 107 photos from 5 months abroad.
• Made the xxx-60 minutes voyage back to Arizona. Hainan airlines only lost i of my bags along the way!

June

• Spent an all-too-short 72 hours in AZ before moving my belongings to San Francisco for the summer, where I would exist sharing a room with Jacob (and an apartment with my other two friends Ilan and Justin). Crazy rent prices aside, it was heady to exist back in San Francisco (for the 3rd summer in a row).
• I started my internship every bit a production manager at Alloy. Was lucky to have an opportunity to work with (and learn from) world-course operators tackling actually important problems. Thankful to have worked with an crawly squad and super helpful mentor/managing director (Greg). Gained lots of experiences/insights → one week in, I flew to Seattle to spend a 24-hour interval with some of our customers.
• Participated in a program as a Floodgate Insider, where I adumbral a VC firm and met some really awesome people (cheers Ann, Mike, Mitchell, and Sachi).

July

• Continued with several erstwhile and many new friends in SF. Put together a couple of events, one in conjunction with Ron, another with Ian, and several more with Rahul. Actually crawly feeling bringing together a various set of interesting thinkers together. I had dozens of really interesting conversations throughout July, some of my favorite were with helpful friends Andy, David, Johnathan, Jonathan, Logan , Valentin , and many many more.
• Fell into a routine (for the get-go time in months)…worked long days and had a consistent exercise schedule. Spent a lot of fourth dimension hanging at Dolores and playing spike brawl. quaternary of July was fun!
• Road-tripped to Tahoe with Ilan, Jacob, Justin, and Kevin — went tubing and did a fourteen mile hike (where we ran out of water, surprised we fabricated it).

August

• Went to Outside Lands (for the offset time)— saw Illenium and Time to come.
• Spent a weekend in Arizona, hung out with family unit and friends.
• As our lease expired, I spent the last two weeks living with Alex, Ben, Ezaan, and Vihar in the Mission. Then finished up my 12-calendar week internship in San Francisco…packed and returned to St. Louis for the start of my Senior Year.
• When I got dorsum to school, I wrote an essay titled "Dearest Freshman Me ." I also decided I would not be participating in job recruiting. Moving in off-campus was rushed and hectic (thankfully had my housemates Ben and Noah effectually). Because I went abroad, being back at school was peculiarly new and exciting. "Welcome Calendar week," before classes ramp upwardly, is always a super fun time of the semester.

September

• Published an essay nigh how I call back phones are casinos → I deleted my precious Instagram account, turned my phone black and white, and really started trying to capeesh presence. Learning slows downwardly fourth dimension (h/t Arjun Sethi).
• Moved my entire life into Notion (replacing Evernote) and as well began a personal curriculum, where I learned a lot about various topics including The Mongols, hydroponics, waste management, and urban center building (accept since scaled back this exercise).
• After ii years of sales (to dozens of countries and nearly every state), Daniel, Jeremy, and I decided to shut downward Disrupt Cards.

October

• Road tripped to Nashville with a bunch of people (s/o Fannie four driving) for the Breakaway Music Festival — saw DJ Diesel, Blau, Illenium, Lil Pump, and Lil Skies.
• Went to Chicago for WashU's Senior Trip — ate great Pizza, caught up with alumni, and explored the metropolis. Also went to an Oktoberfest festival in St. Louis.
• Darshil Patel, Maas Lalani, and I launched Remove Vanity Metrics, which was covered by Taylor Lorenz in The Atlantic.
• I wrote an essay about productivity and did a pocket-sized interview with NBC on the topic of structured procrastination (h/t Marc).
• Road tripped with Noah, Ben, and Kenny to Hermann, Missouri (pocket-sized Bavarian town of 3,000 people) for Oktoberfest.

November

• Darshil, Maas, and I then launched Just Focus — a elementary website blocker for chrome (which now has over 1300 downloads). We also congenital Founder Rewind which received tens of thousands of page views.
• Jacob and I, inspired past Daniel Gross, launched Magnet — a simple way to collect e-mail responses in a google sheet.
• I traveled to Duke to visit my brother Adam and close friend Jarred. Checked off a bucket list detail of going to a Duke basketball game. Also dislocated my shoulder that weekend.
• Darshil, Maas, Gavin, and I created CreateASignature — got thousands of uses. That aforementioned week, we quickly built FinalGradeCalc — a dead elementary tool for computing what you lot need on your final.
• I published The Point — a handy list of l+ loftier growth companies.
• Jacob and I went to see a alive showing of Wild 'N Out — was a super funny feel.

Dec

• Ben Lang and I ran an experiment where we introduced hundreds of highly ambitious makers to i another. Got actually good feedback and we are looking to do this over again in Jan. Allow me know if you want to be included.
• Held several "Moonshots Events," where a few friends and I get together and hash out various interesting things going on in the world. Likewise hosted a few dinners (and promise to do more of these next year) and a Chanukah political party.
• My friend Brent and I went on a spontaneous take chances across Missouri to attend the Chargers vs. Chiefs game (a big thank you to Russell Okung for that experience).
• Passed my concluding exams and completed my Figurer Science major…will be finishing my Finance major and graduating side by side semester.

Aaaand that brings us to today…I recently flew dwelling house to Arizona and will be here for a few more days. On December 24th, I am flying to New York Urban center and then spending the adjacent 3 weeks traveling to Holland, Kingdom of belgium, Hungary, India, and Hong Kong with four of my close friends (Kenny, Noah, Tej, and Vihar). Please let me know if you have whatever recommendations…should be some other adventure. I'll be tweeting.

2019 will be exciting…I have a lot to piece of work on.

Cheers and so much for reading about my year. As I mentioned before, I owe everything to everyone. I am so lucky and I give thanks y'all for all of the support.

I hope you (and your family/friends) have had a salubrious, fulfilling year.

I wish you the best in 2019.

if at that place is annihilation I can practice to assistance, please achieve out

If you lot have never met me before, here is some more about me.

Best means to stay continued?

• My newsletter and my Twitter
• My email is jordangonen 1 at gmail dot com.

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# travel# 2018# learning# yr-in-review# personal-growth

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