2020 review in 8 forms of capital

Since 2016, I had been using the 8 forms of capital framework by Ethan Roland & Gregory Landua, to think ahead for what I would like to achieve for the year. For the uninitiated, the 8 forms are:

💵 Financial capital: money, financial instruments, investments

⚒️ Material capital: possessions, natural resources, tools, infrastructure

🌲 Living capital: nature, land, ecosystems, animals, health (my own addition)

💡 Intellectual capital: ideas, knowledge, words, images, intellectual property

💪 Experiential capital: action, embodied experienced, worldly wisdom

👥 Social capital: connections, relationships, influence

🎨 Cultural capital: song, story, ritual, art, theatre, community customs

⛩️ Spiritual capital: prayer, faith, beliefs, spiritual attainment

I love how it frames my thinking holistically, beyond the usual career, family, health kind of life goals. The main idea is that capital isn’t just financial; it is also all these other 7 of them, which are just as important (if not more important), and other forms of capital can be transformed into financial capital and vice versa. Since last year I framed the 8 forms in terms of intentions rather than SMART goals style, because it felt like I needed a broader vision behind the specific tasks I would be doing, and framing them in intentions seem like a useful approach.

My intentions for 2020 were, and the results:

💵 Financial: Be audacious and earn $1mil ARR by 1 Jan 2021

• This intention was the only one that was specific, and it totally flopped. But I would say I achieved the first part of it by being even daring enough to try.

⚒️ Material: Via negativa - remove more, tidy often.

• COVID seemed to have forced this mightily well on me. Everything non-essential just fell away when the lockdowns came down and stay-home directives came up. I would say this was a success, though more circumstantial than intentional. (*Also, be careful what you wish for!)

🌲 Living: Stabilize my health on ketofast, get into more biohacking.

• Early 2020 saw me lose so much weight (11kg) through keto that I became too gaunt. Happy to report that I gained some of that back, the dad bod belly is gone, and I’m feeling more stable on keto ever than before. In fact, am doing a a more meat-heavy keto now, like 80% carnivore, 20% keto.

💡 Intellectual: Continue reading everyday - money, coding, biohacking, growth. Whatever sparks my curiosity.

• I was reading like a crazed man in early 2020 - Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, Head Strong, The Millionaire Next Door, Super Human, Think And Grow Rich. But since COVID killed the commute, my reading had all but went to zero. On the contrary, my podcast consumption had replaced reading, and I’m blazing through them so fast that I’m running out of great content to listen to. It centers mostly around (a lot of) coding and productivity. Notable dev podcasts that I love - Remotely Interesting, Syntax, Shoptalk, Indie Hackers, and of course, Joe Rogan.

💪 Experiential: Consistency is key. Practice makes perfect. Remember that for career, coding and health.

• Somehow, having a baby and working from home had set up a perfect environment for consistency. I coded daily for 100 days straight (#100daysofcode), switched from being a night owl to a 6am early bird, and do my tiny exercises daily.

👥 Social: Less real-life interactions, less local, more online connections, more global.

• Again, it’s chilling how this went down due to COVID. Safe distancing, staying/working from home meant everything went online. Being the introvert I am, this really worked well for me.

🎨 Cultural: Enjoy what fascinates me, embrace the weird - space, alternative history, Japan.

• Not much culture or the arts in 2020. Made worse when travel is non-existent. If geek/dev subculture counts, then I truly immersed myself into that. James Clear talked in Atomic Habits about how to make habits really stick you got to also invest in the identity. Through podcasts, talking to other devs and other media consumption, I’d definitely dived deep into slowly morphing my sense of identity as a web developer (from “I’m not a coder” to “Oh I can code now.” to “I feel like a dev now”).

⛩️ Spiritual: Trial by fire of fatherhood. Surprise me baby.

• Trial by fire indeed. All the birth classes leading up to a self-managed home birth. The months of sleepless nights after. All the worrying and stress about the mom’s recovery and baby’s growth. “Surprise me” is probably an understatement. But am not complaining. Sometimes pain is sweet.

And so my intentions for 2021 are:

to be continued…