It’s April, which means it’s a new month and also a new quarter if you want to think of a year divided into quarters. A great opportunity to look at the first 25% of the year 2024. Looking at mine, I see light and shadow.

I started the year with a ton of motivation and clarity about my next steps. Professionally, I wanted to transition my existing client projects where I’m holding a software development position into a higher-level role of architecture and leadership, and also build out my personal brand and a marketing strategy to acquire additional projects with API consulting roles. The transition was quite successful in one project but still ongoing in others. In January, I actively worked on planning the next steps for my freelance business. The subsequent one would have been the implementation of the plan, starting with launching a new website and landing page. However, I didn’t do much in February and March. The reasons were that I was busy with day-to-day business in existing projects and also a couple of events and travel, but I can’t blame them entirely. Previously, together with a coach who helped me with the transition, I had also established a daily routine as a framework. The coaching ended in January. After falling sick for a few days in February, I got sidetracked and no longer followed my routine. The only thing that stuck was the weekly review, but that wasn’t enough to keep me on the rails. During the sick days I started watching a TV series that got me hooked so badly, that even after recovery, I watched a few too many episodes every night, went to sleep late, and couldn’t follow my routine the next morning because I slept in. After six seasons of Supergirl in less than six weeks, I’ve sworn that I will only watch TV shows with a weekly release schedule or mini-series.

Outside of work and productivity, things are looking slightly better. I managed to get a medical checkup that I already wanted to do last year, and besides a severe Vitamin D deficiency, which I’m treating with a prescribed supplement now, my body seems to be in good condition. I turned my simmering motivation for building community into action, hosted my first two-hour party, and already sent the invites for the second iteration. Besides this party at home, I also hosted a proper salon-type discussion event for Interintellect with a friend in Berlin and went to the community building retreat for German Effective Altruists to extend my network outside of professional connections. At the retreat, I had a great 1:1 conversation with one of the directors, who has a similar background. It both confirmed my path and gave me some new ideas about professional networking which simultaneously supports other communities like Effective Altruism.

For April, I’ve decided to go on a bit of a social media fast. I can’t go completely dark, but I’m restricting my use of all my social platforms to professional and promotional reasons. A few tweets and also a conversation with a friend with a more “analog” life motivated me to take that step. Social media can be beneficial, but only if we use it, not if it uses us. Another related goal is to go back and be more consistent with my daily routine, which enforces some non-digital me-time in the morning. While these goals are mostly about reducing distractions and gaining focus, I also have a more explicit and active goal, and that is to finally launch my new website and landing page this month and start with active outreach to new clients. Wish me luck, and I’ll keep you updated.