q1 2026: wins, learnings, and what i'm keeping

A quarter of 2026 is done. Let’s check in on a few wins and learnings.

1/ Journaling

Journaling has been going great. I’m actually quite surprised at how consistent I’ve been. The most impactful thing for me has been writing a quick 3–5 minute review of the day and having a checkbox for whether or not I hit my goal. At the end of the week, I go through everything that happened for 15–30 minutes and see what worked and what didn’t.

Enjoying the entire process has been my most powerful tool. If you don’t enjoy the process, you’re much less likely to achieve your goal.

2/ Grad school

I’m almost done with my first class in my Master’s program. ML4T (Machine Learning for Trading) has been interesting. The material is intellectually stimulating, but the structure of the class and how writing-heavy the projects are is a little annoying. Despite the fact that I want to get better at writing, I’m not enjoying the academic version of it.

3/ Gym

I’ve lost 11 lbs. And I’m the strongest I’ve ever been. That’s a win.

I also want to call out that there have been some weeks where I’m not as consistent as I’d like. The most important piece of advice I could share: be kind to yourself. It’s simple — make sure you’re always on your side. Don’t be mean to yourself. If you slip up one day or do something you’re not supposed to, don’t give yourself an excuse, but call it out and move on. Don’t beat yourself up over things. Keep the system stupidly simple. That’s my biggest learning from this quarter.

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A few more months until summer. Let’s end strong. I’d like to lose some more weight and hit more PRs — but I’m sure that’ll come in due time.

Updating the system

For my “how i’m setting goals for 2026” post — here’s what I’m keeping and what I’m dropping:

Keeping:

• Daily goals
• Weekly goals

Dropping:

• Yearly mantra — I’m not sure how effective this is. I don’t find myself connecting each week back to the yearly mantra. A year is too far out.

— Vish