(Dec 2019 Update) What Will I Be Known For In My 30’s?

About 8 months ago I turned 30 and about 7 months ago I wrote about what I want to be known for in my 30’s. I figure it’s time to look back at what I wrote and give an update to see if I lived up to my words. Most people say a lot but only a few actually do so it’s only right that I hold myself accountable for the things I say. 

I claimed I wanted to be a better “me” in my 30’s. So let’s start from the top.

1. “I will keep my body so healthy and fit that if I played my 20-year-old self in a game of 1-on-1 — I would force that game to come down to IQ instead of freakish athleticism — my 30-year-old self would easily dominate.”

I lived up to this. With a lot of tinkering with diet and exercise, I managed to reduce my body weight to 160 pounds with about 10% body fat. For context I don’t remember the last time I was under 170, maybe in middle school? Much of this motivation was behind winning a basketball tournament that I played in during Thanksgiving break. Well my team won and I felt like I was 20 years old again playing with unlimited stamina and energy. 

I did this by playing ball/joining those awful group fitness classes that were cardio based at least 3-4x a week, mixed in with a vegetarian diet and intermittent fasting. I say awful because I’m the loner type when it comes to working out however all the classes I did at Trufusion kicked my ass so I kept coming back for more. Additionally I chose to eat within a 6 hour time frame daily and only snacked on nuts and low carb/low saturated fat foods. This really worked for me. 

I’m not done yet though, I plan on being on top for the next 10 years so that means more work. I feel really weak on the court because of all the muscle and fat that I lost. I don’t like getting pushed around in the post as I was always the one doing the pushing around and dominating down low. I plan to add some muscle back, keep my stamina high and increase my lower body strength. I’ll be eating about 80% vegetarian while sticking to the 6 hour time frame for food consumption.  

2. “I will be a smarter, wiser, and more data-driven leader who will build multiple profit-generating engines with a focus on passive income. This will allow me to solve bigger and more challenging worldly problems, while still maintaining a “high-energy-and-crazy-thirst-for-knowledge” attitude.”

This is still a work in progress but happy to report that I am at about 10% of my passive income goal. This is due to a mix of oil, real estate and e-commerce investments that are giving me a monthly check. I don’t include my non-cash flow generating investments nor my public portfolio in this bucket on purpose. Hopefully I can maintain increasing this goal 10% year by year so that in 10 years I reach 100% of my passive income goal.

I don’t know if I am any smarter but the wisdom is continuously growing day by day. It’s hard not to become wiser day by day when you are constantly surrounded by smarter people and have a thirst for acquiring knowledge. I’m thinking more analytical and forcing myself to make data-driven decisions as I think about the next 10 years and what I need to accomplish. I realized that if I keep asking myself the question “what data do I have to back this up?” that I slowly started to train my mind to think data first and execution based off the data second. 

3. “I will be a more impactful teacher who openly shares his knowledge, inspiring an entire generation of hungry students, entrepreneurs, professionals, and investors. I will teach that you can still be a genuine person and make positive impact on the world all while still making bank.“

I really cant speak for my students or the people that reach out for advice, but if you ask me if I’m making an impact my reply is “not enough.” I don’t know if I’ll ever be satisfied with the amount of impact I make on someone simply because I am not of that “helping 1 person at a time” mindset. Nothing wrong with that mindset, it’s just not me. I want to help billions and yes I know it’s not a great way to approach it.

However I’m not so humble that I don’t notice the positive impact I am making on people. I notice it because in turn it has a very positive impact on me. The people I impact have more of an impact on my mental than they realize. I should really be thanking them. It’s crazy how that works.

4. ”I will shred my arrogance and check my ego for those people I truly care about, constantly reminding them how important they are to me. I will make a stronger effort to spend more time and create more precious memories with them.”

Ego is being checked but it’s as strong as ever. I need it to be strong and I don’t see myself changing that mindset anytime soon. I’d like to claim that my arrogance is being shredded but the reality is that I will never be able to control what others think of me and I’m sure many still see me as an arrogant asshole. I can happily say that I don’t feel as arrogant as I once was so that’s a win for now. I just need to continue being aware of it and do better to control my thoughts and emotions. 

I have failed in reminding important people in my life how much they really mean to me. I have not been able to spend more time with them. I can sit here and lie that I will do better here for the next year but I know I wont. I am too focused on my work-related goals right now and nothing will snap me out of this tunnel vision focus. I really don’t even feel bad about it. As of now I enjoy being in my cave and interacting with as least amount of people as possible. Maybe in a few years this can become a priority again but for now it’s a sacrifice for what I see as the greater good for myself.

5.  “And finally, I will train and control the only thing that has always prevented me from achieving true happiness: my mind.“

I struggled to figure out what to say here. I want to say I’m making progress towards this but I have zero data backing it. I am not meditating even though every month I tell myself I’ll start but it’s not like I’m highly anxious or stressed. I have the right amount of anxiety, stress and fear in my life. I wonder if meditating will really help me transcend to the next level. I don’t know, the mind is the most powerful muscle we often neglect to train. I’ll report back when I have more experiences to share with some data backing it up. For now this is neither a fail or success.

That’s my update. For the record, I am still willing to bet on myself more than anyone else and I still am surrounded by a phenomenal supporting cast that has my back. I still have many unfair advantages over the general population but I worked hard for them so I don’t feel bad. I plan to continue building more and more unfair advantages and hopefully using them to my advantage so I can help even out the playing field for others. 

Shahzil 3.0 is still learning and getting familiar with his new powers. The potential is there.