Hey y’all 👋🏼 I hope you’ve been enjoying Sana’s Notes so far, if there is anything you’d like to hear about from me, just hit the Reply button and let me know! I hope you enjoy this week’s catch-up.

— Sana Tabassum

🍎 food for thought

Welcome back to my little corner of the Internet 🌎 it’s been a while hasn’t it? I won’t go into details because I’m not trying to write an essay here but I took some time off of ‘creating’ in the last few weeks of December and also ended up detoxing from social media for a while too. It was pretty refreshing so I might make it a yearly thing from now on. I was pretty sick last month, wasn’t really feeling up to scratch and just needed a break from everything to recharge. Luckily, no signs of burnout.

This year began on a Monday, a new week, a new month - the perfect way to enter 2024 right? But is it just me or does the 1st of January always feel a bit lazy? I mean, I certainly didn’t spend New Year’s Eve in some extravagant way. But there’s always a sense of pause in the air that you can’t avoid. However, January is the month of opportunities. Everyone’s looking to level up and start new habits (or break bad ones) and reinvent themselves or finally do that thing they’ve been putting off. Sure, it doesn’t hurt to try something new. But I think my subconscious is beginning to realise that I’m spreading myself thin way before I make that realisation myself.

Last week I put together a vision board. It was a fun activity and I genuinely found myself reflecting on why I want to achieve the goals I do and what the bigger picture looks like for me. I also started a journal that documents the ‘little things’. I don’t intend to journal every single day purely because I know it will put me off. Instead, I’m documenting the things I’m enjoying and small moments and memories I might want to look back on one day.

What I’ve learned 👇🏼

• This is the best time of year to declutter. Be it mentally, physically or digitally. I ended up decluttering a lot of junk from my study and room and organising things to be slightly more streamlined has been quite enjoyable.

• Don’t stress about having a SMART goal or a 10-step thought-out plan alongside your goals. Just start by listing them out and take it from there. The immense pressure we have to aim higher and achieve more might be a hindrance.

• Identify what is worth your energy. I’m trying to do a lot in the space of a month, and I know it’ll mean I will eventually need to sacrifice some ideas but it also means I’m giving more energy to the ones I know are worth it.

🍗 content nuggets

Remember Threads? Yeah, I totally dropped off of there after about a week. But it seems like there is still somewhat of a community brewing over there and since I’m no longer on Twitter, this additional social platform is a nice break from Instagram. Sadly, there are a few creators who will tell you how to optimise every single aspect of your life and then sell you their course or product or whatever but I prefer the raw thoughts from people like you and me.

One such post is below.

My favourite part of this thread is ‘grow with obsession’. I believe that it does take a level of obsession with one’s craft to get better than great. To achieve more, you do have to be slightly unhinged. Not to the point of overworking yourself or chasing overnight success but simply to fall in love with what you do with your time.

On a similar branch, the post below talks about the idea of rest in today’s hustle culture.

I like to think I’m bringing a fresh perspective to the table when talking about how architecture students don’t need to be pulling all-nighters or working themselves to the point of exhaustion and that there are ways of approaching this challenging degree with a holistic approach. This post made me stop in my tracks.

When I decided to stop posting content for a while and even log out of Instagram, I was taking my foot off the gas. In the back of my mind, I was constantly thinking about my growth or what I would need to post next without even realising that my tank was empty so to speak.

🦋 magic sauces

I’ve been reading Ali Abdaal’s book, Feel-Good Productivity. A project that took him about 3 and a half years to complete. I remember when Ali first started mentioning that he was working on a book and as someone who feels like writing comes fairly easy to me, I was confused as to why it’s taken him so long to publish.

I’m only about halfway through right now (determined to finish by the end of the week) but I see that there’s a lot more than just anecdotal lessons. It’s heavily researched and has science-backed studies to convey frameworks and ideas that make up the formula for feel-good productivity.

I’m keen to see how the upcoming webinar complements the book so will report back next week. The one thing I do admire is that Ali has gone through a significant career change and as a creator, balanced his pursuit of doing what he enjoys with designing a life that is beyond sustainable.

🔥 on the back burner

I’ve already told you guys about Open Studio and as part of this initiative to help students on the ground rather than passively through content, I’m offering tutorials to students who may be struggling. The premise is very simple. If you’ve got a design question, need some clarity with an essay or just want advice on how to get yourself organised for this new semester, you just have to book a slot.

This will run every Monday this month from 10 am to 3 pm so if you feel like a 30-minute chat might help you find your feet or get unblocked, all you have to do is book through this link. That’s it.

I’m hoping this will help me make more connections with the archi-community and help me to help you guys as well. I know I’m not a professionally trained teacher but I have been where you are and I think a little guidance doesn’t hurt.

— Sana x