David Park
One week left in the Residency.
Today we began preparations for Demo Day. Our event planners came over to the house to scope out the space and to plan out logistics like how many seats we could fit in, sound, equipment, catering, and more. It's crazy to think that the residency is almost coming to an end, but at the same time there's so much time left. Seven days is a long time. In the world of AI-assisted coding, seven days is enough time to launch a brand new production app from scratch. In the grand scheme of the residency, seven days is twenty-five percent.
It's easy to get complacent or to coast for the rest of the month. Most people tend to coast near the end, but this is the time to consciously make a decision and an effort to finish strong.
The strangest thing always happens around this time of the year, every year. People's minds are already on the next year. I'm already starting to see people post resolutions for 2026. The typical cliché phrases like, "2025 sucks, 2026 is going to be my year”, or “finally 2025 is over” are littering the timeline. We're not even in the last month of the year yet. For most people, this is the time where we're close enough to the end that people just tend to check out. It is these moments that separates the high achievers and the rest of the population.
Every year for at least the last ten years, I followed the same routine: The day that I write down my New Year's resolutions is the first day that I make an effort to adhere to them. If I write down my resolutions on December 5th, then I start to work towards them on December 5th. Most people will treat the rest of the year as one last hurrah. It's like that final cigarette before you promise you will quit smoking. But change starts with mindset. And if the mindset isn't there, then the change will be short-lived.
December is 8.3% of the entire year. That's a pretty good chunk of the year. In thirty-one days of December, you can launch an entire company. You can be well on your way to your fitness and health goals. You can become a subject matter expert on a new topic. One month is a long, long time.
Similarly, one week at the residency is a long time. Even as one of the hosts, it's easy for me to start to cruise. Instead, I must remember how important these last seven days are. I should wake up every single day and realize how precious that day is and look optimistically at how much can be achieved in that single day. I'm grateful to have seven more such days and I cannot take them for granted. My goal for the next seven days is to do just that. Wake up in the morning and set actionable goals for that day. Anything worth doing, do it to the best of my ability, and anything not worth doing move to the side for more important pursuits.
Keep your head in the game, focus, and FINISH STRONG.