[6/20-6/26] 2026 Goal Progress

Health

My first personal training session in 1.5 months

Went back to the personal gym after a while. I'd let a month and a half slip by.

This time the menu was the Big 3 at lighter weights but higher reps. My whole body is nicely sore in a good way.

Because of the long gap, I had the trainer walk me through my form again, and honestly it went really well. My lower back was a little sore during deadlifts, but now the soreness has settled right into the middle of my back. Taking a bit of rest is actually important, I realized.

Sleep

Sleep averaged about 6 hours. A bit short.

So on Wednesday I forced in a nap. My overall rhythm isn't really falling apart, though.

Still haven't quit smoking (but I did quit drinking)

Honestly, I haven't managed to quit smoking.

I still end up smoking when I drink. So first I think I should cut back on alcohol. For what it's worth, I didn't drink at all this week.

My plan is to build a habit of chewing nicotine gum instead. First I should quit that first IQOS of the morning. Drop the IQOS for a few weeks, switch to gum, and step it down gradually like that. I just wish there were a cigarette with no nicotine in it.

Work

A PM designed and shipped an internal product end to end

Work was mostly heads-down, steady stuff.

But non-engineer members are starting to use AI hard too. There was a plan to build an internal gallery site to collect the ideas and prototypes people thought were cool, and a PM designed the whole thing and took it all the way to deployment themselves. That was pretty shocking.

On the flip side, the specialized parts — security, CDN, DNS — are the kind of thing a PM just can't reach if they start from zero. That became clear too.

In other words, combine the right expertise and you can casually ship a whole product. And I was able to put my own specialty into words: "Oh, this is what I'm good at." That part really stuck with me.

Challenges

If I had to name one, thinking about moving abroad, I'd like to level up more as an AI engineer. But I just don't have the time.

So I want to catch up little by little through things like internal products.

Money

Investments are all over the place, but I'm not intervening

No big moves in saving or investing.

US stocks are just dropping right now, so my portfolio is pretty deep in the red. Sometimes profits pop up, but it's hit or miss. Ten steps forward, six steps back, that kind of feel.

But since I don't intervene at all, I find it kind of interesting to just watch.

Home cooking and paid articles

If I had to highlight something, I cooked at home a lot this week.

As for the paid article gig, I've made it to the next step, so I think it's going well.

Prep for moving abroad

Honestly, no real progress. I keep thinking I need to get on it.

That said, I'm keeping up my English study on Duolingo — 177-day streak achieved.

Closing

I didn't quit smoking, but I did quit drinking this week. I also got back to the gym, so not bad.

Next week: cut back on alcohol, keep exercising, keep cooking at home. And do my best on English study, taking it one doable step at a time toward moving abroad.