Now
Last updated on 4 March 2024 in Taipei, Taiwan 🇹🇼.
This is a /now page inspired by Derek Sivers. This is the place where I describe what I’ve been up to recently, what I’m currently focused on, and talk about some short-term goals. When I first learned about this concept, it immediately appeared very appealing to me because I rarely use social media.
The concept is quite straightforward, and if you would like to learn more about it, visit this website. If you have your own personal website, you may want to consider making a /now page too.
What I’m Doing Now
2024 Theme
My yearly theme for 2024 is the year of focus. I want to focus on areas I am already involved in and stop exploring new things that I may potentially be interested in. The last few years for me have definitely been full of experimentation; I certainly found it productive and insightful, but that phase should cease now.
Key areas of focus:
- learning about finance and venture building (plus making money by utilizing that knowledge),
- improving my Chinese,
- taking better care of my family members.
Work/Learning Update
Since the end of last summer, I started a new job in a field that is completely new to me – biotechnology. I joined a startup accelerator that is mainly focused on providing new cell and gene therapy (CGT) ventures with assistance and expertise in fundraising and business development.
Transitioning into this new field has not been easy. In the last few months, I’ve spent countless hours learning about the most important concepts in regenerative medicine and startup development at the same time. There is still a long way ahead of me, but for now, I feel quite satisfied with the progress I’ve achieved.
So far, I found the venture building/finance-related part of my job most interesting and accessible. This is the list of resources I’ve been studying whenever I have some free time (some of them I’m still going through):
- Principles of Corporate Finance by Richard Brealey, Stewart Myers, and Franklin Allen - this book does an incredible job of explaining all sorts of financial terms and concepts in an easy-to-understand way.
- Valuation by Aswath Damodaran - Aswath teaches finance and valuation at NYU, I’ve used many resources from his website/blog and watched hours of his lectures from the very expensive NYU courses that are published on YouTube for free.
- 7.016 Introductory Biology by the MIT Biology Department - exactly what it says; my brain still struggles with understanding some of these introductory concepts.
What Is on My Mind
- I play squash and football almost every week.
- I got infected with COVID-19 last month, and I’m still recovering from it. Once I’m fully recovered, I want to go back to running at least once a week.
- I try to watch all Arsenal games that are not broadcasted in the middle of the night. One of the worst parts about living in Asia is being able to rarely watch live football matches.
- I am quite excited for the 2024 European elections. I plan to vote here in Taipei.
- Hoping to visit my family in Poland during the summer, but I have yet to start planning the trip.
What I’m Currently Reading
- The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami
- When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World’s Most Powerful Consulting Firm by Walt Bogdanich & Michael Forsythe
- The Partnership: The Making of Goldman Sachs by Charles D. Ellis
What I’m Currently Playing
- Dead Islands 2 on Xbox
- Forza Motorsport on Xbox
- Super Mario 3D All-Stars on Nintendo Switch
- Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker on Nintendo Switch
Most Recent Quote I Saved
“Because the human heart, even when it wants to die, quite often wants at the same time to eat some tteokbokki, too.” - found in I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki: A Memoir by Baek Sehee