There is a harsh truth that you might not be ready for yet.
But here it is anyway: we are born with an implicit warranty, and it expires sooner than you might think.
I’m 37, and it takes me a week to recover after a sleepless night. At 27, I could do a couple of white nights every month. At 17, I was a night owl, going to bed in the morning.
My point is that I’m approaching the expiration date of my warranty, and my body shows it.
Think of your body as a brand-new car fresh from the factory.
For the first few decades, everything runs smoothly — the engine hums, the suspension feels tight, the paint still shines. But somewhere in your 40s, the warranty quietly expires. From that point on, every squeak, oil leak, or check-engine light is no longer covered.
Everything depends on how well you maintained your car to that point, and how you will maintain it going forward—the fuel you put in, how often you change the oil, whether you drive it carefully or burn the tires.
Neglect it, and it will break down early. Care for it, and it can keep running far beyond what the manufacturer promised.
Now, let me ask you, when was the last time you took your car to service?
Monthly Challenges
Daily mindfulness
Daily reading sessions
Here’s one thing about me: I’m highly susceptible to stress, and, apparently, I‘m not that good at managing it, yet.
In fact, you could tell when stress turns chronic because my skin will give me away. It gets aesthetic and itchy.
That’s why my physician recommended that I practice mindfulness in the morning and combine it with breath exercises during stressful moments.
I had a 48% success rate.
As for my other monthly challenge, daily reading sessions, I only had a 13% success rate.
It’s not yet clear what caused me to read less—either writing or exercising in the morning, or both; however, I’m committed to changing this and starting to read again.
Growth Objectives
Well-Being
There is one idea that has been brewing in my mind lately—to become an Ironman Finisher.
I’m not interested in achieving a crazy time goal, only to finish the race in the cut-off times—the classic ultra-endurance triathlon:
Swim: 3.8 km (2.4 miles)
Bike: 180 km (112 miles)
Run: 42.2 km (26.2 miles—marathon)
This is a big one for me, and there is a long way to go until I can reach my goal, so I split it into four sustainable milestones:
End a Sprint Triathlon (Swim 750m, Bike 20km, Run 5km) while I’m still 37; I have 6 months left to achieve it.
Do an Olympic Triathlon (Swim: 1.5km, Bike 40km, Run 10km) at 38,
Finish a Half Ironman (Swim 1.9km, Bike 90km, Run 21.1km) at 39,
Complete an Ironman (Swim 2.8km, Bike 180km, Run 42.2km) at the age of 40.
Seeing all these milestones written down, I can already spot my weaknesses and improvement points:
For the Sprint and Olympic Triathlon, I need to (re)learn how to swim.
For the Half Ironman, I also need to grow my endurance for biking.
For the Ironman, I need to further grow my endurance for all three sports.
With these high-level guidelines in mind, for 2025#Q4, I will focus on making the first baby steps towards milestone no. 1, and that is finishing an indoor Super Sprint Triathlon (Swim 400m, Bike 10km, Run 2.5km):
KR1: Swim 400m at an average pace of 2:30min/100m.
KR2: Bike 10km at an average speed of 25km/h.
KR3: Run 2.5km at an average pace of 5:00min/km.
KR4: Finish the Super Sprint Triathlon in under 50 minutes (including transitions).
Productivity and Mastery
As I mentioned in last month's issue, AI is here to stay. Thus, going further, I would like to learn how it can enhance my baseline productivity and mastery.
That’s why, for Q4#2025, I decided to focus on my foundational abilities with AI.
And since I don’t know where to start, I will begin with an online course, focusing on three pillars—Learning × Doing × Teaching:
M1: Complete the Generative AI for Everyone course
M2: Apply what I learned in my daily activities
M3: Teach what I learned in my community
Closing Thoughts
As I write these final words, I realise that, if I look at all commitments in my life, health and well-being have become my top priorities.
That’s why I allocate more time to think about my well-being than I tend to work on my productivity or mastery. It’s not that they are not important; however, they are not that important at this moment.
Although at first glance it may look like I want to become an Ironman Finisher just to own the title, my real drive is to establish healthy habits that will help me achieve the good life.
The Ironman Finisher title is just a milestone to help me get there. I’m sure that by focusing on this challenging goal, I will have to break some bad habits and replace them with other, more sustainable ones.
—Alex