The routine of the work week and the pressure of our job responsibilities can often get the best of us. However, whether it's putting more effort into your job, or finding one that makes you truly happy, its time to commit to your career.
"Late night from wedding, so ran out of time. I could have probably squeezed it in later on, But I need clarity on where I'm going back to work. I think I just need to go back to the cycle."
"12-18-25
Today I accounted for debts and made plans to pay over a three figure payment. Checked car parking to make sure I did not get a ticket. More importantly, I finally got credit approval. Research has paid off…"
"Good week, I guess. Was dragging until Cavallo's email. Moved to finish the snippet review. Got cars more ready or almost ready. Drove Uber on target and dropped yesterday. Concerned that it is a real drop. Funny how inertia is inertia. Running super low on cash. Part of me is wanting to test the edge and not to do what is in front of me - so weird. Lynh (PT from San Rafael) dropped, then Laura (uber, yale), and Lisa continues but also into psych world which is great and bad. Haha. Tried a double dose of meds at one point. Deep rabbit hole digs into Sumer/Uruk and the broader historical synthesis along with the econ contribution. Overall, not solid. Real need is to start on schedule on focusmate and adhere to a timeline until the timeline brings confidence and then energy will flow into tasks and not above tasks. "
"12-16-25
Having factory reset my pc, out of a need for storage space, I reconfigure all previous programs and installations. Not complete with all installations. This took up 6 hours. Scheduled other appointments today. "
"94 mins. Across the day. Figured out some important stuff about my songwriting and the pressure I am putting on myself with each song. Make it deeply personal message to one person, not for judgment of the masses. This is music to be listened to alone, write it like it. "
"12-14-25
Continued researching vm configuration for pc. Studied Spanish. Grew a new mindset that I will allow me to get the most out of life and employable for any job. Meditated."
"12-15-25
Woke up by 6am today. Scheduled doctors visit for Wednesday. Also scheduled software engineering job screening w recruiter for 2:30pm, 1 hour later. Need to call back/reschedule tomorrow. Finally set up virtual box vm on pc. Took me 6 hours. Had to factory reset two pc for this. Summed up, both those resets took up 4 hours total."
"12-13-25
Updating day accomplishments soon. Phone n computer crash today/ emergency.
Spent an hour reviewing Spanish vocabulary flashcards. Completed and submitted interview assessment request.
Responded to direct message for fun hobbies nearby.
"
"12-12-25
Developed an outline for the upcoming project. Checked university's online portal for any new announcements or updates. Sent a reply confirming availability for volunteer opportunities.
"
"dropped tosch. slow weekend but slower now without an aob deadline. back on uber and adjusting it to fit exactly so that i can still do cognitive work. it is partly unbelievable that i can manage it. perhaps focalin/strattera combo is what is allowing me to do this write up at all. without it, i would be brain-mush and done. so perhaps there is a way with the meds to do both. lets see. turo is almost on. in next 5 hr block, i will try to squeeze it with uber and remove delivery until i can. basically manage time and not revenue."
"December 9th 2025
Research affordable degree programs... Came close to applying for a credit. A lot more comfortable to do this now, because I have a general good understanding of credit cards and how it operates... Research local hobbies to join..
"
"December 10th 2025
3:30 pm -4:00 pm:2 Biz Cert
-------------------------- At this interval, I spent my time logging througha flash card set. I have a goal to get through 400 cards a day. Read through flash cards for study related to a business credential.
4:00 pm -4:30 pm: ProjSort (Gff, Hrest, Soc, MoLife)
4:30 pm -5:00 pm: Sport Hobbies (Gff, Hrest, Soc, MoLife)
5:00 PM - 5:30 PM: Notetake wGaps (Gff, Hrest, Soc, MoLife)
------------------------------ At this period, I choose to tend to personal that will lead to better work life balance and quality of life.
5:30 PM - 6:00 PM: Short-Term Experience01
6:00 PM - 6:30 PM: GigWork1 & GigWork2
6:30 PM - 7:00 PM: GigWork3 & GigWork4
------------------------------------ I scoured the web searching for work agencies. Gig work provides short term income. Not bad right now.
7:00 PM - 7:30 PM: Entrepreneurship Research Biz OR Kommit losses
-------------------------------------- Looking to get and become an entrepreur. This session I inspected various types of businesses. Trying to view the landscape of business ideas and formation.
7:30 PM - 8:00 PM: Debt OR wGaps
--------------------------------- I inspected and checked the status of my debts.
Hip hip hooray: 2 job interviews offer came in today. 1 remote 1 in person....
"
"Completed this week:
- Meetings with
o Roberto
AF: things going well; effectively vice of Kashif; next step MD promotion; Kashif supportive in principle but I don't see much in action. RS: it's a 2 years process; start the process now so you can get promoted in 2027; manager needs to give credit for all achievements to you; sponsors for KK were Rob Fairbairn, Steve Cohen, Charles. Discussed with Joud how to rescue KK after he lost years for things that didn't work in his previous roles. Joud is a force of nature; speak with Charles and notify Kashif you're scheduling time with him; tell Charles: I have a project to pursue a promotion, can you tell me what is needed of me to get there; "get in the long list this year so that I can get promoted next year" (unclear); 12 years of work experience is still very early for an MD promotion.
o Ellie (chief of staff to Anne)
EE: Involved on BMIF launch: stressful because LPs/GPs contingent on others and if one doesn't materialize then things don't go ahead. Worked on WTW product which went to Emirates Airlines. APM involvement in ME mainly based on her Consultants role. Speak with Harry Becket (GCR). AF: involved in the retirement work, exciting to work on these, if there are ways for me to work more closely with you and APM let me know.
o Seun (close to Anne)
Considering collaborating with government of Bangladesh on new retirement scheme, 160m people, but concerns from compliance risks
o James (close to Beccy)
mixed signals on whether cash strategies in ME have enough client demand (some say $20m, others more)
Cash is separate from GPS, product strategy is within GPS itself
team broadly split in portfolio management, BD, marketing
you have at least 20% of assets invested in overnight instruments which helps you pay yield on an ongoing basis even if rest of assets have scattered maturities
o Anne Parthiot Mons
AF: presented work I'm doing in FMA ME overall and on retirement specifically. Personally very interested and excited to collaborate.
APM:
Retirement work: need to approach it in detail/bottom-up. Ecosystem mapping:
- Who's speaking with HR & Benefits teams / do we need that
- How do we approach corporates that don't have consultants
- Who are pension admins?
- Where consultants are: actuaries, people doing etc.
- Who's speaking with the actual beneficiaries
- Who's going to be RM for Emirates
Brainstorming session
- Involve Massi, Seun
Receive example of UK document used for similar brainstorming exercise
"We don't need many people"
Need to double down on outreach intermediated by consultants
o Simona Paravani
o Asteris (chief of staff to Rachel)
o Beccy
o Scott (recently promoted to MD and good friend)
MD promotion is not necessarily a 2-year process. I started the process in Jan 2025 and was promoted in October. I asked sponsorship to Sarah Melvin (boss of the boss of my boss) and she was supportive. So I bypassed all the people below. Sarah used to be my line manager in previous roles. She spent many hours helping me with promotion nomination form. You need to identify the biggest weaknesses in your storyline and turn them around. My biggest weakness was "sustained impact" because I had changed roles many times. Promotion form needs to be punchy and show tangible outcomes: generated x bn in NNB, x mm in new revenues, conducted xx meetings, acquired xx clients. Scott is an expert at writing forms and can help me with mine. Sarah even used to ask Scott to improve promotion forms of other people. You need to get around 100 ppl onboard. Need to be careful not to piss off anyone.
o Peter (Europe MD who needs to approve of my promotion)
o PDK: there’s an impression of serious team issues in the Middle East due to Kashif not behaving as a people leader. You need to set the tone: make people feel like you care about them. Communicate excitement about things. Be present in team meetings.
Priorities next week
- Meet Charles (align with KK and Kashif before)
- Send win note for Finstreet
- Work on retirement project based on feedback from Anne
- Share docs with Asteris on PIF and Digital Assets
- Send update note to Yazeed and Tarek re. SAMA Aladdin
"
"Dec 7th 2025
Began my day today at 11Am. End day at 9pm. Task included tracking debts and bills, continuing Spanish coursework, running a vm on my computer, managing purchase payments for hobbies out of 7 days a week… Errors uploading images/not able to upload…"
