Here’s the report card for my 2025 goals bingo.
| Domain | Repeat | Stretch | New |
|---|---|---|---|
| People | 🟢 Better husband | 🔴 Meet all first cousins 🟢 Interview 10 experts |
🔴 Live with a stranger |
| Education | 🟢 50 books | 🟢 Teach 5,000 students | 🟢 Run a course only with AI |
| Technology | 🟢 20 data stories | 🔴 LLM Foundry: 5K MaU 🟢 300 days of GitHub |
🔴 Build a robot 🟢 Co-present with an AI |
| Health | 🟢 300 days of yoga | 🔴 80 heart points/day 🔴 Bike 1,000 km |
🟢 Vipassana |
| Wealth | 🔴 Buy low | 🔴 Beat inflation 5% | 🟢 Donate $10K 🔴 Fund a startup |
The “Education” and “Technology” rows have a BINGO! Repeat goals were easier than new goals were easier than strech goals (no surprise). 11/20 wins means I’m picking realistic and ambitious goals.
Let’s dive into what worked.
- Better husband. I asked my wife “Was I a better husband in 2025 than 2024?”. “You set a goal right? (Long pause.) Yeah… (sigh)”.
- Interview 10 experts. I went way over 20. The key learning is that transcription + AI analysis mines insights from normal conversations, so expertise amplifies.
- 50 books. I stopped after 6 books in Feb. But I learnt how AI can remix books so I “read” the rest last week of the year. Same learning, less time.
- Teach 5,000 students. I did a rough count. ~1,500 students x 3 terms at IIT Madras plus 10-300 people in my ~30-40 talks/workshops this year. I’m ahead.
- Run a course only with AI. The earliest was a Vibe Coding workshop @ SETU. Just me and AI, no prep. Many followed, e.g. Mining Digital Exhaust, Dec 2025.
- 20 data stories. Since coding agents generate data stories better and faster than I can, this goal was easy. I created over 50 data stories, many of which are at published here.
- 300 days of GitHub. As of 25 Dec 2025, I was active on GitHub for 300 days this year. Last year, I was only coding. This year, 12% was reviewing PRs, thanks to AI coding agents.
- Co-present with an AI. I co-presented with ChatGPT at The Hindu webinar on AI and twice after that. Unfortunately, it stole the show! So, I’m exploring balance.
- 300 days of yoga. I didn’t miss a single day this year. Actually, I only had 364 biological days this year due to time zones and a US flight. So, I practiced 12 Surya Namaskars every biological day!
- Vipassana. I did a 10-day course in July 2025. Here’s my experience.
- Donate $10K. I donated to Sanskrit College, Vipassana and 3 developers: Anton Medvedev, Isaac Schlueter, and Sindre Sorhus.
Here’s what didn’t work.
- Meet all first cousins. I met 9/14. (Missed 2 in Chennai, 2 in Coimbatore, and 1 in the US).
- Live with a stranger. I tried a homestay at Bangalore, but I don’t think that counts. It felt like a hotel.
- LLM Foundry: 5K MaU. Straive’s internal AI portal was transitioned to the IT team in Feb 2025 and I could no longer live-deploy changes.
- Build a robot. I didn’t even start, which is strange.
- Bike 1,000 km. My wife banned cycling unless I ate more, so I gave up after a month.
- 80 heart points/day. Without cycling, I didn’t have a chance.
- Buy low. I followed ChatGPT’s advice on investment and didn’t time the market.
- Beat inflation 5%. Nowhere near it.
- Fund a startup. Started exploring but far from it.
These apart, I also:
- Lost 25 kg from Jan - Jun just by skipping lunch / dinner. No exercise or diet change. This works for me, but YMMV. Being flexible (type of food, which meal to skip, etc.) helps me sustain habits.
- Published Things I learnt weekly and wrote 150+ blog posts.
- AI-podcasted my code and a Gen AI WhatsApp Group.
Here’re my 2026 goals:
| Domain | Repeat | Stretch | New |
|---|---|---|---|
| People | Better father | Monthly service | Live with a stranger |
| Education | 360 books | Publish 2 books | 2 non-English books |
| Technology | 330 days of GitHub | Make TDS self-serve | Build a robot |
| Health | 360 days of yoga | Learn to dance | Build muscle |
| Wealth | Donate $10K | Monetize AI | Automate finance + tax |
I’ll add metrics in a few weeks. But here’s why I added/changed:
- Better father. Why? I shouldn’t take my daughter for granted.
- Monthly service. Why? Retirement activity planning.
- 360 books. Why? To build AI-reading muscle.
- Publish 2 books. Why? To scale writing/organizing skills.
- 2 non-English books. Why? To blow my mind with world literature.
- Make TDS self-serve. Why? Today, only IITians can fully participate.
- Learn to dance. Why? I’ve always wanted to. (Why under “Health”? Um…)
- Build muscle. Why? Muscles sag with age and it hurts.
- Monetize AI. Why? Practice for my next adventure.
- Automate finance + tax. Why? AI beats humans and I lack skill/interest
What are YOUR plans?