This year, my theme was "Friends" and I didn't think I would keep it through the entire year but it did way BETTER than I expected. I don't even think most of it was in my control. Maybe it was because I had just gotten out of a particularly dark time of my life so I was just opening up more to people naturally. Mostly though, having the theme "Friends" gave away any of my usual excuses of not being able to hang out with people and it pushed me out of my shell ❤️❤️ And yes, this was all thanks to Grey's video that I started doing this.
Grey’s comment about only being able to relax on weekends *after* doing the minimal possible amount of work right away in the morning is 100% me. My husband thinks it’s an anxious person thing to do, but it’s the best way to have a recharging weekend!
The Year of Done is my theme. While finishing out my long-awaited bachelor's degree, I found a really helpful video about "The Cult of Done", which is a philosophy from the maker community about projects and getting them to a final state in a number of ways in order to move on. I've noticed I don't finish a lot of things, so this theme is a really intriguing idea and I think I might keep a list of things that are "done" in this way.
My theme this year is "The year I conquer sleep". When I began college, I resolved to give up on creating healthy sleep habits. Now, I've finished grad school and I've entered a work environment with an irregular schedule, and where I need to work a certain number of hours per week. It is time to slay this beast I have allowed to terrorize me for so long.
I' m so so so gratefull that you both decide to be yourself in this life, and went on doing what you really want to do and you enjoy doing. Both because it seems to be fun and fulfilling for you, and also fun and a blessing for the people around you, including us on the other side of the screen. Thank you again! these and the other videos have played a key role in saying to myself 🥳" yaaay be yourself, even if it seems uncommon! look at grey, no one in your life looks like him, but you still find him supercool and does interesting stuff. Let yourself be the grey of your own life , in your own way."🤠 so thank you both, you helped me reach freedom and acceptance
I want to share my yearly themes from 2018 to 2024 as a 24-year-old male: 2018-2019 - Be more honest. 2019-2020 - Don't judge people. 2020-2021 - Be more manly. 2021-2022 - Be more positive (worst theme/year, I don't recommend it). 2022-2023 - Do something every day for tomorrow (I loved it). 2024 - Be more organized. I love choosing a theme every year, and it really is the best way to make a lasting impact on your character. Sometimes you might not be happy with the theme or how well you managed to meet your expectations, but the lessons you learn along the way last the lifetime. I recommend everyone to try it
It sounds like there is an interesting story behind the Be more positive theme, I am curious: what went wrong? What were your experiences? You framed it in a way that it was like a disaster.
@@pescecanella4742 It was going well at first but around summer series of bad stuff started happening to me and some other things I was ignoring due to my positive attitude piled up and caught up on me. I was forcing myself to recover quickly and derive positive lessons from it all. It really felt like the universe was throwing stuff at me to test how long I could keep up being positive. At the end, it culminated in losing a loved one, after which I finally broke down and had the longest and saddest depression of my life. Everything seemed pointless to me. The next year I tried to take steps to prevent lasting depressions. In my case these were vitamin supplements, weight training, healthy eating, yoga, and working towards career goals. The year's theme of "doing something every day for tomorrow" helped a lot. I want to say that I'm all good and healthy now and I did not have a depression once in the last year. Positivity is good but it should not be forced. We should allow ourselves to be sad as long as we require.
My 2024 Theme: Year of Automation/Optimization. This is the first year that my next theme came to me months beforehand, partially due to struggles I've been having with my 2023 Theme: Year of Balance.
My theme: the year of indulging in boredom! I’m weirdly tired of being stimulated all the time. I spent one Saturday with my phone off all day and found it strangely indulgent. I just let my mind wander! Or if I was really bored, I’d read instead of pulling out my phone. I want more of that in my life.
Yes! That sounds amazing! I've noticed that, while the Internet is having its own boom, there's also an enlargement on the side of kind of slowing down and being mindful, which is really nice. Glad you're coming with us, too! Though maybe you could use more catchy wording. When you're in the slums, and you can't think in your best interests, "Be bored" won't be as great a motivator as it could be. Maybe something like "Year of Stillness", or "Year of Mindfulness" would work better? It's in your hands regardless. But yeah, happy for you!
@@DanilsonCarvalhoI’ve thought about stillness or mindfulness, but I don’t really mean that? Cause stillness and mindfulness take some effort and focus. I mean just lack of stimulation. No effort needed. Just enjoying the lack. It sounds negative but it resonates with my brain for some reason 😅
I've been doing themes for three years now and I've always been happy around this time of year to review my progress and self-evaluate. I decided that my theme for 2024 will be Year of Movement. I want to dance more. Be more physically active. Travel even more than I did this year. I'm excited.
The long vs short process for videos is an interesting one. I love content creators who take time to produce something interesting even if it takes 8 months or more to see new content. A super helpful thing for me is having several slow content creators doing very different things but taking a time to show something mega enjoyable.
My theme this year is "physical health." It encompasses obvious things like making a conscious effort to adjust my water, food, sleep, and exercise quantity and quality, but also includes things like remembering to use sunscreen, lotion, and lip balm more often (I have pale, dry skin), wearing a mask in crowded areas more consistently (and keeping one on me at all times), getting my annual flu vaccine, incorporating more stretching into my life, purchasing transition lenses for my glasses, adjusting my monitor settings to be more eye-strain-friendly, flossing more regularly, checking in with my posture, heart rate, and blood pressure more often, wearing gloves when I clean my apartment, stuff like that. I was going to call it my year of just "health" originally, but decided that was too broad and I would get overwhelmed... maybe next year my theme will be "mental health" or "financial health" or something.
I do feel like knowing what I wanted and had to worked on helped me a lot in deciding my last theme. And in my case, it was something I knew I wasn't actively working on. And if I put even the littlest bit of effort in it, it would take me somewhere. For the year 2024, I had a concept in mind already on what I wanted to improve in my life but couldn't put it into words. But around the 40 minutes mark, I finally got a start with "style". The backstory is, I have trouble picking out my own clothes for any events cause I don't like shopping in particular. But I do love fashion! So, I've been wanting to figure it out. Then I'd reckon, "Confidence" is what is actually important in me wanting to improve my style. So, following Grey's footsteps, I made sub titles.. a) Confidence of STYLE, which I've explained b) Confidence of LEARNING Because it's something I love and wants to do more, plus some personal reasons. c) Confidence of TRUTH Not as catchy as the last two but definitely more personal. Honestly, this is making me excited ❤️❤️❤️
idk why but they give me so much the good vibes of Sherlock and Whatson, in their own field. Anyways what you do is cool and refreshing, you go people!
2024 will be my first theme - i've settled on the Year of Engagement. I want to be more considerate about the ways i engage with the social internet, with my artform, and with myself. But I also want to encourage myself to actually go out and *do* things. Mostly socializing.
Just found the yearly theme video this year, I'll be interested to see how my Year of Applications turns out! Not applying to anything in specific (unless...) but I want to apply myself to more of my personal projects (which include creating applications lol)
My yearly theme is Forward for 2024 It hit me 10 minutes into the yearly themes episode. 2021 - Finish 2022 - Unearth 2023 - Bravery In 2023, I really made a lot of progress of putting myself out there in ways I hadn’t been doing but I just need to keep moving and to keep going. I have this image of the forward charge of the calvery into battle as I want to dive into the life that I have. Onwards, and upwards, and away I go!
I just cole to this channel obce a year to listen you hits discussing your yearly themes, IT always empowers me for the next year and inspiring me to look for new theme for my year. I think 2024 will be year of focus consulting of winter of relations, spring of listening, summer of engagment and autumn of routine. I think this year will be kind of key to my future life
2023 was the first time I had a theme : "well-being". Like Grey said, I picked it because it resonated with me, more than any rational thought. It helped a lot with small choices as well as with big, important decisions. It's a great mental and emotional guide
im officially doing a theme this year that i really want to stick to: the Year or Career. i want to figure out what i truly want to do, career-wise. although Grey’s musings on YT cultural changes scares me, i still want to pursue that path
I recently shared the concept of "Themes vs Resolutions" with a professional prospect - and clicked through on my bookmarked link to share the original video...then found this update. I've been working with Themes for a few years now (since the original post) and am happy to share ideas for those also looking to choose (or adjust) their themes for the coming year/seasons. 2024 - Be Curious, Not Judgemental: From Ted Lasso - ask questions, dig in, find out before making assumptions. 2023 - Own Your Happiness: Find it in your current circumstances or take action to move closer to it. 2022 2H - Attitude of Gratitude: View the world through a lens of finding/noting things to appreciate and be grateful for 2022 1H - Survival Mode: I struggled, so my theme was getting through each day by finding a "win" to celebrate. 2021 - Apply the Learnings: Knowing is 1/2 the battle, (learning) DOING (applying) is what creates results - which requires discipline Happy to answer any questions here...
Selfish request: Please someone discuss my theme with me I don't have people around me interested in this so it's kinda been dry My theme the past season was "self care" I've done a good job around October booking therapy sessions, getting out and about with friends as well as family. and start of November I met and helped a lot of friends, bought them encouragement gifts because it's been tough on all of us but now with exams approaching I feel like I threw a lot of that away... I don't even go weekends to my aunty like I used to nor did I book a new therapy after I got busy one week... I am not even allowing myself to relax if the homework isn't as pristine as I wanted (even tho it was one of my rules to not make studies a priority this year) This season I don't know what I want to do... I feel like continuing my past theme would only upset me more because I don't want to simply throw away my hard work to relax but because of my personality it's hard to juggle relationships, mental health and studies, so far I've been throwing my relationships outa the window, not responding, not smiling, not showing any type of affection because I am too busy trying to stay alright under the pressure I created for myself It's obvious that I shouldn't dive into a "F U AND BE THE TOP STUDENT" theme as I have so habitually done consciously or unconsciously ever since I've had an awareness of my existence Sigh... I'll think about it some more. Organisation doesn't seem to be that serious of a problem but I've never singled it out to improve on it Communication is.... A very emotionally loaded theme for me and I think I'll have too much struggle with it and it'll only sabotage me for now I really want your opinion on this cortexans 🥺🙏 Ps: my themes aren't yearly per se because my concept of year is skewed as I'm still a student but instead I do seasonal themes that can usually overarch one condition for a year (this year's condition being "don't take your studies too seriously")
Possible ideas could be a season of “Less”, “Focus”, or “Peace”, since it sounds like things may be overwhelming and busy right now. You could also try Grey’s new theme, in essence working on the small things that may make your life easier. Finding ways to either simplify or take care of some the small things that can cause friction in your day. Just a few ideas. I find that if I think/write about what’s currently frustrating me or maybe what I’d really like to do, I find an idea that comes up frequently that I think I can make progress on. Sometimes I’ll even think of it as a friend telling me their issues and what I might suggest. Take your time and good luck!
@@MoneybagsUkuleleit does seem to be the most urging problem, I do feel quite tickled by the theme so I'll give it some thoughts, it'll be a hard one to do given how I always intermittently work on stuff Thanks for the suggestion, this probably will be my theme or if not then spring's theme Have a nice day 😊❤
Hmm, I truly resonated with peace the most, "focus" didn't ring a need in me as I'm often quite focused and people do tell me I have a sort of "one target vision, environment blindness" ☠️, "less" honestly terrifies me because I think I'm falling short on many stats so doing less, as my mind interprets the word, feels like an anti-investment but I'll keep it in mind, it'll probably come in handy once this era of my life settles down I really thank you for your answer 😭🧡 it's been delightful and insightful to read about how you go about thinking of the themes, I'll try to use your way later this week and I'll see if I find a more resonating thing to work on Thanks a bunch ! Good luck to you too 😘💜
@@cherrymarriedindiscord1404 maybe a "season of trendlines" (name tbd). your thoughts around "falling short on stats" seems pretty opposed to the idea of a theme not having a specific target "number". try aiming for improvment overall, so long as the trendline improves your still doing good! i also like the "season of peace" idea
as someone who works with authors, they often receive an upfront payment and don't really want to get the book done, but then they don't want to give the money back, so they end up writing the book. that's an interesting factoid about creators compared to what you're talking about.
For Grey I have to say the year I'd play is Year of Lesser Optimization! Like working on macro tasks and meta problems in your work, its good to focus on those smaller details
When Grey mentioned how video games have quality of life updates it made me think about patch updates, so maybe if he's still workshopping the name that could fit?
It's really obvious Myke isn't the primary editor anymore. There were some very obvious (we cut out material because Grey was rambling here) moments in the first hour of this podcast. Of course, there's _always_ some of those moments, they just stuck out more to me this time.
Anyone else thinking he just needs to call it the “Quality of Life patch” instead of “release?” I feel like it conveys what you mean and also conjures video game dlc without sounding like an innuendo
im getting the journal for christmas!! saving this to watch in the intermediary week between christmas and new years so i can prepare for my first theme.
The section about the missing middle was interesting to me, noticing many creators move to streaming. It's hard for me to understand where an audience with apparently continuous hours to spare has come from?
I watched some four hour videos. But I never watch one all in one go. I know RU-vid has algorithm logic for engagement metrics. But I wonder if creators get penalized for broken engagement when you watch 45 minutes one day, 30 minutes the next, and so on until you're done. Or if the fact that you specifically watched all of it over the course of a few days is taken into account?
Did CGPGrey invent the idea of themes or does he just promote it? Because it's a really, really good idea. Much better than the easy-to-explain yet hard-to-follow rules of resolutions
Just to poke at Grey, RU-vid is playing with you and you are now under a billion view (971,098,091 views) 😂 EDIT: ok, I didn't listen far enough, you are talking about the private number 🤣
Hello I've read and listened to "Yearly Theme" and thought about starting it since 2024 is ahead, so I planned to buy one of those Theme System Journal but unfortunately the shipping costs are more expensive than the journal itself !! so is there a certain place or distributor of your product in the Middle East??
TLDL (Too Long Didn't Listen). The cost of this podcast (measured in time) is becoming too much. Yes, I am one of those moochers who don't support via Patreon or some other means other than listening through ads. For me the cost of this and other podcasts is my time and attention, which I am willing to spend if there is value. With regular Cortex episodes clocking in around or over 1 hour, and the special ones like State of The Apps and Themes being more than twice that, I can no longer afford the cost of time. I am seriously considering unsubscribing. I know many may say "so long, good riddance" and I understand. But before I go I want Grey and Mike to know I generally like the content, but it is being priced (time) well above what I, and I suspect others, can afford.
If you didn't listen, you ironically missed an amazing 30 minute discussion in the middle where Grey notes that new markets have greater variance of cost and quality options for consumers but rapidly lose middle markets as it ages due to consumer options and preferences. In RU-vid, creators compete (with Netflix and Spotify, but also time, sleep, hobbies) in the market on two axis: effort (quality) and cost (content length) and the RU-vid market is becoming older and losing that variability of mid-level content/producers due to consumers opting for longer/shorter forms or lower/higher effort in the market (shorts vs Mr Beast/Robert/MKBHD)
