---
title: My Year in 2025
date: 2025-12-31T07:51:58Z
categories:
- how-i-do-things
- interesting-experiences
---
Here's the report card for my [2025 goals bingo](/blog/my-year-in-2024/).
| 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.
1. **Better husband**. I asked my wife "Was I a better husband in 2025 than 2024?". "You set a goal right? (Long pause.) Yeah... (sigh)".
2. **Interview 10 experts**. I went way over 20. The key learning is that transcription + AI analysis mines insights from normal conversations, so expertise amplifies.
3. **50 books**. I stopped after 6 books in Feb. But I learnt how [AI can remix books](/blog/i-count-ai-summarized-books-as-read/) so I ["read" the rest](/blog/books-in-2025/) last week of the year. Same learning, less time.
4. **Teach 5,000 students**. I did a rough count. ~1,500 students x 3 terms at [IIT Madras](https://tds.s-anand.net/) plus 10-300 people in my ~30-40 [talks/workshops](https://sanand0.github.io/talks/) this year. I'm ahead.
5. **Run a course only with AI**. The earliest was a [Vibe Coding workshop @ SETU](https://youtu.be/ODXSDbY12dg). Just me and AI, no prep. Many followed, e.g. [Mining Digital Exhaust, Dec 2025](https://sanand0.github.io/talks/2025-12-06-mining-digital-exhaust/).
6. **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](https://sanand0.github.io/datastories/).
7. **300 days of GitHub**. As of 25 Dec 2025, I was active on [GitHub](https://github.com/sanand0/) for 300 days this year. Last year, I was only coding. This year, 12% was reviewing PRs, thanks to AI coding agents.
8. **Co-present with an AI**. I co-presented with ChatGPT at [The Hindu webinar on AI](https://youtu.be/pbRFDUGby3o) and twice after that. Unfortunately, it stole the show! So, I'm exploring balance.
9. **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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Salutation) every biological day!
10. **Vipassana**. I did a 10-day course in July 2025. [Here's my experience](https://files.s-anand.net/images/2025-07-14-My-Vipassana-Experience.pdf).
11. **Donate $10K**. I [donated](/blog/giving-back-money/) to Sanskrit College, Vipassana and 3 developers: [Anton Medvedev](https://github.com/antonmedv), [Isaac Schlueter](https://github.com/isaacs), and [Sindre Sorhus](https://github.com/sindresorhus).
Here's what didn't work.
1. **Meet all first cousins**. I met 9/14. (Missed 2 in Chennai, 2 in Coimbatore, and 1 in the US).
2. **Live with a stranger**. I tried a homestay at Bangalore, but I don't think that counts. It felt like a hotel.
3. **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.
4. **Build a robot**. I didn't even start, which is strange.
5. **Bike 1,000 km**. My wife banned cycling unless I ate more, so I gave up after a month.
6. **80 heart points/day**. Without cycling, I didn't have a chance.
7. **Buy low**. I followed ChatGPT's advice on investment and didn't time the market.
8. **Beat inflation 5%**. Nowhere near it.
9. **Fund a startup**. Started exploring but far from it.
These apart, I also:
- **[Lost 25 kg](/blog/i-lost-22-kg-in-22-weeks/)** 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](https://til.s-anand.net/)** weekly and wrote [150+ blog posts](https://www.s-anand.net/blog/).
- **AI-podcasted** [my code](https://github.com/sanand0/sanand0?tab=readme-ov-file#recent-activity) and a [Gen AI WhatsApp Group](https://github.com/sanand0/generative-ai-group?tab=readme-ov-file#gen-ai-whatsapp-podcast-automator).
---
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][1] 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:
1. **Better father**. Why? I shouldn't take my daughter for granted.
2. **Monthly service**. Why? Retirement activity planning.
3. **360 books**. Why? To build AI-reading muscle.
4. **Publish 2 books**. Why? To scale writing/organizing skills.
5. **2 non-English books**. Why? To blow my mind with world literature.
6. **Make [TDS][1] self-serve**. Why? Today, only IITians can _fully_ participate.
7. **Learn to dance**. Why? I've always wanted to. (Why under "Health"? Um...)
8. **Build muscle**. Why? Muscles sag with age and it hurts.
9. **Monetize AI**. Why? Practice for my next adventure.
10. **Automate finance + tax**. Why? [AI beats humans](/blog/when-to-choose-ai-over-humans/) and I lack skill/interest
**What are YOUR plans?**
[1]: https://tds.s-anand.net/
[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/sanand0_in-2025-i-took-up-20-goals-i-completed-activity-7412078900375289856-9Fnk)