Hi friend,

This weekend marks the end of March & Q1 2024. I hope it’s wrapping up well for you.

Since the last few newsletters have been long-winded, today’s will be short & sweet.

Reflection is a powerful practice. It can lead to clarity, self-awareness, and something beautiful to look back on.

So here’s mine for Q1 2024, which includes:

• 6 Quotes I’m sitting with

• 5 Podcasts worth listening to

• 4 New songs that struck a chord

• 3 Ideas I’m digging

• 2 Pieces of gratitude

• 1 Win

• & Photos of the quarter

Let’s dive in.

6 Quotes I’m sitting with

• "What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it." — Gabriel García Márquez

• “Adaptation seems to be, to a substantial extent, a process of reallocating your attention.” — Daniel Kahneman (RIP)

• “Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” — Carl Jung

• "The secret of happiness, you see, is not found in seeking more, but in developing the capacity to enjoy less." — Socrates

• "The more I see, the less I know for sure." — John Lennon

• “The hardest thing to teach a student—and the hardest thing to believe consistently—is that there is nothing ‘out there’ to go and get. There is no part, no career, no opportunity for which you should be searching and scrounging and coveting. All of the preparation is within, and you keep yourself mentally and physically fit; you remain generous with yourself and others; you stay deeply in study about your craft. Whatever is yours will then arrive.”​ — Marian Seldes

5 Podcasts worth listening to

4 New songs that struck a chord

Two of my favorite folk-rock bands, The Revivalists & The Head And The Heart team up for a feel-good sounding reminder that “These are the good old days.”

Drawing inspiration from a question his five-year-old daughter asked, Marc Scibilia delivers a hauntingly beautiful exploration of life’s bigger topics: meaning, death, & more.

Beautiful guitar here - fingerpicking, harmonics, & all the good things. Enjoy.

What Jon Stewart calls a “masterpiece” (in this interview), Gary Clark Jr’s JPEG RAW is one of the best albums I’ve heard in the last year.

It’s worth at least a listen straight through, but the funky & harmonica-filled collaboration with Stevie Wonder is a standout, for sure.

3 Ideas I’m digging

2 Pieces of gratitude

I’m grateful for the peers & friends that I met in last month’s altMBA program. Their curiosity, intelligence, and unwavering support has inspired me on many levels.

I’m grateful for my partner, Nadine, and her family. Their generosity & sense of humor made our recent vacation to Florida one I’ll always cherish.

My biggest win

I got promoted earlier this month. New title: Financial Planning & Reporting Manager.

It’s taken 6 years of hard work (& an unbelievable number of excel sheets) to move beyond the analyst position, so it feels great to be recognized for my contribution at a company that I deeply believe in.

And while I'm incredibly grateful for this career move, Q1 was about much more than work for me. I also celebrated my 30th birthday with a sense of inner peace.

Below are a few of my favorite pictures from that celebration & the quarter as a whole.

Photos of the quarter

Thank you for Reading

Whether or not you enjoyed this (I hope you did), I’d encourage you to reflect on the last three months (in any way you see fit).

Few things have been as powerful for me as 3-month reflection & planning rituals.

Try it out & lemme know what comes up.

Cheering you on.

Aidan