After months of navigating grief and professional obligations, J.D., the voice behind the personal finance platform Get Rich Slowly, has announced a major shift in focus for the upcoming year. Two months after the passing of his mother, the lingering emotional fog has finally begun to lift, sparking a renewed sense of motivation and a commitment to prioritize his own physical and mental well-being.
In a candid update to his readers, J.D. shared that a period of deep soul-searching made it abundantly clear that he needs to designate 2023 as “The Year of Me.” For an author and creator who has spent years helping others navigate their financial lives, the decision to step back and put his own needs first represents a significant psychological hurdle, but one he views as entirely necessary for long-term growth and sustainability.
The concept of thematic years is not new to J.D.’s routine. More than a decade ago, he regularly established themes for specific spans of time, dedicating distinct periods to goals related to fitness, writing, or dating. He found these structured intervals to be both deeply engaging and remarkably fruitful. However, as the demands of life accumulated, the habit eventually fell by the wayside, and J.D. found himself consistently sliding to the bottom of his own priority list—often occupying the second, third, or even ninth position behind various external responsibilities and distractions.
Recognizing that this pattern had become unsustainable, J.D. decided to take a definitive stand. Starting immediately, his primary objective for the foreseeable future is to place his own health and wellness above all else. Acknowledging the initial discomfort of this decision, he noted that prioritizing oneself can frequently feel counterintuitive, selfish, or wrong, particularly for individuals accustomed to serving others. Yet, he emphasized that years of making excuses and allowing outside forces to interfere with his physical and mental health must finally come to an end. By putting himself first, J.D. believes he will ultimately become a better and more effective person for those around him, including his partner, Kim, and his readership.
For the audience of Get Rich Slowly, the shift is expected to manifest primarily as an internal transformation rather than a drastic alteration in content. While J.D. is granting himself official permission to place his personal desires at the forefront, he anticipates that this introspective journey will ultimately generate fresh material and insights for the site. Furthermore, he noted that this renewed focus should finally bring about the long-awaited completion of the platform’s ongoing redesign.
However, as part of his commitment to self-prioritization, J.D. is deliberately stepping away from rigid publishing and production schedules. Rather than forcing content to meet arbitrary deadlines, he plans to write organically, sharing thoughts only when inspiration strikes. This flexible approach was directly reflected in the creation of his recent update, which was written after completing an exercise from the book Designing Your Life during a brief window of free time before a scheduled phone call. While he remains dedicated to longer, focused articles when appropriate, the more conversational, stream-of-consciousness style aligns much more closely with the personal nature of his current phase.
2023 — The Year of Me
The thematic direction for J.D.’s year ahead has been heavily influenced by recent reading material and philosophical explorations. During a Thanksgiving road trip to California to visit Kim’s family, the couple listened to The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga. The book, which explores the psychological worldview of Alfred Adler, resonated deeply with J.D., prompting him to plan a more targeted review of the text in Kindle format to extract its core lessons. Though initially structured as a Socratic dialogue that can feel cumbersome for a full sequential re-read, the book provided valuable perspectives on personal autonomy and happiness that reinforced his decision to focus inward.
This introspective theme was further reinforced by daily reflections prompted by Readwise highlights, particularly a passage from Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey writes that the ability to subordinate an impulse to a value is the essence of a proactive person, contrasting proactive individuals—who are driven by carefully selected and internalized values—with reactive people who remain at the mercy of their feelings, circumstances, and environment.
Reflecting on Covey’s words, J.D. realized that he had inadvertently lost control of his impulses while letting his core values slip into the background. To counter this, he has already begun taking tangible steps to regain control, such as removing distracting applications like Reddit and Hearthstone from his iPad. By re-establishing boundaries and realigning his daily actions with his deeply held values, he aims to transition from a reactive state to a proactive one.
While these reflections point toward a more conversational and fluid style of blogging for the time being, J.D. has reassured his readers that his dedication to the platform remains intact. As he embarks on this deeply personal journey through 2023, the overarching goal is simple: to stop making excuses, honor his core values, and reclaim his health, ensuring that the year ahead serves as a true foundation for lasting personal renewal.
