For J.D., the founder of the popular personal finance blog Get Rich Slowly, the arrival of a new calendar year marks more than just a routine transition. Following a period of profound personal grief and extended introspection, the writer and digital publisher has announced that he is officially declaring 2023 to be the "Year of Me," signaling a deliberate shift toward prioritizing his own mental and physical health above all else.
The announcement comes roughly two months after the death of J.D.’s mother, an event that triggered a heavy period of emotional fog and stagnation. Writing to his readers in a candid update, J.D. explained that the heavy grayness of the past several weeks has finally begun to lift, leaving him with a renewed sense of motivation to pursue productive pursuits once again. However, rather than immediately diving back into the relentless production schedules that often characterize modern content creation, he has taken the time to engage in some serious soul-searching alongside his partner, Kim. The conclusion of that internal audit was stark and unambiguous: after years of pushing his own needs to the back burner, it is time to make a fundamental change.
More than a decade ago, J.D. established a personal tradition of assigning themes to his years and months. He found the practice to be both deeply engaging and remarkably fruitful. Whether he was dedicating a specific span of time to physical fitness, writing projects, or the nuances of dating, committing a season to a singular focus consistently yielded positive outcomes. Over time, however, that effective habit fell by the wayside, replaced by the daily grind of obligations, external demands, and professional distractions.
Reflecting on this pattern, J.D. acknowledged that he has spent far too long putting himself second, third, or even ninth in his own life. Starting immediately, his stated aim is to prioritize his own well-being for the next year and potentially beyond.
Admitting to the decision has not been entirely comfortable. For someone conditioned to put others first, the concept of prioritizing oneself can initially feel selfish or inherently wrong. Yet, J.D. has come to realize that he has spent far too long allowing external interruptions to derail his physical and mental health journey, leaning on rationalizations and excuses. With the launch of this new initiative, those excuses have been discarded, and for the foreseeable future, personal well-being has become job one.
The philosophy behind this shift is rooted in a well-established paradox: by taking care of oneself, an individual is ultimately better equipped to serve and support others. J.D. noted that while this is advice he has frequently offered to friends and readers over the years, he has struggled to consistently apply it to his own life.
For the regular readers of Get Rich Slowly, the immediate impact of this internal pivot is expected to be minimal. The transformation is primarily taking place internally, framed as a conscious decision to give himself permission to place his fundamental needs and desires ahead of outside pressures. At the same time, J.D. anticipates that this renewed focus on personal health and introspection will naturally translate into fresh material for the site, while finally clearing the path for the long-awaited completion of the platform’s ongoing redesign.
A Shift Away from Strict Publishing Schedules
As part of his commitment to the "Year of Me," J.D. is deliberately stepping away from rigid publishing or production calendars. Rather than forcing content to meet arbitrary deadlines, he plans to write and publish only when he genuinely has something to say.
This spontaneous approach is reflected in the very nature of his recent updates. Rather than meticulously planning out a monolithic essay, he finds himself dropping in to share quick thoughts whenever a pocket of free time opens up—such as following an exercise from the book Designing Your Life while waiting for a scheduled phone call with a friend. While he recognizes that this is largely an internal shift, it represents a significant and necessary departure from his previous habits.
Drawing Wisdom from ‘The Courage to Be Disliked’
The conceptual framework for J.D.’s new outlook has also been shaped by recent reading material. During a Thanksgiving road trip to California to visit Kim’s family, the couple spent hours listening to the audiobook The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga.
The book, which explores the psychological worldview of Alfred Adler—and which J.D. suggests might be more accurately titled The Courage to Be Happy—offered a wealth of perspective that resonated deeply with both listeners. Although the book’s Socratic dialogue format can occasionally feel challenging to digest in its entirety, J.D. found himself drawn back to its core teachings. He plans to re-examine the text in a digital Kindle format to skim for key insights, and he has hinted that a full review or summary of the book could eventually make its way onto Get Rich Slowly.
Reclaiming a Values-Driven Life
To ground his transition, J.D. recently revisited a highlighted passage from Stephen R. Covey’s foundational work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The quote emphasizes that the essence of a proactive person lies in the ability to subordinate a momentary impulse to a deeply held value, whereas reactive individuals tend to be driven by fleeting feelings, environmental conditions, and external circumstances.
Recognizing that he had somehow lost control over his impulses while drifting away from his core values, J.D. views the "Year of Me" as a necessary course correction. He has already begun taking practical steps to rein in impulsive behaviors, such as removing distracting applications like Reddit and Hearthstone from his iPad, in order to refocus his daily actions around carefully chosen values.
While future posts on Get Rich Slowly may vary in length and style—ranging from short updates to conversational essays rather than long, heavily structured guides—the underlying mission remains intact. For J.D., trading rigid expectations for a values-driven approach is the key step forward as the age of selfishness officially commences.
