After spending the past several months navigating a period of profound personal grief and deep introspection, J.D., the voice behind the personal finance blog Get Rich Slowly, has announced a major shift in focus. Two months after the death of his mother, he reports that the emotional fog has finally begun to lift, reigniting his motivation to pursue productive endeavors. However, rather than diving straight back into the relentless production cycles of the past, he has decided to adopt a transformative new philosophy for his personal and professional life: declaring 2023 to be "The Year of Me."
The decision comes after a lengthy period of soul-searching conducted alongside his partner, Kim. J.D. realized that for more than a decade, he had fallen into the habit of placing his own needs second, third, or even ninth behind the demands of work, digital distractions, and external obligations. By prioritizing himself, he hopes to reclaim his physical and mental health, a journey he acknowledges feels counterintuitive and occasionally uncomfortable, but ultimately necessary.
2023 — The Year of Me
The concept of thematic years is not entirely new to J.D.’s routine. More than a decade ago, he regularly assigned themes to specific spans of time, a practice that proved both enjoyable and highly fruitful. Whether he was dedicating a period to fitness, writing, or dating, focusing his attention on a single objective yielded strong results. Over time, however, this deliberate approach to time management fell by the wayside.
Beginning yesterday, J.D. aims to reverse that trend by putting himself first for the foreseeable future. While admitting that the shift initially feels foreign and vaguely selfish, he argues that neglecting one’s own well-being ultimately harms everyone else in the long run. By prioritizing his mental and physical health, he believes he will naturally become a better person for those around him, including the readers of Get Rich Slowly.
For the core audience of his blog, J.D. reassures readers that the fundamental nature of the site will remain stable, though the underlying motivation is shifting inward. Along with granting himself permission to prioritize his own desires, he anticipates that this personal focus will generate fresh material for future articles and finally bring closure to long-stalled website redesign projects.
Crucially, J.D. is deliberately stepping away from rigid publishing and production schedules. Under the umbrella of his "Year of Me," he plans to write only when inspired, abandoning forced content creation. The announcement itself was born of this new rhythm, written after completing an exercise from the book Designing Your Life during a brief window of free time before a scheduled phone call.
The Courage to Be Disliked
J.D.’s renewed commitment to self-prioritization has been heavily influenced by recent media consumption. Over the Thanksgiving holiday, J.D. and Kim drove to California to visit her brother’s family. To pass the hours on the road, the couple listened to The Courage to Be Disliked by Ichiro Kishimi and Fumitake Koga, an audiobook that explores the psychological theories of Alfred Adler.
The book, which J.D. suggests might be more accurately titled The Courage to Be Happy, offered a wealth of perspective that resonated deeply with his current life stage. Although the text is structured as a Socratic dialogue—a format that can occasionally feel circuitous during an audiobook listening session—it provided profound insights into human motivation and interpersonal relationships.
J.D. noted that many of the psychological principles discussed in the book initially lacked context, but subsequent reflection clarified their meaning. He plans to re-read portions of the book in Kindle format to extract its core takeaways and is considering publishing a comprehensive review and summary on Get Rich Slowly at a later date.
A Values-Driven Life
The internal realignment is further anchored by a renewed focus on personal core values. J.D. highlighted a passage from Stephen R. Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that recently surfaced in his Readwise highlights, noting its direct relevance to his current situation. Covey writes that the ability to subordinate an impulse to a value defines a proactive person, whereas reactive individuals are driven entirely by external circumstances, feelings, and environments.
Reflecting on Covey’s words, J.D. realized that he had temporarily lost control over his impulses while drifting away from his foundational values. To counter this, he has already begun taking tangible steps to curb digital distractions, such as uninstalling distracting applications like Reddit and Hearthstone from his iPad.
While these changes are internal, readers can expect a different cadence on Get Rich Slowly moving forward. Rather than adhering to long, heavily structured formats, J.D. anticipates publishing shorter, more conversational pieces that reflect his current state of mind. Though he is not abandoning long-form writing entirely, the new, unhurried approach represents a necessary departure as he navigates his personal renewal throughout the coming year.
