Reflections and Resolutions

Although most New Year’s resolutions fail within the first few weeks, dedicating time to reflect on the past and set goals for the future can be a worthwhile exercise. In this post, I’m going to highlight the major events of 2022 and what I’m looking forward to in 2023.

2022

Career Changes

I started the year off strong by changing my place of work. Even though I’ve been working remotely since the pandemic started, I was still bound by the 9-5 schedule for a timezone that was not my own. I moved on to a job that allowed me to set my own hours and reduced my time spent in meetings by 8 hours per week. This increase in workplace freedom has allowed me to focus on other things, and was the catalyst for a lot of the other changes that follow.

Community Coaching

Over the summer, I started a coaching service for both Dota and non-Dota related topics. I’ve been coaching for several years now but this was the first time I’ve offered it to the public and I’m looking forward to continuing this in 2023.

I also launched the hero builds website, which aggregates the games played by professional players across all regions.

DPC Season 3

I worked with Alpha for the entirety of the third tour of the NA Division II DPC and helped them secure a 7-0 finish. Although I’m glad that the seasons will be cut down to 3 weeks next year, the extended length was beneficial to up-and-coming teams. It gives them more time to practice and improve, and Alpha in particular was able to leverage this to their advantage. For the first 3 weeks of the season we didn’t win a single scrim, and it was an inside joke that we would lose scrims but win officials. I can only imagine how poorly the team would have functioned had we been losing officials as well. In week 4 something clicked, we started winning a lot more and had a strong finish to the season.

The playoffs for the last chance qualifier ended up being a bit of a letdown, and my biggest regret is not pushing harder for our South American players to play from NA, as an untimely disconnect cost us a series and set a very negative tone for the rest of the qualifier.

Overall, I’m happy with how things went. I wore many hats while supporting Alpha and gained a lot of relevant experience that I’ll be able to carry forward with me.

The Arlington Major

The last major in America was going to be held in LA on March of 2020. I had my premium ticket purchased, arrangements made with all my friends… and then the pandemic happened. Finally after 2 years I had the chance to enjoy watching Dota on LAN with my friends. The games were solid and the Airbnb we rented was one of the best I’ve ever had, but the best thing about attending an event is the people. Attending a LAN shows how alive the game is and how kind the people are who play it. It counters all of the vitriol we see online and makes playing Dota worth it. The worst part of the event was the venue, where if you didn’t arrive early to get a good seat you had a pretty poor viewing experience. Attending more events next year will definitely be a top priority of mine.

2023

That was a relatively condensed version of 2022, and I’ll try to be brief with my goals for 2023:

Dota

This year I want to put what I’ve learned as a coach to the test on a sponsored team. I’ve developed several tools specifically for myself over the years but now I’d like to see what I can do for a team that has its own ideas and preparation routine in place. I also believe my background in neuroscience, psychology, and experience with personal development can be an asset for organizations that may not have a full time psychologist. I’ll be on the lookout for opportunities over the coming months and am excited to see where I’ll go next.

Write More

I’ve had some ideas about Dota and the community brewing for many months now and they seem to be getting more relevant as time goes by. I just need to buckle down and put them out there, so hopefully this is the start of finally doing just that.

Volunteering

Last year I took the plunge with some friends to start up a public benefit cooperative. Over the course of 2022 we built out the infrastructure to set up an independent business that is a force for good, and I’m excited to use this as an outlet for volunteer efforts this year. If worker cooperatives and alternative business structures interest you, reach out to me!

Hobbies

Learn Spanish

I took a course or two of Spanish back in high school, but that’s over a decade ago at this point 💀 so I’ve decided to pick it up again. I’ve worked with several South American players at this point already and if the major is going to be in SA then that will be especially helpful. DM me in Spanish on Twitter or Discord to help me practice :)

Learn Chess

I randomly started picking up chess this past week. Although I prefer team games it’s been refreshing to play something focused on an individual (“obligatory Dota is a team game???” remark 🤣). Any tips or learning resources are appreciated!

Read

I maintained a relatively stable one book a month reading schedule and I intend to continue that this year.

I’m thankful for the experiences I had in 2022, and am looking forward to the opportunities that await in 2023. Thanks for reading this far, and I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year!