---
aliases: ["January 2025"]
Is A: Month
Created at: "2025-01-28"
Belongs to: "[[25q1]]"
Rating: "😄"
---
# January 2025

## Focus

- Begin [[25q1-laputa-v1]] development sprint — four-panel layout, markdown rendering, search
- Plan [[25q1-rate-increase]] strategy with [[person-matteo-cellini]]
- Start [[25q1-strength-program]] — 3x/week gym sessions

## Highlights

- Kicked off [[25q1-laputa-v1]] development with a focused 2-week sprint — four-panel layout working, markdown rendering with frontmatter extraction functional
- Researched competitor sponsor rates and prepared [[25q1-rate-increase]] proposal with [[person-matteo-cellini]] — planning to raise Gold from EUR 2.8k to EUR 3.5k/issue
- Started [[25q1-strength-program]]: working with a coach, 3x/week focusing on core stability and leg strength for cycling
- Newsletter at 51.8k subscribers — steady organic growth to start the year
- Read "Build" by Tony Fadell — excellent on product thinking, relevant to Laputa
- Cycling: 320 km, mostly indoor on the trainer — January weather in northern Italy is brutal

## Reflections

January is always a reset month, and this one felt especially deliberate. Coming off the high of [[2024]], I wanted to start [[2025]] with intention rather than momentum alone. The Laputa development sprint was intense — coding every evening after the newsletter work was done, often until midnight. But seeing the four-panel layout come alive with my own vault data was deeply motivating. It's scratching an itch that's been bothering me for years.

The strength program is humbling. My first session, I could barely hold a plank for 60 seconds. Years of cycling have given me the cardiovascular fitness of someone 10 years younger and the upper body strength of someone 10 years older. The coach just smiled and said "we'll fix that." Three weeks in, everything hurts, but I can already feel the difference in posture and stability on the bike.
