Before We Turn the Page

Hello!

It’s Thursday, 25^th December 2025. I wish you a Merry Christmas! Last Bold Efforts of the year. This part of the year has this built-in pause. Even if you do nothing special, it still slows you down. This year also feels like a pause for another reason.

I can’t prove it, but 2025 feels like the last page of a chapter that started in 2020. Not just a pandemic chapter. A life chapter. That long stretch where everything changed, then kept changing, and then you got used to the change.

On paper, i had a good year. Things moved. Nothing broke. Some wins. Some stability. If you asked me at a dinner table, I’d probably say, “yeah, it was good”. And then I’d feel that second thing at the same time. It was heavy.

Not in the dramatic sense. Not “I’m burnt out”. More like carrying a bag you forget you’re holding, until you put it down and your shoulder finally relaxes. I’ve been trying to name what that is.

I think it’s this: the world is getting more optional and more demanding at the same time.

You have more freedom than you did a decade ago. More flexibility in how you work. More choice in where you live. More ways to build a career that doesn’t look like the old one. The world of work has started to loosen after staying stiff for a long time.

But when you get more options, you don’t get less effort. You get more decisions. The old systems were rigid, but they decided things for you. Office at nine. Commute. Meetings. Weekends. Holidays. There was a rhythm, even if you hated it.

Now the rhythm is yours to build. That sounds like freedom because it is. But it comes with a quiet tax. You decide when work starts, and when it stops.

You decide what “enough” looks like. You decide which opportunities to ignore. And you keep deciding, because the options keep refreshing.

I’m starting to think a lot of the exhaustion people feel right now isn’t from workload. It’s from load-bearing choice. Decision after decision. Small ones. Constant ones. Even good things can feel endless when they don’t have clean edges.

That’s why progress doesn’t always feel satisfying anymore. You ship something, and the next thing is already waiting. You finish a week, and the next week looks the same. You close a year, and it doesn’t feel like closure.

And underneath all of it, there’s another layer. Many of us are no longer reacting to disruption. We’re living with what it changed. Our habits, our expectations, our identities. That shift takes energy, even if your life looks fine from the outside.

So if this year felt heavy despite going well, I don’t think that means you’re ungrateful. I think it means you’re living through a transition.

You’re standing between two eras. One that began under pressure, and one that hasn’t fully formed yet.

As the year ends, the instinct is to reset hard. New goals. New systems. New optimization.

Maybe the better move is smaller. Notice the weight. Put a few things down. Carry less borrowed expectation into the next year.

If 2025 felt heavy, you’re not doing it wrong. You’re adapting to a world that gives you more room, and asks you to hold the steering wheel.

Merry Christmas once again. Thank you for reading Bold Efforts! I wish you a happy 2026!

-Kartik

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Who am I?
I’m Kartik, founder of Polynomial Studio, a holding company and product studio building AI-driven businesses for the future of work. The way we work and live is being rewritten. AI, remote work, and shifting economic forces are reshaping careers, businesses, and entire industries. The big question is where it’s all heading.

For the past eight years, I’ve been at the forefront of these shifts, working across real estate, technology, startups, and corporate strategy. I’ve helped businesses navigate change and stay ahead of what’s next, always focused on understanding the forces shaping our future and how we can use them to build something better. Click here to know more about me.

Why Bold Efforts?
I started Bold Efforts because I believe work should fit into life, not the other way around. Too many people are stuck in outdated systems that don’t serve them. This newsletter is about challenging the status quo and making the effort to design work around life. It brings together bold ideas and actionable insights to help you build a healthier, more balanced relationship with work, leading to greater purpose and fulfillment. If you’re looking for fresh perspectives on how to work and live better, you’re in the right place.

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