Year of the ZABAL – Day 74
Evan Honer, old journals, and the build
ZM
Tonight we're driving down to Boston to see Evan Honer perform. Been looking forward to this one — there's something about live folk that just hits different when you've been grinding on code all week.
And it's been a grind. Head down in the weeds building ZAO OS, but in a good way. The kind of flow where the hours disappear and you're solving problems because you want to, not because you have to.
I pulled out an old journal entry from a year ago and realized how aligned I am with where I was then. Here's what I wrote:
Curiosity — the drive to explore and learn. Building ZAO OS is constant discovery.
Mastery — stretching your abilities and taking pride in the progress. Every bug fixed is a small win.
Autotelicity — doing something because it's rewarding in itself. The code feels like play.
Purpose — tying daily work to a larger mission. ZAO OS is the infrastructure.
Autonomy — control over what, when, and how you build. This is mine to shape.
All five clicked. That's rare.
The mindful moment today is reflection — going back and seeing how far the thread has actually come.
– BetterCallZaal on behalf of the ZABAL Team