Who I Am
I'm Mikolaj Tarwid. By day, I'm an Accounts Assistant working toward my Chartered Accountant qualification in the UK. But that's just what pays the bills.
What actually drives me? The feeling that I was designed for more than the standard 9-5 path. Not "more" in the hustle culture sense - more in the "there has to be deeper meaning to this" sense.
I spent years living on autopilot, asking "what's the point?" and waiting for someone to give me the answer. No one did. So I stopped waiting.
hanker.life is what happened when I decided to figure it out for myself and document the process publicly.
The Backstory
I'm fascinated by human potential. What makes some people break through their limitations whilst others stay stuck? Why do we live on autopilot when we know there's more available to us?
These aren't abstract questions for me. They're personal. I've been that person scrolling through life, feeling like I'm supposed to be doing something more but having no idea what or how.
So I started studying. Not just consuming content - actually applying it. Testing frameworks. Tracking what works and what doesn't. The same systematic approach I use in finance, applied to life.
What I learnt: Most personal development advice is either too abstract to be useful or too prescriptive to be authentic. You don't need another guru telling you their way is the only way.
You need frameworks, honest questions, and the courage to do the work.
Here's the truth:
I'm not "successful" yet by traditional standards. I'm not at the finish line. I'm in the messy middle, building alongside my 9-5, figuring out what success even means for me.
But that's exactly why this works. I'm not selling you a retrospective story of how I "made it." I'm showing you the real-time process of making it.
What hanker.life Is About
This platform exists to help people stop waiting and start living intentionally. Not through motivation porn or quick fixes, but through systematic frameworks that actually work.
The 3-Phase Approach:
Phase 1: Breakthrough
Wake up from autopilot. Most people never make it past this phase because it requires admitting you've been asleep. The 7-Day Challenge is designed to shake you awake.
Phase 2: Know Thyself
Identity revolution. You can't become who you're meant to be until you understand who you actually are - beneath the conditioning, expectations, and performances.
Phase 3: Transformation
Sustainable change. Not quick fixes that fade in a month. Real transformation that sticks because it's built on honest self-knowledge and intentional action.
My Philosophy
Growth is subtractive, not additive. You don't need more information, more courses, more gurus. You need to remove the layers of conditioning that are hiding who you actually are.
Discomfort is the price of admission. If transformation was comfortable, everyone would do it. The fact that it's uncomfortable is what makes it worth doing.
Action beats theory every time. I respect frameworks and principles, but they're worthless without execution. Every challenge, every tool, every resource is designed for action, not consumption.
No guru nonsense. I'm not claiming to have all the answers. I'm sharing what's working for me, in real time, with full transparency about what's failing too.
What Makes This Different
Most personal development content falls into one of two camps:
Camp 1: The Motivational Speakers - All energy, no substance. Makes you feel good for 48 hours, then you're back where you started.
Camp 2: The Academic Philosophers - All theory, no application. Interesting ideas that never translate to actual change.
hanker.life sits in the gap between them: Practical philosophy. Frameworks that work. Honest questions that force action. Real-time documentation of what happens when you actually do the work.
I bring the discipline and systematic thinking from finance. The curiosity from philosophy. The urgency from knowing that waiting gets you nowhere.
And most importantly: I'm building this alongside my regular job, not instead of it. If you're trying to expand beyond your 9-5 without burning it all down, we're on the same journey.
The Name: hanker.life
hanker: verb - to have a strong desire for something.
Not passive wanting. Active hankering. The kind of desire that moves you to action even when it's uncomfortable.
If you're reading this, you're probably hankering for something more. Not sure what yet. That's fine. The work is figuring it out and going after it.
Stop waiting. Start living.