Day 640 - Growing in passion in something I sucked at - https://golifelog.com/posts/growing-in-passion-in-something-i-sucked-at-1664685911987
What was one thing that you sucked at but grew to be passionate about?
I dare say it’s coding for me.
I truly sucked at it. Like an abusive relationship, I fell in love and fell out of love multiple times. Each time starts with lots of enthusiasm and optimism, but always fizzles out into boredom, then frustration. Every time, we broke up. I told myself, “I’m just not good at this sort of work. It’s too technical, too logical, too much like Math.” I hated it.
But somehow I kept going back. I still wanted to make products, even though I hated coding.
I tried. Then I tried again.
One day, by fluke of luck and circumstances, it stuck. I did #100daysofcode. I made loads of tiny apps that can be made in a day to a few days, for learning. I had a mission to help other writers find a home by building a writing SaaS. I listen to coding podcasts to pivot my identity, not just learn new knowledge.
It crossed the threshold from “I suck at coding. I hate coding.” to “Oh that’s not so bad. I might enjoy this.”
Now, I enjoy the figuring out process. It’s like a fun puzzle, and I don’t rest till I solve it. I often use it to help others, in my Carrd plugins especially.
I can now say, I’m passionate about coding, about developing software.
There’s few things in life where I sucked at something but stuck through it and emerged with passion at the end. In fact, I’m not sure I can come up with anything else besides coding.
But this does show that it is possible… to suck at something but grow to be passionate about.
Sometimes, you don’t need to start with passion.
Sometimes, passion finds you.
I dare say it’s coding for me.
I truly sucked at it. Like an abusive relationship, I fell in love and fell out of love multiple times. Each time starts with lots of enthusiasm and optimism, but always fizzles out into boredom, then frustration. Every time, we broke up. I told myself, “I’m just not good at this sort of work. It’s too technical, too logical, too much like Math.” I hated it.
But somehow I kept going back. I still wanted to make products, even though I hated coding.
I tried. Then I tried again.
One day, by fluke of luck and circumstances, it stuck. I did #100daysofcode. I made loads of tiny apps that can be made in a day to a few days, for learning. I had a mission to help other writers find a home by building a writing SaaS. I listen to coding podcasts to pivot my identity, not just learn new knowledge.
It crossed the threshold from “I suck at coding. I hate coding.” to “Oh that’s not so bad. I might enjoy this.”
Now, I enjoy the figuring out process. It’s like a fun puzzle, and I don’t rest till I solve it. I often use it to help others, in my Carrd plugins especially.
I can now say, I’m passionate about coding, about developing software.
There’s few things in life where I sucked at something but stuck through it and emerged with passion at the end. In fact, I’m not sure I can come up with anything else besides coding.
But this does show that it is possible… to suck at something but grow to be passionate about.
Sometimes, you don’t need to start with passion.
Sometimes, passion finds you.
Day 639 - October goals - https://golifelog.com/posts/october-goals-1664589223592
Setting intentions for October:
### Gratitude
- I liked how I was grateful for the consulting gig in Sept and just focused on delivering it well. Some love practising gratitude by journaling, but that always felt forced to me. How I prefer to express gratitude – through actions. So maybe Oct can be similar – find something I'm grateful for, and focus on doing it well out of gratitude.
- Not difficult to come up with one. My consulting gig is still ongoing, in the final stages of post-production, report-writing. I'll continue to focus on that.
- On top of it, there's a shorter consulting gig for 1 week in mid Oct - will also focus on being grateful for it.
### Alignment
- [Alignment](https://golifelog.com/posts/alignment-1664233941852) is working. Being genuine in how I want to project myself online and how I live had been a deep source of satisfaction. It feels good. I want to continue aligning to my inner compass this way.
- [After having this epiphany about how I succeed when I help others](https://golifelog.com/posts/i-succeed-when-i-help-others-succeed-1663551944694), I think I'm onto something big here, for myself. That could be the driving mechanism I can make my product(s) succeed. Just find a way to consistently help people directly. The rest will follow.
### Groundwork
- Lay groundwork for product work to come in Nov
- Prepare mentally, think through what I want to do, how I will review and do things differently. I feel a new, different season coming. A new season to how I work on my products, how I show up, how I project myself, how I connect.
- Plan how I will do things differently, not based on what someone successful said but based on real data.
Onwards.
### Gratitude
- I liked how I was grateful for the consulting gig in Sept and just focused on delivering it well. Some love practising gratitude by journaling, but that always felt forced to me. How I prefer to express gratitude – through actions. So maybe Oct can be similar – find something I'm grateful for, and focus on doing it well out of gratitude.
- Not difficult to come up with one. My consulting gig is still ongoing, in the final stages of post-production, report-writing. I'll continue to focus on that.
- On top of it, there's a shorter consulting gig for 1 week in mid Oct - will also focus on being grateful for it.
### Alignment
- [Alignment](https://golifelog.com/posts/alignment-1664233941852) is working. Being genuine in how I want to project myself online and how I live had been a deep source of satisfaction. It feels good. I want to continue aligning to my inner compass this way.
- [After having this epiphany about how I succeed when I help others](https://golifelog.com/posts/i-succeed-when-i-help-others-succeed-1663551944694), I think I'm onto something big here, for myself. That could be the driving mechanism I can make my product(s) succeed. Just find a way to consistently help people directly. The rest will follow.
### Groundwork
- Lay groundwork for product work to come in Nov
- Prepare mentally, think through what I want to do, how I will review and do things differently. I feel a new, different season coming. A new season to how I work on my products, how I show up, how I project myself, how I connect.
- Plan how I will do things differently, not based on what someone successful said but based on real data.
Onwards.
Day 638 - September wrap-up - https://golifelog.com/posts/september-wrap-up-1664511987491
📈 Current MRR (all from Lifelog): $119 (↑$10)
📊 One-off revenue: $351 (↑$6)
💵 Total revenue: $470 (↑$16)
🏦 Total profit: $430 (↑$16) (excl. salary and consulting costs)
👀 Tweet impressions: 240k vs 254k vs 183k
💙 Likes: 2.1k vs 3.1k vs 2.8k
💬 Engagement rate: 3.9% vs 4.2% vs 4.9%
🏡 Profile visits: 36.6k vs 43.1k vs 38.2k
📣 Mentions: 996 vs 1726 vs 1441
👣 New followers: 211 vs 254 vs 141
📧 Emails: 36 (↑4) subscribers
My one goal in September:
Go all in and do well for my consulting gig.
And looking back, I think I achieved that. I prepared myself for the physicality of the consulting by taking self-care seriously, sleeping enough, taking long naps on rest days, eating well, eating more. And then committed my 100% to the consulting work. Feedback from the client had been pretty positive.
I also feel more relaxed and feel less burdened by expectations about growing my products. I like this. It opens up mindspace to have more fun, to take risks, and be opportunistic. That’s how I always preferred to work, and somehow it’s falling into place all on its own. Not sure what changed that led to this.
Overall I’m thankful for a fruitful September, with more opportunities on the horizon. Grateful for being provided for.
📊 One-off revenue: $351 (↑$6)
💵 Total revenue: $470 (↑$16)
🏦 Total profit: $430 (↑$16) (excl. salary and consulting costs)
👀 Tweet impressions: 240k vs 254k vs 183k
💙 Likes: 2.1k vs 3.1k vs 2.8k
💬 Engagement rate: 3.9% vs 4.2% vs 4.9%
🏡 Profile visits: 36.6k vs 43.1k vs 38.2k
📣 Mentions: 996 vs 1726 vs 1441
👣 New followers: 211 vs 254 vs 141
📧 Emails: 36 (↑4) subscribers
My one goal in September:
Go all in and do well for my consulting gig.
And looking back, I think I achieved that. I prepared myself for the physicality of the consulting by taking self-care seriously, sleeping enough, taking long naps on rest days, eating well, eating more. And then committed my 100% to the consulting work. Feedback from the client had been pretty positive.
I also feel more relaxed and feel less burdened by expectations about growing my products. I like this. It opens up mindspace to have more fun, to take risks, and be opportunistic. That’s how I always preferred to work, and somehow it’s falling into place all on its own. Not sure what changed that led to this.
Overall I’m thankful for a fruitful September, with more opportunities on the horizon. Grateful for being provided for.
Wrote and scheduled at least 2 week's ahead of design-related posts on LinkedIn
Day 637 - Replies + likes > tweets - https://golifelog.com/posts/replies-likes-greater-tweets-1664406942073
New learning about Twitter algorithm. Tweeting alone isn’t enough. I just tried it on the @golifelog Twitter account. Just tweets. 1 quote tweet a day. No liking or replies to other accounts.
I did that for about a month as I was busy with my consulting.
The result? Zero new followers. Zero likes on any of my tweets.
ZERO.
In fact, my follower count started going down because there’s always a base of people were unfollowing.
Then I got less busy, and continued doing the same (1 quote tweet per day) BUT plus liking other tweets. An occasional reply.
The difference is pretty significant: More new follows. People liked my quote tweets.
My hypothesis from this?
The Twitter algo doesn’t show your tweets to your followers if you don’t engage with other accounts.
That’s why just tweeting alone isn’t enough.
Caveat: Of course, if you just like and reply but tweet zero of your own stuff, you won’t give people a chance to know what your account is like, and they’re less likely to follow. So tweets still matter as a basic hygiene practice. It just isn’t the pivotal thing when it comes to growth.
It’s not called social media for nothing. The social aspect is the prime activity, not broadcasting or content creation.
Replies + likes > tweets
I did that for about a month as I was busy with my consulting.
The result? Zero new followers. Zero likes on any of my tweets.
ZERO.
In fact, my follower count started going down because there’s always a base of people were unfollowing.
Then I got less busy, and continued doing the same (1 quote tweet per day) BUT plus liking other tweets. An occasional reply.
The difference is pretty significant: More new follows. People liked my quote tweets.
My hypothesis from this?
The Twitter algo doesn’t show your tweets to your followers if you don’t engage with other accounts.
That’s why just tweeting alone isn’t enough.
Caveat: Of course, if you just like and reply but tweet zero of your own stuff, you won’t give people a chance to know what your account is like, and they’re less likely to follow. So tweets still matter as a basic hygiene practice. It just isn’t the pivotal thing when it comes to growth.
It’s not called social media for nothing. The social aspect is the prime activity, not broadcasting or content creation.
Replies + likes > tweets
Went ahead and created a new sheet2bio page for a potential customer who's still considering signing up... that way he can trial run it
Got connected to someone in the Prime Minister's Office in Dubai (UAE) who's interesting to learn about design thinking in government!
What IS happening?! So many opportunities just showing up at the door... 😍
Day 636 - Why you shouldn't believe advice especially from prolific, successful people - https://golifelog.com/posts/why-you-shouldnt-believe-advice-especially-from-prolific-successful-people-1664326231437
People love asking advice from successful people. They all want to know the secrets to their wealth, fame and achievements. How did they do it? What was different about them? How can I be the same?
But here's the thing: ***Successful people are likely the worst people*** to ask advice from. Not because they're bad people in an ethical way. But this:
> Successful people have trouble answering the question "what's the one thing that worked for you?" because they did SO MUCH STUFF it's hard to pinpoint which one worked best. Like shooting 1,000 times and asking which bullet hit. No clue.
>
> – [@OneJKMolina](https://twitter.com/OneJKMolina/status/1574122810154295300)
By their success it's highly likely they are prolific and productive. That's usually what led them to their success. But because they are super productive people, they would have done a lot. Tried many ideas. Executed on loads of hacks. In that complex dynamics of trying so many things in an equally complex business environment, it's likely hard to have 100% certainty which efforts led to which results.
I know. You know.
It's like the saying of throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks. You know something stuck. But we can never be sure why, or if it's just [plain dumb luck](https://golifelog.com/posts/its-plain-dumb-luck-all-the-way-down-1663717145073). All you know is to keep trying.
Trying to get some deep insight into that chaos in order to replicate it, is just difficult, if not impossible.
And by the same reasoning, don't believe them if they tell you that ONE thing that led to their success (even if you're the one who asked).
Better yet, don't ask that kind of question that invites post-hoc narrative shaping (intentionally or unintentionally). Seriously, reality is 100-x more nuanced and complex. Most of the time, they might not even know. But because you asked them and they want to appear polite and because as a "successful person" they want to appear to know their sh\*t, they force an answer where there's usually none.
If you fall for it, you become a victim of insight porn.
I like to see advice more like ideas for doing your own experiments. That way you don't blindly apply them. You test them, analyze, discard what didnt work in your context, refine what worked, to make them your own.
I like to ask questions that gets to the broader context:
- What did you try but didn't work?
- What factors contributed to your product's success but you felt was outside of your influence?
- What was the business environment like then for your product?
- What was your life stage and family situation like?
Ask for facts. Ask for direct experiences and stories. Don't ask for opinions or inferences. Make your own inferences and discern your own patterns from the raw data, not the constructed interpretation of the data.
Tl;dr - Don't believe 99% advice, ***especially*** from prolific, successful people.
But here's the thing: ***Successful people are likely the worst people*** to ask advice from. Not because they're bad people in an ethical way. But this:
> Successful people have trouble answering the question "what's the one thing that worked for you?" because they did SO MUCH STUFF it's hard to pinpoint which one worked best. Like shooting 1,000 times and asking which bullet hit. No clue.
>
> – [@OneJKMolina](https://twitter.com/OneJKMolina/status/1574122810154295300)
By their success it's highly likely they are prolific and productive. That's usually what led them to their success. But because they are super productive people, they would have done a lot. Tried many ideas. Executed on loads of hacks. In that complex dynamics of trying so many things in an equally complex business environment, it's likely hard to have 100% certainty which efforts led to which results.
I know. You know.
It's like the saying of throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks. You know something stuck. But we can never be sure why, or if it's just [plain dumb luck](https://golifelog.com/posts/its-plain-dumb-luck-all-the-way-down-1663717145073). All you know is to keep trying.
Trying to get some deep insight into that chaos in order to replicate it, is just difficult, if not impossible.
And by the same reasoning, don't believe them if they tell you that ONE thing that led to their success (even if you're the one who asked).
Better yet, don't ask that kind of question that invites post-hoc narrative shaping (intentionally or unintentionally). Seriously, reality is 100-x more nuanced and complex. Most of the time, they might not even know. But because you asked them and they want to appear polite and because as a "successful person" they want to appear to know their sh\*t, they force an answer where there's usually none.
If you fall for it, you become a victim of insight porn.
I like to see advice more like ideas for doing your own experiments. That way you don't blindly apply them. You test them, analyze, discard what didnt work in your context, refine what worked, to make them your own.
I like to ask questions that gets to the broader context:
- What did you try but didn't work?
- What factors contributed to your product's success but you felt was outside of your influence?
- What was the business environment like then for your product?
- What was your life stage and family situation like?
Ask for facts. Ask for direct experiences and stories. Don't ask for opinions or inferences. Make your own inferences and discern your own patterns from the raw data, not the constructed interpretation of the data.
Tl;dr - Don't believe 99% advice, ***especially*** from prolific, successful people.
Just sold 2 x 50-card packs of career conversations cards = S$200. 83% margin on this if we exclude IP/content
Answered a purchase enquiry for Sheet2Bio... fingers crossed he will convert! 🤞
Day 635 - Alignment - https://golifelog.com/posts/alignment-1664233941852
Weird. I felt emotional pinning a tweet to my Twitter profile. First time ever.
*From pinning a tweet.*
This is the [tweet](https://twitter.com/jasonleowsg/status/1562801975967641601) in question:
> I once wanted my products to earn $1,000,000/year
>
> Now I'm happy with this
>
> 
I wrote a post in August based off this tweet, about how [life is made of memories not money](https://golifelog.com/posts/memories-not-money-1661467751049). And that feeling had since grew within, from a faint whisper to a loud rally cry.
That this is who I am. This is how I roll.
That this is authentic to my motivation behind on indie solopreneurship now.
And this is how I wish to align my internet presence and real life to.
No more pitching of products in the pinned tweets.
Less of selling and marketing on Twitter, more genuine transparency and authenticity.
Lower the noise on building an audience, crank up the volume on building my best self in public.
Then, [give 10x before asking 1x](https://golifelog.com/posts/give-10x-ask-1x-1662073070823).
I find the FOMO on needing to constantly market loosening its grip inwardly. I care less now. I've let it go...mostly.
I just want to log my journey, grow as a person, build relationships and have fun.
Alignment, online and offline, inwardly and outwardly.
And it never felt more right.
I never felt prouder.
*From pinning a tweet.*
This is the [tweet](https://twitter.com/jasonleowsg/status/1562801975967641601) in question:
> I once wanted my products to earn $1,000,000/year
>
> Now I'm happy with this
>
> 
I wrote a post in August based off this tweet, about how [life is made of memories not money](https://golifelog.com/posts/memories-not-money-1661467751049). And that feeling had since grew within, from a faint whisper to a loud rally cry.
That this is who I am. This is how I roll.
That this is authentic to my motivation behind on indie solopreneurship now.
And this is how I wish to align my internet presence and real life to.
No more pitching of products in the pinned tweets.
Less of selling and marketing on Twitter, more genuine transparency and authenticity.
Lower the noise on building an audience, crank up the volume on building my best self in public.
Then, [give 10x before asking 1x](https://golifelog.com/posts/give-10x-ask-1x-1662073070823).
I find the FOMO on needing to constantly market loosening its grip inwardly. I care less now. I've let it go...mostly.
I just want to log my journey, grow as a person, build relationships and have fun.
Alignment, online and offline, inwardly and outwardly.
And it never felt more right.
I never felt prouder.
Pinned a new tweet to Twitter profile. Weird. Never felt emotional about pinned tweets... until now
Meeting with another gov Ministry to get on their panel of consultants
...aaaand I'm in!
Day 634 - The long game is a mind game, not a time game - https://golifelog.com/posts/the-long-game-is-a-mind-game-not-a-time-game-1664145067488
I often say I'm in indie solopreneurship for the long game. That I'm committed to a decade of trying at this to succeed. And observing many other successful peers, they do seem take a decade to get to some place noteworthy.
But I recently realised it's not really about time spent. Playing the long game is just a mind trick to manage my expectations. It's all an inside job. Outside, in physical reality, time is relative. [Time isn't the problem. Effectiveness is.](https://golifelog.com/posts/time-isnt-the-problem-effectiveness-is-1664063381663) Playing the mental long game simply helps me to be more effective by lowering my expectations, by not being impatient and seeking suboptimal short cuts. The long game helps me perform better by being more objective, less swayed by emotional ups and downs of the entrepreneurship journey. It essentially helps me get out of my own way.
So the long game isn't about actually spending a decade on something.
It's simply about *being willing* to spend a decade. Whether you do end up spending a decade or just a few years has nothing to do with it. External time is inconsequential.
The long game is a mind game, not a time game.
But I recently realised it's not really about time spent. Playing the long game is just a mind trick to manage my expectations. It's all an inside job. Outside, in physical reality, time is relative. [Time isn't the problem. Effectiveness is.](https://golifelog.com/posts/time-isnt-the-problem-effectiveness-is-1664063381663) Playing the mental long game simply helps me to be more effective by lowering my expectations, by not being impatient and seeking suboptimal short cuts. The long game helps me perform better by being more objective, less swayed by emotional ups and downs of the entrepreneurship journey. It essentially helps me get out of my own way.
So the long game isn't about actually spending a decade on something.
It's simply about *being willing* to spend a decade. Whether you do end up spending a decade or just a few years has nothing to do with it. External time is inconsequential.
The long game is a mind game, not a time game.
Day 633 - Time isn't the problem. Effectiveness is. - https://golifelog.com/posts/time-isnt-the-problem-effectiveness-is-1664063381663
Just after I wrote about [100 days left of 2022](https://golifelog.com/posts/100-days-left-of-2022-1663995320403), I see this [pop up on my feed](https://twitter.com/khemaridh/status/1573469789216854016):
"Don't be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One person gets only a week's value out of a year while another gets a full year's value out of a week."
It's crazy how that's so darn true, yet everyone loves focusing on time as a measure of value.
Time is relative.
Time is not the problem. Effectiveness is.
It's not how hard you worked.
It's not how long you worked.
It's not how much experience you had.
It's not how committed you were to the long game.
It's how effective you were in those hours you worked.
It's how much value you brought in within that time.
It's how you truly moved the needle by doing the right things.
In fact, I dare say... the most effective people don't work the longest hours.
But they might not work the shortest hours either, or are lazy.
The most effective people just work a lot less than we normally assume of them.
And that's because we're so enamoured by some moral narrative that hardworking, longest-working people should be, will be rewarded fairly.
That's what the people benefiting from our hard work and long hours want us to believe.
So now repeat after me:
Time isn't the real problem.
Being effective is.
"Don't be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One person gets only a week's value out of a year while another gets a full year's value out of a week."
It's crazy how that's so darn true, yet everyone loves focusing on time as a measure of value.
Time is relative.
Time is not the problem. Effectiveness is.
It's not how hard you worked.
It's not how long you worked.
It's not how much experience you had.
It's not how committed you were to the long game.
It's how effective you were in those hours you worked.
It's how much value you brought in within that time.
It's how you truly moved the needle by doing the right things.
In fact, I dare say... the most effective people don't work the longest hours.
But they might not work the shortest hours either, or are lazy.
The most effective people just work a lot less than we normally assume of them.
And that's because we're so enamoured by some moral narrative that hardworking, longest-working people should be, will be rewarded fairly.
That's what the people benefiting from our hard work and long hours want us to believe.
So now repeat after me:
Time isn't the real problem.
Being effective is.
💵 Sold yet another single license mega navbar Carrd plugin (US$25) on Gumroad...thanks Hallie!
💵 Sold yet another single license mobile navbar Carrd plugin (US$15)...thanks Nik!
Day 632 - 100 days left of 2022 - https://golifelog.com/posts/100-days-left-of-2022-1663995320403
"There are 100 days left of 2022. What could you commit to for 100 days to finish the year strong?" – [@evielync](https://twitter.com/evielync/status/1573136866425044993)
A great question from Ev on Twitter...definitely got me thinking.
*inb4: Yes I get that it's an arbitrary number. Why 100? Why not 101? Why not 10? But 100 has a nice round number ring to it. Let's take it easy and have some fun with it...*
The easy way to look ahead for the remainder of 2022 is to review my goals and intentions from the start of 2022:
[My aspiration for 2022, in one word: Alacrity](https://golifelog.com/posts/alacrity-1641079911090). To move forward with brisk and cheerful readiness. To truly thrive.
[2022 intentions, in 8 forms of capital](https://golifelog.com/posts/2022-in-8-forms-of-capital-1641014096319)
💵 Financial: Hit $200 MRR from all my products by 31 Dec 2022, through small doggedness.
⚒️ Material: Meaningful materialism for health.
🌲 Living: Move more, feel fit.
💡 Intellectual: Follow my entrepreneur nose.
💪 Experiential: Learn about web3 and AI.
👥 Social: Serial 1-on-1 Twitter conversations.
🎨 Cultural: Pivoting identity to wealth subculture.
⛩️ Spiritual: Mindful familyhood.
All my fears, concerns, aspirations and wishes in the form of [open questions for 2022](https://golifelog.com/posts/open-questions-for-the-year-ahead-1641344137895):
• Will I live up to the year with alacrity?
• How long will I take to hit $200 MRR?
• Will I ever hit $5k revenue in my life?
• Will I ever make enough money off my products to support my lifestyle and family?
• What other products can I make?
• What other products do I want to make?
• What’s my next big thing?
• What’s my next product for tech for good?
• Do I still have what it takes to create something profitable and popular?
• When will I embody a wealth mindset?
• Do I have what it takes to get rich?
• Will I be able to grow my savings back to what it was?
• When will I finally get over myself about investing?
• Will I ever nail my sleep to 90% consistently?
• Can I ever get back to a fitness level of my 20s or 30s?
• How do I bring familyhood to the next level?
• When will things go back to normal?
• When can we travel again?
• What’s my spiritual path like ahead?
• Will I ever go on retreats again?
• When will I finally feel like I’m thriving, not surviving?
### So how do I plan to finish strong for the last 100 days of 2022?
What I DON'T want to do for sure:
- Launch yet another big bet with huge expectations
- Do nothing and launch nothing
- Hustle to $200 MRR
- No web3 or AI for now
What I want to do:
- Better health, fitness
- Continue with overhaul of [my indie approach](https://golifelog.com/posts/is-the-indie-maker-playbook-dead-1661221071495)
- Get back to [values, not passions](https://golifelog.com/posts/values-greater-passions-1663371060665). Main value: [Altruism. I succeed when I help others succeed](https://golifelog.com/posts/i-succeed-when-i-help-others-succeed-1663551944694).
- Plan for travel again, to feel that sense of hope and anticipation.
A great question from Ev on Twitter...definitely got me thinking.
*inb4: Yes I get that it's an arbitrary number. Why 100? Why not 101? Why not 10? But 100 has a nice round number ring to it. Let's take it easy and have some fun with it...*
The easy way to look ahead for the remainder of 2022 is to review my goals and intentions from the start of 2022:
[My aspiration for 2022, in one word: Alacrity](https://golifelog.com/posts/alacrity-1641079911090). To move forward with brisk and cheerful readiness. To truly thrive.
[2022 intentions, in 8 forms of capital](https://golifelog.com/posts/2022-in-8-forms-of-capital-1641014096319)
💵 Financial: Hit $200 MRR from all my products by 31 Dec 2022, through small doggedness.
⚒️ Material: Meaningful materialism for health.
🌲 Living: Move more, feel fit.
💡 Intellectual: Follow my entrepreneur nose.
💪 Experiential: Learn about web3 and AI.
👥 Social: Serial 1-on-1 Twitter conversations.
🎨 Cultural: Pivoting identity to wealth subculture.
⛩️ Spiritual: Mindful familyhood.
All my fears, concerns, aspirations and wishes in the form of [open questions for 2022](https://golifelog.com/posts/open-questions-for-the-year-ahead-1641344137895):
• Will I live up to the year with alacrity?
• How long will I take to hit $200 MRR?
• Will I ever hit $5k revenue in my life?
• Will I ever make enough money off my products to support my lifestyle and family?
• What other products can I make?
• What other products do I want to make?
• What’s my next big thing?
• What’s my next product for tech for good?
• Do I still have what it takes to create something profitable and popular?
• When will I embody a wealth mindset?
• Do I have what it takes to get rich?
• Will I be able to grow my savings back to what it was?
• When will I finally get over myself about investing?
• Will I ever nail my sleep to 90% consistently?
• Can I ever get back to a fitness level of my 20s or 30s?
• How do I bring familyhood to the next level?
• When will things go back to normal?
• When can we travel again?
• What’s my spiritual path like ahead?
• Will I ever go on retreats again?
• When will I finally feel like I’m thriving, not surviving?
### So how do I plan to finish strong for the last 100 days of 2022?
What I DON'T want to do for sure:
- Launch yet another big bet with huge expectations
- Do nothing and launch nothing
- Hustle to $200 MRR
- No web3 or AI for now
What I want to do:
- Better health, fitness
- Continue with overhaul of [my indie approach](https://golifelog.com/posts/is-the-indie-maker-playbook-dead-1661221071495)
- Get back to [values, not passions](https://golifelog.com/posts/values-greater-passions-1663371060665). Main value: [Altruism. I succeed when I help others succeed](https://golifelog.com/posts/i-succeed-when-i-help-others-succeed-1663551944694).
- Plan for travel again, to feel that sense of hope and anticipation.
Day 631 - Giving my 100% but with self care - https://golifelog.com/posts/giving-my-100percent-but-with-self-care-1663889197231
I just completed my consulting project yesterday. I really wanted to do a good job with it. I wanted to give my all. Yet this time, my all didn’t include sacrificing my sleep, health and sense of wellbeing.
And that felt gooooood.
Since forever, since my early years in sports especially, doing my best and giving my all was often associated with ignoring pain. When you run long distance, you learn to ignore the pain signals your body is sending you to keep going. You can rest when it’s over. Over time that’s become my default mode of operation.
I disembody. I ignore pain and push on. In work. For my projects. In my career. In life.
For a time that served me well, I went the distance in work where others dropped off. I worked till 3am in office. I worked evenings and weekends. And I was rewarded for that. It further affirmed that I was doing it ‘right’. It might have been right… for a time. For that stage in life where I was young and can take beatings. But over the years the beatings accumulated, and my health began to suffer in my late 30s.
Now I’m 43, and it’s plain as day that I can’t keep doing that no more.
So I made sure I was just as committed to sleep and health during this project as I’m committed to the project objectives. I slept 8h for 1 month leading up to the start of the project to get my energy back. It worked. I continued to commit to good sleeping habits throughout the project. I made sure I ate well, ate more. Self care was as important as client care.
And I made it through. Mostly intact. Caught the flu the day before a big three day workshop, but miraculously got well enough the next day to proceed. Got a sprained shoulder the next week (from bad posture while standing to facilitate discussions), but got some treatment and it’s better. Still exhausted though, but relieved.
So giving my 100% but with self care is possible.
I mean, I know it’s possible in theory. But I’ve never experienced it practically. I’ve certainly not sought it out intentionally. I’ve always given my all, then try to rest and recover after. This time I managed to balance both, two seemingly polar opposites.
It’s not either health or hard work.
It’s health AND hard work.
This really shouldn’t need to be said. But humans are funny. I’m imperfect.
At least this time, at a ripe old age of 43, I managed to get just 1% less imperfect.
And that felt gooooood.
Since forever, since my early years in sports especially, doing my best and giving my all was often associated with ignoring pain. When you run long distance, you learn to ignore the pain signals your body is sending you to keep going. You can rest when it’s over. Over time that’s become my default mode of operation.
I disembody. I ignore pain and push on. In work. For my projects. In my career. In life.
For a time that served me well, I went the distance in work where others dropped off. I worked till 3am in office. I worked evenings and weekends. And I was rewarded for that. It further affirmed that I was doing it ‘right’. It might have been right… for a time. For that stage in life where I was young and can take beatings. But over the years the beatings accumulated, and my health began to suffer in my late 30s.
Now I’m 43, and it’s plain as day that I can’t keep doing that no more.
So I made sure I was just as committed to sleep and health during this project as I’m committed to the project objectives. I slept 8h for 1 month leading up to the start of the project to get my energy back. It worked. I continued to commit to good sleeping habits throughout the project. I made sure I ate well, ate more. Self care was as important as client care.
And I made it through. Mostly intact. Caught the flu the day before a big three day workshop, but miraculously got well enough the next day to proceed. Got a sprained shoulder the next week (from bad posture while standing to facilitate discussions), but got some treatment and it’s better. Still exhausted though, but relieved.
So giving my 100% but with self care is possible.
I mean, I know it’s possible in theory. But I’ve never experienced it practically. I’ve certainly not sought it out intentionally. I’ve always given my all, then try to rest and recover after. This time I managed to balance both, two seemingly polar opposites.
It’s not either health or hard work.
It’s health AND hard work.
This really shouldn’t need to be said. But humans are funny. I’m imperfect.
At least this time, at a ripe old age of 43, I managed to get just 1% less imperfect.
☕️ Received 1x coffee (US$5.45) from a monthly subscriber
Conducted Day 6 final workshop prototyping and user feedback session... it's a wrap!
Day 630 - A tweet a day - https://golifelog.com/posts/a-tweet-a-day-1663800236379
I recently switched over to just one tweet a day. And I must say, I’m surprised that it’s so enjoyable.
There’s always something about the elegant simplicity of one. An apple a day keeps the doc away. All-in-one. Hole in one. In one fell swoop. One in a million. One for all all for one. When one door closes another one opens. One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. The One.
Just one tweet a day has that same elegant simplicity.
I’ve always felt that if I were to start over on Twitter with zero followers, tweeting once a day would be my approach. Now I’m back full circle.
One a day also has that compelling habit-building ring to it. It just feels easy hearing it. Just one day one tweet! Amongst habit-building hacks, keeping the barrier as low as possible is one of my top favs. We have 100 words a day on Lifelog. James Clear talked about going to the gym to do just one rep. Just one tweet a day is a great inner accountability contract to maintain the long game. Even though I’ve been tweeting daily for more than a year now (I lost count), audience-building is a long, infinite game, and anything to help with sustaining the journey is worth it.
To make the long game even more sustainable, I use the thoughtful replies I reply to other accounts as tweets themselves. This way, I got my tweets queued up one month ahead! I found the right flywheel where I can keep the tweets flowing without feeling like I’m over-stretching or stressing myself.
And the best part: After doing 2, 3 or more tweets per day, one a day feels easy. And when a game is in easy mode, I have more bandwidth to fool around and have more fun doing Twitter (instead of feeling like it’s a job sometimes). I can shitpost or joke around more. I have more capacity to deepen relationships. I have more time to learn from others.
Because ultimately that’s what I’m on Twitter for - relationships, learning, play.
Instead of feeling like I’m working for Twitter.
There’s always something about the elegant simplicity of one. An apple a day keeps the doc away. All-in-one. Hole in one. In one fell swoop. One in a million. One for all all for one. When one door closes another one opens. One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. The One.
Just one tweet a day has that same elegant simplicity.
I’ve always felt that if I were to start over on Twitter with zero followers, tweeting once a day would be my approach. Now I’m back full circle.
One a day also has that compelling habit-building ring to it. It just feels easy hearing it. Just one day one tweet! Amongst habit-building hacks, keeping the barrier as low as possible is one of my top favs. We have 100 words a day on Lifelog. James Clear talked about going to the gym to do just one rep. Just one tweet a day is a great inner accountability contract to maintain the long game. Even though I’ve been tweeting daily for more than a year now (I lost count), audience-building is a long, infinite game, and anything to help with sustaining the journey is worth it.
To make the long game even more sustainable, I use the thoughtful replies I reply to other accounts as tweets themselves. This way, I got my tweets queued up one month ahead! I found the right flywheel where I can keep the tweets flowing without feeling like I’m over-stretching or stressing myself.
And the best part: After doing 2, 3 or more tweets per day, one a day feels easy. And when a game is in easy mode, I have more bandwidth to fool around and have more fun doing Twitter (instead of feeling like it’s a job sometimes). I can shitpost or joke around more. I have more capacity to deepen relationships. I have more time to learn from others.
Because ultimately that’s what I’m on Twitter for - relationships, learning, play.
Instead of feeling like I’m working for Twitter.
💵 Sold yet another single license mobile navbar Carrd plugin (US$15)...thanks Danielle!
Tech support for an enquiry from a mega navbar plugin customer
Issue: Tried to change font in code but it didn't display on site.
Solution: Again, it's because the user didn't clear cache in browser when reviewing the updated site. Seems to be happening a lot
Solution: Again, it's because the user didn't clear cache in browser when reviewing the updated site. Seems to be happening a lot