Jason Leow

https://t.me/carrdchat/4160

https://t.me/jason_leow/465

https://twitter.com/pluginsforcarrd/status/1673827221591699457

https://www.indiehackers.com/post/showing-a-random-item-out-of-a-list-in-carrd-7547e52e7e

https://pluginsforcarrd.tumblr.com/post/721323332104044544/showing-a-random-item-out-of-a-list-in-carrd

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuAwnaCPRGo/

https://www.tiktok.com/@pluginsforcarrd/video/7249507637195279634

https://pluginsforcarrd.substack.com/p/showing-a-random-item-out-of-a-list

https://www.reddit.com/r/Carrd/comments/14ktlgd/carrd_plugin_showing_a_random_item_out_of_a_list/

https://m.facebook.com/groups/carrdusers/permalink/1310508506213869/?mibextid=lURqYx

https://mas.to/@jasonleow/110618985112449825

Email sent

https://twitter.com/jasonleowsg/status/1673631765762801664?s=20

You know you got a habit dialled down when you don't have to force yourself to go do it. No need for habit hacking. No need to design the environment. No mental tricks or hoops to jump through.

I've always struggled with making myself exercise in the morning. It's early, I'm still sleepy, I prefer to work, I got to get the kid ready for school. Many reasons I give myself. But seldom 100% true.

But what I do know is I feel better 100% of the time after I exercise in the morning.

It's just that it's not always easy to tap into the posthoc feeling, or memory of that feeling, before doing that exercise. Or maybe it just takes time to truly **embody** that memory, that feeling, not as something intellectual or a mental discipline thing, but to intuitively feel it in my bones and gut just how I truly enjoy it.

That inflection point seems to have happened just recently.

I know it when it goes from "I *should* do it..." to "I *want* to do it...". It's the same with other infinite game type of habits, like diet and sleep, I find.

So now I got the habit part of it dialled down. Next, to actually get the outcome – being [fit af](https://golifelog.com/goals/213).

Launch incoming!

All the [talk on Twitter](https://twitter.com/daniel_nguyenx/status/1672569199368228870?s=20) about shipping fast as an indie hacker got me thinking:

*Do I ship too slow?*

Went and did a tally to check my shipping speed: I actually launched ~20 Carrd plugins in 6 months so far in 2023. Started 13 new distribution channels \*.

For Lifelog, about 8 features shipped (considering I only decided to do Side Project weekends starting in March).

So I do launch pretty fast!

Just that Carrd plugins are probably a narrow niche and tiny market, so progress and results might be slower.

So it's not just about shipping fast but in the right niches and opportunities too.

I should launch more *different* bets, even while I continue to build and grow my existing products.

I like how [@daniel_nguyenx](https://twitter.com/daniel_nguyenx/status/1672952233401647104?s=20) talked about it here:

> Launching more is a valid strategy. Though I believe “blindingly launching more” won’t make us better entrepreneurs. Between a) putting all your effort into a bad idea and b) launch as many products as possible, there should be a good middle ground. Launch a few small-scale products short term while doing customer development/validation for a longer-term one. This is what I’ve been doing. I’m still trying to validate a B2B SaaS idea that could potentially reach $10k MRR. In the meantime, I’m launching multiple “fun” products: BoltAI and a couple other. All under a same category: business productivity.

Blindly launching fast is one of those rookie mistakes every indie has to learn via trial by fire. And I like Daniel's approach of small scale, short term bets alongside a longer term big bet. Best of both worlds! I'm somewhat doing that already and plan to dive into that approach even more.

Now looking for a new short term small scale bet to bite into!

But tracking my writings and tweets where I mention wanting to try a new project, I've been thinking and talking about it for a few months now. That's overthinking already. I need to just try and launch stuff.

Anything.

Just ship more. Now.

---

> \* New distribution channels for my plugins project:
> - Substack
> - Twitter
> - Discord
> - Tumblr
> - IG
> - Tiktok
> - Sponsorship ads (jannis, ayush, katrin, mark x 2, zite, kevon)
> - Upsells
> - SEO - domaining,
> - Lemon Squeezy, Payhip
> - Affiliates on Gumroad, LS
> - PPP on Gumroad
> - Guest posts on Starrt

I've imagined and written about what a perfect morning or perfect day looks like for me. But being the new dad I am, I've never thought about a perfect morning with my kid.

Until today. When it happened for real, organically:

I woke up at 3am for a quick pee, but ended up not being able to sleep, so I woke by 4:50am to get a headstart on my side project. Sunday mornings are great for deep work. Everything's sooo quiet. Then by 8am my toddler wakes. My wife's still asleep – we let her sleep in some more. He opens the door, peeks out. I walk over, picks him up, and we walk around the house and chat for a bit. After a leisurely moring stroll around the house carrying him, we wash up. I let him brush his own teeth for the first time, with him standing on the toilet bowl. He usually refuses his teeth-brushing, but with the newfound autonomy, he did it with glee. I finish up the parts he missed. Then we're off to the kitchen. He asked for cherries, and I asked him to help me with it. He takes the stalks off, while I remove the cores. We throw in a few of his favourite mini sponge cakes, and a dollop of Greek yoghurt. He asks to eat standing up on a wooden stool at the pantry. I agree. We chit chat while he eats. For a three year old, he's pretty chatty when he wants to. I start eating my yoghurt with blueberries and pecans, and he starts joking about how pecans look like cockroaches. It's true, isn't it? Have you ever thought about pecans are cockroaches? I didn't. We laugh, then proceed to crush some 'cockroaches' into his yoghurt, and he had fun playing along with the joke. We giggle some more. In time, he finishes his breakfast, all by himself, without any nudging needed, without drama, without fighting, without power struggles, without any tears and crying that's often typical of breakfast. *What changed?* I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing it's got to do with the autonomy he got, the full participation he had in starting his day, and (hopefully) the full presence of a parent attending to him.

Sunday 25 June 2023. A perfect Sunday morning with my kiddo.

New core memory created... for me.

[Earlier this month](https://golifelog.com/posts/not-all-features-are-created-equal-1685873032170) I questioned if the features I've been building for Lifelog recently is pushing the envelope enough. I wanted to pivot Lifelog, but I didn't know what.

I wanted to rethink, research and re-explore this side project.

I *thought* I wanted that.

But it woefully failed.

I got stuck by over-thinking, and couldn't figure out what to do. I ended up shipping slow, most of the time unsure what features I should be building, and that killed all my momentum.

The end result is nothing got shipped.

I thought I needed a higher purpose. But it seems like I was so damn wrong. I simply needed momentum. By building what I wanted, what gave me joy, it kept me building, kept me going weekend after weekend.

True, I wasn't always building what people wanted (sorry guys), but look what happened when I tried to solely build based external feedback? Nothing. At least by following my momentum, I shipped. I iterated. I learned.

Perhaps when I just build, I will eventually get to place where it *becomes* purposeful. But I'm not there yet. I just need to keep building first.

Momentum-driven development, not purpose-driven.

A bit of an inside, dark humour sort of joke I have with my wife is how I basically "asked for it" by choosing to go serious on indie solopreneurship right around the same time as having a kid for the first time, and during a global pandemic crisis, and a recession after.

Making a huge career change, from ground up, right around the when everyone's trying to protect their own jobs, businesses shutting down, is just silly. Top that off with sleep-deprived nights and the teething issues of beocming a new dad (mind you, not the baby's teething issues).

My sense of timing couldn't be more off on this occasion, to say the least.

Why make things doubly, triply hard on myself when the smart thing is to lay low for a bit, put the ambition aside, and just get through it with as little drama and stress as possible? If I went back to a government job during the pandemic, I'd have a stable salary, be able to work from home anyway and be a present dad, and wouldn't be as stressed. I could have avoided all that drama, and then when the conditions are ripe again, quit and start over as an indie. Like now.

*Why? Why then? Why now?*

I asked myself those questions pretty often.

I don't know but I feel my path often has a life of its own. First, the soul does what it needs for growth, for reinvention. Then the mind and other worldly needs follow.

I'll find a way to survive and feed the family.

But the growth process doesn't stop.

I think this about sums it up:

> "One of the great balancing acts in life is to be cautious and daring at the same time.
Cautious enough to avoid stupid mistakes, prevent burnout, and maintain a margin of safety.
>
> Daring enough to bet on yourself, to do the things you would regret leaving undone, and to be willing to be uncomfortable in the short term so you can learn and grow in the long term." – [James Clear](https://jamesclear.com/3-2-1/june-22-2023)

I did what was needed to be cautious enough, even though I was taking a daring leap of faith into the unknown of indie hacking. I continued consulting, I opened myself up for coaching and training, I did random gigs, a few hundred dollars here, another thousand there. I survived. My family survived. I did what was temporary, to get towards what was permanent.

Cautious *and* daring.

Now, to just keep the faith, stay the path.

Career switches I made in the past 2 decades:

2003 - Cable tv
2007 - Social welfare
2011 - Web design (self-employed)
2012 - Service design in gov
2015 - Design consultancy agency
2018 - Started indie hacking
2020 - 1st SaaS and MRR
2023 - Still no ramen profitability.. 😕

Indie solopreneurship definitely takes the cake when it comes to how hard it is to "make it"...

In most of my other careers it took 1-2 years, 3 years max to hit my desired goal.

I'm year 5 in indie hacking and still nowhere close!

It got me thinking: WHY?

- It's not due to not having the required skills, knowledge or training. I didn't study media communications, but joined cable tv as my first job. I never studied any web design, but started a web design gig in 2011, and did design consultancy inside government in 2012. In all occasions I learned on the job, picked things up as I went. It was stressful at times, hard all the time, but I learn fast and usually within 1-2 years I hit my stride.

- It's can't be due to running a business, because I started my first business in 2011 in web design, and another in 2015 for a design agency. The only difference is both are services and more analog/in real life, while indie hacking is product-based and more abstract due to being online.

- The key difference is having to learn more about distribution and marketing. And learning how to code (way harder skill to learn than others).

- Season of life. I was single, younger, more energetic. Now, I have family, older, more tired, sleep-deprived. Just energy levels alone to hustle is significantly lower. Risk appetite had also changed - I can't take irrational risks anymore because I got 4 other individuals to feed (being sole breadwinner).

- Timing. The global crisis like the pandemic didn't help. It definitely threw a spanner in the works and added 2 years delay at least.

*What other barriers did you experience yourself when it comes to indie hacking?*

It's ready for launch I think! 🚀

I've always struggled to practice gratitude. The gratitude journaling exercises and other ways of saying thanks for small to huge things in my life right now always felt forced and artificial. If I'm not feeling it, saying I am grateful feels fake at best, self-deceptive at worst.

But recently I've found a way to do that genuinely. It's a thing making its circles in parenting social media. It goes a bit like this:

Imagine you're 90 and you've got a chance to time travel back in time to just one moment in the past to relive it. That moment is right now. Whatever tantrums your kid is throwing, chaos you're going through, heated emotions you feel... all starts to fade away and ceases to matter. Because one year from this moment you'd forgot why were you even upset to start with. And as a time-travelling 90-year-old, I would just want to enjoy the moment with my child all over again, no matter how chaotic it is or how mad I feel.

Visualising and imagining that always helped me not get too caught up in the emotions of the moment. And thinking that one day all the toys, the toddler antics, the hugs will be gone, never fails to trigger an upswelling of emotions.

This period of time is so precious. Once gone, can never be relived.

Money, stress, career, products, revenue, followers, impressions – it matters but also doesn't matter.

This right now, matters.

And for the first time, I can say:

I'm grateful for this moment in time.