🍟 Side project weekend: Added toggle switch for rich text editor and saving preference for md vs rich text editor
- Added toggle switch for rich text editor to /write and /compose page.
- Added ability to save default preference for rich text or md editor using localStorage.
- Change write button on navbar to open /compose or /write page based on saved default in localStorage.
- Added ability to save default preference for rich text or md editor using localStorage.
- Change write button on navbar to open /compose or /write page based on saved default in localStorage.
Day 939 - F**k frameworks - https://golifelog.com/posts/fk-frameworks-1690501280287
I tried to yarn create nuxt-app yesterday, and was met with a whole lot of complaints by the terminal. Unmet dependencies this, critical errors that. You need to update this, you need to download that. Amongst a whole host of annoying barriers to setting up.
That's so f**king annoying.
That's my least favourite part of using modern frameworks. Too much shit going on just to start. I remember back when I started using frameworks, just having to install and set up a whole host of stuff—node, npm, VSCode, extensions—was enough to make me want to quit. Yesterday's experience was reminiscient of that.
I just want to have a developer experience like how I develop my plugins.
Standard issue HTML and CSS, with plain vanilla Javascript. Nothing to install or download. Works right away in the browser. If I need to pull in a library for some styling, I use the cloud option. Just throw in the script tag, and we're off. If I want to use a Javascript framework, I use Vue.js on CDN.
Literally ZERO barriers to start.
I know I know... the veterans will say I'll hit some ceiling with that kind of stack. But ceilings are artificial. That's why people create new frameworks and technology stacks to get away from the contraints of predecessors.
Maybe it's time to *really* check out things like [htmx](https://htmx.org/) or [the stackless way](https://tutorials.yax.com/articles/build-websites-the-yax-way/quicktakes/what-is-the-yax-way.html):
> - You can go far without a framework.
> - Build tools are a burden.
> - Routing sucks.
> - JAMstack doesn't always need build tools.
> - The platform is evergreen.
This ain't the first time I'm complaining about modern Javascript frameworks. And it sure won't be the last.
That's so f**king annoying.
That's my least favourite part of using modern frameworks. Too much shit going on just to start. I remember back when I started using frameworks, just having to install and set up a whole host of stuff—node, npm, VSCode, extensions—was enough to make me want to quit. Yesterday's experience was reminiscient of that.
I just want to have a developer experience like how I develop my plugins.
Standard issue HTML and CSS, with plain vanilla Javascript. Nothing to install or download. Works right away in the browser. If I need to pull in a library for some styling, I use the cloud option. Just throw in the script tag, and we're off. If I want to use a Javascript framework, I use Vue.js on CDN.
Literally ZERO barriers to start.
I know I know... the veterans will say I'll hit some ceiling with that kind of stack. But ceilings are artificial. That's why people create new frameworks and technology stacks to get away from the contraints of predecessors.
Maybe it's time to *really* check out things like [htmx](https://htmx.org/) or [the stackless way](https://tutorials.yax.com/articles/build-websites-the-yax-way/quicktakes/what-is-the-yax-way.html):
> - You can go far without a framework.
> - Build tools are a burden.
> - Routing sucks.
> - JAMstack doesn't always need build tools.
> - The platform is evergreen.
This ain't the first time I'm complaining about modern Javascript frameworks. And it sure won't be the last.
Day 938 - Weird Youtube hobby - https://golifelog.com/posts/weird-youtube-hobby-1690449648377
I've got a weird Youtube hobby. I love watching travel Youtube videos of people's first time in Singapore, where I live. Yes, sometimes I do watch travel vids of other countries, or places I would like to visit. But not nearly as much or with as much interest as travel vids of Singapore.
Even when I was able to travel freely pre-covd era, I still enjoyed watching travel vids of Singapore.
On the surface, it's definitely nice to watch tourists marvel and say nice things about Singapore. But what's even more fun was to live vicariously through their eyes, to see my home country in a light I don't always get to see, because we all get numb to the things we see and touch everyday.
It's like, a different way to practice gratitude. For being able to live in a place where others can find joy and magic in. Even if you no longer do.
The foods that light a fire in their eyes. And their belly.
The honest folks preparing those foods being helpful to them.
The ease and fearlessness they can move around in the city.
I tend to forget all these.
There's nothing like outsiders to help remind me of all that.
Grateful.
Even when I was able to travel freely pre-covd era, I still enjoyed watching travel vids of Singapore.
On the surface, it's definitely nice to watch tourists marvel and say nice things about Singapore. But what's even more fun was to live vicariously through their eyes, to see my home country in a light I don't always get to see, because we all get numb to the things we see and touch everyday.
It's like, a different way to practice gratitude. For being able to live in a place where others can find joy and magic in. Even if you no longer do.
The foods that light a fire in their eyes. And their belly.
The honest folks preparing those foods being helpful to them.
The ease and fearlessness they can move around in the city.
I tend to forget all these.
There's nothing like outsiders to help remind me of all that.
Grateful.
Day 937 - Consulting vs indie hacking - https://golifelog.com/posts/consulting-vs-indie-hacking-1690340440000
Most days I'm grateful for my consulting work. It's meaningful, does social good, and pays the bills.
But on other days, I feel held back by it.
I was inspired to make the [animated chart gif generator idea](https://golifelog.com/posts/product-idea-animated-chart-gif-generator-for-twitter-1689904564092) and been trying to start it for some weeks now, but with ongoing consulting projects, it's hard to even sit down to get started.
I'm still grateful for the ability it gives me to feed my family. But sometimes can't help but feel like my progress could be so much faster if I could focus.
With consulting and freelancing, your runway is theoretically infinite, it reduces the stress of survival, but it takes time away from your indie products. It's hardest when inspiration clashes with commitment.
With just indie hacking, I get so much freedom for my health, time, and creative autonomy. But it can't feed my family yet. It would be so stressful to depend on it.
Pros and cons, hard trade-offs I guess.
Only just yesterday I managed to close one project with the client. There's still one onoing, and another one coming up in Q3. So there's a bit of breathing room now.
Relieved, yet excited to finally get started on yet another new product!
But on other days, I feel held back by it.
I was inspired to make the [animated chart gif generator idea](https://golifelog.com/posts/product-idea-animated-chart-gif-generator-for-twitter-1689904564092) and been trying to start it for some weeks now, but with ongoing consulting projects, it's hard to even sit down to get started.
I'm still grateful for the ability it gives me to feed my family. But sometimes can't help but feel like my progress could be so much faster if I could focus.
With consulting and freelancing, your runway is theoretically infinite, it reduces the stress of survival, but it takes time away from your indie products. It's hardest when inspiration clashes with commitment.
With just indie hacking, I get so much freedom for my health, time, and creative autonomy. But it can't feed my family yet. It would be so stressful to depend on it.
Pros and cons, hard trade-offs I guess.
Only just yesterday I managed to close one project with the client. There's still one onoing, and another one coming up in Q3. So there's a bit of breathing room now.
Relieved, yet excited to finally get started on yet another new product!
Day 936 - Twitter → 𝕏 - https://golifelog.com/posts/twitter-x-1690235891623
The end of an era. Sigh.
I know, I know. Change is the only constant. Yet it's never easy when it actually happens. I tweeted out my first tweet on 6 Nov 2014, got more serious about it in the past few years.
It's been almost a decade on the platform. And while my usage on other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram had only ever downtrended, I've only ever increased my usage on Twitter. That says a lot about the staying power. At least for me. Because posting updates on my life, vanity selfies and all doesn't last. Having practical utility from peer support and collective learning is more sustaining. I don't think I will ever stop needing to learn how to indie hack – there's new things to pick up at every stage, and there will be always new people to learn from.
While these changes on the platform are unsettling, I hope they don't kill the community aspect of it. The really smart people are still here, but many are leaving. I hope the exodus will be stemmed somehow even through the chaos of Elon Musk trying to find profitability for the app.
Right now, I'm looking forward to staying on the platform for the peer learning.
By the way, some semantic woes:
What do we call tweets now? Xaps (like zaps)?
Are we all ex-es to each other now?
How weird if to say, "Oh I saw it on 𝕏"...
🤣
I know, I know. Change is the only constant. Yet it's never easy when it actually happens. I tweeted out my first tweet on 6 Nov 2014, got more serious about it in the past few years.
It's been almost a decade on the platform. And while my usage on other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram had only ever downtrended, I've only ever increased my usage on Twitter. That says a lot about the staying power. At least for me. Because posting updates on my life, vanity selfies and all doesn't last. Having practical utility from peer support and collective learning is more sustaining. I don't think I will ever stop needing to learn how to indie hack – there's new things to pick up at every stage, and there will be always new people to learn from.
While these changes on the platform are unsettling, I hope they don't kill the community aspect of it. The really smart people are still here, but many are leaving. I hope the exodus will be stemmed somehow even through the chaos of Elon Musk trying to find profitability for the app.
Right now, I'm looking forward to staying on the platform for the peer learning.
By the way, some semantic woes:
What do we call tweets now? Xaps (like zaps)?
Are we all ex-es to each other now?
How weird if to say, "Oh I saw it on 𝕏"...
🤣
Deployed fix for typing sounds on new rich text editor
Had to figure out how to use `editor.on` from TinyMCE instead to listen for the keydown event.
editor.on('keydown', this.playSound)
editor.on('keydown', this.playSound)
Day 935 - Reading: Virtue or vice? - https://golifelog.com/posts/reading-virtue-or-vice-1690154915762
I love reading. I love books. I feel people in general could read more. People seem to stop reading altogether after they stop school, which is a shame.
But are books and reading really such a universal good that it can do no wrong?
Yes. Any virtue in excess, practised to extremes becomes vice.
Thrift in excess becomes cheapskate.
Reading in excess becomes intellectual vanity.
Reading in excess becomes intellectual vanity.
Like how this [tweet](https://twitter.com/levelsio/status/1682876856347815938) triggered a wave of counter comments why something as good as reading gets hate:
It's not hate for reading itself. It's how you use reading as a habit.
There's reading for practical application, for learning and chasing curiosity, for just the fun of it, and there's performative reading for vanity metrics, for the 'gram. Inferring from that photo, if you're reading 1 entrepreneur/productivity book per week for one year and defending that you're reading to apply it and learn, who are you kidding? How much can you apply from spending 1 book per week? The hard limit here is our time. How much time is left to apply all those lessons after reading *1 book per week*? Any application is likely superficial.
And let's face it: If you're reading those kind of (non-fiction) books, it's likely you're reading it to reach a goal. Maybe you want to be an entrepreneur. Maybe you have a goal to start a business, or if you started one, you're hoping to reach some level of profitability. Reading 1 book a week won't get you there.
Look, I'm all for reading. Like I said I love to read and I love books. If you read for fun, knock yourself out. But if you're reading to help you reach a goal like to be an entrepreneur, maybe like, apply some moderation instead?
Read a few good ones, apply it, and spend the rest of the time executing like hell. Then come back to reading and learning where you feel your knowledge falls short.
Entrepreneurship isn't an academic, theory-based vocation. It's a practitioner-/skills-based, pragmatic vocation.
Taking advice or reference from your business professors in a university ain't gonna cut it.
But are books and reading really such a universal good that it can do no wrong?
Yes. Any virtue in excess, practised to extremes becomes vice.
Thrift in excess becomes cheapskate.
Reading in excess becomes intellectual vanity.
Reading in excess becomes intellectual vanity.
Like how this [tweet](https://twitter.com/levelsio/status/1682876856347815938) triggered a wave of counter comments why something as good as reading gets hate:
It's not hate for reading itself. It's how you use reading as a habit.
There's reading for practical application, for learning and chasing curiosity, for just the fun of it, and there's performative reading for vanity metrics, for the 'gram. Inferring from that photo, if you're reading 1 entrepreneur/productivity book per week for one year and defending that you're reading to apply it and learn, who are you kidding? How much can you apply from spending 1 book per week? The hard limit here is our time. How much time is left to apply all those lessons after reading *1 book per week*? Any application is likely superficial.
And let's face it: If you're reading those kind of (non-fiction) books, it's likely you're reading it to reach a goal. Maybe you want to be an entrepreneur. Maybe you have a goal to start a business, or if you started one, you're hoping to reach some level of profitability. Reading 1 book a week won't get you there.
Look, I'm all for reading. Like I said I love to read and I love books. If you read for fun, knock yourself out. But if you're reading to help you reach a goal like to be an entrepreneur, maybe like, apply some moderation instead?
Read a few good ones, apply it, and spend the rest of the time executing like hell. Then come back to reading and learning where you feel your knowledge falls short.
Entrepreneurship isn't an academic, theory-based vocation. It's a practitioner-/skills-based, pragmatic vocation.
Taking advice or reference from your business professors in a university ain't gonna cut it.
Day 934 - Luck razor and other unconventional razors to follow - https://golifelog.com/posts/luck-razor-and-other-unconventional-razors-to-follow-1690078959401
Saw this list of unconventional philosophical razors on Facebook, and immediately thought of applying some of them to indie hacking:
"In philosophy, a razor is a principle or rule of thumb that allows one to eliminate (“shave off”) unlikely explanations for a phenomenon, or avoid unnecessary actions." – Wikipedia
Bragging Razor - If someone brags about their success or happiness, assume it’s half what they claim. If someone downplays their success or happiness, assume it’s double what they claim.
Great principle to use when reading tweets. It’s almost always overplayed or downplayed, and assuming 2x more or less is helpful.
High Agency Razor - If unsure who to work with, pick the person that has the best chances of breaking you out of a 3rd world prison.
I like this one, especially when collaborating. Even better for co-founders. If you get a low agency person, chances are, you’ll have to high carry the team through. In a startup, you can’t have deadweight.
The Early-Late Razor - If it’s a talking point on Reddit, you might be early. If it’s a talking point on LinkedIn, you’re definitely late.
I think Twitter is somewhere in the middle between Reddit and LinkedIn. Sometimes you don’t know if something on Reddit is too fringe to take off. But once it takes off on Twitter, you can be pretty sure it’ll take off soon elsewhere. E.g. AI, ChatGPT. It was months after the Twitter threadbois had done “ChatGPT is the next big thing” to death before I started seeing them on LinkedIn.
Luck Razor - If stuck with 2 equal options, pick the one that feels like it will produce the most luck later down the line. I used this razor to go for drinks with a stranger rather than watch Netflix. In hindsight, it was the highest ROI decision I’ve ever made.
So true. My favourite razor out of the whole list. This applies to products too. And marketing approaches. Between 2 equal options, choose to make a product that gives more luck surface area. Or make a feature that produces potentially more luck surface area. Like how Mailchimp had referral badges at the bottom of every email sent out by their users.
Taleb’s Surgeon - If presented with two equal candidates for a role, pick the one with the least amount of charisma. The uncharismatic one has got there despite their lack of charisma. The charismatic one has got there with the aid of their charisma.
As a manager, I once hired an extroverted, smooth-talking junior executive over a more reserved one. But they both made it to the final round. We chose the former, and the latter’s resume got picked up by another team. We had the benefit of observing how both worked even though we didn’t hire one of them, and ended up regretting.
What other unconventional razors do you use?
"In philosophy, a razor is a principle or rule of thumb that allows one to eliminate (“shave off”) unlikely explanations for a phenomenon, or avoid unnecessary actions." – Wikipedia
Bragging Razor - If someone brags about their success or happiness, assume it’s half what they claim. If someone downplays their success or happiness, assume it’s double what they claim.
Great principle to use when reading tweets. It’s almost always overplayed or downplayed, and assuming 2x more or less is helpful.
High Agency Razor - If unsure who to work with, pick the person that has the best chances of breaking you out of a 3rd world prison.
I like this one, especially when collaborating. Even better for co-founders. If you get a low agency person, chances are, you’ll have to high carry the team through. In a startup, you can’t have deadweight.
The Early-Late Razor - If it’s a talking point on Reddit, you might be early. If it’s a talking point on LinkedIn, you’re definitely late.
I think Twitter is somewhere in the middle between Reddit and LinkedIn. Sometimes you don’t know if something on Reddit is too fringe to take off. But once it takes off on Twitter, you can be pretty sure it’ll take off soon elsewhere. E.g. AI, ChatGPT. It was months after the Twitter threadbois had done “ChatGPT is the next big thing” to death before I started seeing them on LinkedIn.
Luck Razor - If stuck with 2 equal options, pick the one that feels like it will produce the most luck later down the line. I used this razor to go for drinks with a stranger rather than watch Netflix. In hindsight, it was the highest ROI decision I’ve ever made.
So true. My favourite razor out of the whole list. This applies to products too. And marketing approaches. Between 2 equal options, choose to make a product that gives more luck surface area. Or make a feature that produces potentially more luck surface area. Like how Mailchimp had referral badges at the bottom of every email sent out by their users.
Taleb’s Surgeon - If presented with two equal candidates for a role, pick the one with the least amount of charisma. The uncharismatic one has got there despite their lack of charisma. The charismatic one has got there with the aid of their charisma.
As a manager, I once hired an extroverted, smooth-talking junior executive over a more reserved one. But they both made it to the final round. We chose the former, and the latter’s resume got picked up by another team. We had the benefit of observing how both worked even though we didn’t hire one of them, and ended up regretting.
What other unconventional razors do you use?
Day 933 - Two deaths - https://golifelog.com/posts/two-deaths-1690014425233
> At a deathbed, if my patient can communicate, they show they’re dying two deaths: the one they’re dying & then the death of the life they really wanted to live. But in their dying, some are also free. To tell me who they are. What they wanted. Who they had to hide. Finally free. – [@jsparkblog](https://twitter.com/jsparkblog/status/1681807434044649472)
This really hit hard. I use Twitter mostly for indie hacking. All my follows are indies. But occasionally you come across an account that's pure light. This is one such account. Of a Korean American as a hospital chaplain. A hospital chaplain offers spiritual guidance and pastoral care to patients and their families as patients are near their end. Compared to his tweets, my indie tweets feel crude and superficial.
Back to the heavy tweet...
It reminded me of the famous saying by Confucius:
> “We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.”
If you never had a chance to live that said second life, you have two deaths waiting for you. The physical death and the death of a life which you never lived out.
I think this about sums up all my striving. Why I work so damn hard to fulfil my dreams. Not just indie hacking, not just revenue milestones, not just profitable products, but all the freedoms I seek – [health](https://golifelog.com/posts/health-freedom-1689728459633), time, location, creative freedom. And everything else too - falling in love, having a family, being present to my child, caring for my parents, traveling and seeing the world. If I don't do all those, I risk dying two deaths. And I'm mortally afraid of that. We don't know if we get another chance after this life ends.
So the ultimate endgame for me, is that I die only one death at the end.
That would be the dream.
This really hit hard. I use Twitter mostly for indie hacking. All my follows are indies. But occasionally you come across an account that's pure light. This is one such account. Of a Korean American as a hospital chaplain. A hospital chaplain offers spiritual guidance and pastoral care to patients and their families as patients are near their end. Compared to his tweets, my indie tweets feel crude and superficial.
Back to the heavy tweet...
It reminded me of the famous saying by Confucius:
> “We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.”
If you never had a chance to live that said second life, you have two deaths waiting for you. The physical death and the death of a life which you never lived out.
I think this about sums up all my striving. Why I work so damn hard to fulfil my dreams. Not just indie hacking, not just revenue milestones, not just profitable products, but all the freedoms I seek – [health](https://golifelog.com/posts/health-freedom-1689728459633), time, location, creative freedom. And everything else too - falling in love, having a family, being present to my child, caring for my parents, traveling and seeing the world. If I don't do all those, I risk dying two deaths. And I'm mortally afraid of that. We don't know if we get another chance after this life ends.
So the ultimate endgame for me, is that I die only one death at the end.
That would be the dream.
Updated SMTP relay domain in Heroku API app from sendinblue to brevo - https://developers.brevo.com/docs/changes-in-smtp-relay-address
Day 932 - Product idea: Animated chart gif generator for Twitter - https://golifelog.com/posts/product-idea-animated-chart-gif-generator-for-twitter-1689904564092
Emerging trend I'm seeing: Creating sleek media for your tweets seems to be a thing now.
- [Typeframes](https://typeframes.com) creates stunning animated text videos for products
- [Screen Studio](https://www.screen.studio/) creates beautiful high quality screen recordings to demo your products
- [MRRartpro](http://mrrartpro.com) makes retro-nostalgic ASCII charts for Twitter, LinkedIn or text messages
- [Gifstat](https://gifstat.com) makes lovely gifs with animated number counters to show your stats
But this had been done for the longest time on websites already. Bar charts, line chart, pie charts, everything. Mainstream media websites would show data visualisations for trending topics of the season.
Maybe it's time to bring this into the hands of individual creators and indie hackers on Twitter?
**An animated chart gif generator for tweets.**
Every indie hacker shows line charts of their revenue. What if we could upload a spreadsheet or plug in to Stripe, and generate the data into this animated chart to create a gif that you can share on Twitter?
In fact, it doesn't have to be just for Twitter. It can be for LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook. Any social media platform. And it doesn't have to just be charts. It can be for any sort of data visualisation, even the fancier sorts like a bar chart race.
Chart.js is a Javascript library I can leverage on to create these animated charts. [Flourish](https://flourish.studio) is already doing this in a massive way, so maybe there's already demand. Something simple and clean like [Data Gif Maker by Google News Lab](https://datagifmaker.withgoogle.com/) would be awesome:
This might be a fun weekend side project to do. Targeted at my Twitter audience. No expectations, even if some revenue is nice. Best part, I will want to keep it going to use it for myself.
*What do you think? Got potential?*
- [Typeframes](https://typeframes.com) creates stunning animated text videos for products
- [Screen Studio](https://www.screen.studio/) creates beautiful high quality screen recordings to demo your products
- [MRRartpro](http://mrrartpro.com) makes retro-nostalgic ASCII charts for Twitter, LinkedIn or text messages
- [Gifstat](https://gifstat.com) makes lovely gifs with animated number counters to show your stats
But this had been done for the longest time on websites already. Bar charts, line chart, pie charts, everything. Mainstream media websites would show data visualisations for trending topics of the season.
Maybe it's time to bring this into the hands of individual creators and indie hackers on Twitter?
**An animated chart gif generator for tweets.**
Every indie hacker shows line charts of their revenue. What if we could upload a spreadsheet or plug in to Stripe, and generate the data into this animated chart to create a gif that you can share on Twitter?
In fact, it doesn't have to be just for Twitter. It can be for LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook. Any social media platform. And it doesn't have to just be charts. It can be for any sort of data visualisation, even the fancier sorts like a bar chart race.
Chart.js is a Javascript library I can leverage on to create these animated charts. [Flourish](https://flourish.studio) is already doing this in a massive way, so maybe there's already demand. Something simple and clean like [Data Gif Maker by Google News Lab](https://datagifmaker.withgoogle.com/) would be awesome:
This might be a fun weekend side project to do. Targeted at my Twitter audience. No expectations, even if some revenue is nice. Best part, I will want to keep it going to use it for myself.
*What do you think? Got potential?*
Day 931 - How to age well - https://golifelog.com/posts/how-to-age-well-1689814970952
Saw this on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/swyx/status/1369103809201328130), on how to play long term games with health. Basically, how to age well:
> - No alcohol
> - More water
> - 8hrs sleep
> - 10k steps
> - Less sugar
> - Varied vegetables
> - Intermittent fasting
> - Fit friends
> - Practice gratitude
> - Practice stoicism
> - Wear sunscreen
> - Moisturize face
> - Floss & Mouthwash
> - Personal trainer
>
> Source: Reddit [r/fatFIRE](https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/m0fht9/how_to_age_better/)
It's an interesting list. I try to practice at least half of it. No alcohol, more water, more sleep, less sugar, varied vegetables, intermittent fasting, practice gratitude/stoicism – I do these relatively well, or at least I try to.
"10k steps" is something I always wanted but currently hard to do for me due to the nature of working on a computer. Still daydreaming of living in a cabin in the woods with high speed internet next to my plot of garden.
"Fit friends" was surprising because of the latter "friends" part. You are who you hang out with. We all want to be fit but having friends who are will be double the motivation, purely by osmosis.
Wear sunscreen, moisturize face, personal trainer feels more on the vanity side, not something I'd care much for other than the most essential.
What I would add to the list on how to age well:
- Eat more red meat and fats
- Watch those vitamins and minerals
- 90% sleep scores
- Lift your body weight
- Family love and support
- Make love
- Having purpose, in life and [work](https://golifelog.com/posts/keep-working-1689473845981)
- Avoid drama
- Have a spiritual practice
*What else would you add to the list on how to age well?*
> - No alcohol
> - More water
> - 8hrs sleep
> - 10k steps
> - Less sugar
> - Varied vegetables
> - Intermittent fasting
> - Fit friends
> - Practice gratitude
> - Practice stoicism
> - Wear sunscreen
> - Moisturize face
> - Floss & Mouthwash
> - Personal trainer
>
> Source: Reddit [r/fatFIRE](https://www.reddit.com/r/fatFIRE/comments/m0fht9/how_to_age_better/)
It's an interesting list. I try to practice at least half of it. No alcohol, more water, more sleep, less sugar, varied vegetables, intermittent fasting, practice gratitude/stoicism – I do these relatively well, or at least I try to.
"10k steps" is something I always wanted but currently hard to do for me due to the nature of working on a computer. Still daydreaming of living in a cabin in the woods with high speed internet next to my plot of garden.
"Fit friends" was surprising because of the latter "friends" part. You are who you hang out with. We all want to be fit but having friends who are will be double the motivation, purely by osmosis.
Wear sunscreen, moisturize face, personal trainer feels more on the vanity side, not something I'd care much for other than the most essential.
What I would add to the list on how to age well:
- Eat more red meat and fats
- Watch those vitamins and minerals
- 90% sleep scores
- Lift your body weight
- Family love and support
- Make love
- Having purpose, in life and [work](https://golifelog.com/posts/keep-working-1689473845981)
- Avoid drama
- Have a spiritual practice
*What else would you add to the list on how to age well?*
Day 930 - Health freedom - https://golifelog.com/posts/health-freedom-1689728459633
One of the less obvious, less talked-about reasons I want to transit to fulltime indie hacking is for my health.
With consulting, I have to head out often, eat out often. The schedule is irregular, the places I go to are unfamiliar. Often I wake up earlier than usual to commute to my client's office. I end up having to make poor food choices, disrupt my sleep rhythm, and work out less. Since starting on my consulting gigs in April, I can definitely feel the difference. I've gained weight and flab around the waist. My sleep scores are lower and inconsistent. Stress management is definitely sub-optimal.
Whereas during the months of the year when I don't have consulting and doing fulltime indie hacking, everything's more within my control. I can sleep and wake at the same time everyday. I can cook or buy food that's healthier and more familiar. I can work out every morning without fail. Very stable routine. A bit boring yes, but when I get bored, it's also within my control how I want to spice things up, do something different for the day. I'm generally more at ease, better rested, more taken care of.
So not just about time, location and financial freedom.
But health freedom as well.
Probably the most important freedom.
With consulting, I have to head out often, eat out often. The schedule is irregular, the places I go to are unfamiliar. Often I wake up earlier than usual to commute to my client's office. I end up having to make poor food choices, disrupt my sleep rhythm, and work out less. Since starting on my consulting gigs in April, I can definitely feel the difference. I've gained weight and flab around the waist. My sleep scores are lower and inconsistent. Stress management is definitely sub-optimal.
Whereas during the months of the year when I don't have consulting and doing fulltime indie hacking, everything's more within my control. I can sleep and wake at the same time everyday. I can cook or buy food that's healthier and more familiar. I can work out every morning without fail. Very stable routine. A bit boring yes, but when I get bored, it's also within my control how I want to spice things up, do something different for the day. I'm generally more at ease, better rested, more taken care of.
So not just about time, location and financial freedom.
But health freedom as well.
Probably the most important freedom.
Day 929 - How I decided to stop pushing for growth on Plugins - https://golifelog.com/posts/how-i-decided-to-stop-pushing-for-growth-on-plugins-1689632595264
How I decided to stop pushing for growth for my plugins project, due to market size being too small and not a lack of distribution channels I’ve not tried:
I tried many channels over 9 months actually. Not just one, but at least 12 I think:
• Sponsorships
• Multiple social media platforms
• Free tools
• Newsletter/email
• Even ads
Even on the ones that worked well, referral traffic isn’t very high. The numbers are in the low thousands, not hundred thousands or millions. Google Trends doesn’t show any data for "carrd plugins" because search vol too low. On Ahref, average monthly searches for the past 12 months based on the U.S. is just 30. Not 30k searches, just 30!
So my gut instinct plus inferencing from imperfect data (from sales, questions, etc) tells me that the market size is too small. Not hard science I guess, but enough for me after 9 months to make a judgement call.
That it's time to keep it steady state for now and explore something else. Otherwise I might end up digging in one spot with low chance of higher returns.
I’m cognizant of shiny object syndrome and trying hard to not fall into that trap, but also don't want to get too hung up on one project that I spend too much time flogging a dead horse (happened to me, got scars to show for it).
Hard balance!
I tried many channels over 9 months actually. Not just one, but at least 12 I think:
• Sponsorships
• Multiple social media platforms
• Free tools
• Newsletter/email
• Even ads
Even on the ones that worked well, referral traffic isn’t very high. The numbers are in the low thousands, not hundred thousands or millions. Google Trends doesn’t show any data for "carrd plugins" because search vol too low. On Ahref, average monthly searches for the past 12 months based on the U.S. is just 30. Not 30k searches, just 30!
So my gut instinct plus inferencing from imperfect data (from sales, questions, etc) tells me that the market size is too small. Not hard science I guess, but enough for me after 9 months to make a judgement call.
That it's time to keep it steady state for now and explore something else. Otherwise I might end up digging in one spot with low chance of higher returns.
I’m cognizant of shiny object syndrome and trying hard to not fall into that trap, but also don't want to get too hung up on one project that I spend too much time flogging a dead horse (happened to me, got scars to show for it).
Hard balance!
Day 928 - Criteria for small bets - https://golifelog.com/posts/criteria-for-small-bets-1689559534344
An old tweet from [@dvassallo](https://twitter.com/dvassallo/status/1582380596395143169) about his criteria for small bets. A timely reminder as I'm thinking through and filtering out ideas for new products:
> My selection criteria for new business:
> - Can I bring this to market in under a month?
> - Can I bring this to market on my own?
> - Is this something people are already accustomed to buying?
> - Can I keep this on the market at almost no cost?
> Must be a Yes on all points.
To test if it's helpful, it's interesting to just run through my current projects and think from the initial days:
### Outsprint
- Can I bring this to market in under a month? Yes, service businesses are easy to start. Low upfront capital. Just a business registration and a paying customer and you're off. You don't even need a website or logo!
- Can I bring this to market on my own? I 100% did. Even though it's a consultancy agency service, I scoped out a business model that works solo.
- Is this something people are already accustomed to buying? Yes, gov folks were already commissioning many such projects. And there's an opportunity for a lower cost, smaller scoped model.
- Can I keep this on the market at almost no cost? Not including effort for some marketing, it's zero cost to upkeep. Services don't cost money maintain. Marketing is mainly face-to-face networking, word of mouth, and via LinkedIn.
- Conclusion: This checks off all the boxes and that's why this business is how I started and remains the only income stream feeding the family.
### Lifelog
- Can I bring this to market in under a month? Nope I didn't. This was a big coding project. First time ever making a SaaS and a paid one. No experience whatsoever with Nuxt.js and Heroku. I learned everything on the job.
- Can I bring this to market on my own? Yes I did but just barely. Couldn't have done this without a lot of help from friends who are devs.
- Is this something people are already accustomed to buying? On hindsight, not really. I thought there's a opportunity because there's a sizeable community in the prior 200 words a day platform. But it shut down because not enough paying customers. That should have been a red flag. But I would have done it in a heartbeat again even with benefit of this hindsight, because I needed and *wanted* a community and platform to write daily. What I would have done differently would be to have lower expectations and not overfocus on it, certainly not for 2 years.
- Can I keep this on the market at almost no cost? The cost is non-zero but affordable. Amongst my different projects, this projects costs the most to upkeep. But okay it's not expensive – at around $30/month is manageable.
- Conclusion: Saying no to 2 out of the 4 criteria is a red flag already. Could be why I continue to struggle with growth for Lifelog. But I'm happy with it's current status now as a passion project, as a weekend side project.
### Plugins for Carrd
- Can I bring this to market in under a month? Yes I did. I didn't even have a website when I started. I simply posted a free plugin which I finished in a day on Carrd communities and started from there.
- Can I bring this to market on my own? Yes. Many Carrd communities found on social media platforms like Reddit and Facebook. I started by posting on Indie Hackers.
- Is this something people are already accustomed to buying? There was no market for paid plugins yet at the time I started, but I validated there was some demand through my early free plugins, and interacting with customers who asked if I had plugins for some key features like a mobile navbar. What I didn't and **couldn't** have known is the size of the market and price sensitivity of customers, which I'm only just learning after 9 months of going hard on growing it.
- Can I keep this on the market at almost no cost? Minimal cost. Other than a Pro subscription on Carrd which was $19 per ***year***, it was just the effort for marketing and creating new plugins.
- Conclusion: It checks off all the boxes at the start, thus that could explain why it succeeded in the initial days. But I feel I'm hitting the upper limit of its potential now. So I'd say the criteria still holds except I might need a different/new set of criteria for assessing sustainability and long term growth? 🤔
### Sheet2Bio
- Can I bring this to market in under a month? Yes I did. I re-used old code from a F&B project I did. I didn't have sign up flows or payments integrated for the MVP. Even the landing page was raw HTML! (Which on hindsight was a risky bet – first impression matter)
- Can I bring this to market on my own? Yes I did. It's a relatively simple SaaS idea at the core.
- Is this something people are already accustomed to buying? Not really. Linktree was free. Most link-in-bio tools are free. Having to pay upfront for access didn't gel with the anchor bias from the incumbent apps. The differentiating features like charts could have been too niche for indie hackers.
- Can I keep this on the market at almost no cost? Yes no infrastructure costs. Hosting on Netlify was free. But might not be true in long term.
- Conclusion: I think the 3rd factor was the dealbreaker here. And as it should. Without paying customers, it's not a business. Funny thing is, the other 3 factors are a yes. So not all factors are created equal.
So how I'd tweak the criteria for myself:
- Can I bring this to market in under 1-2 months?
- Can I bring this to market on my own skills, networks, resources?
- Is this something people are already accustomed to buying?
- Can I keep this on the market at almost no cost?
- Am I interested in this problem? Do I love hanging out with the community?
- (To assess after MVP stage, maybe 6 months) What's the market size for it, over long term?
I changed the timebox to 1-2 months because as an indie parent and with my consulting projects, I can't ship that fast. Having some interest in the problem/community is important factor for myself as an indie. I can't just build just for money. I don't need it to be my calling though, but some degree of interest has to be there. And the last factor is what I learned from my plugins project regarding market size.
*What other criteria do you consider for making your small bets?*
> My selection criteria for new business:
> - Can I bring this to market in under a month?
> - Can I bring this to market on my own?
> - Is this something people are already accustomed to buying?
> - Can I keep this on the market at almost no cost?
> Must be a Yes on all points.
To test if it's helpful, it's interesting to just run through my current projects and think from the initial days:
### Outsprint
- Can I bring this to market in under a month? Yes, service businesses are easy to start. Low upfront capital. Just a business registration and a paying customer and you're off. You don't even need a website or logo!
- Can I bring this to market on my own? I 100% did. Even though it's a consultancy agency service, I scoped out a business model that works solo.
- Is this something people are already accustomed to buying? Yes, gov folks were already commissioning many such projects. And there's an opportunity for a lower cost, smaller scoped model.
- Can I keep this on the market at almost no cost? Not including effort for some marketing, it's zero cost to upkeep. Services don't cost money maintain. Marketing is mainly face-to-face networking, word of mouth, and via LinkedIn.
- Conclusion: This checks off all the boxes and that's why this business is how I started and remains the only income stream feeding the family.
### Lifelog
- Can I bring this to market in under a month? Nope I didn't. This was a big coding project. First time ever making a SaaS and a paid one. No experience whatsoever with Nuxt.js and Heroku. I learned everything on the job.
- Can I bring this to market on my own? Yes I did but just barely. Couldn't have done this without a lot of help from friends who are devs.
- Is this something people are already accustomed to buying? On hindsight, not really. I thought there's a opportunity because there's a sizeable community in the prior 200 words a day platform. But it shut down because not enough paying customers. That should have been a red flag. But I would have done it in a heartbeat again even with benefit of this hindsight, because I needed and *wanted* a community and platform to write daily. What I would have done differently would be to have lower expectations and not overfocus on it, certainly not for 2 years.
- Can I keep this on the market at almost no cost? The cost is non-zero but affordable. Amongst my different projects, this projects costs the most to upkeep. But okay it's not expensive – at around $30/month is manageable.
- Conclusion: Saying no to 2 out of the 4 criteria is a red flag already. Could be why I continue to struggle with growth for Lifelog. But I'm happy with it's current status now as a passion project, as a weekend side project.
### Plugins for Carrd
- Can I bring this to market in under a month? Yes I did. I didn't even have a website when I started. I simply posted a free plugin which I finished in a day on Carrd communities and started from there.
- Can I bring this to market on my own? Yes. Many Carrd communities found on social media platforms like Reddit and Facebook. I started by posting on Indie Hackers.
- Is this something people are already accustomed to buying? There was no market for paid plugins yet at the time I started, but I validated there was some demand through my early free plugins, and interacting with customers who asked if I had plugins for some key features like a mobile navbar. What I didn't and **couldn't** have known is the size of the market and price sensitivity of customers, which I'm only just learning after 9 months of going hard on growing it.
- Can I keep this on the market at almost no cost? Minimal cost. Other than a Pro subscription on Carrd which was $19 per ***year***, it was just the effort for marketing and creating new plugins.
- Conclusion: It checks off all the boxes at the start, thus that could explain why it succeeded in the initial days. But I feel I'm hitting the upper limit of its potential now. So I'd say the criteria still holds except I might need a different/new set of criteria for assessing sustainability and long term growth? 🤔
### Sheet2Bio
- Can I bring this to market in under a month? Yes I did. I re-used old code from a F&B project I did. I didn't have sign up flows or payments integrated for the MVP. Even the landing page was raw HTML! (Which on hindsight was a risky bet – first impression matter)
- Can I bring this to market on my own? Yes I did. It's a relatively simple SaaS idea at the core.
- Is this something people are already accustomed to buying? Not really. Linktree was free. Most link-in-bio tools are free. Having to pay upfront for access didn't gel with the anchor bias from the incumbent apps. The differentiating features like charts could have been too niche for indie hackers.
- Can I keep this on the market at almost no cost? Yes no infrastructure costs. Hosting on Netlify was free. But might not be true in long term.
- Conclusion: I think the 3rd factor was the dealbreaker here. And as it should. Without paying customers, it's not a business. Funny thing is, the other 3 factors are a yes. So not all factors are created equal.
So how I'd tweak the criteria for myself:
- Can I bring this to market in under 1-2 months?
- Can I bring this to market on my own skills, networks, resources?
- Is this something people are already accustomed to buying?
- Can I keep this on the market at almost no cost?
- Am I interested in this problem? Do I love hanging out with the community?
- (To assess after MVP stage, maybe 6 months) What's the market size for it, over long term?
I changed the timebox to 1-2 months because as an indie parent and with my consulting projects, I can't ship that fast. Having some interest in the problem/community is important factor for myself as an indie. I can't just build just for money. I don't need it to be my calling though, but some degree of interest has to be there. And the last factor is what I learned from my plugins project regarding market size.
*What other criteria do you consider for making your small bets?*
🛳 Shipped rich text editor!
- Had to do some javascript gymnastics to be able to listen to the text inside TinyMCE editor, so that I can bring back typing sounds.
- 'Discovered' the Markdownit can also render HTML markup! How silly that I always assumed this to be so hard.
- 'Discovered' the Markdownit can also render HTML markup! How silly that I always assumed this to be so hard.
Day 927 - Keep working - https://golifelog.com/posts/keep-working-1689473845981
I think our modern relationship to work is broken. The mainstream narrative is to treat work as a necessary evil. And retirement to be the time when we can finally rest and no longer work. If you ask most people, if we had a choice, if our finances are taken care of, we wouldn't want to work another day. EVER.
But I've always had a problem with that.
I **love** to work. I work a bit even on weekends. I find it gives me life. It makes me come alive, feel alive, to be creating something. Anything. I'm in my element when I'm coding, designing, using my hands. It's fun, it's energizing, it's deeply actualising.
If I'm now super wealthy and no longer need to earn any income to survive, I'll be working 100% of the time just creating stuff. I've never believed in retirement. That sounds boring. I'll never retire.
But the current broken narrative makes me feel guilty, like I'm a workaholic for loving to work.
We need a new definition of work. We need a renewed relationship to work. Something which is healthy and wholesome, than a poison we tolerate.
And so far, no one comes close to what Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran—in *The Prophet*—had described:
> You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.
> For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life’s procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.
>
> When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.
> Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?
>
> Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune.
> But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when the dream was born,
> And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life,
> And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.
>
> [...]
>
> And what is it to work with love?
> It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
> It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
> It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
> It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,
And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.
>
> [...]
>
> Work is love made visible.
> And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
> For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger.
> And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.
> And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.
*Agree?*
I work to "keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth". It gives me a sense of rhythm and seasons to my time here. It really does. Nothing better than waking up at 5am to get started on some deep work, in a calm and collected manner. It just sets my day up for joy and groundedness.
"Work is love made visible" – that's so beautiful, isn't it? I pour my passion, interest, and core bits of myself, into my work. If work was a person, you'd call those actions "love" for sure. And "in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life" – that's totally how I roll. It's my way of loving the world, loving others, loving myself. Loving life.
Keep working.
But I've always had a problem with that.
I **love** to work. I work a bit even on weekends. I find it gives me life. It makes me come alive, feel alive, to be creating something. Anything. I'm in my element when I'm coding, designing, using my hands. It's fun, it's energizing, it's deeply actualising.
If I'm now super wealthy and no longer need to earn any income to survive, I'll be working 100% of the time just creating stuff. I've never believed in retirement. That sounds boring. I'll never retire.
But the current broken narrative makes me feel guilty, like I'm a workaholic for loving to work.
We need a new definition of work. We need a renewed relationship to work. Something which is healthy and wholesome, than a poison we tolerate.
And so far, no one comes close to what Lebanese poet Kahlil Gibran—in *The Prophet*—had described:
> You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth.
> For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life’s procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite.
>
> When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music.
> Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?
>
> Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune.
> But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when the dream was born,
> And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life,
> And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret.
>
> [...]
>
> And what is it to work with love?
> It is to weave the cloth with threads drawn from your heart, even as if your beloved were to wear that cloth.
> It is to build a house with affection, even as if your beloved were to dwell in that house.
> It is to sow seeds with tenderness and reap the harvest with joy, even as if your beloved were to eat the fruit.
> It is to charge all things you fashion with a breath of your own spirit,
And to know that all the blessed dead are standing about you and watching.
>
> [...]
>
> Work is love made visible.
> And if you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy.
> For if you bake bread with indifference, you bake a bitter bread that feeds but half man’s hunger.
> And if you grudge the crushing of the grapes, your grudge distils a poison in the wine.
> And if you sing though as angels, and love not the singing, you muffle man’s ears to the voices of the day and the voices of the night.
*Agree?*
I work to "keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth". It gives me a sense of rhythm and seasons to my time here. It really does. Nothing better than waking up at 5am to get started on some deep work, in a calm and collected manner. It just sets my day up for joy and groundedness.
"Work is love made visible" – that's so beautiful, isn't it? I pour my passion, interest, and core bits of myself, into my work. If work was a person, you'd call those actions "love" for sure. And "in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life" – that's totally how I roll. It's my way of loving the world, loving others, loving myself. Loving life.
Keep working.
Side project weekend: Got TinyMCE rich text editor working!
Day 926 - Option, not obligation to pursue wins - https://golifelog.com/posts/option-not-obligation-to-pursue-wins-1689397161158
Just because a project shows promise, doesn't mean you're obligated to double down all the way. It's an option, amongst many other options and opportunities.
> Your phrasing of “having the option but not the obligation to pursue wins” has stuck with me. Now I think when we don’t push a win further it’s probably our gut telling us that last 20% of optimization might take a lifetime and might not yield the results we think it will. – [@LBacaj](https://twitter.com/LBacaj/status/1679886071738376192)
Maybe this is how I should be looking at my Carrd plugins project.
Not as an outright ***failure*** but as a "good enough" win, even though it didn't bring me to the revenue goals I wanted.
Because I think I might have already hit the 80% of the win, and as Louie said, pushing the final 20% optimization might not yield the results I want. And that's pretty spot on to how I feel about my plugins project. After 9 months going hard on it building new plugins, trying different distribution channels and hitting ~$1k/m, the returns seems to be diminishing for the same amount of effort as compared to when I initially started pushing for growth and the [revenue tripled](https://golifelog.com/posts/i-tripled-my-revenue-for-plugins-1675388499473). I could double down on this one project for sure and keep hunting for the unlock that will bring me to $5k/m, but it's still ways off to bridge the $4k gap. Unlikely, I think.
Is achieving 80% of a project's potential a win, or a fail (even if I didn't hit my overall revenue goal)?
A win I feel. I can live with that.
> In 2019, most of my income came from a programming book ($140K sales). In 2020 from a social media course ($310K). In 2021 from freelancing ($220K). In 2022 from a discord community ($720K). If I had "doubled down" on my first win, I would have missed all other opportunities. – [@dvassallo](https://twitter.com/dvassallo/status/1679884079112785921)
And maybe to Daniel's point, just because it showed promise doesn't mean I should double down, *single down* on it *all the way*. Achieving the 80% doesn't mean an obligation to pursue the remaining 20%. I can maintain steady state at 80% while I seek out other opportunities that can help me cover back the 20% I didn't pursue for this project, in another project. In all likelihood, another project will top up and go beyond the 20%.
I feel much better seeing my project this way.
A gentler, kinder perspective.
> Your phrasing of “having the option but not the obligation to pursue wins” has stuck with me. Now I think when we don’t push a win further it’s probably our gut telling us that last 20% of optimization might take a lifetime and might not yield the results we think it will. – [@LBacaj](https://twitter.com/LBacaj/status/1679886071738376192)
Maybe this is how I should be looking at my Carrd plugins project.
Not as an outright ***failure*** but as a "good enough" win, even though it didn't bring me to the revenue goals I wanted.
Because I think I might have already hit the 80% of the win, and as Louie said, pushing the final 20% optimization might not yield the results I want. And that's pretty spot on to how I feel about my plugins project. After 9 months going hard on it building new plugins, trying different distribution channels and hitting ~$1k/m, the returns seems to be diminishing for the same amount of effort as compared to when I initially started pushing for growth and the [revenue tripled](https://golifelog.com/posts/i-tripled-my-revenue-for-plugins-1675388499473). I could double down on this one project for sure and keep hunting for the unlock that will bring me to $5k/m, but it's still ways off to bridge the $4k gap. Unlikely, I think.
Is achieving 80% of a project's potential a win, or a fail (even if I didn't hit my overall revenue goal)?
A win I feel. I can live with that.
> In 2019, most of my income came from a programming book ($140K sales). In 2020 from a social media course ($310K). In 2021 from freelancing ($220K). In 2022 from a discord community ($720K). If I had "doubled down" on my first win, I would have missed all other opportunities. – [@dvassallo](https://twitter.com/dvassallo/status/1679884079112785921)
And maybe to Daniel's point, just because it showed promise doesn't mean I should double down, *single down* on it *all the way*. Achieving the 80% doesn't mean an obligation to pursue the remaining 20%. I can maintain steady state at 80% while I seek out other opportunities that can help me cover back the 20% I didn't pursue for this project, in another project. In all likelihood, another project will top up and go beyond the 20%.
I feel much better seeing my project this way.
A gentler, kinder perspective.
Day 925 - Boredom - https://golifelog.com/posts/boredom-1689290687375
Been working on transiting over from [exploitation mode to exploration mode](https://golifelog.com/posts/exploration-vs-exploitation-1688956979721). Other than business as usual for maintenance and support, I've mostly stopped creating anything new for my existing projects.
And I'm getting bored. To the point of feeling antsy.
But I'm thinking this is a good thing.
Because isn't that what they say – let kids be bored, and they will then come up with creative ways to entertain themselves? I'm hoping for the same effect for myself too. It's more similar than different – I'm like an adult kid in an indie hacking candy store of a journey.
And when do I know I've transited over to exploration mode?
When I feel settled in it and having so much fun exploring that I don't want to go back to exploitation. Just like while on vacation – you still think about work in the first few days of the vacay, and by the time you're all relaxed and settled into vacay mode, you're having to return.
So far, not there yet.
I'm still antsy and want to "work". Looks like it takes time, because after all, I was hunkering down for a year. All that momentum takes time to slow down.
But the growing boredom is a good sign of being in the right direction!
Boredom is good.
And I'm getting bored. To the point of feeling antsy.
But I'm thinking this is a good thing.
Because isn't that what they say – let kids be bored, and they will then come up with creative ways to entertain themselves? I'm hoping for the same effect for myself too. It's more similar than different – I'm like an adult kid in an indie hacking candy store of a journey.
And when do I know I've transited over to exploration mode?
When I feel settled in it and having so much fun exploring that I don't want to go back to exploitation. Just like while on vacation – you still think about work in the first few days of the vacay, and by the time you're all relaxed and settled into vacay mode, you're having to return.
So far, not there yet.
I'm still antsy and want to "work". Looks like it takes time, because after all, I was hunkering down for a year. All that momentum takes time to slow down.
But the growing boredom is a good sign of being in the right direction!
Boredom is good.
Day 924 - More like him than different - https://golifelog.com/posts/more-like-him-than-different-1689217235360
Saw this tweet by [@visakanv](https://twitter.com/visakanv/status/1678745111411212290):
> "One day, while doing nothing particularly out of the ordinary, because of natural laws he was completely powerless to understand or intuit, he was instantly killed in a horrifying way by forces vastly in excess of anything he was ever designed to experience, for no reason, to no ones particular surprise or upset. In this we are more like him than different"
This resonated, because that's so... much like how we win or fail. Or in life in general.
We're more like him than different.
One day, just launching my next product, and then it goes viral. We think it's due to something we did. We happily pat ourselves on the back. But there's natural laws beyond our understanding, network effects at play we never observed. Somehow we make it through.
And if we try reproducing the same success at another time, it didn't work.
The same for failures. We think we wouldn't have failed if we didn't do something. Yet it succeeds the next time we repeat the same something.
There's free will, and there isn't.
We have agency, and we don't.
We're more like him than different.
> "One day, while doing nothing particularly out of the ordinary, because of natural laws he was completely powerless to understand or intuit, he was instantly killed in a horrifying way by forces vastly in excess of anything he was ever designed to experience, for no reason, to no ones particular surprise or upset. In this we are more like him than different"
This resonated, because that's so... much like how we win or fail. Or in life in general.
We're more like him than different.
One day, just launching my next product, and then it goes viral. We think it's due to something we did. We happily pat ourselves on the back. But there's natural laws beyond our understanding, network effects at play we never observed. Somehow we make it through.
And if we try reproducing the same success at another time, it didn't work.
The same for failures. We think we wouldn't have failed if we didn't do something. Yet it succeeds the next time we repeat the same something.
There's free will, and there isn't.
We have agency, and we don't.
We're more like him than different.
Day 923 - How to get good ideas - https://golifelog.com/posts/how-to-get-good-ideas-1689125849900
Saw this tweet from [@thematt_ross](https://twitter.com/thematt_ross/status/1676351995920150528) and it got me thinking about where good ideas come from:
> The origin of good ideas according to @tferriss:
>
> 1. What are the nerds doing at night and on weekends
>
> 2. What are rich people doing now, that everyone might be doing 10 years from now?
>
> 3. Where are people cobbling together awkward solutions.
Love those tricks. It's a good to see what early adopters like nerds, and rich people who can afford to be ahead of trends are doing, There's a higher chance that something they are doing will catch on and go mainstream as it gets more affordable with high volume.
A good example is private chaffaeurs. Rich folks had that all along. Then Uber came along and with a mix of tech, demand and excess capacity of idle cars, they made private drivers mainstream and now everyone can have one at the drop of a few clicks. The personal secretary to virtual assistant movement is also another example.
Similarly for awkward solutions. Workarounds are the best, especially if people are paying to awkwardly mash together a few paid services to do it. It shows validated demand, a willingness to pay, and a desire for a better all-in-one package.
It's about watching people with the specialised skills or the wealth to do things that normies can't do.
***What other ways can we come up with good ideas?***
- **Listen to what people complain about**, especially for products and services. Read reviews of popular apps/websites, find a recurring complaint or a 1 star review, and make an app that addresses that specific complaint in your website's copy. Try finding them on Google Reviews, Amazon, or any marketplace.
- **Unbundle features.** This is opposite of the bundling idea from "cobbling together awkward solutions". Look at Craiglist, eBay, Etsy, Amazon, classified ads on your newspapers, bulletins, aggregated feeds on any topic, and you'll find a sub-niche that you could build something for.
- **Find a community**, participate in it, and make something that helps them. The riches are in the niches, they say! Go to Reddit, find a community that you're interested in, scroll through the top posts and replies, see what they comment on, complain about (see #1) or give ideas on. Or just read through subreddits like [r/Business_Ideas](https://www.reddit.com/r/Business_Ideas/) or [r/Startup_Ideas](https://www.reddit.com/r/Startup_Ideas/) to see which idea resonates with you and aligns to your skillset.
- Similar to the point about niche communities, **serious hobbies** are great untapped opportunities. Someone who's serious about a hobby wouldn't mind paying good money for solutions that help them enjoy it more. Craft, sports, anything.
- **Scratch your own itch.** Observe your daily life and work. Find moments of friction or frustration. A deep painpoint that perhaps a few other peers similar to you might share. Build something for yourself. Then share it, get people pay for early access, and iterate from there.
- Look through **failed tech startups**. Revive one that resonates. In most likelihood, that startup had an app or product that serves hundreds or thousands of users. That might not had been enough for the startup to survive, but it would for you, a solo indie dev. Google is infmaous for doing this. Many in their [Google graveyard](https://killedbygoogle.com/) are known to make hundreds of millions of revenue. But by the billion-dollar benchmarks of a trillion-dollar valued company, hundreds of millions is considered too small to pursue. But great for us indies! I still miss Google Reader btw.
*So how do you come up with good ideas?*
> The origin of good ideas according to @tferriss:
>
> 1. What are the nerds doing at night and on weekends
>
> 2. What are rich people doing now, that everyone might be doing 10 years from now?
>
> 3. Where are people cobbling together awkward solutions.
Love those tricks. It's a good to see what early adopters like nerds, and rich people who can afford to be ahead of trends are doing, There's a higher chance that something they are doing will catch on and go mainstream as it gets more affordable with high volume.
A good example is private chaffaeurs. Rich folks had that all along. Then Uber came along and with a mix of tech, demand and excess capacity of idle cars, they made private drivers mainstream and now everyone can have one at the drop of a few clicks. The personal secretary to virtual assistant movement is also another example.
Similarly for awkward solutions. Workarounds are the best, especially if people are paying to awkwardly mash together a few paid services to do it. It shows validated demand, a willingness to pay, and a desire for a better all-in-one package.
It's about watching people with the specialised skills or the wealth to do things that normies can't do.
***What other ways can we come up with good ideas?***
- **Listen to what people complain about**, especially for products and services. Read reviews of popular apps/websites, find a recurring complaint or a 1 star review, and make an app that addresses that specific complaint in your website's copy. Try finding them on Google Reviews, Amazon, or any marketplace.
- **Unbundle features.** This is opposite of the bundling idea from "cobbling together awkward solutions". Look at Craiglist, eBay, Etsy, Amazon, classified ads on your newspapers, bulletins, aggregated feeds on any topic, and you'll find a sub-niche that you could build something for.
- **Find a community**, participate in it, and make something that helps them. The riches are in the niches, they say! Go to Reddit, find a community that you're interested in, scroll through the top posts and replies, see what they comment on, complain about (see #1) or give ideas on. Or just read through subreddits like [r/Business_Ideas](https://www.reddit.com/r/Business_Ideas/) or [r/Startup_Ideas](https://www.reddit.com/r/Startup_Ideas/) to see which idea resonates with you and aligns to your skillset.
- Similar to the point about niche communities, **serious hobbies** are great untapped opportunities. Someone who's serious about a hobby wouldn't mind paying good money for solutions that help them enjoy it more. Craft, sports, anything.
- **Scratch your own itch.** Observe your daily life and work. Find moments of friction or frustration. A deep painpoint that perhaps a few other peers similar to you might share. Build something for yourself. Then share it, get people pay for early access, and iterate from there.
- Look through **failed tech startups**. Revive one that resonates. In most likelihood, that startup had an app or product that serves hundreds or thousands of users. That might not had been enough for the startup to survive, but it would for you, a solo indie dev. Google is infmaous for doing this. Many in their [Google graveyard](https://killedbygoogle.com/) are known to make hundreds of millions of revenue. But by the billion-dollar benchmarks of a trillion-dollar valued company, hundreds of millions is considered too small to pursue. But great for us indies! I still miss Google Reader btw.
*So how do you come up with good ideas?*