Lifelog

I tweeted this out and was surprised at the nuance and wisdom when presented with an intentional (false) dichotomy:

"Let’s settle the debate:
Consistency, or intensity?
Which approach works better for you?
I mean re: creative projects of any kind - writing, products, video."

Basically, most replies talked about a smart blending of both consistency and intensity, and modulate as required through the process. Intensity can be used productively within a frame of consistency, not against. And there’s so many ways to mix it! More than I realised, based on all the replies:

• Be consistent on small, infinite games (e.g. daily habits like tweeting, writing, diet, exercise, sleep) but work in bursts of intensity for big, finite projects.
• You can be intense in the early days of a project, then lower the intensity to get consistency for long term.
• Blend intensity in with consistency… consistency as a default minimal baseline mode on daily basis, then on good days when inspiration/opportunity strike, go intense.
• Consistency as preparation for inspired intensity. Organize and be consistent so that when you need to be acutely and intensely creative, you are ready.
• Intensity throws out a lot of output in the short term but in the long term (like over years, decades), it’s consistency that helps us compound and trend up
• Consistency but with a baseline level of speed and/or intensity. Too slow or too little isn’t good for progress, no matter how consistent
• Consistency is actually intensity spread out over time, with consistent rest in between too. Otherwise consistent intensity or intense consistency leads without rest to burnout.
• Consistency = intensity + discipline, including discipline to take breaks

A blended approach is definitely more nuanced and realistic in real life. There’s also an element of personal preference here of course.

I’m going to try something to get out of my sleep funk and overall low energy slump.

It’s timely. My consulting project is going full swing in September, and I feel I need to build myself physically back up again to be able to last the full days of workshops I’m leading. Truth is, I just did a half day workshop this week and I’m shattered. Legs aching from standing. Needed a 1-2 days rest after to recover. This can’t happen when I need to conduct full day workshops over 2 weeks.

Since I can’t muster up the intrinsic motivation to change things, maybe extrinsic motivation like this consulting project can help then. at this point, I’ll take anything that works.

So I’m going to try to get 8h of sleep every day from now till start of September. I’m going to exercise daily in the morning. I’m going to eat well. I’m going to wind down for the evening properly. I’m going to prioritize self care. I’m going to get my family on board for this.

I’m going to do what’s required to:

- Feel rested from sleep
- Feel stronger in body
- Feel sharper in mind

Onwards!

Sleep makes chronic inflammation in the body worse. That’s something I learned since starting sleep biohacking, but only something I experienced for myself, on myself recently.

I’ve not been getting good sleep, nor enough sleep.

A deadly combination of low spirits, zero motivation plus household commitments meant my sleep is poorly managed these days.

I don’t sleep on time.
I don’t wind down before bed.
I forget to exercise.
I don’t de-stress.
I eat more junk.
I eat too late.
I scroll my phone even at night.
I drink too much water.
I drink too little water.

And as a result, the inflammation in my body seems to have gotten worse. I think I’ve always had it but it was never that serious. These days, I have eczema on both legs, and it seems to flare and itch on days when I don’t sleep well/enough. Exercise helps to reduce inflammation but I’ve not been on top of that, so inflammation is probably off the charts these days.

My health goal is to be 10 years younger than my calendar age, but seriously I feel like the opposite now, 10 years older, like in my 50s.

What can I do to turn this situation around?

I don’t know.

I’ve not been stuck this long.

But writing down, being aware, identifying it as I am doing here, is definitely the first few steps.

Onwards.

It’s nice do a 180º switch up in pace and energy once in a while for work.

My consulting projects do that for me.

Indie hacking is mostly a solo, introverted journey. As much as I’m active on Twitter, it still feels lonesome. We’re running parallel, not together on same path, after all. I do my own work, at my own pace, on my own projects. Others do their’s at their own time. It can start to feel very hermit-like very fast. I almost feel like I’m forgetting my face-to-face social skills with strangers. On lazy days, there’s no external accountability. There’s no one to answer to, or to fulfil obligations for – a good thing when you’re motivated, not always a good thing when you’re unmotivated.

But once I switch to consulting, I’m full on immersed in a team. I’m working collaboratively. I’m talking, socializing, facilitating conversations, sensing emotions, reading body language. I plan ahead, show up, be responsible and disciplined because I’m socially committed. I’m answerable to my client.

That’s the key benefit of a diverse portfolio of products and services.

It gives me a change.

Sometimes—at the right time— a much-needed change.

I’ve been feeling burned out, and in low energy and spirits for a few months now. But the consulting project is making me emerge out from my cave. I have to, I don’t have a choice. But that forcing function works. It works right at a time when I’m also feeling like I want to move but can’t muster the energy.

Sometimes we need both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, and it’s okay.

I’m tired of my expectations. What if I just do the thing and don’t expect anything? Would that work? Will I be happier but also effective?

That’s the thing about setting goals and targets. You’re also setting expectations, unintentionally. You’re making a deal to trade off your near-term joy with long-term happiness. With a goal, what I’m really doing is - I’ll be happy when I reach my goal. Until then, the discomfort of incompleteness will haunt me till I hit it.

For some things, it works. Its forcing function helps to garner the right amount of motivation to do it. It works especially well for things which have linear causation from effort to rewards, and can be achieved within a short enough time. Like say, writing an article. Or getting up early.

But not all goals are created equal. Some goals take years. Some say entrepreneurship success takes a decade even. And there’s no certainty that even at the end of ten years you’ll get rewarded. Trading off ten years of joy with happiness with no certainty of a reward is a perfect formula for making yourself very miserable.

I’m tired of doing that to myself.

I need a different approach. A better approach.

Drop my expectations. But that’s a tall order, because I’m only human. It’s hard to have zero expectations whatsoever. Maybe the least I can do is to make it front and centre. The monster you see and identify ceases to be as scary and powerful.

Maybe in every project I do and build, I got to list down my expectations. Every single one of them. Deep dig to uncover even the subconscious ones.

And see if I’ll be okay not fulfilling those expectations. Or if I can actively work on dropping them altogether inwardly.

And then just do the work, find some enjoyment in the process of doing it.

Maybe that’s how I can be happy yet effective.

They say… Love what you do as a creator, have fun, and it gets easier to keep going even without results.

Follow your passion. Love what you do. Do what feels like play to you but work to others. Only intrinsic motivation lasts. Commit ten years to it and see what happens. As long as you trend up, success will come one day.

Okay I know I know. But there’s only we long we can last without seeing any results. We at least need some feedback and data—positive or negative—to close the causation loop. How long can anyone last on ideals but with ZERO data, for 10 years? I doubt anyone can.

BUT! With just a tiny show of results, it gets more fun and easy to love what you do.

You build and tweet about it in public, and people are excited, so you build and tweet more. You launch, and some people tried it, gave you good feedback, and it drives you to build it out more. People start paying you, and your sense of purpose goes up 10x.

The hard truth is…

Ideals are nice, but we can’t always operate in isolation from reality.

Porque no los dos? (https://twitter.com/jasonleowsg/status/1545709350974472194)
(means Why not both?)

We need both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators.

It’s amazing how we went from “entrepreneurship is a risky venture” to “entrepreneurship is a safety net” in the past 10 years.

In the past, starting a business meant:
• Huge capital outlay
• Needing VC funding
• Reserved for the already-rich
• Hiring lots of people
• Quitting your 9-to-5

These days, starting a business:
• Requires minimal capital
• Can be bootstrapped, no funding needed
• Anyone can do it, even if not rich
• You can do it solo, or outsource
• No need to quit day job

And if you consider the how the recession is laying off people in droves, it’s difficult to justify anyone not having any side hustle.

A job—no matter how rosy the outlook of the company—is still a single point of failure. And the nature of black swan events is that they are unknown unknowns. No way for you to be certain of a salary the next month. A job is ultimately, 1 away from 0.

It’s like investing. If it’s not common practice to put all your capital into one stock or fund, why should we put all our time capital into one job? If diversifying helps to de-risk your portfolio, why aren’t we diversifying our work to de-risk too?

Even if you’re too busy, too tired, too stretched doing just one day job, it’s good to have a side hustle in waiting.

Something that you can build at your leisure during good times with a job.
Something that you can lean on and scale up during bad times without a job.

So build an business.

It’s no longer risking it all, but saving it all.

Reading this random Facebook post and all its comments definitely got me thinking:

"Diamonds are formed under pressure.

Bread dough rises when you let it rest.

[Yet] Bread dough rises faster in the heat. Resting too long ruins the bread.

Seeds grow when it’s dark, after being buried.

[Yet] Plants grow tall when it’s bright, after breaking through the soil.

Boiling water softens the potato but hardens the eggs.

The same pressure that makes diamonds also bursts pipes.

Light is a particle, it’s also a wave.

What’s normal for a spider is chaos for a fly.

The same sun that melts the wax will harden clay.

The same rain that drowns the rat will grow the hay.

The mighty wind that knocks us down if we lean into it will drive our fears away.

Cakes go stiff when they age. Biscuits go soft when they age.

The fire that melts butter also harden steel."

I’m trying to be my own person. But it’s so easy to get swayed by others. Everyone’s different. Broad strokes advice that works for one doesn’t work for another. Yet being discerning and selective takes effort. So so much effort and energy to listen carefully, filter out ruthlessly, and to apply new ideas with nuance.

What’s inspiring to me might be cringey for others.
What’s helpful to my context is disabling to someone else.

We’re all our own persons.

So do we listen and mimic others, or not?

Is comparison really the thief of joy?

Maybe this is the key:

Compare on the small details, the inputs, the process.
Don’t compare on the big things, the outcomes and results.

If I learn from others on how they work, be more productive, how they market and sell, that helps me learn and grow too. My actions and inputs are things I can control.

But if I start comparing the revenue they get, the lifestyle they achieved, how much success they have, then more likely than not it will steal joy from me, because outcomes are not within my control.

So, be my own person, be discerning and independent for the big things. Be humble, curious and open to influence for the small things.

What I don't want:

- Becoming a billionaire. That's a true sign I've overreached.
- Running a huge company. Managing people is exhausting.
- Owning expensive cars, houses. At some point these things start owning you.
- Be famous. Fame is overrated. More downsides than upsides.

What I really want:

- Being able to earn enough (survival limit $5k/m, upper limit $100k/m) to give my family a good life.
- Being a digital nomad family, because we can afford it.
- Not worrying about money and financing the education of my child
- Treat my parents well. They won't be around all that long.
- Not let my wife worry about survival. Being able to provide is important to me.
- Having quality time with my closest loved ones.
- Having great health. Being 10 years younger physically than my calendar age.
- Free from physical ailments
- Train hard and get fit
- Getting above 90% sleep scores every single night
- Being able to travel anywhere, anytime, without worry of work or money.
- Travel the world with my wife and kid
- Travel the world with my parents.
- Eating great wholesome foods and not batting an eyelid about price.
- Creating creative sh*t audaciously, and not caring about whether there's traffic or users.
- Making fun stuff that's fun to use and fun to make
- Pick up watercolor painting
- Learn Japanese
- Live in Kyoto long term to learn from a master craftsman
- Live in Iceland and learn their folk myths
- Live in Ubud and immerse in the peace and nature
- Create travel films
- Write poetry
- Learn to drive
- Be rich 'enough' and be good
- Be lazy
- Live near the sea, live in a jungle
- Embrace my weirdness
- Travel to space. because why the hell not?

I don’t know why but I love and get inspired by stories like this – unassuming ‘fools’ who are actually smarter than they look, know how to game the system, and actually go on to make it big:

Timothy Dexter and “the utility of acting the fool”
———————————————————————
"At the end of the American Revolutionary War, he purchased large amounts of depreciated Continental currency that was worthless at the time. At the war’s end, the U.S. government made good on its notes at one percent of face value, while Massachusetts paid its own notes at par. His investment enabled him to amass a considerable profit. He built two ships and began an export business to the West Indies and Europe.

Because he was largely uneducated, his business sense was considered peculiar. He was advised to send bed warmers—used to heat beds in the cold New England winters—for resale in the West Indies, a tropical area. This advice was a deliberate ploy by rivals to bankrupt him. His ship’s captain sold them as ladles to the local molasses industry and made a handsome profit. Next, Dexter sent wool mittens to the same place, where Asian merchants bought them for export to Siberia.

People jokingly told him to “ship coal to Newcastle”. Fortuitously, he did so during a Newcastle miners’ strike, and his cargo was sold at a premium. On another occasion, practical jokers told him he could make money by shipping gloves to the South Sea Islands. His ships arrived there in time to sell the gloves to Portuguese boats on their way to China.

He exported Bibles to the East Indies and stray cats to Caribbean islands and again made a profit; Eastern missionaries were in need of the Bibles and the Caribbean welcomed a solution to rat infestation. He also hoarded whalebones by mistake, but ended up selling them profitably as corset stays.

While subject to ridicule, Dexter’s boasting makes it clear that he understood the value of cornering the market on goods that others did not see as valuable and the utility of “acting the fool”.

- Source: Wikipedia

What’s interesting is how he seems to take reference from others to gauge what’s not valuable, what’s uncommon, what’s stupid, and go find opportunities in those areas because there would be no competition. Nobody’s ‘stupid’ enough to venture there, but that’s exactly where the opportunity is!

It’s almost like a teachable moment here for me.

This guy’s an opportunistic trickster. I set an identity-based goal (https://golifelog.com/posts/identity-based-goals-1634279678058) like this back in Oct last year, and he has these traits:

• Has too much fun, oftentimes at the disapproval of others
• Takes nothing too seriously, even when others are serious
• Keen sense of asymmetric chances to win big
• Acts on asymmetry and actually wins
• Doing random is second nature

Mr Dexter definitely check off everything on that list! And probably more. This is something I really wish to be able to embody, but in software/internet business.

So… what are some problem spaces that most internet entrepreneurs would see as stupid to venture into?

What’s the internet equivalent of selling ice to Eskimos?

How do I corner “the market on [internet] goods that others did not see as valuable”?

I tried brainstorming a bit on my own but drew blanks. Absolutely no ideas. Obviously this is an area where I’m totally cold.

Much to learn, and to look out for!

I updated my Twitter profile bio again. The last time I did that was in May when I launched Sheet2Bio, so that update was focused on marketing it. But this time, the update is more close to heart. It’s about how I want to project myself in a more authentic way, what others to see me as. My own personal brand, but in a way that’s more aligned and congruent to how I see myself.

This is what it looks like now:

——————

Indie solopreneur creating a diverse portfolio of products & services to $5k/m:

⛓sheet2bio.com
✍️@golifelog
🔌plugins.carrd.co

Here to make friends. DMs open.

📍 0 ■■■■■□□□□□ $200 MRR 🔗 sheet2bio.com/jason

——————

I decided to highlight a few new things:

• indie solopreneur – It used to be “indie hacker”, “indie maker” or “creator”. But hacking is more software-related and I don’t just do software, I also do info products and services. Creator feels like it’s more content-related, which isn’t 100% true for me either. Being an internet entrepreneur is more accurate, and running solo is how I like it. So “solopreneur”. I generally cringe at made up words like that, but I see this becoming more common and being used by folks like @thejustinwelsh and @levelsio who I look up to, so I did.

• diverse portfolio of products & services – I’ve always wanted to better reflect the breadth of my work. I have many products that I don’t show in my bio. I used to never talk about my design consulting business Outsprint on Twitter, because none of my target audience for Outsprint is on Twitter. But now I’m increasingly sharing more of it too, and there’s curiosity for sure. I think this just better shows who I really am as a creative professional, not just pigeonholed as a SaaS/writing guy for sake of convenience on Twitter.

• $5k/m – My goal for ramen profitability. $5000 monthly revenue overall (recurring plus one-time). This had always been my goal, but I stopped it sometime back thinking that setting a smaller target $200 MRR would help with my motivation. It didn’t really work. I don’t need that now as I’m set on the long game. I don’t care now. I can just set it back to $5k. Problem with a monthly goal is that some of my business—like consulting—isn’t based on a monthly revenue model. Should it be annual revenue (recurring + one-time) instead then? This might need more tweaks…

• Showing my top 3 products which I want to share with Twitter audience. Left out services like Outsprint because of character constraint in the bio (LinkedIn is its main distribution channel anyway). Will have to lean on the link-in-bio for that.

• Here to make friends. DMs open. – I learned this line from @jakobgreenfeld, how it helps him increase his luck surface area. I love it! It also better reflects why I’m on Twitter. It’s true - I’m there for the connections, to make friends, to learn together, support each other.

• My Sheet2Bio link-in-bio page – That’s in line with showing all the products in my portfolio, so will continue to use it.

Work-in-progress

• My progress bar and metric – That’s the only thing left in the bio to update. MRR no longer makes sense because it’s more for indie hackers running SaaS businesses, so it doesn’t capture the portfolio aspect of my work. Maybe the $5k/m? But that would face the same issues I mentioned about having a monthly revenue metric. Perhaps annual revenue target of $60k/y? More to ponder. Hmmm. 🤔

• My Twitter banner – right now it still shows my launch banner for Sheet2Bio. I want to change that soon, to reflect this new change to being a diversified indie solopreneur.

• My Twitter name – right now it just says "Jason Leow’. I like that it’s simple and not trying to pitch anything. Long Twitter names pitching your product can feel too in your face sometimes. But I still think it’s valuable real estate on Twitter, because not everyone hovers my name to check my profile, or visit my profile page. So having the one thing I want to market in the name title is too good an opportunity to pass up. Will think through more.

• My pinned tweet – The first piece of content anyone will see on my profile page. Right now it’s a log of Sheet2Bio progress. I should change that soon to something more dedicated to this rebrand.

What else can I do to optimise my Twitter profile?

Creators often talk about building an audience, like how a speaker talks to an auditorium of passive, quiet people. The interaction is often one way, from creator to audience. The creator is at the centre, the hub, and the spokes are the different platforms and channels reaching out to his audience. It’s creator-centric. The creator is an influencer, influencing his audience with his content.

Yet nobody talks about the influencer being influenced by his audience. With feedback mechanisms like comment threads readily available on every platform, it’s now easy to hear what your audience thinks about your content. In fact, super amplified.

I think it’s arguable that the the influence in fact might be more the other way, from audience to creator, since it’s one-to-many.

Reading this Substack article by gurwinder made me realise that it could very likely be the case. The horrifying example he gave was that of the YouTube influencer Nikocado Avocado, a creator of mukbang videos, who went from “mild-mannered and health conscious” to “loud, abrasive, and spectacularly grotesque”. This is the phenomenon called “audience capture”.

It’s scary how you can lose yourself when you listen to what your audience finds entertaining and wants more of.

Likewise on Twitter. You hear a lot about tracking data and analytics on your best tweets, and “doubling down” on the best ones. I tried, and it does work. Admittedly, I found myself threading uncomfortable territory when tweeting out a strong opinion on contentious topics relating to entrepreneurship. Yeah I believe it, but the lack of nuance was disconcerting to me. That’s not how I like to have my discourse. Yet it’s tweets like that that do really well. Attention follows drama and controversy, but I don’t like drama.

Of course, this is in no way as serious as the situation with Nikocado Avocado, but a glimpse into the future if I truly followed the data and what audience wanted.

“This is the ultimate trapdoor in the hall of fame; to become a prisoner of one’s own persona. The desire for recognition in an increasingly atomized world lures us to be who strangers wish us to be. And with personal development so arduous and lonely, there is ease and comfort in crowdsourcing your identity. But amid such temptations, it’s worth remembering that when you become who your audience expects at the expense of who you are, the affection you receive is not intended for you but for the character you’re playing, a character you’ll eventually tire of. And so be warned: being someone often means being fake, and if you chase the approval of others, you may, in the end, lose the approval of yourself.” – gurwinder

The article got me thinking about just how much I’m being influenced by my efforts in building in public, building an audience. And I suspect, a lot more than I think. As much as I try to assert my own autonomy and be an independent thinker, I’m still human. We’re never as immune to audience capture as we think we are. I did notice my mental health isn’t all that good since I went serious on Twitter. I try not to compare myself with others, but seeing MRR updates and wins everyday doesn’t help.

It’s death by a thousand paper cuts.

So what can I do, to preserve my sanity, mental health and not be dis-functionally influenced by my audience? Some ideas:

• Engage more with folks who are moderate and balanced
• Avoid accounts who brag, bring drama and make me feel unbalanced
• Have frequent digital detox
• Let go of expectations of fast growth (which really is greed, which in turn makes you do things you wouldn’t want to)
• Avoid being too clear on labelling myself, who I am and what my niche is (makes it hard to escape)
• Just be myself and play the long game

Anything else I can do to avoid audience capture?

Do you keep a happy folder?

A collection of emails that makes you happy reading them. It could be emails of positive feedback, praise, congratulations, or just a simple thank you that you liked. Something like:

“This plugins remains the single best piece of investment I made for my personal brand.”

Wow.

I’m trying this now. I get feedback of all sorts for my products, from various channels and formats like email, messages, tweets. But no single place to read them.

So I created a folder in my inbox (ok, it’s a “label” in Gmail), and placed them all there. Bits from other channels and formats, I forward them as screenshots or links to that email folder. And on rainy, low morale days, I’ll look through these emails for that little bit of motivation.

Being an entrepreneur is tough. Indie hacking without any results to show for in the short term is hard. The days are long, but the years are short. Lately I’m finding more darker days than bright ones.

It’s like being on a hike. The view changes all the time as you climb. Sometimes you have to climb down into dark valleys. The summit you were aiming for wasn’t the real peak. Occasionally you climb up and get to a great view for a pit stop and a sandwich.

So I’ll take anything to help me stay motivated and sustain the journey. Being able to look back and see the impact of my work is one way to practice that.

Onwards.

I’ve been building in public all along ever since I started my indie hacking journey in 2018.

What building in public means for me:

• sharing wins - new customers, revenue milestones, streaks
• revealing failures and losses - being honest about what didn’t work
• lessons and insights - best part of build in public is to learn from the mistakes of others
• building an audience - people who are interested in my story, and support me

But I think what I’ve been doing all along is really building my best self in public:

"Tweet your doubts, internal pep talks, positive affirmations, worries, and celebrations.
If they matter to you, they’ll matter to someone else, too.
Don’t just build in public. Build your best self in public. We’ll cheer you on! 👏"
– @benbarbersmith

Because the way I build in public, it’s less about celebrating wins and revenue updates but more about sharing mistakes, struggles, failures, and lessons. It’s about practising being vulnerable out in the open in public. It’s about sharing my personal growth journey as an indie hacker, founder, solopreneur. And through sharing that growth, I hope to connect with others and learn from them about their own struggles and lessons.

We collectively learn and grow together. And support one another to grow even more.

Building the product in public is just the means to an end.

The real endgame is building my best self in public.

Build your best self in public > Build in public

I once heard of a good definition of product-market fit:

When something is pulling you forward and seemingly showing results on its own, it’s tending towards product-market fit.

When you’re having to push hard on something yet results don’t always show, it’s likely to not have product-market fit.

It makes so much sense, yet sometimes we blind ourselves to the pull signals we get from reality. Because we’re fixated with making something else successful, something we think should be successful. Some story we made up in our heads, that a particular product is what we want to succeed by, not the product that’s actually showing results.

So for August, I’m setting the broad intentions of doing what pulls me forward.

I wrote in my July recap that 2 projects are pulling me forward:

• Outsprint design consultancy
• Plugins For Carrd

If there’s anything this month that I want to do well in, it’s this one thing:

My upcoming consultancy gig in August.

It’s with a non-profit organisation, something I’ve always wanted. My consulting clients are 99% government, but my heart is always with social causes and working directly with non-profits. This is also about something I love - helping vulnerable families, growing community, education. There’s also potential for repeat projects, so it’s a job that I desire to overdeliver on, so that we can have a longer working relationship. It’s a $30k project, and I’m super grateful that it allows me to extend my runway to continue working on my indie products.

For my Carrd plugins, it’s continuing to pull me forward. Yet I continue to not give it the attention it deserves. Why? It’s weird. I wonder if it’s because it started as a side project. Perhaps I’m still in the side project mode on this one, so I deprioritize it? Yet it’s not the lack of interest or passion. I do enjoy working on it. If someone asks a question about Carrd, I drop my work and help. That can’t be something that can’t be forced or faked.

And when I asked myself, “What would the product look like it this was your main project?” So many ideas come to me. Ideas I want to work on, features I want to create, plugins I’m excited to build.

And I will.

So, two missions, one month.

Onwards.

– Revenue:
Current MRR: US$109 (all from Lifelog)
One-off revenue: ~US$281
Total revenue: ~US$390
Total profit (excl. salary): ~US$350

– Costs:
Heroku: $9/m
Table2site: $8/m
Carrd: $7.40/m (US$89/y)
Domains: ~$16/m (~US$200/y)

Twitter stats - Jul vs Jun
– Tweets: 1293 vs 1376
– Tweet impressions: 183k vs 304k
– Likes: 2.8k vs 3.2k
– Engagement rate: 4.9% vs 4.4%
– Profile visits: 38.2k vs 69.9k
– New followers: 141 vs 217
– Link clicks: 203 vs 528

July went by in a blink. Many days, just making it through the day felt like the most productive thing I could do. It was hard getting motivated to do anything. Most days, I scraped by.

I planned to build fun and creative projects to kickstart my momentum in July. But looks like I still needed more rest, so my break continued. And I did the bare minimum.

But the nice thing about doing monthly recaps is that I often realised I did more than I assumed.

Lots are happening for my design consultancy business Outsprint. New opportunities coming my way. Emails, phone calls, coffees, meetings. I attribute a substantial part of this to my content distribution on LinkedIn. It definitely is bringing me more visibility. If anything, it’s a reminder that I exist, and people who might have thought about working with me are getting reminded. It’s also timely that many of my clients (governments and nonprofits) are slowly emerging out of crisis mode and starting to re-think about improvement and innovation. Grateful for this business in my portfolio of businesses, that it’s still the sole breadwinner after all these years.

Plugins For Carrd continue to do well on it’s own momentum. Getting more enquiries, interest and feature suggestions. It sells. It continues to give me energy working on it.

These 2 products are pulling me forward, while for the rest, I find I’m having to push hard on them, without much progress. These are the signals from reality. Am I listening? Or am I still trying to bang my head on a brick wall chasing what I thought I wanted?

Much to ponder over.

Single-feature, whimsical projects like Random cat API inspires me more than complex apps that make millions.

It’s strange, but there’s an elegance to the simplicity and clarity of the product. Just an API to grab a random cat photo on the internet. People love cat pics, and this just makes it easier for developers who want to add some random fun to their websites and apps.

I LOVE IT.

Creative. Random. Fun. Funny. Looks totally useless but actually super useful.

All elements that check off the list of what I would deem as the kind of product I would love to make and be known for.

Because while other entrepreneurs are trying to make money and be famous, I just want a lifestyle that’s optimized for freedom. Freedom to do creative shit like that. Freedom to not worry about next month’s groceries.

Maybe I should make something like that a random dog API. Or random delicious burger API. The robots API that I use for Lifelog is another good example that I love.

Or a writing prompt a day API?

What other good instances of single feature but whimsical micro-SaaS projects you know?

“Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is eliminate the task.
Downsize. The rooms you don’t have, don’t need to be cleaned.
Donate. The items you don’t own, don’t need to be organized.
Delete. The projects you don’t take on, don’t need to be finished.
Is this a problem that needs to be solved?
Or is it a problem that can be eliminated all together?” – James Clear

I’ve always tried to do too much.
I’ve always thought I can do everything.
I’ve always believed I can achieve what I aim for.
I’ve always felt the most productive checking off all my to-dos.

The solution was always:

DO more. Take on more. Push more.
Work harder. Work longer hours. Work weekends.
Increase capacity. Increase limits. Increase sacrifice.

They say, when you only have a hammer, every problem is a nail. And that’s so true with this.

My blindspot is always about saying no, declining work, rejecting opportunities, asking for less.

Elimination as a productivity strategy is alien to me… somehow.

How then does one get better at this?

Find one task on my to-do list, and delete it.
Find one idea on my list of product ideas, and delete it.
Find one item in my room that I’ve not used in 1 year, and discard it.
Find one account you follow who’s no longer adding value to your feed, and unfollow.
Find one inactive account who follows you, and block-unblock it to make it unfollow me.

Every day, just eliminate ONE thing. Something. Anything.

I think this is a good practice to try.

I snore in my sleep. Somehow my nasal passage close up when I sleep, so I often end up just breathing through the mouth because it’s easier.

All my life I had an issue with my nasal passages constricting, and mouth breathing is normal for me. I used to be a long distance runner so that make it even more habitual.

But I know snoring is probably affecting my sleep, and likely my wife too (though she’s a heavy sleeper, she sometimes complains about it). Sleep is social. Being unable to breath properly wakes me up a few times without me being aware – that affects my sleep quality.

I’ve tried mouth taping before, but I’ll rip them off unconsciously while asleep. I think the reason it failed is that while it forces nose breathing, the tape didn’t solve the issue of constricted nasal passages. I got to get oxygen somehow, and my nose isn’t allowing me to, and my mouth is taped. Not a good place to be when asleep. So the tape goes off, inevitably.

So when @therealbrandonwilson recommended this nose device Mute by Rhinomed, I’m so intrigued I bought a trial pack right away. Few products trigger an instant purchase, but this was affordable and simple enough that trialling it was a nobrainer.

How it works: Like nasal strips, but instead of applying the strip on the skin of your nose bridge, you insert the device into your nose that props open your nostril. It’s made of soft plastic, and adjustable. I’m not sure if it’ll feel comfortable enough for sleep, but worth a try. Some stats I see on their site:

78% of users could sleep better
75% of users snored less
73% of users’ partners reported a reduction in snoring severity

What’s interesting is that this company also makes another similar product called Turbine for athletes to increase airflow by 38%! Wow.

I’m psyched to try this. Maybe this could finally help me with my snoring.

Will report back!

I’ve been lacking the discipline to manage my sleep habits and hacks. And that takes about 10-15% off my sleep score. It’s a trend I’ve been observing.

So if I’m not pushing, my sleep gets a 10-15% hit. Imagine if I give up all my sleep habits entirely! I’ll probably go to negative.

This is what I did when my scores were consistently 80s, and occasional 90s:

Sleep habits
----------
Sleep at least 7h
Alarm to sleep on time at 9:30pm
Cold shower before sleep
Wind down before sleep
Thermal comfort - 24ºC AC for me
Nightly meditation
No snoozing when alarm goes off

Food
----------
Dinner by 7pm
Regular water intake through the day
No drinking after dinner/8pm
1-2 coffee naps per day
Max 3 coffees per day
No coffee after 3pm
No junk food
No tea
Magnesium supplements

Light
----------
No screentime after dinner
Warm light for all screens
Daylight alarm
Daylight in morning

Exercise
----------
Morning walks
Body weight exercises

This is what I no longer do(❌) or do daily(⚠️), and as a result, get 60s or occasional 70s:

Sleep habits
----------
⚠️ Sleep at least 7h
❌ Alarm to sleep on time at 9:30pm
Cold shower before sleep
Wind down before sleep
Thermal comfort - 24ºC AC for me
⚠️ Nightly meditation
❌ No snoozing when alarm goes off

Food
----------
⚠️ Dinner by 7pm
⚠️ Regular water intake through the day
❌ No drinking after dinner/8pm
⚠️ 1-2 coffee naps per day
Max 3 coffees per day
No coffee after 3pm
⚠️ No junk food
⚠️ No tea
Magnesium supplements

Light
----------
❌ No screentime after dinner
Warm light for all screens
Daylight alarm
⚠️ Daylight in morning

Exercise
----------
⚠️ Morning walks
⚠️ Body weight exercises

It’s TELLING, isn’t it?

Sleep is an infinite game. And with infinite games, you got to put in effort every single day. Without which, everything slides downwards. Entropy ensues. There’s no rest, no break.

At least now I’ve listed it out. I know what I have to do.

The issue is finding the energy to do them, amidst the recent struggles of life.