Lifelog

When you’re truly financially independent and free (even running a $10k MRR business doesn’t count – it’s about having enough to even walk away from a $10k business), you can’t be cancelled.

Let that sink in a bit: With enough money, you can’t be cancelled.

You can be free to to talk about and share opinions that’s counter-cultural. Sure, there might be social consequences, people might unfollow you, your real friends might drop off, but people will no longer be able to cancel you and hold you hostage by harassing your employer, partners or customers. They can certainly try, but you certainly don’t give a f**k. I’m free to have my own thoughts and opinions.

True ideological independence.

Who would have known… that even though money can’t buy everything, it can buy a free thinking mind.

For any business, you need this trinity of roles and skills to keep things running and profitable. And at any one moment, a solo indie hacker can be embodying all three:

Entrepreneur – the one who started it all. Optimistic, reality-distorting, collecting ideas, betting on opportunities, taking risks. The dreamer, the visionary, the idealist, the master generalist, the hustler. He gets sh*t done, or finds the people who can.

Technician – the one with deep expertise, the craftsman, the introvert coder who loves to solve challenging technical problems. The Entrepreneur starts the business, but the Technician ensures you even have a product to sell for the business.

Manager – the guardian, the adult. When there’s chaos, the manager steps in to ensure things are well-organised. He puts in place processes, systems, and rules.

"don’t think of side projects as “spinning plates”. think of them as quilts. somedays you sew on one quilt. other days, you sew on another. each unique in their own way; each has its own path…" ~ @searchbound

That’s it! This is how I will describe my side projects hereon.

Not juggling or “spinning plates”, but quilting.

Quilting is making an eclectic patchwork.
Quilting is done with care.
Quilting is hard crafted.
Quilting is done slowly, calmly.

Ideally, quilting is done in a way as a grandma does, by a fireplace, with a cup of tea, and pet cat purring at her legs. It’s an image of bliss, working with your hands, with love and care.

Holding that vision in my head is helpful. It’s mindful, delightful, blissful.

A better way of marketing: Be the proof - "demonstrate that what I’m doing is working and have people come to me to ask what I’m doing rather than trying to go out and grab people." ~ Lobacrow

I believe it’s a better way to connect with like-minded people, make friends, build an audience, do marketing, sell a product, because:

• Being legit, with real street cred over having to bullsh*t your way to customer acquisition.
• It’s about attracting, rather than chasing.
• Making friends instead of acquiring strangers.

The easy way is often the hard way. Shortcuts, one-sided deals, and selfish behavior create debts. You only look like a winner until the bill comes due. Short-term actions become long-term frustrations. In hindsight, the hard way only seems slow in the moment. ~ @JamesClear

...writing still never gets easy.

I likened it to a cold shower. Is it possible to never feel the jitters before jumping into the ice cold water, or to stop ever feeling the shock of the cold? I doubt I’ll ever get used to it, but it gets done somehow, some way.

Writing feels a lot like a cold shower. Even after writing for more than two years, it never gets easy. What gets easy is the acceptance that it’ll never be easy.

So, let’s go win, and help win.

How to achieve exceptional results:

Quantity: You take lots of shots.
Quality: You take thoughtful shots.
Consistency: You keep shooting for a long time.
Feedback. You take better shots over time.
Luck: You get a few favorable bounces.
~ @JamesClear

Your surface area for luck increases by:

Taking action
Letting more people know
Having more time

The cost of self development is loneliness ~ @iamaaronwill

It made me realise an experience I had but never knew, until now.

Self-development is lonely, because if you do it well, your friends will no longer recognise you. Your vibe will change. The common interests that brought you together with your friends might no longer be interesting to you.

Self-development is lonely, because if you do it well, your family, your parents, your spouse might find it hard to keep up... even if love is unconditional.

Self-development is lonely, because if you do it too well, you might not even recognise yourself after a while. You might feel lost, adrift, unmoored. Because your old friends are moving away from you, but new friends had not yet arrived.

The cost of self-development, truly, is loneliness.

Need to timebox Twitter engagement time during the day!

Reframe “work-life balance” to “work-life flywheel” instead.

Because really, you want the different goals and aspects of your life to form a flywheel, spinning in synergy and giving momentum to one another, rather than being compartmentalised and separated.

So in a work-life flywheel, you generate a sort of virtuous cycle of momentum where one thing props up and amplifies the other.

A multiplier effect, a positive sum game.

Good thing about using the native scheduler on Twitter, there's no link showing that you scheduled it.

#lifelog

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran - for wisdom

Autobiography of a Yogi by P. Yogananda - for awe & wonder

Old Path, White Clouds by Thich Naht Hanh - for mindfulness practice

Atomic Habits by James Clear - for habit hacking

Think & Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill - for wealth mindset

From "We’ll see” to “Let’s find out”
From “I’ll achieve this goal” to “I’ll learn my way towards this goal”
From "I’ll do these things to achieve this goal”, say "I’m the type of person who do these things" .

Using my goals as a reference:
“Get $5k MRR” to “I’m the type of indie hacker who can earn $5k”
“Sleep early to get enough rest” to “I’m the type of person who loves going to bed early”
“Wake up at 4am” to “I’m the type of person who relishes in waking up early at 4am”
“Learn how to code” to “I’m a developer, who enjoys coding.”
“I’ll write daily” to “I’m a writer, who write everyday”
“Steal back curiosity” to “I’m a naturally curious person.”

It’s not “Fake it till you make it”, but “Say it till you ooze it”.

For May, I’m going for 3 Ms – money, marathon and manage.

Targets:
• Secure at least 1 project in May and Jun, and break even on living expenses ~$5k
• Replicate the flow experience of running in my life and work routines, for my indie hacking journey
• Be a well-organized manager to myself, and prioritize my way out from this haze towards clarity

Revenue numbers:

Lifelog: $40/m (Mar) --> $60/m (Apr)
Plugins For Carrd: $105
Keto List: S$705 one-time (Mar) --> $30 one-time (Apr)
Social impact patrons: $50/yr + $10/m (Mar) --> same MRR + $5 coffee one-off (Apr)

True solitude is something of a rare luxury in this modern age. But I get to taste a bit of that at 4am.

Airplane mode. Warm yellow light from my table. The smell of espresso stirring my brain awake. The only sound coming from my fingers hitting the keyboard. The anticipation of a solid 3-4 hours for deep work, all to myself. Seeing the sky brighten slowly from violet to blue to orange and yellow.

I love it.

The people with the best self‑control are typically the ones who need to use it the least. It’s easier to practice self‑restraint when you don’t have to use it very often. So, yes, perseverance, grit, and willpower are essential to success, but the way to improve these qualities is not by wishing you were a more disciplined person, but by creating a more disciplined environment.

From Chapter 7 of Atomic Habits by James Clear

there’s something surprisingly counterintuitive about the bigger idea behind this post:

The smaller example: Leaning the least on discipline ends up looking like discipline on the outside.

The bigger idea: The ones who look like they have the most of something on the outside are actually using that something the least inside.

What other phenomena lives by that inverse principle of abundance on outside, scarcity on inside?

Tl; dr -

• Do your own thing, alone (mostly)
• Don't have gatekeepers
• Spend all your time on code and media
• Learn to build & sell

I was on Upwork looking for gigs, but instead chanced on a use case for Upwork that’s completely counter to what it’s usually used for. People usually go to Upwork (or any freelance marketplaces) to find work, or find hired help if you’re an employer. But I ‘discovered’ that Upwork can be great for learning. Like Udemy/Coursera kind of learning, yes.

• Learn how the pros do it
• Hire someone to be your mentor by the hour
• Learn about new business ideas by assessing the volume of similar job posts