These are my Momentos, short personal diary entries I write daily – since 2013 – and publish monthly. Some links are affiliate links.
1
Shortlisted some writers and gave them a trial job, pointed to this profile and asked them to do the same thing for another YouTuber. Two did great, clearly read the existing content and matched the writing style. The other three couldn’t get out of their own way.
2
The first group of people, when you meet them, assume you’re nothing and you must earn their respect. The second group start you at neutral and it can go either way. The third respect you by default and see if you can keep it. Which group are you in?
3
Been reading Nelson Mandela’s book. At the part where he’s given up on nonviolence and is looking to build an army.
“Nonviolent passive resistance is effective as long as your opposition adheres to the same rules as you do. But if peaceful protest is met with violence, its efficacy is at an end. For me, nonviolence was not a moral principle but a strategy; there is no moral goodness in using an ineffective weapon.”
4
All of last year I earned about $30k. The past three months I’ve earned almost $50k. Crazy shit. In a very real sense though that $50k was earned several months ago. I’ve spent this whole weekend working on the biz. We’ll see the earnings from that next year.
5
This Charlie Munger quote reminds me of that time a decade ago when I was busy preaching veganism at a Toastmasters meeting…
“When you’re young it’s easy to drift into loyalties and when you announce that you’re a loyal member and you start shouting the orthodox ideology out, what you’re doing is pounding it in, pounding it in, and you’re gradually ruining your mind.”
6
After two legal threats this year – one of which was a big pain in the ass – I’ve been looking at getting media liability insurance. Got a quote back today. It’ll cost more than I thought, but probably well worth it for the peace of mind.
7
Can you ever communicate effectively with someone who’s a terrible listener? You can keep on repeating yourself, you can try get your message across in several different ways. But if they refuse to hear you, I guess there’s not much you can do.
8
Almost 9pm and I take a taxi to a mall twenty minutes east. There I buy 16 rolls of toilet paper, 12 packs of frozen blueberries, 4 jars of vegetable spread, a 7-foot ladder and a head torch. Just another Thursday in Tbilisi.
9
Coming up on 10 years since I started working for myself. Another couple and I’ll have spent more time as an entrepreneur than as an employee. I’d probably have made more money by now if I’d stayed an employee, but can’t imagine I’d have learned so much.
10
I spend more time thinking about shitty people than nice people. Part of me probably likes looking down on the former and feeling superior. But it’s also fascinating trying to figure out why they are that way, what causes such behavior. Dysfunction deconstruction.
11
The occasional bit of boldy would be nice, an evening smoke on the balcony every now and then. Only seeds are legal here though. If you want a toke, you have to grow your own. Such silliness. Imagine coffee being illegal unless you grow your own beans.
12
Fact of life: no matter how good you are or how well you do, there will always be haters and naysayers. LeBron James just won his 4th championship. He’s 35 years old, has played in ten Finals. This was probably his best performance, yet he still has plenty of critics.
13
Slowing building a team. Three regular contractors now, maybe a fourth soon. Still new to me, managing people, being a boss. I’d like to get good at it, create a small company that does great work and supports the livelihoods of a few good people.
14
Georgia never had more than 30 cases of COVID a day until September. Now it’s been 100 a day for almost a month, and a record-high 680 yesterday. With elections coming up, they’re not introducing any more restrictions. This time next week we’ll probably be at 1000 a day.
15
Struggle days, yesterday and today, hitting another patch of burn out, a negative tint on everything. Times like these, it’s best to rest up, pause plans, suspend judgements and decisions. Otherwise it’s like trying to paint a house with a broken brush.
16
Each week I write up the newsletter with ten or so items and send it out. Every time I try guess which link will get the most clicks, and I’m almost always wrong. Except when I have Momentos in there. For some weird reason, you and many others like reading these.
17
Still dealing with a bout of burnout. I’ve been fairly useless the past few days. Which would be fine if my business was still a one-man show. But nowadays I have contractors awaiting instructions and feedback. As a friend likes to say: new level, new devil.
18
Even if you thought COVID was a hoax, wouldn’t you wear a mask anyway in case there’s even a 0.00001% chance you might be wrong? The absolute certainty of these people is alarming. Reminds me of something Bertrand Russell once wrote:
The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.
19
Some problems in life get bigger if you don’t take action. While others, if you procrastinate long enough, they simply fade away. The trick then, is to know what kind of problem you’re dealing with. Get it backwards and things can end up real sticky.
20
I do some of my best and most energetic work right after a burnout. It’s a bit like how forest fires can be devastating at the time but actually help a forest in the long run, releasing valuable nutrients, clearing the way for new growth. Or some shit like that.
21
If don’t have ads on my site because, if I did, I imagine some retiree needing to make money online, using and trusting my site, clicking on a random banner ad for some dodgy day trading course and thinking it must be legit because they saw it on eBiz Facts.
22
It’s like what Krishna said to Arjuna that one time, about being entitled to the work itself, but not the fruits of it. So you can aim to be rich, even consider it likely, that’s fine. But best not expect it or feel entitled. All you control is the effort, not the outcome.
23
If I find myself annoyed by someone, instead of thinking about how annoying they are, I’ll try to think about how I’m lacking in patience or acceptance at that moment. Often it’s not the other person’s behavior that’s the issue, but how I’m receiving or responding to it.
24
What color are the walls of your bedroom? Good chance you don’t know, unless you painted them yourself. So many things we see each day but don’t really notice. Look around you right now. What do you see that you’ve never really noticed before?
25
Listened to 20 minutes of Kanye on Joe Rogan and that was plenty. The man thinks he should be president yet he can’t even express a coherent thought. This might be the biggest danger of Trump: he’s emboldened other delirious and incompetent people to run for office.
26
Paraphrasing Andy Grove: say you spend 10 hours training an employee or contractor and they go on to work 1000 hours for you. Even if your training improves their performance only 10%, that’s the equivalent of 100 work hours gained. Pretty good ROI.
27
Every now and then you’ll come across an inspiring business… inspiring in that you realize they’re making massive money despite significant silliness or incompetence. Found a business like that today. If they can win big, you and I can surely do so, too.
28
Al Capone was so good a gangster that he was worth $40 million by his 30th birthday, equivalent to ~$600 million today. What puzzles me about people like him is that they could surely have earned similar with a legit enterprise. But something about the dark side appeals to them more.
29
A dangerous thought: that could never happen to me. Actually, you could die in a traffic accident, you could get scammed out of your life savings, you could get raped. If you think such things aren’t possible, you won’t take precautions, which makes them more likely.
30
This time last year I had 3700 email subscribers. Now I’m at 7700. That’s about 11 new people a day for a year, without much focus on list growth. Main thing I’ve done is just consistently try and send out an interesting weekly newsletter.
31
One of the best and worst things about humans is how adaptable we are. We can get used to almost anything. I have to remind myself to be grateful for passive income. Two years ago I barely had any. Now I have quite a bit. It’s become normal, easy to take for granted.