These are my Momentos, short personal diary entries I write daily – since 2013 – and publish monthly. Some links are affiliate links.
1
Blissful swim down in the bay this eve after a good long work day, flowing gentle around rocks and fish in lazy water. I take my time drying off after on the pebble beach and wind my way back up the steps. I’ll get back to the apartment and cook and read and listen to music and be perfectly content with how this one turned out.
2
Set a goal with my Mastermind buddy to have my course relaunched by the 22nd. $500 penalty for every day it’s late. Shot footage for the final two videos I need for it today, rented a fancy place for a few hours and plowed through. With client work I’ll only really have six full days to finish everything else up between now and the 22nd. Pressure’s on.
3
For the fifth time since we’ve been in a car with him, he slams on the brakes to avoid hitting the vehicle in front. His fault, tailgating. But once again, he blames the driver ahead, takes no responsibility. I realize I’m not taking any responsibility either though. Too often I roll my eyes and fume inside but say nothing. So I tell him I’m uncomfortable with his driving and would like him to slow down.
4
Kotor. Beautiful little historic town, surrounded by thick walls that run almost vertical back up the mountain. I go exploring outside the walls, looking for a hidden trail on the north side that takes you up without a tourist ticket, go exploring down a small path into a crevice, over a dry stream, round a corner to see two teens in full porno mode. Oops.
5
A walk along those old walls today left me in awe. And that was before I found a hidden path up along the south vertical. Clambered up there for a half hour on little more than a rabbit trail, passing long-abandoned buildings set into the rock and forgotten turrets crumbling into thin air. A route clearly not meant for tourists. Reached the top with scratched limbs and a big grin.
6
Recently watched that Scientology documentary on Netflix. One line at the end that stuck with me: “When you really believe in something, you don’t have to think for yourself.” That’s what makes all religion scary to me. You follow a set of rules handed down from on high, rules you’re discouraged from questioning, often strongly.
7
One of the joys of my life is being able to live for weeks and months in places most people get to visit only for a day or two. Kotor is one of those places. Took a break from work today to get coffee and cake, strolled through the streets like a local, past all the tourists with their backpacks and camera snaps, countless cats and a bearded man playing summertime on the sax.
8
I believe I heard Seth Godin say in an interview once that he never works past 5pm. Having a strict shutdown time would appear to be a good idea for me as well. Whenever I work past six, I find it harder to get to sleep later and I’m more prone to a restless night. Seems I need a few hours to wind down, else my mind keeps spinning.
9
Right now I’m earning good money from client work. More than I’ve ever earned, actually. And that’s great. But I still see it as a stepping stone. Long-term, I’ve decided I want to making more videos. Spent 7 hours editing a video today and it didn’t feel at all like work. I need to be doing more of that. And I reckon I can make a living doing it. But it might take a while.
10
I’m still doing my Miracle Morning routine that I began in January. Every weekday morning: 10 minutes affirmations; 10 minutes stretching/exercise; 10 minutes writing; 10 minutes visualization; 10 minutes meditation; 10 minutes reading. Except on weekends I do an abbreviated version, just 90 seconds of each. Though even that seems to have the desired effect.
11
What are the things that seem normal to us now that our grandkids will marvel at? Driving could be one. They’ll probably never learn how to drive, no need. Killing animals for meat is another. I like to think we’ll figure out this lab meat thing before too long, and our grandkids will have a hard time understanding how a pig had to be slaughtered just to make a BLT.
12
Found a great swimming spot today. Getting better at relaxing in the water, even when I can’t see the bottom. I guess everything gets easier if you just do it enough times. Shot some video of my stroke as well and very happy with what I saw. Nice, easy-going movements. And finally I felt like I had more energy coming out than I had going in.
13
Half asleep after a nap today, dropped my external hard drive. Busted. Shit. Have files on that crucial for getting my course relaunched next week. Spent the afternoon visiting every repair shop in town and ultimately deciding to rent a car and drive 2 hours tomorrow to someone with a 75% success rate at fixing this mess. Feeling strangely exhilarated by it all.
14
Hill sprints. 17 seconds go, 60 seconds stop, 16 rounds. Made it all the way to the cheese shop on that trail behind the old town, then rambled on over to a hole in the wall and came out on the steps to the fortress. And a spectacular sunset to boot. Can’t get my hard drive fixed here in Montenegro, but I have my compensations.
15
The hard drive thing wouldn’t be such an issue if I was working on my own stuff full-time, but I’m trying to fit it in around 15-20 hours of client work each week. Still, got back on track today. Looks like I’ll only be short one video for launch. Should have time to get everything else in order. But first, gotta go rafting this weekend.
16
We come down off a high green plain to spectacular views, still water wrapping around hills and mountains. Not a lake, but a reservoir. They created this 40 years ago, flooded an entire town in the process. Somewhere down there beneath the zip liners and the pale blue are the remains of buildings, lives and stories long forgotten.
17
Business obsessed. Woke up this morning thinking of Facebook ads. On the way to rafting I’m crunching numbers. 6 jeeps, 7 customers in each. €65 a head if they stay overnight. That’s €500 best-case. After paying staff and other expenses, surely doesn’t leave much. Plus, it’s seasonal. Nobody’s getting rich off this, but it probably affords a decent living.
18
Been ten weeks working on this new client project but now we’re shifting gears. Which means about half the hours and half the pay for me. Looking at it as an opportunity. Actually couldn’t have happened at a better time. Lots of travel coming up and about to relaunch my course, was wondering how I’d squeeze it all in. Much less pressure now.
19
Epic work day, getting my course relaunched at last. Been almost six months since I closed the doors. Have a nice new video series created for it, the top of the funnel. We’ll see how that goes. I look around at other people teaching online business, and I reckon my free and premium content is up there with the best of them, and getting better all the time.
20
Almost halfway through the year, so I took some time to write out all my “wins” so far in 2018. Man, it’s been a great year so far, on pretty much every level. Health, wealth, relationships. All good and moving in the right direction. Reminded myself of lots of small wins, too, things I’d almost forgotten. What’s that saying? We overestimate what we can do in a day, but underestimate what we can do in a year.
21
Been reading a book about Greek and Roman mythology. Thought there would be some deep wisdom in there. But finding it a lot like Aesop’s Fables: mostly bullshit with no real meaning. Occasionally you’ll find a universal truth or a clever tale in there, but not worth weeding through all the nonsense to find it.
22
My coach asked me to go do a retreat on a sailboat in Greece in August. Which would be cool, except I’ve already got plans for August: Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Faroe Islands, Gran Canaria. Realized the other day that I’ll actually end up spending time in 12 or 13 countries this year. It’s a bit much, to be honest.
23
Had an idea today to start a video series where I take to the streets and ask people in every city I visit how they’d describe that place in one word. But looking at some videos like that already on YouTube, I realized that anyone can do it. I need to be making videos that only I can make, sharing ideas that other people aren’t sharing.
24
Arriving in London at the beginning of a heatwave as England beats Panama 6-1 in the World Cup. The city is buzzing. We find a lively spot called Boxpark, munch on vegan fare and watch people watching football. People of all different races with all kinds of faces from all different places. That’s the beautiful thing about this town.
25
We’re at Trafalgar Square as the sun goes down, and there’s a young guy beatboxing and playing the violin, concocting songs with his speakers and foot pedals, form classical to Coldplay. He’s from Australia, he tells us during a break, just got into town, traveling around Europe for the summer, making his music and living his life.
26
Between bus tours and shooting video and long dinners with friends, there’s little time to squeeze in the proper work stuff. That’s probably the biggest downside of running an online business: it can be hard to unplug completely, kick back and enjoy the travels. I’m always on the lookout for wifi, start feeling anxious when I haven’t checked emails for a while.
27
York. As soon as we come out of the train station I realized I’d been here before. Seven years ago, stopped off for a few hours en route to Durham. One of those memories relegated to the back of my brain. Some of what’s back there will never be recalled. Someone else might as well have lived those moments.
28
Random things about York:
- Apparently it’s the most haunted town in Europe.
- Guy Fawkes was born here.
- The Shambles is believed to be the oldest shopping street in Europe.
- York Minster is one of the world’s largest cathedrals. Took them 252 years to build the thing.
- Constantine the Great was crowned in York in 306AD, the only Roman emperor to have been crowned anywhere outside of Rome.
29
Picked up a rental car this morning and headed west to the Lake District. We’re staying at a farmhouse just outside Keswick, with four chickens and a half-deaf dog. Took a spin down to Derwent Water and around through Honister and Newlands Pass, taking in some fantastic views. But I’m not all that happy today.
30
Trying to record a video in every spot on this road trip. We were exploring around the lake today and hiked up to the Catbells as the sun was going down, shot the latest video there, talking about how to compete with $1.50 freelancers from India and the Philippines. I’ll have a lot of editing to do once we get settled in Amsterdam next month.
