These are my Momentos, short personal diary entries I write daily – since 2013 – and publish monthly. Some links are affiliate links.
1
Reviewing my finances today. $6,448 spent in January. That’s about twice as much as I usually spend in a month. Made me anxious. But then I went through and looked at each expense and couldn’t find anything to regret. All money well spent. Plus, I earned $9,518 in January. So I came out three grand ahead. That’s a damn good month.
2
Took Gretchen Rubin’s four tendencies quiz and turns out I’m an Obliger.
“Obligers depend on external accountability, with consequences such as deadlines, late fees, or the fear of letting other people down. In fact, Obligers need external accountability even for activities that they want to do.”
Nailed it.
3
Considering quitting these Momentos. The end of February will mark five years, never missed a day. I like writing and sharing them, along with the photos and videos. It’s a nice way to document my life, and create consistent content for the blog. But I do need to free up some time and energy if I want to achieve bigger goals I’ve set for myself. Might be time to kill this darling.
4
Travel plans shaping up like this for the year: Bulgaria (where we are now) > Moscow > Las Palmas > Spanish road trip > Gran Canaria > Moscow > St. Petersburg > Montenegro > UK/Ireland > Amsterdam > Copenhagen > Faroe Islands > Gran Canaria > Ireland > Gran Canaria > Southeast Asia.
5
My challenge this month is to keep a journal of all the complaints I make. Already I’ve become aware of two things I complain about regularly: being tired, and not having enough time. And when you really think about it, both those complaints are ridiculous. I can always sleep more on my flexible schedule, and I get the same 24 hours each day as everyone else.
6
Made my first big coaching proposal today. Didn’t receive a yes, at least not yet, but I came away buzzing nonetheless. She fits my “dream client” criteria, and so it felt great just to be on a call with her, listening, sharing, exploring, brainstorming. I was in my element. That’s the Zone of Genius stuff Hendricks was talking about. I know good things will happen if I keep spending time in there.
7
Still haven’t committed to a coach of my own. Had the decision made but then jumped on a powerful call this evening and came away with a different perspective. Now I’m on the verge of investing $15,000 for the next six months. It’s a different level, investing that much in growth. And yeah, it feels scary. The good kind of scary.
8
I read The 4-Hour Workweek ten years ago. I remember telling friends about it back in New Orleans, when I was still a 9-to-5er. That book really was a game-changer for me, got me thinking very differently about life and work. Reading it again now, as a somewhat seasoned veteran of this lifestyle design thing. Let’s see if it holds up.
9
One year since that fanciful flight to Prague to go see about a girl. It felt different from the start, glad I trusted that hunch and took a chance. We’ve been to nine countries together now, exploring hidden beaches, mountain shrines, big cities and small towns. Ryan Holiday once wrote that the best life hack is finding an amazing life partner. Seems he was right.
10
Last day in Bansko. It’s been good. We’ve been here long enough to find a few favorite places, become familiar faces. There’s Baba Vuna downstairs, a family run restaurant serving hearty local food. And the cafe across the road, Vlad there every day whipping up the lattes. Those looks of recognition, those knowing smiles… makes a place feel like home.
11
Minus five in Moscow as we zip along a snowy highway, cruising between plow trucks, over a white river. I’m not exactly excited to be back in this city, especially at this time of year. But I’ll get to spend more time with herself and can knuckle down and get a good chunk of work done. I’m off to a slow start on a 90-day money game. Time to punch in.
12
Another coaching call. Spent $600 on this one, for an hour of his time. And it was good, definitely worth the money. I could stick with him and pay the same each month. That would be the safe choice, the comfortable choice. But I don’t believe safe and comfortable will get me where I want to go.
13
Heard on a podcast today: scary and dangerous are two different things. Many scary things aren’t dangerous, and many dangerous things aren’t scary. One dangerous thing that isn’t scary is working a ho-hum job. You have to be careful with that. Because if you’re not, you wake up one day and you’re sixty years old and you wonder where your life went.
14
So I’ve gone ahead and committed to that six months of deep coaching. Sent the first $5,000 payment last night. Noticed before bed that a stress spot had broken out on the rim of my eyelid. Trying to breathe through the anxiety, not get caught up in negative thought patterns, scarcity mindset. Let the good feelings flow. Don’t Upper Limit yourself.
15
If a penny saved is a penny earned, then I “earned” almost $90 in five minutes today. How? By asking my Airbnb host for a discount. Almost didn’t ask, thinking I might be pushing my luck too far, but then remembered that I’m the same guy who wrote a whole blog post urging people to always negotiate. Actually, shit… I really should have asked for a discount on that $5,000 coaching fee as well.
16
Russian Uber driver eager to show off his heavily-accented English. He’ll say a thing, and I’ll understand, but then he’ll think of another way to say it and share that with me, too. I leave nothing behind getting out of the car but he says anyway, “Please take your things with you.” Then, after a short pause, and very loud, “Do not leave your things in my car!”
17
Been shifting currencies around the internet the past couple of days. Really shouldn’t have sent $2,000 to savings earlier this month. That’s inaccessible now, which is unfortunate because I don’t really have enough on hand to pay every bill that’s due, especially with the $5k coaching payment I made last week. Cashed in my Bitcoin today and will sell the rest of my Tesla shares on Tuesday.
18
Sitting around the kitchen table, eating borscht and pancakes… and meeting her family for the first time. There’s a big language barrier, but that’s not a big deal. I lived in non-English speaking countries for three consecutive years, so I know there’s a lot more to communication than words. The dogs like me and I brought flowers and I make the appropriate noises when I eat.
19
I’ve started blocking out 15 hours for consulting work each week on my calendar, and another 7 hours for coaching. In the past I would just put the hours in as needed, but they never added up to much. Now it’s obvious why. I was always trying to squeeze in those hours around everything else, whereas now they’re set and everything else has to squeeze in around them.
20
First call with my new coach today. 3.5-hour intensive. We went over five agreements. Die before battle, extreme ownership, everything is feedback, the rare relationship, feel > formula. Also took some time to write future me a letter. It will go halfway around the world and come back to him a year from now.
21
Here’s an exercise: write out all the things you’re currently doing regularly. Go through your calendar and your to-do list(s) and your emails. How are you spending your time? What are your commitments and responsibilities? List even the things you do to relax. Netflix, shaving, groceries, laundry. Everything. I did that today. The list was massive. Obvious now that cuts must be made.
22
Interesting point from The Power Of Full Engagement: professional athletes spend about 90% of their “work” time practicing, and the remaining 10% delivering peak performance. Plus they have long stretches of down time. Then there are people like me who expect themselves to deliver peak performance for several hours a day consistently with perhaps the occasional day off.
23
Was asked yesterday what I’d like to have written on my gravestone. First draft:
I was once like you there, full of breath
Never thought too much, about my death
It’s since come to pass, now here I lie
And you will also someday die
Not nice to hear, but worth a thought
To help you live the life you ought
24
Did a guided body scan today. About forty minutes. It’s interesting the things you notice when you slow down and pay attention. How often do we feel our heartbeat, for example? The air in our nostrils? Today, just lying there, I could easily feel the pulse in my hands, and occasionally the pulse in my feet. Life flowing through me.
25
Maintenance is easy, building is hard. I’ve had a six pack for the past five years. Took a good bit of work to get it in the first place, but keeping it’s a cinch. Barely ten minutes of light exercise most days. Same holds true for business methinks. Building a business requires sacrifice and struggle, but once you breakthrough it’s not all that hard to maintain.
26
So this particular Momento makes it five years without missing a day. The first one I published was for February 27th, 2013. You can read it here. Just read back through that first set myself. Wrote lots about chasing tail. Times have changed. And I’m glad they have. No regrets by any means, but I have no desire to return to life as a single dude, especially in Thailand.
27
If I could do anything I wanted work-wise? I’d spend a good chunk of time making videos. It’s a combination of many things: creative thinking, writing, performance, humor, design… and I’m left with a nice finished piece at the end. I release it to the world and watch what happens, see what kind of response it gets, who it impacts and how.
28
I used to have the impression that older people were all mature and had life figured out, no hint of the kids they once were. Now I’m almost two decades beyond being a teenager, and I still often feel like one. I reckon we all do to some extent. We’re all still the boys and girls we once were, somewhere deep inside, scared of the same things, laughing at the same jokes.
