These are my Momentos, short personal diary entries I write daily – since 2013 – and publish monthly. Some links are affiliate links.
1
I used to allow myself to skip one workout each month. But that would sometimes be stressful, trying to squeeze in a workout on busy days. Finally I realized: less exercise with less stress > more exercise with more stress. So now I allow myself to skip up to five workouts each month.
2
Spent the last few weeks putting together this website and marketing system, feeling good about it. I reckon it can help a lot of local service businesses in the UK. But there’s building the thing, and there’s selling the thing. Gonna push hard on the latter this month, see how it goes.
3
Probably shouldn’t have booked that demo call for tomorrow. Now I’m scrambling to get everything ready, working late tonight, will have to be up early in the morning. A Sunday morning. But fuck it. Feeling super-motivated right now. Let’s go.
4
The demo call went fairly well. Lots of room for improvement with how I pitch and present, but that excites me. I know I can be really good at this given enough reps. Need some downtime this eve but I’ll get back to it tomorrow with cold calling and setting up more demo calls.
5
Spotted at the supermarket today: “pure cannabis hash brownies,” with packaging that suggests they get you high. But no THC in there, just hemp flour, along with sugar, salt, preservatives, flavorings, colorings, vegetable fats and a bunch of other stuff. They probably sell well, to people who don’t know any better.
6
More cold calls and demos. Some people say they’re interested, we set an appointment, I do all the prep, then they ghost me. I try not to take it personally, follow up patiently and persistently, and keep filling the pipeline with new opportunities. From failure to failure, without losing enthusiasm.
7
Watching a movie from 1939. Old movies are like time capsules, fascinating to me. 500 years from now, people will be able to watch and marvel at our modern day movies. The equivalent of us watching a movie made in 1526.
8
One of those days where I really didn’t feel like doing the work but told myself I just had to dial ten numbers, got into the swing of it and ended up dialling eighty. Often the hardest part is getting started. Would have felt horrible this eve if I’d given in to that urge to slack off.
9
Tastes from childhood that still get my mouth watering: Spar sausage rolls, salt and vinegar chips, black pudding in a blaa, buttered toast, chicken cordon bleu, Monster Munch, Burger King XL bacon double cheeseburger meal with BBQ sauce, mint Cornetto, buttered bread dipped in creamy vegetable soup.
10
It snowed all night and most of today, some 50cm in all. That’s the biggest snowfall I’ve seen in Andorra so far. Some people like going out in the snow, but me not so much. In large part because I’ve never bothered to buy proper snow gear.
11
Fascinating to see the response to the Renee Good shooting. Everybody’s seeing the same video evidence, but they can come away with wildly different convictions about who was right and who was wrong. And then they shout and fight and argue, all to no avail.
12
Words from Kevin Hart…
“Yo, yesterday I got nothing from working as hard as I could. Nothing happened from that. I’m gonna do the same thing again today, but I’m gonna try to go harder.”
That’s the hardest thing in the world: to get up every day and give a hundred percent. And be in the same position that you were each day, but mentally know that you’re trying and trying and trying.
That’s a real grind.
13
Another prospect ghosting me for a demo call, doesn’t show up, doesn’t answer the phone, no message from him. Incredibly rude and disrespectful, IMO. But I have to stay focused on what I can control. Clearly I’m still not doing a good enough job of getting people excited for the demo.
14
Spent six minutes trying to convince this guy he was wrong about me. That was stupid. Some people just have their minds made up and there’s no changing them. The only way to win is to walk away and let them think what they like.
15
Some clients are really picky, a lot of work to keep them happy. Other clients are tight on price, always trying to get a better deal somehow. This guy is both, the worst of all worlds, expecting high-class service for a rock bottom price. I’ll be the one ghosting this time.
16
Heard someone say recently that lazy people often feel entitled, whereas hard-working people often worry that they’re not doing enough. Resonates. Working my ass off lately, and if I take an hour to indulge in a YouTube rabbit hole, I end up feeling like the laziest man who ever lived.
17
Crucial meta skill for an entrepreneur: being able to pick yourself up over and over again, to keep trying despite relentless rejection and disappointment. Churchill said success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm. But that’s impossible. You will definitely lose enthusiasm, but how fast can you get it back?
18
Telling a friend about toilets around the world. US toilets are similar to Ireland, except the water is much higher, more splashes, less streaks. Dutch toilets have the “continental shelf,” to inspect before flushing. Then plenty of squat toilets in Asia. They were always tough for me.
19
It’s a million little things, trying to figure them out as fast as possible without burning out or driving yourself crazy. Rubbing up against burnout today, feeling like the cogs in my brain are jammed, but have to push on and try some things anyway, make at least a little progress.
20
Been reading Maureen O’Hara’s autobiography and watching some of her movies. Fascinating the lives some people live, and how it all comes and goes. She was a superstar in her day, but now steadily fading from our collective memory. It’s a little sad, and a little reassuring.
21
James Currier sold his quiz website for $100 million in 2004. His advice for anyone considering starting a startup…
It is incredibly painful and it will take over your life. If you care about it and if you have any chance of succeeding, you will stop being present for the softer things in life like your family, friends, or dating life. And when you are there with them, you’re not really there with them; you’re thinking about this thing because you’re creating it, and it takes that amount of passion to make it work.
22
Early. Tiny wet snowflakes. Drove over to the usual spot. Sitting at the window, cafecito. Meaty shoes, all smiles and chats before the clock. Patrons laughing in Catalan, Russian. Construction site across the way. Men working in the cold. Flames in a barrel.
23
Taking inspiration from this chap. Eight years ago he was divorced and broke with four kids, locked himself in an apartment and barely got up to take a piss until he’d built a successful business. Now that business runs itself while he wanders around Europe in his Porsche.
24
Writing to a friend…
My takeaway is that pretty much every business sucks for a long time until it doesn’t. Helps if you’re passionate about the business so you can stay motivated. But even then it’s going to suck a lot of the time.
25
I can easily fall into watching YouTube or Netflix for too long. They say what gets measured gets managed. So now I’m tracking and logging that time in a spreadsheet every day. It has immediately made me more conscious, less prone to losing track of time.
26
There’s a book called The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse. At one point, the boy and the horse are navigating a dense forest…
“I can’t see a way through,” said the boy.
“Can you see your next step?”
“Yes.”
“Just take that,” said the horse.
27
What if I stopped complaining about being busy, feeling overwhelmed, not having enough time? Makes me sound like a victim, as if I’m a slave and time is my master. How about I take full responsibility for the time I have and how I spend it? Wouldn’t that be a better way to live?
28
Andorra looking spectacular today from Coll d’Ordino. We’ve had a ton of snow this month, but the latest fall has held fast to the rocks and trees and it’s like everywhere has been dusted with powdered sugar. The slanty sun this eve producing plenty of pastels and sparkles.
29
Gotta stop reading books by self-help gurus. Usually some good ideas in there, but also some bad ideas, and it can be hard to tell the difference. Reminding myself to stick to books written by respected scientists or journalists whose recommendations are based on big data and rigorous studies, not personal experience and random anecdotes.
30
This client said they wanted to sign up today and we had everything scheduled. Then they fail to show up for the call, no communication from them. Amazed how common this is. Most people seem to have no issue skipping appointments with no notice or apology.
31
I tell her: “I didn’t have time to exercise this morning.” But that’s not true. I did have time, but I chose to spend that time doing something else. Namely, having breakfast. Because I didn’t want to eat much later than usual. I always have time for the things I choose to prioritize.