These are my Momentos, short personal diary entries I write daily – since 2013 – and publish monthly. Some links are affiliate links.
1
Running late, Google Maps has us driving around in circles, and in the commotion we’re dropping and losing things under the passenger seat. Usually this would stress me out, but instead I announce that it’s all brilliant and we start laughing at the ridiculousness.
2
Driving back from a friendly basketball scrimmage, roads covered in snow. I’m sliding down the hill, wondering if I should pull in and try put on those chains for the first time, or chance it and hope it’s easier on the highway. Though I’m not sure I can even make it to the highway…
3
I’ll be home in Ireland in a week, but that feels forever away. Drove four hours down into Spain today, meeting friends nearby tomorrow, more friends in Valencia on Monday. Work to do in between. A few days feels much longer when you have them packed with plans.
4
There’s no perfect place to live. Everywhere is a trade-off. Andorra checks most of the boxes for us but real estate is expensive. We could live in a lush apartment in a nice small Spanish town for a fraction of the cost. But then we’d be missing out on other things we value greatly.
5
About 1 in 20 people are entrepreneurial. They don’t all work for themselves necessarily. Entrepreneurial people are often employees, the proactive ones pushing to get shit done and make things better, rather than clocking in and trying to get away with doing the bare minimum.
6
Walked a good stretch of El Jardín del Turia in Valencia today. It’s a park running through the city, was previously a river until it flooded catastrophically in 1957. They diverted the river around the city and transformed the old riverbed into a much-loved green space.
7
Despite the nice big park, Valencia stresses me out. Not sure if it’s driving the narrow lanes and trying to park in too-tight spaces, or if I’ve just grown wary of big and busy cities in general. Back in Vinarós this eve and a walk along the quiet promenade was a sigh of relief.
8
There are levels of passive income. I’m about mid-level. I could probably not work for 3 to 6 months and I’d still earn +$10,000 a month. Then it would begin to fade. The higher level is when you have a great team in place that can keep crushing it when you’re not around.
9
Tuesday was one of those days where everything seemed to go wrong, never-ending red lights. Today is the opposite, all smooth sailing from Vinarós to Slieverue. Feels like the latter is the way life should be, but that’s an illusion. It’s amazing anything works well at all.
10
One way to improve your habits is to imagine someone observing your daily routine. I tend to try harder and behave better if I think someone is watching. Likewise, if you had to photograph everything you ate and post it on social, your diet would likely be a lot cleaner.
11
This kind of weather is fairly unique to Ireland: a light grey almost featureless sky, cold but not freezing, and a persistent drizzle. It’s nice in a way. You go out in it for a while and then come back in and have a cup of tea with the heating on and feel safe and cozy.
12
Reading a book that’s a bit woo. Trying not to write it off too quickly. I have a bad habit that’s hard to break: if one thing in a book rubs me the wrong way, I’m quick to label it all as bunk. I know that’s silly. No such thing as a perfect book that I agree with completely.
13
It’s easy to think the best is yet to come, that in the future we’ll be healthier, happier, wealthier. But maybe this is the peak right now, and we’re not appreciating it because we’re obsessed with an imaginary future. How many things we desire now were taken for granted pre-COVID?
14
Walking around my home town, been about a quarter century since I roamed these streets as a teen. The buildings and businesses have changed a bit, but the streets remain the same. I ramble around for an hour, recognizing no one, and no one recognizes me.
15
From a 2010 meta-study of 300,000+ participants:
The benefit of friends, family and even colleagues turns out to be just as good for long-term survival as giving up a 15-cigarette-a-day smoking habit. And by the study’s numbers, interpersonal social networks are more crucial to physical health than exercising or beating obesity.
16
It’s the fundamentals that keep your mind right: healthy diet, daily exercise, good sleep, time in nature, regular social connection. The trick is to do those things when you don’t feel like doing them. Because it’s when you don’t feel like doing them that you most need to do them.
17
Putting together a reminder doc for future trips back to Ireland. Easy to adopt crappy habits when I’m back here, forget lessons learned in the past, convince myself I can get away with a poor diet (for example), then get all sheepish when it catches up to me.
18
I love seeing people embracing menial jobs and doing them well. Like the girl at the supermarket checkout today, probably only 17 years old, all bright and cheerful and making the effort to have a personable interaction with each customer. She makes a big difference.
19
From The Almanack of Naval Ravikant:
Whenever I get caught up in my ego battles, I just think of entire civilizations that have come and gone. For example, take the Sumerians. I’m sure they were important people and did great things, but go ahead and name me a single Sumerian. Tell me anything interesting or important Sumerians did that lasted. Nothing. So maybe ten thousand years from now or a hundred thousand years from now, people will say, “Oh yeah, Americans. I’ve heard of Americans.”
20
I’m about 40 minutes early for the bus, so I park my luggage and walk back and forth beside it for the duration. Adds up to about 2 kilometers of extra steps and pushes me over my daily target. Feel better now about sitting on a bus for the next three hours.
21
In my hometown the other day I walked down the street behind a flamboyant looking chap. Couldn’t help but notice a few people throwing sneers his way. They were judging him, and I was judging them for judging him. I like to think there’s a difference, but maybe there isn’t.
22
To believe things you have no evidence for: that can be incredibly dangerous, but it can also be a superpower. Think of the budding athlete who believes she’s the best in the world before she’s anywhere close to that. Such an irrational belief is almost essential if she’s to succeed.
23
Among the many things I’ve found helpful in that Naval book is the idea to repeat the word “accept” to myself when things aren’t going well. Because it’s often not the situation that’s the problem, but how I’m thinking about the situation, how I’m resisting the reality of it.
24
Been under the weather the past few days, wanted to get a few things done over Christmas but had to rest. The more time I take off, the more the anxiety mounts. I start feeling like I’m behind, tasks piling up, should be further ahead. That feeling: it’s a gift and a curse.
25
Got out for a long walk this evening, headed down towards the port in Valencia. Roller bladers and Christmas music, an old circus and a scattered sunset. Walked back via the beach. I didn’t like this city at first – I don’t much like cities at all anymore – but I’m slowly warming to it.
26
The problem with travel is having to figure out basic things everywhere you go. For example, picky eaters that we are, we spend a lot of time figuring out the food situation. Which leaves less time for doing the fun stuff, especially when you’re also trying to work a few hours each day.
27
My big focus for 2022: building a team. I’ve tried halfheartedly a few times before, always quick to pull back when the uncertainty mounts. But it’s a nut I have to crack. As it is, what I have is more like a high-paying job than a legit business. It’s too dependent on me showing up every day.
28
The best of YouTube: Dr. John Campbell’s informed and impartial daily COVID updates. The worst of YouTube: some anti-vax lady wandering around an old prison in Australia, calling academics idiots and claiming giants once existed before a mud flood killed them all.
29
Staying in lots of Airbnbs, you come to realize how bad most interior design is. Simple things that were never thought through. Like the fridge opening the wrong way, curtains that barely block any light, or the bed footboard that sticks out several inches to ensure you’ll crack your shin in the dark.
30
Speaking with a friend today, both of us just had our best year ever in business, and yet we feel like we should be doing even better. It’s a tough balance to strike: being happy where you are, yet still hungry for more. Is it even possible to be happy and hungry at the same time?
31
Last new year’s eve was wandering around Tbilisi watching fireworks and seeing a random guy fire a gun in the air. This new year’s eve is hanging out with good friends in small-town España. We’ll set ourselves up in 2022 so the latter should become much more the norm.