These are my Momentos, short personal diary entries I write daily – since 2013 – and publish monthly. Some links are affiliate links.
1
Didn’t sleep much last night, wanted to stay in today, chip away at some work stuff. But we head north tomorrow, so I pushed myself to go make a memory. Ended up having an afternoon picnic on the beach, with a fine view of a castle built by the Knights Templar 700 years ago.
2
On the drive north, listening to a podcast about longevity. It’s not too crazy to think humans will soon be living to 150+ years old, healthy and active all the while. Imagine if that becomes the norm. How would your view of life change? Would you spend your time differently?
3
Keeping a daily diary is hard. But keeping a daily one-sentence diary is easy enough. Reading back over that kind of diary for 2021, it’s amazing how many things I’d already forgotten about. Makes me feel like I accomplished and experienced much more in the year.
4
We’re staying in a fancy neighborhood in the north of Spain. It’s a 3-story house overlooking the valley, big garden and even a pool. A family has the top two floors and we have an apartment at the bottom. Not a great setup for working but ideal for frequent scouting trips to Andorra.
5
It’s a soft border between Andorra and Spain, cruised through without stopping this morning. Now on the way back, the car loaded with goods, and we get pulled over for inspection. The border guard asks if we bought any alcohol or cigarettes, then tells me to open the boot.
6
On a call with a new hire. He was doubting whether he should apply for the job, didn’t think he’d be good enough. But he actually crushed the competition. A little bit of self-doubt and imposter syndrome can be healthy that way, makes you go the extra mile.
7
Have to make peace with the fact that I won’t get a ton of work done until we’re back in Tbilisi next month. We have a much better home office setup there, and easy to get all our meals delivered and avoid grocery shopping altogether, frees up a lot of time…
8
Every now and then I like to read a book about a completely different line of work. Over the years I’ve read books on beekeeping, piloting commercial airlines, doing stand up comedy… My latest read is by a forensic pathologist, detailing the hundreds of autopsies she’s performed.
9
The amazing thing about stress is how often it’s self-imposed. I’ve got a lot on my plate this year, but it’s all stuff I’ve chosen to take on. Nobody is forcing me to do any of it. It stresses me out sometimes, yet I’m not willing to ease the load. I want to do it all. I get to do it all.
10
Walk and talk with an older man 800 miles away. It’s been drizzling all day but it’s nice to be out. I walk up around the hill, past all the millionaire mansions and across to the village. It’s the middle of the day but there’s nobody about. Just me and his voice and the raindrops.
11
There’s an impressive canoeing and kayaking facility here in town, built for the 1992 Olympics. They branched off the river to create it. The whole place is open to the public and still put to good use. Jogged around there today and watched some folks ride the rapids.
12
Ray Dalio likes to say that pain + reflection = progress. I’ll take solace in that as I reflect on my behavior today, acting like a child who wasn’t getting his way. Sure, I was tired and hungry and felt like we were going around in circles, but there are better ways to deal with those issues.
13
There’s probably some truth to the Law of Attraction stuff, but it’s hard for me to get past all the dumbed-down woo and superstition surrounding it. I have a tendency to throw something out completely once I encounter a hint of bullshit within it. Surely not the smartest approach.
14
Sun just about setting and we’re in these hot outdoor sulfur baths in the French Pyrenees. Soft babble of conversation in three languages and the sky gradually turning pink over the snow-capped mountains across the valley. I don’t feel right today, but this helps.
15
Getting lots of student reviews this month. Including positive reviews of questionable courses. Those ones almost always read like ad copy, the student parroting the marketing material. But they rarely mention if they’ve made money themselves yet. Usually they haven’t.
16
Been on a downswing the last few days, low energy, low motivation. Seems it’s not possible to avoid them completely, but I can limit the damage they do. Mainly by continuing to get out for walks, eating clean, and not starting a new TV show that will take me a dozen hours to finish.
17
Living around Andorra has me eager to be outdoors. Did a light walk around a frozen lake today, stopped for a picnic in the woods alongside, snow-capped mountains peeking between the trees. That was an easy spot to get to, still had it pretty much to ourselves.
18
Seven magpies in the garden. Plenty of superstitions about those birds. One goes that they carry a drop of the devil’s blood in their tongues. And if you cut the tongue, the magpie would be able to talk. Then he’d probably call you a psycho and fly away.
19
Challenging my own limiting beliefs about what’s possible, what’s reasonable. If I feel like something’s “too good” for me or far out of reach, it’s unlikely I’ll ever get it. So my practice now is to see something like an amazing big house and tell myself, “Yup, that could well be mine. No big deal.”
20
Day trip to Barcelona, our nearest metropolis. As big cities go, it’s one of my favorites. Like Amsterdam, the city itself is a work of art. You can just wander around and admire the hidden streets, the beautiful buildings, people of all colors, shapes, sizes and dress.
21
Wrecked after the long day yesterday, needed to look after myself today. I’ve collected many tools for the job, just had to reach for them. A morning routine, good exercise, time in nature, a talk with my therapist, healthy food, and an evening spent watching a long movie.
22
Eager to get settled in Andorra, the loneliness of this nomadic life has grown old. Been a while since I’ve had good friends in one place to hang out with often. Amsterdam six years ago was the last time really. And that was because I settled there and prioritized socializing.
23
Trying to finish work I wanted to finish before we left Tbilisi in November. Two months later and still on-going. I’m not at my most productive here, 3-4 hours of work is about the best I can do on a good day. Harder to feel good about myself when I’m not getting shit done.
24
There are a few little hilltop towns around this area. We try get out for a walk or run in the late afternoon, sometimes explore such places. The town I jogged through today has been there for 1200 years. 500 years ago it probably looked much the same as it does now, all steep narrow streets and tiny doorways.
25
Reading a book about the history of mathematics, at the part about logarithms. I never realized that earthquake magnitude is a logarithmic scale. A magnitude 8 earthquake isn’t 33% stronger than a magnitude 6. It’s a thousand times stronger.
26
That realization yesterday reminded me of a line from Morgan Housel’s book. Paraphrasing…
Your personal experiences make up maybe 0.00000001% of what’s happened in the world, but maybe 80% of how you think the world works.
27
One of the nice things about getting older is meeting younger people who remind you how far you’ve come. You can often recognize things they’re struggling with that are no longer an issue for you. Youth is nice but it definitely has its price.
28
First big meetup in about 18 months, a bunch of expats. I used to love walking into a room full of strangers, would relish the challenge of making new friends. Turns out I still do. We meet a retired CFO, a SaaS entrepreneur, a published author, and a bear of a man from the Basque country.
29
William Blake with perhaps the four best lines of poetry every written…
He who binds to himself a joy
Does the winged life destroy;
But he who kisses the joy as it flies
Lives in eternity’s sunrise.
30
Made some friends in Andorra, at their place for a few hours chatting and feasting. There’s a traditional Catalonian food called calçots, a cross between leeks and spring onions. You roast them on a grill, peel off the charred skin, dip in a special sauce, then devour. Surprisingly delicious.
31
Met a high-level entrepreneur the other day who was urging me to jump on the TikTok craze, grow an audience there. Brainstorming yesterday about ways to grow my Twitter following and Facebook group. Realizing today that it’s all distraction and I should stay focused on the main thing.