These are my Momentos, short personal diary entries I write daily – since 2013 – and publish monthly. Some links are affiliate links.
1
Not enough sleep and tons to do today. I’m thinking of it like an obstacle course. And I don’t just want to make it through. I want to rise to the occasion and crush this thing, be at my best. Here we go.
2
We leave tomorrow. Another hectic day today. Across town to buy a suitcase, clearing out tons of stuff from the apartment, sending two office chairs off in a taxi, trying to squeeze everything we own into seven, no eight, no nine checked bags.
3
Today’s the day. Moving to Andorra. Averaged about 4.5 hours of sleep the last 3 nights, but feeling pretty good. My lady beside me, all those checked bags in the hold. Hopefully the last time we’ll ever do a move like this.
4
Getting the bus to town to pick up the rental car, everyone friendly to the driver. Wednesday morning and tons of cyclists out for a spin. Winding through the valley in the sunshine, along the Valira, past a 1000-year-old church. Feeling at peace.
5
Things often get worse before they get better. We were comfortable enough in Tbilisi, would have been easier to stay there. And way cheaper. We uprooted everything to come here, will take a while to get settled. But it already feels like a major upgrade.
6
Been messaging a lot of course creators lately, asking for access so we can write an accurate and insightful review. With some of the rejections, I suspect they’re concerned that our write-up will be too honest. Anything less than 100% glowing praise and they’re not interested.
7
We’re staying minutes from the Ransol Valley, drove up for a walk in the late afternoon. Almost nobody there, wandered around the little stone bridge over the babbling stream, took in all the green with specks of color. Spectacular on our doorstep.
8
We’re hunting for a long-term rental. Apartment we saw today was perfect except for the fatal flaw of every window looking out at another building. Not much point living in Andorra if you can’t see some nature from your window.
9
Thought I had things well set up work-wise for this month, so I could take time off to get settled here. But I find myself scrambling to keep the tasks from piling up. I have a team now but I’m still way too much of a bottleneck, and I’m stressed as fuck.
10
Best apartment we’ve seen. Incredible location, lots of space, epic view. It would have been long gone but for some horrible wallpaper and the botched kitchen paint job. Debating if it’s worth taking and fixing up a bit to make it amazing.
11
Did my stretch routine yesterday at close to midnight. No way I’d have done it at all except for my mastermind buddy holding me accountable. Have to pay $200 for each day I miss. Most effective thing I’ve found to ensure I get things done.
12
Speaking of stretching, my routine includes 5x 3-minute resting squats each day. It’s fairly passive – I usually read while I’m doing it – but it’s been working wonders on my lower back and hip issues. So simple, yet so impactful.
13
The first week here, we were all over the place, had to figure out everything from scratch. Groceries, laundry, cooking, parking… and a million other little things. Now we’ve developed a bit of a routine and familiarity, I have some of my sanity back.
14
Walked about 17 kilometers today, a good chunk of it on Camí de les Pardines, an old road through the mountains repurposed for bikes and hikes. Beautiful weather on a summer Sunday but still it was fairly quiet. We went to the lake and back.
15
Finally got around to publishing my finance report for July. Highest revenue month in more than a year, but just barely. Traffic has been slowly picking up as well, and content production is ramping up nicely. Feels like I’m coming out of a long plateau.
16
Easing back into learning Spanish, chipping away at Duolingo a few times a day, usually while practicing my resting squat. I have to be careful that it doesn’t become an obsession. Studying Spanish is often more appealing than working on my business.
17
Another day, another epic walk in Andorra. You find them here like you find old phone boxes in other countries, just scattered about the place, no big deal. This one starts at the edge of ALV, winds along the river, under new roads, across an old bridge, alongside a church from the Middle Ages.
18
Back in 1967, Sweden switched from driving on the left side of the road to driving on the right. The change happened in one day. Remarkably, there were no accidents. Apparently everyone was so cautious about the switch that they drove more carefully than usual.
19
Amazing the different responses we get from course creators. Some ignore us completely, or politely tell us to piss off. Others are totally on board with our mission, bend over backwards to help.
20
I’m not sad today, just feel empty. Sometimes I call this burnout. Sometimes I call it depression. I can still go and do things, but motivation is lacking, hard to find joy or pleasure anywhere. I try not to take it too seriously, just pass the time somehow until I come out of it.
21
Crazy how easy it is to learn a language nowadays. When I was in school, all we had were textbooks and mediocre teachers. Now there are tons of helpful apps, websites, videos, podcasts. Never been easier to learn this stuff.
22
So we have about two more weeks to find and rent an apartment here long-term. Need that for the next step of our residency application. Otherwise we’ll have to redo a whole bunch of documentation, travel back to Georgia for some of that.
23
Calling about an apartment. She doesn’t speak English, so I try it with Spanish. She seems hostile from the get-go and talks a million miles an hour. I give it a minute then hang up. Just don’t have the head for it today.
24
Google Search rolling out a big update this week. They do a good job of ranking sites in general, but even if you think you’re doing everything right, you can still get screwed. Tomorrow I could wake up to 2x traffic, or 20% traffic. They can boost or bust my business with a simple tweak.
25
It’s almost 10pm and I’ve been running on the spot for five minutes in the bathroom. I’m trying to keep my streak alive: 90 odd days doing at least 7000 steps per day. I’m tired and I just ate but it’d be a shame to break it now.
26
Six hours sleep then out and about all day, signing documents, getting groceries, exploring our new neighborhood (potentially). 209 notifications and 34 emails waiting for me this eve. I let a pile-up like that bother me more than it should.
27
We’ve been pumping out the editorial reviews. I was lucky in the past if I managed to publish one a week. Now, with the help of this team I’ve put together, we’re publishing about five. We can ramp it up even more in due time.
28
Chatting with this bitcoin scammer on Telegram, found them via YouTube comment spam. Best I can tell, they’re impersonating a real investment advisor, leveraging their credentials to get people to send them crypto, guaranteeing profits back in 7 days.
29
Writing down my business BHAGs for the next five years. I’m at about $15K/month now, and aiming for a $10M valuation by Sept 2027. Sounds crazy, I know, but fuck it, why not? Other people have done it, and they’ve got nothing I don’t have or can’t learn.
30
Epic day: nice chunk of deep work this morning, sunny afternoon walk through the woods of Vall d’Incles, calls with my best bud and a business hero of mine, a step closer to securing a long-term rental, and my best-earning day of the month.
31
Deposit paid, just need to sign the contract and we should have the keys on Monday. Looks like it’s going to turn out fine, but from leaving Tbilisi a month ago until today, it’s been a roller coaster. And it doesn’t stop now: the new place is completely unfurnished.