These are my Momentos, short personal diary entries I write daily – since 2013 – and publish monthly. Some links are affiliate links.
1
I’ve had this idea since 2020, something that works well for another site but I reckon I could do it much better. It would complement my existing business nicely, too. And yet I keep holding myself back, knowing that it would be too much to take on right now. Maybe someday.
2
When I feel stressed and overwhelmed running my business, there’s a layer of shame that comes with it. Because it’s all self-imposed, not like anyone is forcing me to do any of this stuff. So I end up feeling like a shit entrepreneur on top of everything else.
3
Neville Medhora writes about a daily check-in practice called PEI…
You rate each of these from 1-5:
Physical: How you feel physically.
Emotional: How you feel emotionally.
Intelligence: How sharp or clear you feel.
Today I’m a 4-2-2.
4
Took a bunch of notes while watching that Stutz documentary, including…
If you want to be happy you have to fall in love with the process of dealing with the 3 things that are unavoidable in life: pain, uncertainty, and constant work.
5
Burned out the past few days, struggling to be assertive or do any deep work. I’m usually fine in that state for 2-3 days, but if it lingers longer I start to get anxious, tasks piling up. I slept a lot today, took a long walk in the woods. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow.
6
At a presentation about ChatGPT, but it’s not very good, would have learned more if I’d stayed home and watched a couple of YouTube videos. Had a feeling it might be like this. Decided to chance it anyway, meet some other attendees.
7
I think back on all the people I’ve met in my life and didn’t keep in touch with… some of them are surely dead now. Maybe that guy on the mountain in Guatemala, or that girl in Chongqing, or the kid we used to pick on in school.
8
Looking back at the end of Feb / start of March, and I went ten days in a row where I scored myself 10/10 for productivity. No wonder I burned out. Can’t be operating at maximum capacity for that long and not expect it to come back and bite me.
9
I’ll turn 41 this day next week. As a kid I used to think people this age had it all figured out. I never realized that you carry your childhood inside you all your life, never quite shaking off the fears, or the insecurities, or the silly joys of it.
10
Ever think about how well you’d do in a survival situation? I like reading books about survival, find it fascinating. I don’t think I’d do great in such a situation though. Most of us wouldn’t. We’re too used to our comforts and conveniences.
11
My goal for today was to score myself a maximum of 7/10 for productivity. Forced me not to work so much, to intentionally chill out and “waste” some time. Going to do this every weekend at least, and whenever I feel like I’m close to burning out again.
12
Learning about primal world beliefs. Apparently whether or not you believe the world is generally a good place is “strongly correlated with many personality and wellbeing variables including depression, optimism, spirituality, extraversion, curiosity, and so forth.”
13
Frustrated today because I took it easy for the weekend but I’m still feeling drained. Have a low-grade headache that I can’t shake, had to go take a long nap in the afternoon and it didn’t make much difference.
14
Someday I’ll pick a fight with that other review site, the Goliath to our David. I’ll set up a fake business on there, generate fake reviews, and they’ll publish them all because they don’t give a shit. Then I’ll do a write-up on the whole thing.
15
Started targeting that keyword about 9 months ago, finally ranking #1 for it now. Not the toughest keyword, but we worked hard for it, created much better content than our competitors, and now we’re being rewarded. Google working as it should.
16
I don’t usually do much for my birthday, but this year – my first birthday in Andorra – we went to the spa. Spent four hours there, lounging, trying all the different rooms, hot baths and cold showers. It was a good day.
17
Some of the sketchier course creators will make big claims with no evidence. Then, when I ask them to back up those claims, they get all indignant. So indignant that they refuse to send me any proof. Funny that.
18
Unfortunately, weed is illegal in Andorra. Meanwhile, alcohol and cigarettes are legal, and they recently opened a casino in the city. I’d argue that each of those things are far more destructive to lives and society than weed.
19
Hiked about 3 hours. Nothing in my ears, alone with my thoughts. Through steep forest, across streams, past old abandoned buildings. Saw squirrels, red ants, birds of prey. Drank my hot tea on a bench across from snowy peaks.
20
Cal Newport calls it disciplined laziness. I did a good job of it yesterday. The easy thing would have been to work all day, try to catch up on stuff. But I went for that long hike and then watched a movie. Back at it today, felt like I could move mountains.
21
Okay, might have tried to move one mountain too many yesterday. Back to feeling burned out again today. I struggle to get the balance right. And what’s with all this traffic from Germany all of a sudden…
22
That traffic is someone attacking my website, signing up to the mailing list with 1000’s of fake Gmail addresses so the emails bounce and Gmail is more likely to label me a spammer. Interesting timing, this happening a few days after a course creator got real pissed about my critical review of her course.
23
At a meetup in town. I’ve been so out of practice socially the past few years that now I get nervous going to things like this. But I was able to loosen up and enjoy myself. Met a guy who played against Shaq and the USA, and chatted with a Venezuelan guy in Spanish for ten minutes.
24
I was accused of sexism recently, by a female course creator, because the courses rated above hers on my site are mostly by men. Good trick by her: accuse your critic of some moral failing rather than address the actual criticism. Her followers lapped it up.
25
I genuinely think we’re the best in the world at what we do: reviewing “make money online” courses. But I guess it’s not that hard to be the best in the world at something if you niche down enough.
26
Almost 10pm and realizing I forgot to do my 20-minute stretching routine today. Was about to head to bed, but there’s a $200 penalty for every day I don’t stretch. And it has the desired effect: no way I’m skipping it.
27
Seeing this little kid screaming on the floor today, throwing an epic tantrum. I wonder how often I did that back in the day. I almost wish there was video of me doing it. It’d be quite humbling, and I’d have even more appreciation for my parents and all they had to put up with.
28
A friend fed my Momentos from last month into ChatGPT and asked it to summarize, came back with some interesting insights. Started writing these more than a decade ago. I wonder what kind of insights I’d get if I fed 10 years worth to the robots…
29
Folks tweeting business ideas/examples that sound amazing and simple, but look a little deeper and it’s way more difficult and complicated than they make out. After a few tweets like that I stop taking them seriously. They’ll probably still build a huge audience though.
30
One of those days where it all feels overwhelming. So many little tasks piling up, until it feels like a whole mountain range of work to be done and little time to do it. Looking to hire more help now. It’s the only way to ease the pressure. But at the same time I can’t rush it.
31
I’ve had ~100 people apply for the new job already. Still have a handful to process. Tested four applicants so far, moved one through to the next round. I’m not going to hire anyone until I find the perfect match. I accept that it could take months.