Santi's Daily Blog

Today, I mark day 100 of daily blogging. Let me share with you 3 lessons I learned from publishing new thoughts every day for 100 days.

The Power Of Consistency

I’m proud of how much effort I put into this project of daily writing. During these 100 days, I even went on a holiday to the jungle, but I was so dedicated to this project that I still found a way to keep publishing.

I was very consistent. I must admit it wasn’t a 100% perfect streak. Ironically, I miscounted the 100 days and thought I reached 100 a few days before today, which, due to my mistake, made me mess up my perfect streak of 100 days in a row. It wasn’t totally perfect, but I’m still proud of this achievement and I learned a lot.

Committing myself to this project has been incredible. It gave me evidence that there’s nothing stopping me from forming the identity of a writer. All it takes is daily writing. It’s all a matter of volume. The more you write, the more you feel like a real writer.

“You don’t become confident by shouting affirmations in the mirror, but by having a stack of undeniable proof that you are who you say you are. Outwork your self-doubt.”― Alex Hormozi

Capturing Ideas

I used to think I was full of ideas, but once I was faced with the pressure to come up every day with something to write about, I realized I needed a system to capture my ideas. I really struggled to write something when I sat down to look at an empty screen.

Instead, I realized the best way for me to always have a topic was to write ideas down as I went through my day. This worked great; ideas come to us when we least expect them. At the gym, random thoughts would come to me, so I wrote them all down in a list.

When it was time to write something new, I would go to my list. Honestly, most ideas didn’t work or weren’t as interesting anymore, but from writing down dozens of things, I found something useful every time.

Being forced to write every day made me realize the need to capture all of my ideas and then elaborate on the best ones.

Improving My Ability To Be Concise

Writing daily helped me improve my writing system for Twitter (X). My daily posts would often become the starting point for a new tweet.

"If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” ― Blaise Pascal

This process heightened my appreciation for concise writing. At times, writing a longer post felt easier than trying to synthesize it into an elegant and eloquent tweet. This was invaluable practice.

Moving On…

I’ll continue to write on my newsletter and Twitter. However, for now, I’ll stop these daily blogs. I’ve derived much value from this habit. I might return to it if I notice I’m not being as consistent as I need to be with my writing. For now, I’m eager to delve deeper into ideas in my newsletter, so if you're keen on following my journey, I hope to see you there!

‍

It makes no sense for us to resent the price of what we want. Instead, we must decide whether we are willing to pay for it or not.

This makes obvious sense in the context of material possessions. However, the same applies to goals we set for ourselves: are we willing to pay in time and effort, or not?

The higher the ambition, the higher the price. The higher the price, the more difficult it will be to achieve it, but don't let that detract you from chasing it. The fact that something is difficult proves that it's worth pursuing.

“We know little, but that we must trust in what is difficult is a certainty that will never abandon us… that something is difficult must be one more reason for us to do it.” ― Rainer Maria Rilke

‍

Just because you fit into a 9-5 job doesn't mean you belong there! Starting your own business can lead to benefits you can't even imagine.

The main reason you haven't started yet? The allure of the comfort zone. I don't blame you for it. It's easy for us to stay there. But keep in mind: comfort is the killer of progress.

I don’t know what your current goals are. However, the pursuit of money can definitely be a noble one. You not only help people in the process of making money but also achieve the wealth to protect and care for your loved ones.

The benefits don’t stop there. This quote captures it perfectly:

"Set a goal to become a millionaire for what it makes of you to achieve it. Do it for the skills you have to learn and the person you have to become.” - Jim Rohn.

You have more to give. The best time to pursue an unconventional path was years ago. The second best time is today. Don't postpone it. Act as if your future self is watching. Make your future self proud of the risks you take today.

"How much longer are you going to wait before you demand the best for yourself?" - Epictetus.

It's time to discover if you were meant for more.

I watch a lot of YouTube every day. Most of what I consume is educational content on business, marketing, and philosophy. Ideally, I like to consume long-form content, interviews, or long-form podcasts. I also listen to a lot of non-fiction audiobooks.

Consuming long-form self-education content has a few great advantages:

• It increases your attention span.
• It inspires and educates you to improve your life.
• It doesn’t feel like a waste of time, unlike entertainment content.

Entertainment is good in moderation. Additionally, once entertainment transforms into art, it may also carry valuable life lessons.

However, for the most part, I think it’s a great idea to swap entertainment for educational content as much as possible.

The paradox of this is that as you consume more self-improvement content, you'll ironically find a lot of people saying how consuming without taking action is useless, but I disagree.

Action will always beat learning, but learning is better than wasting time.

People often distinguish between consuming content and taking action. However, content is a spectrum that can vary from useless to useful. If you've been using entertainment as a way of escaping, the first stage is to reduce the amount of time you spend on useless content and move towards useful content, which will then lead you to taking action.

You can definitely take action without guidance, but if you get easily discouraged by continuous failure, the right guidance can prevent frustration, which might be the difference between persisting and giving up.

So, if you hear people saying that learning is useless unless you are taking action, remember that it’s a spectrum, and consuming useful content is way better than time-wasting content.

Even if you are not implementing every piece of advice in real time, you are still incorporating good ideas into your brain. This will give you greater access to the information available to you as you begin to take action more consistently.

‍

The more I've gotten into a writing habit, the more I struggle to determine if I've been able to build the identity of a writer.

What I've found out is that my main ambition with writing is to become a better thinker, and it just happens to be the case that writing is the best way to think clearly.

This quote captures it perfectly:

Notes aren’t a record of my thinking process. They are my thinking process. – Richard Feynman

What I've noticed before I started writing often is that sometimes I think I have a clear idea in my head, but once I try to write it, I realize that I haven't thought as deeply about it as I thought I did.

Better writing is better thinking.

Yesterday, I spent the day cleaning up my digital world: my gamer PC. I’m not even a gamer, but it’s a powerful setup for video editing.

I’ve recently had issues with the power button, especially when I turn it on in the mornings. Sometimes, it takes a couple of presses to activate. Today, however, it didn’t turn on at all.

In the morning, I reconnected the cables and watched tutorials to try to fix it. Afterward, I decided to ask for help. The computer is heavy, and I don't have a car to transport it to a technician. Fortunately, a friend was amazing and helped me right away, and we were able to fix it today.

The whole operation took hours, and I felt like I had lost precious work time. However, these obstacles are part of the process.

We must learn to expect the unexpected and be prepared for interruptions like these in our work.

It’s vital to avoid distractions we can control. However, unforeseen annoyances can arise at any moment. Instead of feeling frustrated, it's best to acknowledge the fact that they can happen at any time. All we can do is address them and continue forward.

Today has been dedicated to fixing my computer issues, a task I find tedious. I've been spending hours removing junk programs and cleaning my digital space, while also solving technical issues I've been postponing to solve.

While such days feel frustrating and seemingly unproductive, I understand their long-term value. Future me will be grateful that I solved these things, so that things can run smoother on the day-to-day. Often, the path to higher productivity isn’t glamorous.

It's about creating the right environment for long-term success, even if it means tackling the bothersome tech repairs and mundane maintenance we often avoid.

Every new project we take on follows a curve which starts with optimism. I saw this curve in a presentation by the awesome entrepreneur Alex Hormozi. I made a visual version of this curve with slight variations.

Every new project we take on starts with optimism. If we are not ready to overcome the valley of despair, we'll be stuck without the achievement that we planned for. Years ago, I read Seth Godin's book called "The Dip." It talked about this idea, and his takeaway was that before we reach the dip, we need to make the decision whether we are going to power through the dip or not. He advised that if we aren't going to make it, it’s better to quit before we get there.

I've always enjoyed being a Jack of All Trades, or as I call it, a "DaVincist." I think there's a lot of value in starting something even if you don't power through the whole dip because we can still apply the 80/20 rule. If we want to learn about something completely new, it would only take 20% of the effort to have an 80% understanding. We can be satisfied with those results and technically quit before we hit the dip. However, on the other side of the dip is where the 1% successful people are.

I think understanding where you are on the curve will help you gain clarity. I think an “80/20 pre-dip” approach is great for a lot of new knowledge, hobbies, and passion projects.

However, especially if we are aiming for financial freedom, we need to identify what’s an opportunity vehicle we can commit to and overcome the dip, so that we see the success we aim for.

This is why choosing the right endeavor which aligns with your energy and interests is such an important choice to make.

Perfectionism is the enemy.

For every new idea, all you need to do is write down a bad 1st draft.

The goal is to capture the idea before you forget it.

Then:

Remove redundancy.

Identify weak points.

Simplify complexity.

Witness your work improve as you clear the noise.

Whenever you experience low points, know that they'll shape you into the person you need to become.

If you are striving for something big...

Pain is the price to pay for the Success you crave.

On my wall, I have a quote from my favorite poet that captures this perfectly:

"Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror.
Just keep going.
No feeling is final."
- Rainer Maria Rilke.

We learn a lot more from failure than we can ever learn from success. We must experience the huge range of human emotions.

It's the low points that shape the hero. If Batman's parents had not tragically died, he would not have become a hero.

Every time we go through hard times, remember that this is the price to pay for the success we crave.

Stop trying to get rid of your negative emotions. Instead, use them as fuel.

I was at the gym, and I had a song playing that triggered a lot of powerful emotions.

It made me feel frustrated, angry, and impatient for not yet achieving the financial freedom I need to help my family. I entered a nice beast mode in the exercise I was doing. It was epic to use those emotions as fuel to push myself further.

Every resource in your arsenal counts.

Even the negative ones.

Use what you've got.

I keep hearing people everywhere looking down on "information" as if it were no longer valuable.

Here's a quote that captures this perfectly:

"If more information was the answer, we'd all be billionaires with perfect abs." – Derek Sivers.

I'm actually a big fan of Derek Sivers, and I understand his point about the importance of taking action. However, many of us misinterpret it and believe that because we live in the "information age", information is no longer valuable.

I believe that the correct information, presented in the right way, can truly transform our lives.

Otherwise, why do millionaires go to extremely expensive events just to listen to a presenter talk?

I know what you're thinking: "They only go there to network". That's definitely a part of it, but one of the reasons to network is to have contacts that can give you access to the right information.

• Investors have inside information on when to sell an asset.
• High-level entrepreneurs know when it's the right time to act on an opportunity.
• Billionaires have contacts who tell them when a market will crash on a specific day.

To think that information is no longer valuable is a huge mistake that I've fallen for in the past.

Often, people who look down on information do so because they advocate for taking action. I agree that execution is essential. However, it's 10x better to act while leveraging the wisdom of those who have walked the path before us.

Information is nothing more than the transfer of thoughts through language. Our thoughts shape our actions, and our actions shape our lives.

Accessing the right thoughts can change our limiting beliefs and save us years of pain caused by acting on the wrong things.

We don't need to make every mistake ourselves. We can learn from others. That's how we make real progress, by standing on the shoulders of giants.

Today I want to share a twitter thread that I spend a lot of time on inspired by this week's Newsletter.

Here's an expanded version that I hope you'll enjoy:

What do we do when two important goals compete for our time? We often struggle to balance the big three: Health, Relationships, and Finances. The solution lies in efficiency. It's all about improving the way in which we manage our time. Can we work less and achieve more? 🧵

My current struggle is balancing business while also going to the gym. I have been doing both for years, but I know I am not being as efficient as I could be. When I'm at the gym, I wish I was working. When I'm working, I wish I was at the gym. This is my "why" for both goals:

Financial freedom: This is my path to providing a better future for my family. Moving them to a safer country. Muscle building: This is a symbol of discipline. A better way to present myself to the world. A strong body mirrors a strong mind. To take on these two massive goals, I need to work efficiently.

Enter: "The Flow State." This is a highly productive and focused state of work. Working 8+ hours can be counterproductive as it often leads to prioritizing meaningless tasks, while pushing back the important ones. I've been learning from the flow master Rian Doris. His solution is a strict 4-hour workday to train our minds to only focus on the most important work. This approach would allow me to achieve great progress in my business while still pursuing my fitness goals.

I feel a lot of push-back in my mind from even trying 4-hour work days. My digital mentors clash on this: For instance, Patrick Bet-David calls 8 hours days "part-time entrepreneurship" 😬. Thankfully Dan Koe does advocate for 4-hour days. The advice I'm constantly exposed to is extremely contradictory. We should experiment with different solutions. Over time, we must determine what works best to achieve our individual goals.

I'm excited to try 4-hour days. I'll document my journey as I go! I hope you liked this thread. It took me 1 hour and 52 mins to write it! (I already used half my working day 😂) If you are interested, I wrote about this topic in this week's Newsletter.

My main goal in life is to achieve the financial freedom I need to look after my loved ones.

To build the life we want, we must pay the price of discipline, otherwise, we will never achieve our highest ambitions.

Sacrifice is the starting point towards achievement. However, sometimes our enemy is inefficiency. We might have two important areas of our lives competing for our attention. The three most common areas with which we usually struggle are health, relationships, and finances.

Having more than one meaningful goal is possible, but we need an efficient system to achieve them…

This is the intro for this weeks newsletter, hope you enjoy it!

‍

When something bad happens to us or a loved one, it's easy to start wondering: "What if?"

• What if things went slightly differently?
• What if I left my house 30 seconds later?
• What if I made a slightly different decision?

But whenever I start going down this type of thinking, instead, I force myself to think the opposite: "I'm glad it wasn't worse." Perhaps if I left the house 30 seconds later, something 10x worse would have happened.

So no matter what happens, good or bad, it could have always been worse. This helps me remain grateful for the way things are.

Money isn't the ultimate goal, but it is worth pursuing. Not because it can directly buy a happy life, but because it can buy freedom; we can use that freedom to uncover a happy life.

Growing up, I frequently encountered people speaking negatively about money.

I heard "rich" used as a synonym for "corrupt," and "poor" as a substitute for "humble."

By the time I was a teenager, these ideas had influenced my perception of money. I found myself believing that the life of a starving artist would be deeper and more meaningful. Art is undoubtedly fantastic, but I have now come to the opinion that complete artistic exploration is a luxury I want to reserve for when I am financially free.

The best lesson I've learned is that money amplifies what we already are. If we are kind, it can make us even kinder. If we are greedy, we need to watch out! We need to improve and prepare ourselves so that we can amplify our good qualities.

Our perception of money needs to be corrected before we pursue it. If we unconsciously still view money as evil, we create a barrier and we'll never attract it. A flawed perception of wealth is a guaranteed way to never achieve it.

I am living an ambitious life, striving for efficiency, discipline, and structure to achieve my biggest goal: financial freedom.

I aim to grow my business to support my entire family. This goal requires me to improve my work efficiency.

While pursuing this, I have also been consistently bulking up muscle at the gym for the past 2 years. This has been a meaningful personal goal for me since I have always been skinny, and I believe my future self will thank me for it.

The question troubling me is:

Can I achieve both goals simultaneously?

Balancing Business Growth and Gym Time

Recently, I've heard troubling advice that suggests I should focus solely on my business since the gym is too time-consuming. The advice suggests that I should focus on building muscle once I'm already financially free. I feel conflicted, considering that the entire gym process takes up almost 3 hours of my weekdays.

I've already postponed going to the gym for too long in the past. I'm 27, and I know it will become even more challenging to achieve this goal as I get older, especially with the added responsibilities of future children and increased financial pressure.

I don't think it's wise for me to postpone my muscle-building goal, but I certainly want financial freedom to be a higher priority.

The Science of the Flow State

I am exploring methods to use my time efficiently, making my focused work more impactful. This led me to Rian Doris, an entrepreneur and YouTuber who has researched the science of the flow state.

The flow state is a highly productive, efficient, and focused state of work. Rian suggests that workdays lasting 8+ hours are actually detrimental to achieving this state. Instead, he recommends working for 4 hours per day in order to access flow more often and become extremely efficient.

If I can structure my days to achieve 4 hours of efficient work, I can continue my gym routine without feeling guilty.

Challenging Perspectives on Work

The problem with working fewer hours is that it heavily contradicts the philosophy of others whom I admire. For instance, Patrick Bet David, another entrepreneur and YouTuber, says that working only 8 hours per day is part-time entrepreneurship. Although he is a genius, he is also crazy, as he is one of those guys who works 16-hour workdays. I can't even imagine what he would say about my plan to work only 4 hours. Nevertheless, I still value his perspective, and above all, I don't want to think of myself as unambitious.

I'm not advocating for resting and taking it easy. I have ambitious goals. Instead, I want to find the right method to work for 4 hours while being extremely efficient so that I can engage in personal growth activities, such as building muscle at the gym.

The Necessary Sacrifices

I don't want to fool myself. I know I can't have everything, sacrifice is still required. That's why for the past few years, I've cut back on other areas of my life.

I haven't been to a party in years, haven't drunk any alcohol for over 3 years, and I don't currently prioritize friendship. I know I'm making the necessary sacrifices at this stage of my life for the success I need. However, to avoid being miserable, I still see my family on Sundays and spend time with my girlfriend in the evenings.

Structuring Days for Efficiency

If I can structure my days to achieve 4 hours of efficient work, I can continue my gym routine guilt-free and spend quality time with my girlfriend and family.

I hope this 4-hour workday method will be the solution I need to achieve the efficiency required to reach my financial goals, while also giving me the time needed to meet my fitness goals. My ultimate goal is to become the best version of myself, and a 4-hour workday would allow me to achieve this.

I started my content creation journey on YouTube at 14, and have created a total of 193 videos over the years. For the past two years, YouTube has been my primary platform.

Recently, I've been exploring Twitter and learning its nuances over the past few months.

I'm now considering repurposing my tweets into visual Instagram posts. I haven't used Instagram in years, I actually used it daily four years ago during my Stoic philosophy podcast phase.

YouTube still remains my preferred platform for sharing my best work and connecting with my audience. However, I'm curious about the potential reach of other platforms.

This is a period of experimentation for me, and I'm excited to see where it leads. Right now, I'm trying to find the best way to turn my tweets into visual posts. I enjoy exploring new technology around design and developing new awesome systems.

I'm now convinced that the key to ultimate productivity is nailing down the perfect daily routine and sticking to it no matter what.

Here's the simple recipe for ultimate productivity:

Step 1: Design your perfect day.Step 2: Time-block it in your calendar.Step 3: Stick to it relentlessly.

It took me years to finally put this into action. I'm still improving my exact schedule, but the benefits are incredible!

Here's my current schedule:

I wake up at 7:00 am, run to my computer, and dive straight into deep work. I've been doing this for a week, and it's interesting to see the kind of ideas and clarity I get from not being fully awake yet. The goal is to overcome the initial phase of struggle in order to enter the flow state.

Every other part of my day is also scheduled down to the minute - work, eat, gym that’s all I do all day.

I finish work at 7 pm. Then, I relax and get ready for bed. I sleep at 11:00 pm, so I am ready for a fresh start the next day.

I'm still working on perfecting it. I need to keep working on my discipline to follow my schedule to the letter. It's a huge challenge, but I really believe this is the way to unlock the productivity I've been seeking for years.

"Discipline equals freedom" - Jocko Willink

Brevity, conciseness, and saying more with less are skills that require extra effort and time to learn.

This is beautifully expressed in the book "Letters to a Young Poet" by Rainer Maria Rilke, where in a letter he apologizes for its length and quotes an amazing thought by Blaise Pascal: "If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter."

This thought is incredible. Yesterday, I wrote a newsletter that I am proud of. It was quite long at first, but the more I wanted to improve it, the more I started taking away. Like Pablo Picasso said: "Art is subtraction."

And sometimes we have to subtract even the things we like and spent time on. As Stephen King says, we have to "kill our darlings." We grow attached to the work we create. We write something that we love, but it doesn't contribute to the final piece we want to publish, so we must kill it. It needs to be removed.

In the modern world of online content creation, there’s a constant battle between length and brevity. Quality vs quantity. In some cases, it’s easier to create a 1-hour unscripted podcast than to write a perfect 1-minute short video packed with valuable information.

As content creators, we face the battle between consistency and quality. Sometimes it’s hard to have both. When you're a beginner creating content online, it's all about quantity. You need to get used to putting your thoughts out there while no one is really watching. By making a habit of producing content and publishing it, you develop the necessary skill. Then Quantity can lead to quality.

But as you grow an audience, the importance of quality grows with it. I find myself in a middle ground, feeling the demands of consistency to keep my business growing, but also believing that if I spend more time on quality, this could grow things further. This is why I need to keep reflecting on this and experimenting with different types of content.

Content creation is a balancing act between quantity and quality, and a learning process to express more with less.

I've spent the whole day writing this week's newsletter on efficient note-taking.

Then, I spent hours transforming my newsletter into a Twitter thread. I just scheduled it for tomorrow and am excited to see how it goes.

I feel like I've finally started to get into Twitter.

It's interesting to write threads because it forces me to be extremely concise, which, to be honest, takes me way too long to achieve.

On the plus side, I feel like I'm becoming better at writing by tweeting a lot more often than I ever have.

I remember when I first created my Twitter account ages ago. I had no idea why people liked Twitter or how it truly worked. I had no idea how people made a full-time living promoting their digital products mostly on Twitter.

I have always been a YouTube guy. It's what I consume the most, and it's the platform where I've created the most amount of content.

But the more I use Twitter, the more I'm starting to finally understand its power, so I'm putting more effort into growing my Twitter.

If you're into Twitter too, send me a DM.

I just realized I keep calling it "Twitter." I should call it by its new name, "X"... WTF? 😂

I've been listening to Alex Hormozi's advice for over a year. He is an incredible entrepreneur who provides a crazy amount of value for free. Recently, he said some things that hit hard:

“If you get into business to solve problems, you’ll make money.
If you get into business to make money, you’ll have problems.”
- Alex Hormozi

This is an aspect of entrepreneurship that is difficult to balance.

My motivation to run my personal brand business is all about freedom and the ability to provide for my family.

I want to have the freedom to think freely and use my time productively in activities I consider meaningful. I don't believe there's a job out there that would give me the level of freedom I desire, so I need to keep working for myself to achieve this.

I also want to provide for my family, including my parents, girlfriend, and future kids. I want to give everyone I love the best life possible, which means providing safety, moving out of the dangerous country I live in, and having enough money to not have to worry about the financial stress that destroys so many relationships.

However, if I want this life of freedom, I need to make serious money. But I can only make money if I genuinely solve people's problems.

To achieve this as a personal brand, I need to identify my own problems, solve them efficiently, and then teach others how to solve those problems, especially people like me who need the solutions I've worked hard to uncover.

‍

I was listening to a great interview with Alex Hormozi where he shared his thoughts on the hero’s journey.

He recommended looking back at today's struggles from the perspective of our older selves.

Today's struggles are tomorrow's good-old-days. The struggles we are currently going through will be a part of the stories we tell.

We are writing our hero's journey. Adversity helps shape us into the person we'll become. Instead of resenting these struggles, let's think about them differently. Let's consider these struggles as stepping stones towards the success we're seeking.

What makes a hero great is proportionally dependent on the size of the adversity they face. Let’s, keep this in mind as we are frustrated with out current conditions.

As much as I love super powerful note-taking tools, they do require an extra level of commitment, especially for those of us who already see a lot of value in Personal Knowledge Management (PKM). But this makes me wonder, how can I help people who aren't as nerdy as I am, or those who are not fully committed to spending an extended period of time improving their systems, learning advanced note-taking concepts, and improving the tools they use? How can I help these people improve their digital world without having to worry too much about spending time on organization and learning advanced tools?

The Appeal of Simplicity

This made me realize that a lot of people are using basic apps like Apple Notes. The reason why these apps are so popular is because they are simple and frictionless. You just open the app and write down your idea. However, a lot of people aren't forward-thinking enough to constantly ask, "How can I find this idea later?" They make the mistake of thinking that simply writing down ideas is enough. But you do need a system to be able to find what you need when you need it in the future. Otherwise, things can easily go to waste.

The Role of AI in Note Organization

So, how can I teach something that gives an 80/20 split, where with 20% of the effort, you can get 80% of the outcome? The answer seems to be AI. AI can allow workflows as frictionless as Apple Notes, but also discoverable. AI search would allow the average person to easily find exactly what they need in their notes, without having to go through the extra effort of spending time organizing things.

I've been having a bit of trouble with this idea because I make a living from teaching people how to use advanced tools that allow for the type of organization that truly gives results, that truly helps you turn your ideas into actions, and helps you use note-taking for your own professional and personal growth.

But I really think that AI is going to force advanced apps to become a lot easier because AI can do a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to organization.

Embracing Change

Advanced apps will probably still want to give users manual control for those of us who do like organizing things further. But for the average user, they just want to be able to write down an idea, get back to work, and later when needed, just find that idea.

So, I think a lot of apps are going to move towards using AI to organize things and using AI search to resurface exactly what you need when you need it, without having to go through great lengths to organize things. So, instead of fighting this truth, I want to think of ways in which I can teach systems for the average person that wants to spend less time on organization, and is interested in leveraging AI. The goal is to write down things without friction easily, and then being able to find exactly what you need later when you need it.

ChatGPT has changed the way I think about everything I do online. It's hard to believe that everything will soon be reduced to a simple chat. In this AI chat, I can ask questions about anything I need, based on my notes, files, and projects of all kinds. This shift makes me less motivated to organize things. This technology will soon solve all organizational problems.

Before ChatGPT, I knew that good organization was essential. I needed to categorize all of my files and notes, tag everything, and place things in folders. It was important to keep everything discoverable for future use.

We are currently in a transitional period. Some tasks can be accomplished by AI chat. Yet, a lot of things still need manual intervention.

Which leaves me feeling frustrated. I know that soon much of what I need will be easily discoverable by simply asking a question in a chat. It makes all of my efforts at organization feel pointless.

I've experimented with note-taking apps that use AI chat as their main feature. However, these apps still lack some advantages that more established apps offer. Once apps like Tana, Obsidian, and Notion incorporate a full AI chat search, everything will change.

Until that time comes, organizing my notes and files feels ineffective, even though it's still necessary.

Can’t wait for the future.

Most of our work these days happens inside a browser window. I've noticed that I spend unnecessary time opening the same collections of tabs every day for different types of work I do.

This is why I've been seeking solutions to streamline this process and simplify it for myself.

In this post, I want to share with you the concept of how I manage my workflow. However, I won't cover the exact tools since I'm still testing a few. But if you are interested, feel free to message me. I'm happy to share more information on my workflow with you.

Daily Writing Workflow

This is an example of a collection of tabs I use every day for writing my daily blog posts:

• One tab for the app I use to write content
• One tab for my idea-collection app
• One tab for the app I use to draft my post through dictation
• One tab for ChatGPT to help with grammar
• One tab for publishing on my website

‍

All of these form one workflow, and every time I start the process of writing my daily blog, I always end up manually opening most of these tabs.

Instead of manually opening each one, I can preconfigure all of them into one workspace. I use a Chrome extension that helps me organize everything in a neat way.

Example of a Tweet Creation Workflow

Now, let's consider another workflow.

Tabs I use to create new tweets:

• One tab for Twitter
• One tab for drafting and scheduling tweets
• One tab for ChatGPT to correct grammar and refine ideas
• One tab for my website to get ideas from my previous work

‍

Whenever I need these tabs, I can swiftly close my previous tab collection and open this new workspace equipped with everything necessary for this activity.

Applying This Workflows

I haven't set up all my workflows yet, but I envision at least five different collections of tabs or workspaces that I use daily and need to open simultaneously.

So, I'm exploring the best tools for this, but if you're curious to get started, feel free to contact me and I can share more info with you about my workflow.

I've always been against caffeine. I never wanted to depend on it for energy.

However, I recently watched an amazing video by Rian Doris on how to use caffeine correctly to enter the "Flow State."

This video was so valuable that I want to share its lessons with you in this short post.

Rian starts by breaking down the different types of views around caffeine.

4 Types Of People When It Comes to Caffeine:

1. The Reformed: This is you if you were once a caffeine addict but have now completely given it up. You've experienced the negative effects and decided to stop taking it.
   ‍
2. The Skeptic: This is you if you believe caffeine is harmful or unhealthy, disrupts your energy balance or sleep, and you're not comfortable relying on external energy sources. So, you avoid caffeine altogether.
   ‍
3. The Unmindful User: This is you if you consume caffeine without much thought or intention. You often overdo it and, while you're not certain of its potential harm, you know you're not using it optimally.
   ‍
4. Mindful Master: This is the goal, the one who uses caffeine like a pro, leveraging it to dive deep into focus and achieve peak performance.
   ‍

I've personally always been a caffeine skeptic. I didn't take any caffeine for my first 26 years. I don't really like coffee that much. I've never wanted to be like people who say: "I don't function without my morning coffee."

I thought that if I built the habit of taking caffeine, I would end up like those people. Even worse, the caffeine wouldn't even do anything anymore. I would just end up needing it to maintain baseline energy.

Since I don't really enjoy coffee, I had to find an alternative. My brother introduced me to Yerba Mate, which I like a lot better. It's a traditional South American drink that looks like tea, but it's prepared in a special way and drunk with a straw. This is what mine looks like:

I've been drinking mate for the past year. However, I often fall out of the habit and only have it once or twice a week. After learning more about the correct ways to use caffeine, I want to finally start incorporating it into my daily routine.

Rian came up with "The 6 Commandments of Caffeine." Here's my simplified version of each commandment:

The 6 Rules of Caffeine.

1. Train Yourself To Enter The Flow State With Caffeine

Use caffeine to improve your work and focus.

2. Use Caffeine To Overcome The "Struggle" Stage To Find The Flow State.

In order to reach a flow state, we need to go through a stage of struggle. Caffeine can help us overcome that stage.

3. Improve The Timing Of When To Drink Coffee.

It is better to wait at least 30 minutes after waking up before consuming caffeine, ideally 90 minutes. To avoid disrupting sleep at night, it is better to stop consuming caffeine 10 hours before bedtime.

4. Adjust How Much Caffeine You Consume Depending On Your Level Of Tiredness.

Caffeine works much better after a good night's sleep, which helps us enter the flow state. However, after a bad night's sleep, caffeine can be used to power us through. In those cases, it's better to take 50% more than usual, but this needs to be a rare exception since, above all else, we need to prioritize improving our sleep.

5. Combine caffeine with L-Theanine (A supplement).

L-Theanine is a supplement that works really well with caffeine to give us that extra boost of energy to help us find a flow state.

• There are a few methods to take caffeine:
• Coffee
• Yerba Mate
• Tea
• Energy Drink

L-Theanine is a supplement usually found in green tea. Personally, I try to complement my caffeine intake with some additional tea. However, it seems like L-Theanine can also be found as a separate pill supplement if you prefer that method instead.

6. Take Breaks From Caffeine Every Now And Then

It's good to avoid caffeine once a week to ensure that you are still sensitive to its effects. Additionally, it's recommended to take a full week break every three months.
This resolves my concern about not wanting to become desensitized to caffeine.

There you go, that's what I've learned from Rian's excellent video. To go deeper highly recommend checking it out on YouTube:

‍

I believe in the potential of any intelligent individual to use social media to earn a living from their passions.

Starting your own business through social media is totally possible, and more achievable than you think.

However, there’s a massive risk in tying your whole livelihood to these massive companies.

This is why, even though I use Twitter and YouTube to reach my audience, I’ve finally started putting more focus on taking them into my email list, where I have more control over my audience.

That way, if my accounts get deleted or a social media platform changes completely overnight, I still have access to my audience, which is an incredible asset to own.

We don’t want to build a house on someone else’s property, but we do want to use that real estate to attract people to our world, where we can provide value and earn a living from that value exchange.

This is an extract from my latest newsletter: Social Media: From Distraction to Tool, Ignore It at Your Own Risk

‍

The most important question to ask ourselves is:

Who am I?

The beauty of this question is that it’s we get to decide through our actions.

"Every action you take is a vote for the person you wish to become.” ― James Clear

This is the essence of growth. We constantly shape our identity, striving to unlock our full potential.

The next version of ourselves is just a few votes away.

We are the architects of our identity.

“Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor” ― Alexis Carrel

2023 has been the most transformative year for technology. As a child, I often wondered, "How old will I be when the world has holograms and robots?”

We're getting closer to a futuristic world. In 2023, we may not have robots and holograms, but we do have AI and VR (Virtual Reality).

AI has already revolutionized how we work, completely shifting the trajectory of the economy in an unexpected way.

Virtual Reality and the Rise of the Metaverse

Beyond AI, virtual reality threatens to change the way everything works in the future with the concept of the metaverse: a new society, a unique version of reality that is entirely digital.

Currently, we still exist in a hybrid world where much of our business and social interactions can still take place in real life. Yet, the internet and social media allow us to decide how much of our time is spent in the physical world vs online.

The Metaverse

The more I contemplate the future of the VR metaverse, the more I realize that we already have a version of the metaverse through social media.

These platforms allow individuals like myself to make a living entirely online, despite geographical boundaries.

I live in a Spanish-speaking country, far from any of my English-speaking customers. Social media and the internet have allowed me to create a business that would not have been possible in my location.

The Risk of Rejecting Social Media

Those who completely reject social media are missing out on a new economy and will be left behind in the upcoming VR metaverse.

I believe that rejecting social media is a privilege reserved only for those who have already achieved complete financial freedom.

For the rest of us, being a part of this digital society is crucial if we wish to make a good living.

Whether you're looking for a job or you want to run your own business, social media is the ultimate tool for any form of networking.

A Tool for Creation and Education

Social media unfortunately still has many pitfalls that can lead to a corrupted mind and a wasted life.

However, the value of social media is entirely dependent on how you use it.

If we use it to entertain and numb our minds, it's a terrible space. On the other hand, if we use it for self-education and content creation, it can provide exceptional opportunities, including the potential to make a full-time living from it by exploring our interests.

There are various ways to take notes from books. Here, I am discussing non-fiction, and I am assuming that you already see the value in writing things down. It is definitely possible to read without writing anything, but I assume you are better than that. So, let's break it down:

The Old-fashioned Way

You can read a physical book, optionally use a highlighter, and manually write down notes and ideas either on the book's margins or on a separate piece of paper.

Pros:

• Relatively simple
• Reading directly on paper
• You feel superior to people using digital methods

Cons:

• Time-consuming
• Hard to find ideas later
• Collecting books requires a lot of physical space.
• Higher friction to actually write notes, since it requires extra tools (paper, pen, highlighter, desk, etc.).

Kindle

Devices like the Kindle and similar ones (e-readers) have finally made reading digitally a pleasant experience. Otherwise, reading from a bright screen like a phone or computer is less than ideal.

Pros:

• It saves a lot of physical space that books take up.

Cons:

• Writing notes inside a Kindle is a pain, due to its terrible digital keyboard.

My Preferred Method

My preferred method is writing digital notes on my phone or computer. The beauty of this method is that you can read in whatever way you prefer, a physical book, Kindle, or my personal favorite… audiobooks (audience gasps)

I write down ideas and concepts that I find meaningful as I go through the book. I don't care about grammar or perfect notes; I just capture the ideas.

Pros:

• It’s a very flexible method

Cons:

• The problem is that it’s hard to find the exact sections referenced in the book unless we go through the hassle of taking detailed notes referencing chapters, page numbers, or exact quotes to manually find things later.

AI Now Allows Us To Create Better Workflows

Through AI tools, I’m getting close to solving this problem. Now, I don't worry about writing a page number or chapter. I just write down notes, knowing that I can always find the source material later.

Ultimately, the reason I personally take notes from books is so that later, when I need advice on a specific topic, I am able to retrieve that information, either for my own personal growth or for my business.

Now, when I write original content, I can reference a book or explore an idea further. Even if I didn't take detailed notes, I can still find what I need with my current method.

I plan to talk more about my AI methods for taking book notes. If you can't wait to find out, I'll be sharing this in my community. Otherwise, I'll be sharing snippets of my method soon. Feel free to message me if you're interested in learning more.

‍

Today's efforts rarely show immediate results. Often, we need to wait weeks, months, or years to see the benefits from our recent efforts. This is why we need to develop the skill of delayed gratification.

Every action we take involves decision-making. But sometimes, decisions don't turn out as we expect.

It's odd, but even correct decisions can lead to negative outcomes. However, in the long term, the right decision always reveals itself.

We should trust that the right decision, will eventually pay off, even if it takes longer than expected.

This is why it's important to learn how to make better decisions, based on logic and values. Emotional decisions often lead us towards short-term rewards at the expense of a better future.

There's that feeling we sometimes get when we look back at our previous selves from years ago and feel embarrassed about where we were in life. The realization that there were several opportunities right in front of us that we simply couldn't see yet.

This embarrassment is a sign of growth. Be thankful for it because it means that you have been able to recognize the opportunities around you, and you have pushed past your comfort zone.

“Anyone who isn’t embarrassed of who they were last year probably isn’t learning enough.”  - Alain de Botton.

It's also helpful to think about what our future selves might think of where we are in life right now and try to identify any missed opportunities we may have. Our future selves might feel embarrassed by how obvious these opportunities were.

Of course, it's impossible to know fully what our future selves would think, but stopping and reflecting on this might give you some unexpected insights.

‍

Notetaking apps, as we know them, are about to change. Instead of focusing on organizing, categorizing, and ensuring that our notes are searchable for later, AI will do all of this.

Not only will AI be able to find exactly what we need, but we will also be able to use a chat to ask questions based on our notes.

It will be like a ChatGPT for our personal notes.

I’ve been trying a couple of apps that promise something similar to this concept, but I am still testing them.

If you like testing things like this early on, I’ll share my experience with these apps in my private community.

I am really excited for apps to evolve and fully achieve this AI workflow.

‍

The following is an excerpt from today's newsletter.

The beauty of online business is that you can make it whatever you want. There are no rules, only best practices. Much of what you want to achieve has already been accomplished by someone else. It's all about finding the right role models and piecing things together.

I recently read a random comment on YouTube that said something along the lines of: “You can't compete for mass attention. But to be that expert in a niche like Gluten-free vegan baking for diabetics is totally accessible”

Even though a niche can be useful to get started, there’s no way it can be a sustainable life choice unless you want to remain specialized and completely single-minded. But we are all multifaceted humans. Which is why the full niche approach seems to me like a short-term game.

Embracing The Multi-Niche Approach

Focusing on a specific niche can definitely accelerate audience-building at first. When someone stumbles upon your profile, they'll immediately say, "Ahh, that's the 'Underwater basket weaving guy.' I'll give them a follow since that's my current hobby." But once they are no longer interested in your niche, they'll completely forget about you.

By sharing some of your different interests, as well as your personality and unique perspectives, you can still target certain niches and monetize them. However, by being authentic, you are more likely to retain your followers once they lose interest in a niche.

The authentic multi-niche route definitely takes longer, but it seems to be a better long-term approach.

The Eternal Markets

I've learned that a successful business needs to target one of the three eternal markets: money, health, or relationships.

A well-rounded individual needs these three areas to achieve fulfillment, and different aspects may be more important at different stages in life.

People aren't interested in a niche; they are interested in how that niche can help them achieve a better life experience. It’s not as much about the interests you share with your audience, but more about how you can help them improve their lives through financial gain, improved health, or better relationships.

This is why being authentic on the internet works. The multi-niche approach is more humane, which is a legitimate way to survive the competition, especially during the AI revolution.

“You can escape competition through authenticity when you realize that no one can compete with you on being you.
That would have been useless advice pre-internet. Post-internet, you can turn that into a career.” - Naval

‍

There's a song that I've been obsessed with for years called "Start a Fire" by Stephen and IN-Q. In the song, IN-Q, who is a poet, songwriter, and public speaker, performs an amazing spoken poetry intro that I want to share with you.

The lyrics of this song are stuck in my head, they live rent-free in my mind. In this post, I want to analyze these amazing lyrics and the valuable life lessons in it.

I highly recommend listening to at least the beginning of the song before we begin.

Here are the lyrics:

“You're not going through it
It's going through you
And once it's all gone
You become the new you
With a different perspective
From the same point of view
‍
Fully unaffected by the old truth you once knew
Connected at the roots, to the trunk, to the branches
To the leaves and the way they fly away
When wind dances
‍
A frantic see saw free fall in mid air
That represents the floating folly of us being here
We're complicated creatures, huh”

‍

Let’s break it down:

Opportunities in Life

“You're not going through it
It's going through you”

It’s all about turning disadvantages into opportunities. We're not just going through life, life's going through us.

We are given choices, which we can to take, or ignore. We are not just passing through life aimlessly. We are given the chance to do our best with the opportunities we are given. We can take what's given to us and make something great out of it.

Perspective Shift

“And once it's all gone
You become the new you
With a different perspective
From the same point of view
Fully unaffected by the old truth you once knew”

So, I really like IN-Q's play on words here. We can have a different perspective from the same point of view. Even though we cannot escape our past and who we are, we can still choose to change our perspective at any time by shifting our mindset over time.

At any time, we can choose to shift our perspective.

We can look at life in a different way. We can become a new version of ourselves. Our old selves can become almost unrecognizable.

Connected to Nature

“Connected at the roots, to the trunk, to the branches”

I like to consider our connection with nature not just about trees and fresh air, but also about human nature.

It's about the nature of how life works, the way things are. This connection to nature means being connected to our true selves, taking ownership of what is within our control within our human limitations.

Life's Temporary Problems

“Connected… to the leaves and the way they fly away
When wind dances”

We need to think about how our human problems are like leaves on a tree. The stress and anxiety of day-to-day life will fly away. They will soon be forgotten, just like old leaves are forgotten.

Recognizing Short-Term Stress

Soon enough, today's stresses will be a distant memory.

Whatever you're going through right now, ask yourself: Is this a long-term, impactful problem? Or is this something that will fly away soon?

We Are Complicated Creatures

“A frantic see saw free fall in mid air
That represents the floating folly of us being here
We're complicated creatures, huh”

We need to adapt to this frantic nature of adversity in order for us to grow.

Life is like a frantic see saw. It can be uncontrollable at times, with low points that seem to unjustly appear in our lives. However, out of nowhere, something really good can happen as well. It's this constant up-and-down that we have to deal with.

A Different Story

There's one final line in the studio version of this song that goes:

Why is this happening to me?
Why is this happening for me?
Only one word changes, but it's a completely different story.

When bad things happen to us, we often think of how unfair some situations are and how we don't deserve the misfortune that comes our way. But we can flip it and ask the following questions:

• What’s the lesson that life is sending my way?

• What good can come out of this?

• Are there hidden benefits in this situation?

Sometimes we just need a small change in our language to turn misfortune into a valuable lesson that can improve our lives.

Fun fact: As I started writing this, I realized that I made a podcast episode about this 5 years ago.This post is an improved version of that episode. In that podcast episode I related this song to Stoic philosophy. Here it is in case you are curious.

‍

I've finally been able to start writing my ideas a lot more with this daily blog. I want to keep turning my best ideas into newsletters, which seems like the right path to follow.

The part that I'm not yet sure of is how to best approach spreading my ideas in other platforms.

I've been doing YouTube for several years, but I want to experiment with making videos based on my newsletters on YouTube.

This would definitely feel a lot more like a video podcast, which makes me wonder if I should also continue my podcast?

In the past, I've started over five different podcast shows on different topics, but what if now I just join them all under one podcast and make a video version for YouTube?

My main fear is losing my existing YouTube audience, since the videos would be very different from my usual software tutorial videos.

I want to change my business into more of a personal brand where I'm able to grow broader into various topics and build an audience of people I can truly help with their goals.

An Intense Conclusion to Our Trip Around Ecuador

We've been traveling through Ecuador for the last week with my girlfriend and her parents, who came to visit from England.

Today was the last day of our trip. As we were on our way to return the car we rented, we got into a car accident.

At first, I was going to write what happened, but as they say, an image is worth a thousand words. I decided that an animation must be worth at least 10 times that.

I Made This Animation To Show What Happened:

‍

Fortunately, we were all totally fine after the accident. The bus that hit us only got a few scratches. The passengers it carried were also completely fine. Our rented car ended up looking like this:

Since it was a rented car, we were extremely grateful that we had initially paid for the full insurance package; otherwise, the repair would have been extremely expensive.

Response to Chaos

When chaos occurs, I have developed the instinct to suspend judgment, remain calm, and be grateful, knowing that things could have turned out worse.

‍

Being a Davincist

I have always been a polymath, Jack of All Trades, or what I like to call a "DaVincist." I am passionate about several interests that seem unrelated and unconventional, ranging from card magic to the Rubik's Cube, parkour, language learning, filmmaking, tech, entrepreneurship, philosophy, and more.

Transition from School to Career

When I was in school, I enjoyed all of my hobbies and found new ones. There wasn't any pressure to make money back then. However, once I finished studying completely, I experienced a crisis. I didn't know if I could continue being a "DaVincist" and pursue my random passions. I started working as a freelancer at first, but then managed to transition into making a full-time living from YouTube and creating courses on productivity apps through my own personal business.

Early Days of My Business

I wasn't very ambitious when I first started my business. I was comfortable with the level of income I was making, especially considering the cheap cost of living here in Ecuador. Above all, my goal was always to avoid the 9-5 life at all costs because I've always had a severe case of "nine-to-five-phobia.”

Higher Ambition

Everything has changed in the past year, and now I have much higher ambitions. I want financial freedom while I'm still young and to become a provider for my entire family, including my parents. To achieve this, I need to take my business to a whole new level. Although the common advice is to specialize in a profitable niche, I've never liked that route. Now, I finally believe and have evidence that there's a better way.

"Specialization is for ants." - Robert Heinlein

Part of why I hate the idea of a 9-5 job is that it would force me to specialize. As a DaVincist, I want to pursue my multiple passions and learn as much as I can from various fields.

The Beauty of Online Business

I've been wanting to become an online creator since I was 14. At that time, I only wanted to be a YouTuber, and for the past year, I've wanted to become an entrepreneur.

To me, making a living by creating online content is the best business path, and its beauty is completely destroyed if you feel forced to specialize. This is why the common advice to "niche down" as a content creator still feels as much of a prison as a 9-5 job.

Crafting A New Path

The beauty of online business is that you can make it whatever you want. There are no rules, only best practices. Anything you want to achieve has probably already been accomplished by someone else. It's all about finding the right role models.

Role Models and Inspiration

Out of the people I follow, Dan Koe is the closest I've found to achieving what I want. From what I understand, he has surpassed one million dollars in annual profits. He has the freedom to explore any interests while becoming a better thinker. This is the path I want to pursue, and I want my ambitions to align with this direction.

I'm still in pursuit of the path I seek, but I feel very fortunate to already be at the level where I've been making a full-time living from my online business. If you want to learn the lessons that have taken me years, I'm putting together a course on how to start your own personal brand.

My hope is to shave years off your journey and teach you everything I've learned that has gotten me to where I am so far. I feel passionate about sharing what I've learned because I can't imagine a better life than the path of freedom we pursue, and I want to take you with me on this incredible journey.You can check learn more my Solopreneurship course here!

‍

Speed up when money is coming in.
Slow down when money is coming out.

Money loves speed, everything in business benefits from being done faster. The faster things are done, the better the more profit will follow. Things need to happen quickly; it's good to be efficient, agile, and snappy.

Being on holiday and spending money to buy relaxation operates under opposite rules IIf the goal is to relax, then there's often no reason to speed things up. Otherwise, we easily fall into a hilarious paradox of "hurry up, we need to relax".

I like how the languages I'm learning have a phrase for this. In Italy, they say "piano piano", in Greece, they say "σιγά σιγά (siga siga)" which means "slowly slowly". Take it easy, slow down, hold your horses, take a chill pill.

Relax, slow down, there's no point speeding up to get to the next relaxation activity. Recharge your energy so that you are ready to speed up after your holiday when you are back in business.

Today was the most adventure-packed day out of this trip. We went to the Ecuadorian Amazon jungle in the middle of pouring rain; our guide, José, was a great guy. He taught me a lot of Kichwa, the most popular indigenous native language in Ecuador.

I made a long list of interesting words and basic vocabulary, which I was practicing all day.

Here are some of my favorite common words:

Pagraychuk - thank you

Sacha - Jungle

Ali - Good

I've been interested in the past in learning Kichwa, but this is the first time I got an extended amount of time with a native teacher. I've tried to learn a bit online, but the resources online aren't the best compared to mainstream languages.

Our guide José spoke Kichwa as his mother tongue, but he also spoke perfect Spanish, which isn't always the case for Kichwa speakers.

We are visiting the Amazon rainforest, but I'm from Ecuador's capital, Quito, which is in the Andes mountains. José was telling me about some of the differences between certain words that vary in Kichwa between the jungle and the mountains, and how people often confuse Kichwa for Kechwa, which is from Peru, while Kichwa is from Ecuador.

Kichwa is such a unique language, unlike the other languages I've learned, Kichwa has no influence from Latin and Greek. To be honest, I find it quite similar to constructed languages like Esperanto and Toki Pona, which are auxiliary languages I've studied in the past. However, Kichwa has a super rich culture and traditions attached to it, which makes it very interesting.

I love learning new languages, and the strange nuances of communication. I once read in a linguistics book that Kichwa has some truly strange structures that no other language has, so it's quite unique. I'm always intrigued by how a different language can change the way we put thoughts into meaning.

Addictions are obviously negative. However, sometimes to succeed, we should cultivate beneficial addictions that will serve us. These are obsessions that keep the chain of good habits going.

My current addiction is writing, especially when it comes to publishing this daily blog. As we've been travelling through Ecuador, I've managed to write and publish a new post every day, keeping up my habit of posting to this daily blog, today being day 57!

I found a cheap tech store in the middle of a small town. Thankfully, I managed to buy a small Bluetooth keyboard compatible with my phone. I don't have a laptop or tablet, but this keyboard-phone combo, coupled with a large font size on my phone, works surprisingly well. I also bought a small phone holder to avoid poor posture. It's a pretty decent writing experience.

Stress is good to endure when it's used to achieve personal goals, but it feels wrong and unnecessary when it's mostly for someone else's benefit.

This is why most people consider stress negative, because most people work in a 9-5 for someone else's financial gain while they only get a fixed salary regardless of the amount of extra effort they put in. 

In a 9-5 job, stress is intuitively a bad thing because it simply isn't worth it. 

This is another great reason to have your own business; this way, any stress and risk you assume comes with a proportionate amount of potential rewards.

During my trip through Ecuador, I brought my Oura ring. It's an awesome ring that tracks my sleep. I've been using it nightly for the last few weeks. It helps me evaluate how well I sleep every night.

Unfortunately, I forgot the charger. Because my battery was getting low, I decided to activate the ring's airplane mode from the app. This mode is meant to preserve battery when the charger is forgotten.

Airplane mode turns off Bluetooth, which means it disconnects from the mobile app. Before I activated airplane mode, I saw that in this mode the ring still works and stores my sleep data.

However, it turns out that with Bluetooth deactivated, I can't see my sleep score from last night. At first, I thought it's not a big deal, because all I'll need to do is turn off airplane mode.

It turns out the only way to deactivate airplane mode is with the charger. I find this hilarious because I obviously don't have the charger, the fact I don't have a charger is the only reason I activated airplane mode in the first place.

Who else would need to activate airplane mode in their ring if they hadn't forgotten their charger? So why is the charger the only way to deactivate airplane mode?

I think this is terrible UX (User Experience). Now I'm trapped, unable to use my Oura ring for the rest of my trip.

I still love my Oura ring, but as a user, it feels like they made a dumb mistake, which I think it's easy to improve even considering their technical limitations. (Oura ring team, if you read this, I have some great solution ideas so feel free to DM me).

I actually find it interesting to analyze where big companies make huge mistakes with their products.

If they make such mistakes at a large scale, I wonder how many mistakes I must have in my own business. It's always beneficial to listen to feedback and improve people's experiences as much as possible.

It's more important to work on the right thing than to just work hard.

Success is a blend of hard work aligned with the right kind of work. There is always a more efficient path to every goal. As Steve Jobs put it...

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future."

This suggests that there is always an ideal task we should be working on and a perfect path to follow if we aim for efficiency. Of course, we can never determine the exact best path in the present moment. It's something we can only identify in the future by looking back at the past.

Still, the fact remains that by doing our best to determine the most suitable path forward, we are able to utilize our resources of time and energy as ideally as possible, within our limited knowledge.

Consider a lumberjack working hard to cut down a tree. But what if, with the exact same amount of effort, he could have cut down a better tree that was right next to the one he chose? By spending a bit of extra time in reflection, we can all make better decisions and focus on better tasks, thus making much better use of our resources.

Before I dive straight into a task, I need to remind myself to spend an extra minute reflecting on whether that task is the best use of my time. If the answer is YES, then I have simply wasted one minute. But if the answer is NO, then I might have saved myself hours.

Today, we went to an amazing lake called Quilotoa, which is surrounded by huge mountains here in Ecuador.

The descent to the lake took 30 minutes and was easy enough, but the ascent was supposed to take an hour and was extremely challenging. I managed to do it in 45 minutes. I'm not going to lie, it was very difficult, not so much for my legs, but because I was running out of breath.

I developed a pattern of breathing deeply through my nose, which is hard to do uphill. I walked up the steep path for 20 breaths, then paused to rest and breathe deeply before repeating the cycle.

I was happy to make it, but I wish I had a better endurance for stuff like this. To be honest, I don't do cardio anymore. For the past two years, I've been fully dedicated to weightlifting to build muscle. This means I don't make time for cardio. Going to the gym every weekday is already a challenge and a big time commitment. I still have conflicting beliefs about cardio versus muscle building.

Some people say cardio will kill my gains, while others encourage it. But at this point, I don't see myself finding extra time to fit in cardio while keeping up with my priority of building muscle.

What's interesting is that I know I can improve my health and endurance by improving the way I breathe. There's a book I've heard good things about called "The Oxygen Advantage" that I'd be curious to read.

Today was Day 1 of my week-long trip around Ecuador with my girlfriend and her parents. I'm writing this at night from a cozy little hostel after a long day. I drove for over six hours on extremely bumpy roads full of potholes that wound across the mountains of Ecuador. If you haven't been to South America, imagine the worst road you've ever been on and multiply it by 7.

On top of that many people here drive recklessly, I'm glad I remained calm through it all, honestly I owe that to years of practicing Stoicism (thanks Marcus!)

My girlfriend and her parents were stressed, especially on the muddy roads near cliffs; they had never seen such bad roads. But I did my best to stay calm and handle the situation well. Now, I'm finally ready to go to bed after lighting a fire in a nice wood-burning stove.

I'm trying to install Linux again on my laptop. (Famous last words.)

I’m going on a trip around Ecuador with my girlfriend's family, tomorrow morning. During this week I really want to continue my writing habit. Unfortunately, my laptop has been unusable for the last year.

I don't use my laptop when I'm at home since I have a custom-made PC with three monitors that I love. But now I’m trying to find some way to solve it quickly before tomorrow morning.

For this trip, having at least a semi-functional laptop would be great to keep writing. My laptop currently runs Windows, but the screen glitches every few minutes. As a workaround, I am attempting to install Linux on it again.

But you know your laptop is truly broken when you can't even install Linux. The screen goes fully black during installation. So, I’ll keep trying for a bit longer and see if I can get anywhere with this workaround.

This just reminds me of the power of having access to reliable technology. This laptop needs to be repaired or replaced. If I had an expensive laptop, I wouldn't want to take it with me since, at the end of the day, we are traveling to dodgy places here in Ecuador, South America, so it's not the best idea. A cheap laptop that I can just throw in a backpack and go would be incredible right now.

‍

When we set our goals, it's natural to look up to successful people and try to replicate their habits and lifestyles. We tend to believe they must be doing something we aren't.

However, this is backward instead, successful people avoid things we don't avoid. They give up things that most of us don't dare to give up. Success is a lot more about subtraction than addition.

This is why we shouldn't look at a successful person's exact routine and simply imitate their actions. If we look into how they spend every hour, we probably won't find two hours of video games or four hours drinking at the bar with the boys.

Instead of imitating what they do, we would be better off observing all the things they avoid and all the sacrifices they make.

Every goal we set comes with a cost. We often get carried away by the excitement of achievement, and we tend to forget about the long-term implications of choosing a certain path.

When we choose a goal, we must consider the long-term lifestyle we are getting into. We need to be able and willing to overcome the low points that will inevitably come with anything we set out to do.

For example, let's say Max wants to become a programmer. He needs to understand what his day-to-day life would be like long-term. Otherwise, he might put in all of that work only to realize that he doesn't want to spend endless hours troubleshooting code.

He might be able to power through at first, but when he reaches a low point, will he be able to overcome the frustration?

Perhaps programming isn't the right path for Max. He might be better suited for something like web design, where he can use more of his creativity to build his projects. Taking that route might help him overcome the low points, as he can power through them thanks to the extra fulfillment he gets from it.

That's why it's important to analyze the pain that comes with everything we do, instead of only focusing on the rewards. This way, we can truly commit to the long-term implications of sticking with our goals.

Belief in Logic and Reason

I've always taken pride in my desire to believe in logic and reason. When I first started in self-improvement, I went straight to Stoicism, which is an amazing philosophy completely based on logic.

Logic vs Esotericism

On the other hand, we have the "woo-woo" stuff, such as the Law of Attraction, which seems to be based on manifestation and something about making wishes to the universe. I've always dismissed all of these things as useless and, honestly, quite dumb.

For years, I've adopted this idea: "Don't be so open-minded that your brains fall out." Recently, I watched a video that discussed an alternative way to perceive the Law of Attraction, which is called the Law of Assumption. I found it to be an interesting idea. It appears to be based on visualizing yourself in a way that assumes you’ve already achieved your goals.

I have been meditating for over 4 years every single day, so I have considered trying these visualizations while I meditate. However, I still feel a lot of resistance because it still feels like hippie manifestation.

Financial Goals

When it comes to my financial goals, I heard someone ask the question: “If you had to choose, would you rather be rich or be right?” I think often my ego fights to be right, even at the expense of my own goals. As much as I hate admitting it, I might need to let go of the wish to be right, in order to achieve my goals.

The Importance of Usefulness

I’ve thought a lot about this quote:

"It's more important for something to be useful than true." - William James.

This idea has always troubled me. On one hand, I care about the truth, but on the other, I want to have beliefs that serve me and help me achieve my goals.

However, if I were to try to adopt some of the hippie beliefs involved in manifestation, I would have to fool myself at first, and that contradicts this important principle I’ve been living by:

“You must not fool yourself, and you are the easiest person to fool.”- Richard Feynman.

I guess I’ll have to experiment with this as I go and allow myself to go through a stage of contradictions.

"Do I contradict myself?Very well then I contradict myself,I am large, I contain multitudes." -Walt Whitman

‍

I've been writing this daily blog for 46 days now. This writing experience has so far surpassed my expectations. Writing daily is changing how I think of new ideas; now every random idea could turn into something of its own.

Almost accidently, this daily blog has become a source for all of my work. Now whenever I come up with a tweet, I first write it as a daily blog. Daily posts also act as drafts for my newsletters, and even scripts for my YouTube videos.

I'm grateful for the awesome people who have pushed me towards finally writing every day. I have to thank Dan Koe, his success and great courses have convinced me that writing shouldn't be underestimated.

I highly recommend starting your own daily blog. I'm currently using Obsidian Publish for mine, and I think it's by far the best option to quickly get started.

Check out this video I made if you want to get started today:

Once we understand that every goal has its cost, we need to understand how to better set goals. We often decide what we want to pursue only based on the rewards and benefits. This is natural; however, a good way to commit to something long term is to consider the pain and the cost of that goal.

These are important questions to consider:

• How much are we willing to suffer for our goal?
• What type of pain are we willing to endure to achieve it?
• What are the types of problems we willing to overcome on a daily basis?

So, for example, if we want to become programmers, we need to understand what that day-to-day life would be like.

We might realize that we don't want to spend endless hours troubleshooting code. That means that when the going gets tough (as it always does), are we able to overcome it? Do we find it tedious and mind-numbing, or is it challenging and exciting?

Instead, if we want to become athletes, is the pain of physical training something we are willing to endure on a day-to-day basis? For some of us, this could feel more endurable than fixing code.

This is why it's important to analyze the pain that comes with the job, instead of only focusing on the rewards. This way, we can truly commit to the long-term implications of sticking with it.

When it comes to achieving our goals, we can't always have it all. We either have to sacrifice other things in our lives to achieve the goal, or we'll have to give up the goal to keep the other things in our lives instead.

"If we don't sacrifice for what we want, what we want becomes the sacrifice." - Julie Thorn

Sacrifice means giving up something we value in exchange for something we now value more.

Start By Giving Up Bad Habits

It's easier to know what to cut out of our life when it comes to bad habits. For instance, giving up alcohol is an easy decision; it has zero benefit to our lives when we properly analyze it. We all have bad habits that are obvious choices; these choices are the starting point and they need to be cut off first.

Sometimes We Need To Go Further

Sometimes cutting off only the bad isn't enough; sometimes we are called to sacrifice even the good things in order to achieve something greater.

We might have two things fighting for our attention; let's say we are passionate about painting, but we also have a business that requires our time and energy.

It would be wise to let go of our painting hobby for now, so that we can further improve our business.

Temporary And Partial Sacrifices

Not every sacrifice has to be permanent, and not every sacrifice has to be absolute.

For instance, we could simply reduce the amount of time we spend painting, and instead of a previous 50/50 split between our business and our hobby, we could have a 90/10 split favoring our business.

We could also stop our painting hobby temporarily in favor of our business, and then reintroduce it back into our life when the timing is better.

There are many ways to go about it, but the more ambitious the goal, the more sacrifice is required of us.

‍

Newton's Third Law of Motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is simple cause and effect. For instance, if you push a wall, you'll feel a force pushing back with equal intensity.

Similarly, the rocket pushing down on the ground is matched by an equal and opposite force that lifts the rocket into the sky.

But What Does This Have To Do With Our Goals?

"Man cannot remake himself without suffering, for he is both the marble and the sculptor." - Alexis Carrel.

We are the end result that we are carving, but we are also the artists responsible for creating the final results.

Nothing can be achieved in life without sacrifice; the more ambitious the goal, the greater the required sacrifice. For instance, if we want to become wealthy and successful, we have to be willing to sacrifice in equal measure.

This means that if we want extraordinary results, we cannot lead an average life. If we want to achieve our extraordinary goal, we also need to make extraordinary sacrifice.

We need to give up things that average people with average ambitions usually wouldn't sacrifice. Extraordinary ambitions require extraordinary sacrifices.

‍

Ideas and timing: Some ideas require speed and quick action, while others can act as distractions from the current goal and need to be eliminated or postponed for the future, when they might align better with our goals.

Learning to tell which ideas should be executed fast, and which ones eliminated, is an amazing skill to develop. I believe this skill of decision-making to be essential for any form of success.

tell the truth or at least don't lie
I'm a huge fan of Jordan Peterson. I enjoy his philosophical ideas and powerful message conveying responsibility. Above all, I respect him most for his honesty.

• He means what he says.
• And he says what he means.

He tells the truth regardless of the consequences; he is brave and stands for free speech above all else.

He often shares an amazing quote: "Tell the truth or at least don't lie."
If we don't have the courage to freely speak our minds, at least we shouldn't utter falsehoods just to fit in.
In many cases, silence is better than a lie, but truth trumps it all.

If we think we'll get in trouble for telling the truth, we must consider how much more trouble we'll be in if we don't.
A life of lies leads to a much darker path than the temporary pushback we'll feel in moments when telling the truth.

Jordan's courage is a quality I want to develop, but to be honest, I'm often scared of the consequences, especially online. This daily blog has helped me bring more transparency to my work, so I want to keep developing the courage to show more of who I am and what I think as I continue on this journey of building a personal brand.

The first thing that attracted me to building a powerful note-taking system was the fear that we all have the ability to have million-dollar ideas, but we lack a good system to write them, and more importantly, find them when we need them.

This is what I want to help others with. Over the years, I've been refining my system more and more, and I'm finally developing a great system to capture, write, and share my ideas.

‍

Ancient Times vs Modern Days

When you think of ancient slavery, we know it was a terrible period of time for humanity. It was all about the exploitation of labor, without fair treatment. Slaves were paid only in food, just enough to stay alive and keep working.

Now, let's jump to the present day. Take Gale for instance. He has a 9-5 job. He needs this job to get food for himself and his family. He lives paycheck to paycheck, he is paid just enough so that he can feed himself, so that he can keep working.

I am obviously not claiming that a 9-5 job is as bad as ancient slavery. As modern people, we might not experience physical violence to keep us working, but we are subject to a new form of psychological slavery.

Gale's Path: Deceptive Freedom

We think we are free because we are not treated as badly as ancient slaves. But we still need our jobs to survive. Our pay is just enough to enable us to keep working. This new form of physiological slavery is a sneaky mental game that tricks us into the illusion of freedom. But how do we fall for it? Well, there is a subtle trap that the system uses to keep us trapped.

Gale's Financial Journey: The Subtle Trap

Let's go back to Gale's story. As a kid, he understood that in order to buy things, one needed money first. But as he got older, this basic concept became blurred. His friends and coworkers started talking about debt. So, little by little, he started adopting the belief that debt can be useful. Debt could now help him get anything he wants.

When he got a steady 9-5 job, he could now predict the money he would make each month. So, even if he didn't have enough money today, he thought, "Next month, I'll get my paycheck. I'll put this on my credit card and future me can pay it off." At first, he thought this was smart. Eventually, he couldn't afford to pay his credit card bill every month. Over time, the debt kept stacking up.

The Downward Spiral

When Gale wanted to buy something big, like a car or a house, he believed that future Gale could handle the debt, as he still had his steady job. But this time, it wasn't the next month's Gale that would pay it off, but rather Gale from several years into the future. So now, future Gale has to work for what past Gale desired.

Gale's Lost Freedom

Then one day, Gale had a great business idea, and he was excited about starting it. But an intrusive thought blurred his excitement: "If I start a business now, I'll lose my steady paycheck. I need that money to pay off my debt." Gale was stuck, and his business idea immediately died, together with any hope of a better future. He had to keep working his 9-5, probably until the day he died, to pay off all of his debt, all to satisfy past Gale's desires.

Gale believed in debt; at first, he thought it was a good idea, then it turned into a necessary evil. By the time he realized it was all a trap, it was too late. His bank account had gone from zero to negative, and he was stuck in debt for the rest of his life.

The Story of Max: Avoiding the Trap

Now, think of Max; he is Gale's friend. Just like Gale, he had his steady paycheck in the same 9-5 job. Just like Gale, he was offered many credit cards, which he took. At first, he thought, "Future Max will pay for it". The more he did this, the more he realized that his bank balance was getting close to zero consistently. He decided to start learning about money, he was reading all sorts of books on money.

A New Path

He stopped buying things he couldn't afford. He also stopped making future Max pay for them. There was a great book that inspired him to start a business; he came up with a great idea and was passionate about it. Instead of going out drinking with his friends, he stayed home to implement his business idea. He kept his 9-5 job, but in his free time, he started working on his business.

A Leap of Faith

After a few months, he had saved enough money to take a risk on his business. He knew that he could survive for a few months without money, just so he could work on his idea. Worst case, he could go back to a 9-5 job and try again after a while of saving more money. But he had faith. He learned. He worked hard. His business started to grow over the years.

A New Beginning

A business can grow financially a lot more than a 9-5 job can. In a few years, Max's business really took off. Now he is free. He didn't use debt to get there. He is not just free to buy what he wants; he is free to live his life and make decisions that fulfill him. He is no longer trapped. He can fully provide for his whole family and spend time with them. He is not a prisoner of debt, he is a free man.

Today I wrote this tweet, I went through a lot of iterations, but I think the message is strong and it's one of the best business lessons I've learned:

Your business idea doesn't require more research, it requires action!

"Market research" is just fancy procrastination.

In the end, people vote with their money.

Actions speak louder than words.

Validate your idea by selling it, and then improve it based on real feedback.

My business is based around my courses and my community. These are info-products, so it is easy to apply; the real barrier is the fear that comes with taking this leap.

I've noticed myself getting stuck in wanting to make sure that my work is perfect before I release it, but there's nothing better than releasing an early version and improving it based on what your clients actually need.

This helps in two great ways:

1.  It forces you to take action quickly;

2.  You end up helping your clients in a much better way, since you improve the product based on their needs.  

   Time to take action and stop procrastinating; the world will benefit from you putting your work out there.

Today was a big day for my business. I've been talking to my assistant, my business' right-hand man, about the potential to make some big moves to improve the whole user experience of the business. We decided to take action and make some big investments to grow things.

It's one of those "you have to spend money to make money" situations which, at first, just feels like a massive risk.

These past few months have been full of challenges and tests, but I have faith that I'm making the right decisions that will lead to the growth I seek. And my right-hand man has been invaluable in this whole process.

For the past few years, I've been running everything all by myself, but this time talking to someone has truly helped me speed up the decision-making process and take action a lot faster, as well as being overall more decisive.

I used to be a big fan of minimalism as a lifestyle and practiced it religiously for years. Even though I learned great lessons from it, there's a significant downside: it stunted my ambition.

The Complacency behind Minimalism

Minimalism led me to complacency, influencing me to think that living a good life was simple. All I needed to do, it seemed, was to consume less and be more mindful. But I no longer believe that's the full picture.

"Wake Up You Need To Make Money" - Lyrics By Twenty One Pilots

Minimalism didn't acknowledge the brutal truths of life: to lead an exceptional life, a substantial amount of money is necessary. For instance, one of my life's purposes is to fully provide for my entire family, and to achieve this goal, a lot of ambition is needed.

On the positive side, minimalism helps you notice the dangers of mindless consumerism. But on the negative side, it encourages you to relinquish your ambition and live a normal life.

Rejecting The Average Life

Minimalism acts as an essential remedy to the average life, but do we really want to be average? A normal, average life is not a good life. The average person is out of shape, broke, and depressed. Minimalism is essential for the average person, but when I fully decided I didn't want to be average, it started conflicting with my goals.

The Minimalist Path to Wealth is Incomplete

According to the minimalist philosophy, the path towards a "wealthy" life is based on penny-pinching and frugality. This doesn't align with my purpose of becoming a provider, which can only be achieved through extraordinary ambition and the drive to amass a significant amount of money. And sadly, minimalism doesn't lead you there.

Philosophical Aspects of Minimalism

I still genuinely enjoy some of the philosophical aspects of minimalism, especially for internal well-being. However, we live in an external world, and I'm no longer convinced that minimalism greatly benefits those of us who aspire to live extraordinary lives.

The Consequences of Reducing Needs

Unfortunately, the idea of reducing my needs bears consequences: it destroys my ambition and results in complacency in life. Minimalism is a great starting point, but for those of us who want an extraordinary life, we need to push further.

Today I wrote my newsletter on "productivity's enemy #1"

You can check it out here, hope you enjoy it.

I'm happy with the results; I feel it is the best thing I have written so far. I really hope it helps you improve your life.

I also wrote it using a really cool writing workflow I have been developing; I am excited to explore that further in the future as I keep improving it.

‍

I've been feeling lately like I'm suffering from analysis paralysis. I have a lot of ideas on how I want to grow my business, and there are so many different paths I can take. Having so many options makes me feel overwhelmed.

At the end of the day, these are good problems to have; it would be a lot worse to have no ideas and no ambition.

What helps me regain clarity is to keep in mind that there are already so many things that I need to work on. I should focus on my current priorities before I try to incorporate any new, ambitious projects.

No matter how good an idea might seem, if it does not contribute to my current priorities, then it needs to be seen as a distraction.

Yesterday, my building had no water the whole day, they cut it off because they needed to do some maintenance on the pumping system. I work from home every day, so it was interesting to have the experience of no water for an entire day.

The biggest annoyance was trying to wash my hands. The night before, I had to fill up all the jugs we had in order to have enough water to wash our hands. But when you think about it, this process is super inefficient.

I had to put some liquid soap on my right hand while pouring water on top of it with my left hand, and then switch. I needed to grow a third hand, but that would have introduced a whole new set of problems.

I was having lunch and a weird idea came to me. It consists of taping a funnel to the sink and putting more tape at the bottom to control the stream of water. It's too hard to explain, so thankfully I recorded a video instead:

"You don't lack resources, you lack resourcefulness." - Tony Robbins

‍

Developing better systems is key. Set up once, repeat many times. When it comes to marketing my courses and digital products, it's all about trial and error. I like building new courses and teaching new ideas, but at the end of the day, the only way to know if my course is profitable is to sell it. People might say they want something, but the only way to confirm that is if they buy it. People vote with their money, not with their words of encouragement.

This is why I want my business to be more agile. I want to quickly build faster MVP's (Minimum Viable Products). MVP's is like version 0.1 of a product, it's all about being in beta first, and then improving things further based on feedback.

One of the bottlenecks I found in my business is that it takes me ages to create a sales page for a new course. My system for creating sales pages is a bit too complex, specially for quick first version. This is why I am working on faster systems to build courses and create sales pages more efficiently. This will allow me to release my work faster to the world, enabling me to improve it based on people's needs.

I am excited to work on a smoother workflow, which will help me put my work out there faster, making my business more agile.

I really enjoy the ability to use AI to help me improve my writing, correct my grammar, brainstorm ideas, and get unstuck when I'm writing.

There's just one thing I dislike about Ai. When it modifies text to fix grammar, it often adds obscure words that I wouldn't personally use, making it sound too artificial and less natural. It feels disingenuous. I have tried modifying my prompts and I know it's possible to achieve what I want. However, this process often becomes too annoying and repetitive. Therefore, I want to develop a more systematic approach. .

Exploring Complementary AI Solutions

I want to solve this problem by trying different technology. One of the solutions that I'm excited to start trying out is called Jasper. I've just created my account but I haven't started using it yet. It is quite expensive, but one of the main things that attracted me towards it is that it seems to be able to replicate your voice. You can teach it to write in your style.

From what I see on Jasper's website, it appears that I can provide information about my business, what I'm trying to sell, what my offer is, and who I'm trying to reach with the material I write. So, whether I'm attempting to enhance a sales page, craft persuasive social media content, or simply write a blog post. The point is to express ideas as authentically as possible in my own voice.

Authenticity vs Automation

Personally I'm not a big fan of people who make AI write a whole blog post and immediately post it. I not consider that an efficient way to build a personal brand or establish a genuine connection with your audience. Instead, what I want from AI, is a very fast writing assistant. I like to think of it as: I'm the writer, and AI is the very fast and accurate editor. If I'm truly stuck, the AI could do the writing and I could edit. However, there needs to be constant back-and-forth between us, so that my creative input remains as personal as possible.

Meta Update:

I wrote the first draft of this post, and now I have gone through the process of using Jasper (along with other tools) to edit it. To be honest, this time I did most of the work but I did enjoy Jasper as an assistant in correcting and improving my grammar. I'll keep you posted as I develop a better system and get a clearer idea of whether Jasper is a part of the workflow I seek.

The risk of a university degree is that it might make you believe you already know something. I studied filmmaking and, because I graduated, I often feel arrogant, as if my certificate has given me a lot of knowledge about valuable skills like storytelling. In reality, there is still so much I need to learn in order to apply storytelling in my business.

One of the main reasons I want to improve my storytelling skills is because I want to make my writings better and market my digital products in more compelling ways through stories. I also have a Master's degree in Marketing, but the world is moving so fast that even with a degree I still feel as a beginner at it.

I truly believe self-education is the best path towards learning. The danger of university is it makes you feel you are done learning once you graduate. While in reality, graduation means that real learning is just about to start.

I've recently been investing more time and money in my self-education. I have bought expensive courses and have spent a lot of time learning from people who have achieved what I want to achieve.

I graduated five years ago. Still, I feel like I'm just getting started learning. Being a student of life is a never-ending process.

Belief is key to achievement. However, belief alone doesn't do the trick. It's merely the starting point. Why? Because belief leads to the choices we make. These choices lead to actions. And, obviously, actions lead to results.

It works in this order:

• Beliefs
• Choices
• Actions
• Results

Money Beliefs

Let's take money as an example. Some people (my past self included) think money is the root of all evil. These people, through their beliefs, have accidentally decided that money won't come their way. They've pinned a negative trait to money.

The result? They don't make the right choices, which lead them to not take the right actions to attract money, which obviously leads to them not getting money.

Gym Beliefs

Here's another example. When I was younger, I believed muscles were unnecessary. I thought wanting muscles was just being superficial and narcissistic. This belief led me to decide not to go to the gym or lift weights. And, as you might guess, this didn't give me any results, I remained very skinny my whole life.

But then, I changed my beliefs. This change in beliefs led to a change in choice. This choice led to the action of going to the gym. And in the past year and a half, these actions have given me results.

This is why belief is always the first step towards getting results. Start with belief, make a choice, take action, and results will follow.

‍

Today, I played paintball at my cousin's birthday. It's been a while since I had a day like this.

My life mostly consists of: working on my business, gym, time with my girlfriend and seeing my family on Sundays.

Having such a different day was fun and exciting.
I've only played paintball once before when I was 13, but it was only one round, and I barely remember it. Today, however, we had about four rounds in large courts for a whole hour.

It was exciting and especially the first round was extremely tiring. It felt like running for your life and making each bullet count. The adrenaline was epic.

These fun activities are great, especially when they are rare. Sometimes with these fun things a thought crosses my mind, like: "Maybe I should join a paintball group to play every weekend." But as much as I might like the idea of something like this at first, I know that it would divert my focus away from my business and my priorities.

So, I'll just look back on today as a fun memory m, and get back to work, so that I can achieve my goals, and enjoy rare days like these even more when they come again.

With that said, I'm writing this post at night, so I'm very tired after today. I can't wait to sleep.

A Day of Record-Breaking Productivity

Yesterday, I was possessed by the spirit of productivity. I went on a rampage and set a personal record by recording 18 videos for a new course all in one day.

The Process of Uploading and the Role of My Assistant

I'm super excited about it. My epic assistant (whose official job title is "Right Hand Man") helped me upload all the videos to my community. It's a lengthy process, and he saves me a lot of time with his assistance.

The Unexpected Hurdle: Annoying Background Noise

Last night, before going to bed, I reviewed the videos and started to freak out. All the audio in each video had an annoying background noise from the relentless construction next to my building.

My Efforts to Minimize Noise and Maintain Quality

I've had to experiment with various methods to minimize this constant background noise in my videos as much as possible, using some highly effective microphone filters. But this time, the noise was too loud. I was simply too frustrated that an external circumstance had affected the quality of my hard work.

The Importance of a Quality Experience to My Customers

I honestly struggle to determine whether these things are even noticed by my customers, or if they annoy me more than they annoy them, but I strive to provide them with the best experience possible, and clean audio is a significant factor to me.

The Solution: AI Noise Removal

So, I've spent all morning finding a method to use AI to remove the background noise. Although it's a process that has already taken me a few hours, I think it's worth the effort to provide the best possible experience to my customers.

The Impact on My Confidence and Quality of Work

I'm aware that many people might have been okay with it, perhaps not even noticing the annoying noise. But it bothered me, and that would have made me less confident in promoting my work. So even though this might not have been as big of a deal as I made it in my head, it does help me feel more confident about the quality of my work. That seems worth it to me.

The Final Outcome

So there you go, I'm much happier with the results now, the updated version with significantly better audio will be published today, and I can't wait to start promoting this new course.

If you're curious, this is a new course on building a personal brand, and making a living as a digital entrepreneur. If that sounds interesting to you, it's already available in my community

Questions are more important than answers. They open doors to deeper understanding of topics, ones that perhaps we wouldn't have explored on our own. Questions pave the way into a deeper journey of exploration. Unlike answers, they are not a final stop.

Even with AI like ChatGPT, it's all about improving the type of questions you ask in order to get better results.

In my own experience, particularly when making business decisions, I'm now trying to form a chain of questions. This method pushes me down a deeper path of exploration.

I do this because my initial ideas might not always be the ultimate solution I'm truly searching for.

Trying to come up with a straightforward answer might give me the solution I want, but not the solution I need.

By challenging my own thoughts through questions, I find they evolve into stronger ideas and eventually, more effective solutions. These solutions, in turn, become answers.

And in business and life, it's not so much about how hard you work in general, but it's about working hard on the right ideas, with higher ROI (Return On Investment). Working hard on the right projects is the key to success, and only reflection can help you determine what the right project truly is.

Recently, I spent too much time trying to implement a random idea that I had.

The idea was to develop a method so that I could pause a GIF in a blog post.

I didn't like how it kept looping. I wanted to create a "pause and play" button so that the reader could decide if they wanted to pause it while they continued reading.

This idea ended up taking me over an hour, and it didn't turn out as I had expected. I needed to give up much sooner, but I kept getting obsessed with it.

I often find myself in these moments of obsession, trying to fix a problem. However, almost every time I take a break and revisit it later with a clear mind, the problem tends to get solved a lot faster.

Alternatively, I realize that what I was working on wasn't truly worth it, and I can move on to something more important.

I've been seriously thinking about shifting my online focus towards teaching entrepreneurship and personal branding. I strongly believe it's the ideal path to achieve financial freedom, a topic that has consumed much of my thinking in the past year.

Despite my deep passion for productivity tools, which I've dedicated myself to for the past two years, I now intend to combine entrepreneurship with productivity apps. However, I must admit that I'm still a bit confused about the best approach to make this happen.

This has been a time of risk-taking for me, and it's definitely scary to go through these types of changes, but that's how growth happens. I need to keep that in mind.

My mind feels scattered; I need to find clarity. I am currently grappling with several decisions regarding the future of my business, and my thoughts seem disorganized.

What should I do when I need to find clarity?

In the past, certain options have proven helpful:

-   Engaging in technical tasks that require less mental effort.

-   Taking a break and pursuing other activities.

   -   However, this approach does not appear as effective since I often feel guilty for not working enough.

-   Reflecting, journaling, learning, and patiently waiting for clarity to resurface.

I might opt for the last one. Taking a break sometimes feels helpful, but especially after recovering from being sick last week, I feel like I haven't earned a break.

Technical issues took over my entire business, and all the main websites I use to sell my courses went down overnight for reasons too technical and boring to explain here.

I was frustrated, but I'm glad I could still remain relatively calm and simply do the work needed to restore things to their original state.

These types of changes to websites tend to take at least 24 hours, but the internet gods were benevolent, and thankfully my entire business was restored in a matter of minutes instead.

I'm just happy that things got fixed. Even though I was stressed and worried, in the past, this could have made me freak out and lose my mind quickly. It's good to know that I've managed to build mental resilience.

However, I know that if my business were down for another 24 hours, I would have definitely had a bad mood all through the day. So I just need to work on my mind so that I can overcome these things with more ease and always learn to differentiate what is in my control from what is not.

Feel free to copy and use the revised text as needed. Let me know if there's anything else I can assist you with!

I've been reading a great book called "The Upside of Stress." For a great overview, I highly recommend the Ted Talk by the author.

It basically explains that stress isn't bad but necessary, and what causes health problems is our perception of stress, not stress itself.

One of the things that has been on my mind is the relationship between stress and business.

Business is all about taking on other people's stress.

This quote summarizes it perfectly:

"You get paid in direct proportion to the difficulty of problems you solve."
─ Elon Musk

So, as I aim to grow my business, I need to truly stop and reflect:

• What problem am I solving for those I seek to serve?
• What weight do I take off their shoulders?
• How big are the problems I aim to solve?

If you have your own business, or want to improve your value in your professional life, question yourself with these insightful ideas.

Technical stuff, technical stuff, technical stuff.

This blog site is temporarily down, and I don't know why. I will still write because this is not a valid excuse to stop my writing habit streak.

In my business, there are a dozen technical issues I constantly need to fix, and some of them end up taking me much longer than I expect.

This time, instead of going crazy and trying to fix things straight away, I'm choosing patience, knowing that if this blog is down for a day or two, it's not the end of the world.

I have my awesome assistants looking into it, so that helps a lot. Otherwise, I spend entire days trying to solve technical issues, while I know there are higher-level tasks that require my attention a lot more in my business.

I'm finally starting to learn the value of delegating the technical, so that I can start focusing on high ROI activities.

‍

For my birthday, my awesome girlfriend gave me the best gift ever: an Oura ring.

We've been considering it for a while now, but I wasn't 100% sure it was worth it. However, recently I watched an amazing video by Sam Ovens on sleep optimization, and he speaks very highly of the Oura ring.

In that video, he explains that it's hard to improve something you can't truly measure, like sleep.

We might be able to have a subjective idea of how well we sleep, but we rarely have accurate objective data on how long we were actually asleep, things like:

• Was it an efficient and restful night of sleep?
• How long were you actually asleep for?
• Did you spend enough time in deep sleep?

Sleep is the foundation of our productivity, so the Oura ring seems like a really good tool in that arsenal.

I used it for the first time last night, and from what I can tell, it was quite good.

I've starting to recover from being sick, so I actually slept better than usual, but looking forward to improving my overall sleep.

‍

Last night, I watched one of my favorite films, "Sing Street," and every time I rewatch it, it reawakens my passion for creating my own music.

An artistically dark thought occurred to me... AI.

What if I used AI to bring a song idea to life?

I've always had the dream of creating my own completed song, but before AI, this has always been a dream I would achieve once I had "enough time to learn all the skills." However, with AI, it feels like I can take a massive shortcut. It feels wrong to consider this shortcut, but right now I'm just entertaining the idea.

But if AI can help me put lyrics I truly feel into a real song, that sounds amazing. Considering I don't have all the musical skills needed to achieve it all by myself.

Guitar

I play the acoustic guitar decently, but creating a professional recording of myself playing the guitar remains a technical challenge. I would require a physical studio and need to learn more about acoustics and sound design.

With AI, I would have an easier time writing something original, and with digital music software, I could have a digitally clean guitar recorded a lot easier than with a microphone of me playing my own guitar.

Lyrics

The part I love the most about music is undoubtedly lyrics. Over the years, I've made attempts at writing my own lyrics, but I've never had a final version that I truly love. However, I know I have a few decent ideas lying around, and I can definitely work on more.

The challenging part lies in bringing together the lyrics with a suitable melody. But now, I can imagine AI being able to assist with this as well.

Singing

I enjoy singing while playing the guitar, but I've never invested the necessary time to become a skilled singer. I've had some singing lessons in the past, but I'm aware it would take several years of constant practice to feel confident enough to sing in my own song.

So, what if I could use AI to learn and enhance my voice for singing? This is the aspect that feels most like cheating. It seems like an insult to the hard work people put into the art of singing. Nevertheless, I'm sure there is software available that can achieve this. And it's an interesting concept.

It would feel like an advanced version of auto-tune, where instead of filtering voice sounds, it enables clear singing but with a voice that still sounds like my own.

Alternatively, I could use a random AI voice to bring my lyrics to life. This option definitely seems easier, but the idea of transforming my own voice sounds much more intriguing.

Will I do this?

We'll see...

For now, go watch "Sing Street" if you haven't already!

‍

Today is my birthday. I spent last night feeling quite sick, unable to sleep well. I wonder if this is my first birthday spent being sick; I think it is. Either way, despite the fact that it's a bit of a rest day for me, I want to keep writing today.

Consistency is key

One of the skills I'm proud to have developed in the past years is consistency; I'm addicted to maintaining a habit streak. These are some of my top streaks:

• Meditating every day for 4 years
• Journaling every day for 4 years
• Going to the gym for 1.5 years

There are many habits I still struggle with, but I know that if I establish a streak, it's hard for me to break the chain of habit.

Now, I want writing to be one of those great skills I keep for years.

Reflecting on this year's progress

Right now, I want to quickly reflect on the most important progress I've made this year, and that's in fitness.

I've been skinny my whole life, and even though I'm not where I want to be yet, looking back at old photos (and even YouTube videos), I looked malnourished.

I've been finally gaining muscle. So far I've increased my weight by 12kg (26 lbs) in the past year and a half, bulking while consistently going to the gym throughout that time.

My weight changed from 64kg to 76kg (141 pounds to 167 pounds). My height is 176cm (5'10") in case you are curious.

Goals feel distant

My fitness goals seem to be getting further away the more I improve. I know this is a psychological trick my mind is playing on me, so I have to remind myself to be grateful for the progress I've made, rather than solely focusing on the long path ahead.

Future ambitions

I'm proud of my progress in the gym. It's great to see some physical manifestation of my hard work, and I can't wait to see where I'll be next year.

I'm now 27, and my aim is to become a jacked rich dude. I know this might sound superficial, but it's definitely what I'm working towards.

I understand that money and muscle might seem like generic goals, but they represent a significant mindset shift I've had. Just a couple of years ago, I used to think that money was evil and muscle was useless.

I want the money to be used to take care of my loved ones, and I want the muscle to be a symbol of my hard work, earning my own respect as well as the respect of others.

So, as superficial as these goals seem, I know they are multilayered goals that will require me to harness all of my discipline, and I'm looking forward to it.

‍

I've been thinking a lot about failure and how to overcome tough times.

I'm not even close to being at my emotional worst; I've been there, and I know this isn't it. However, I've definitely been feeling low, especially after getting very sick this weekend (I'm finally starting to recover).

My body ached, and my mind was filled with defeat. I was unable to bring much positivity after a month of significant changes in my business. After making risky decisions that I hope will pay off, I'm currently experiencing a financial dip.

While being sick and feeling low, it was so easy for my mind to start calling me a failure and tempting me to give up.

Here's a great quote, which unfortunately is one of those randomly attributed to Churchill. Nevertheless, it's a great one:

"Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."

It seems impossible at times, but I'm sure successful people keep pushing even when things go wrong. Pushing is already hard enough, but doing so with the same enthusiasm definitely sounds like a challenge.

These lyrics always hit me hard because this is a cycle that is often difficult to escape:

"It's like with everything I do
The beginning's so exciting
In the middle part, I doubt
And in the end, I'm disappointed"
Lyrics from: Bastian Baker - Everything We Do

I don't think every new effort has to end in disappointment. At the end of the day, failure is a great teacher.

"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall."

• Confucius

So let's keep failing and maintaining the enthusiasm that made us start. Even when things go wrong, especially when they go wrong.

‍

Clarity of mind is so important. After being sick for a couple of days, I've had a terrible headache that hasn't allowed me to sleep well, nor work.

I've been quite lazy and unproductive for the past two days. Thankfully, it's the weekend, which makes me feel slightly less guilty about this terrible lack of productivity.

Having a clear mind is such a valuable asset. While my mind is foggy and in pain, it's okay to have a bit of self-compassion and take care of my health. But I can't wait to have a clear mind again.

‍

I'm quite sick at the moment, with terrible nausea. Moments like this remind me that health is the foundation of everything.

Without my health, achieving anything would be 10 times harder. Therefore, this is a time to reflect on how lucky I am to be healthy.

Here are some of the thoughts I've been having:

-   Gratitude

-   While I'm sick right now, all I can think is that I need to be more grateful for the fact that most days I'm feeling great.

   -   I can't wait to regain good health and appreciate the sensation of feeling good.

-   Mind Over Body

   -   Using my breath and mental strength to overcome physical discomfort.

       -   I must believe that even if a disease takes over, strong willpower can still enable a good life.

           -   Constant illness would make life so much harder, but I know it's possible.

       -   It's difficult to picture this, since I take my health for granted.

           -   I admire people who manage to build good lives despite constant disease.

-   Understanding the importance of building resilience and recognizing the power of the mind.

   -   Acknowledging that the state of mind can influence physical condition.

   -   Mind over body is real, but sometimes the body needs to do its thing.

       -   Trust the wisdom of the body.

‍

I've been in "work-mode" for the past few years. This means that I've had to say No countless times to friends and family over the years.

Saying no is the only way to achieve your goals and have the mental bandwidth to focus. However, it's common to be called selfish for it.

Here's a little dialogue I came up with to illustrate my point:

Carl: Hey, man, I need your help. Can you help me fix something?
It shouldn't take the whole day.

John: No, sorry, I'm busy.

Carl: It's just a small favor.

John: Sorry, man, I can't.

Carl: Why?

John: I'm just busy.

Carl: I bet you don't even have a reason; you just don't want to do it.

John: Sorry, man.

Carl: Man, you are so selfish sometimes.

John: 🙃

In that case, who is actually being selfish? Is it John or Carl?

John is free to use his time in whatever way he sees fit.
However, Carl insists that he wants John to do something for him.

What's truly selfish is to demand others to do what you want.

It's not selfish to use your time in the best way you see fit.

Say No more often, and do it guilt free.

"Selfish people don't care about you, unless you are doing something for them." - Anon

‍

-   I've been curious about visual ways to represent ideas.

   -   I really like the type of visuals created by Visualize Value.

   -   and I've been blown away by the style of video animations made by Dan Koe.

-   I want to explore this.

   -   I've been curious to find ways to use AI to achieve beautiful geometric animations.

   -   There isn't much with AI for this yet.

   -   but I'm already trying out some ideas with various tools.

-   Hopefully, you'll see more awesome stuff like these from me.

   -   I actually created a rough version of this concept in a YouTube video.

       -   In case you are curious to see the type of visuals I'm referring to.

‍

‍

‍

-   When I was younger, I knew I didn't enjoy reading.

   -   But, I did like learning.

   -   When I was 13, I discovered I could learn on YouTube.

       -   This changed everything.

       -   I spent endless hours learning from tutorials.

       -   I learned all sorts of things.

           -   Card magic.

           -   Parkour.

           -   Video editing / visual effects.

-   As I grew older and became more interested in philosophy,

   -   Especially Stoic philosophy,

   -   I finally found an interest in books.

       -   A lot of these ideas were written,

       -   So I started reading.

       -   But over time, I realized I needed a lot of motivation to sit down and read a book.

-   So, as my motivation to sit down and read faded,

   -   I discovered audiobooks.

       -   And ever since then,

       -   Reading (or listening) has become effortless.

   -   I learn every single day by listening for a few hours.

       -   Non-fiction audiobooks are amazing.

       -   But I went beyond.

       -   I also listen to hours of valuable content from YouTube.

       -   And now, I've even gone through the hassle of converting courses I've bought Into audiobooks.

           -   This way I can consume valuable courses several times.

-   Now, learning feels effortless.

   -   So I don't feel guilty for not sitting down and reading,

   -   Instead, I just put on my headphones and I can "read" at any time.

   -   The only disadvantage is some people will ask, "Did you read this book?"

       -   And when you say "yes," they'll say, "It doesn't count if you listened to the audiobook."

       -   🤦 (face palm)

‍

-   Success vs Failure

   -   We learn more from failure than from success.

   -   When success is flowing in, that's a time when we get complacent.

   -   While failure is kicking in, that's when we kick into gear.

-   Be grateful for low times;

   -   They'll teach you a lot more than success ever could.

   -   It's what you do in the low times that determines your success in the long run.

> "Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." - Samuel Beckett

‍

-   Every decision requires to be placed in an order of priority.

-   At every single moment, you can only have one priority.

   -   Everything you do needs to become a choice.

   -   By choosing to do something, you are excluding everything else.

-   "It's not just words. Action expresses priorities." - Gandhi

   -   You can reflect and try to determine which ones are your priorities.

   -   But at the end of the day

       -   It's what you actually end up doing that determines what you prioritize.

       -   Priorities are easily seen through your past actions,

       -   moving forward, they must be a conscious decision.

‍

've been feeling a lot of frustration lately. I'm going through a dip in my business due to previous decisions and risks I took that aren't paying off.

I feel a lot of doubt about whether I should backtrack or stick through the hard times, knowing that my efforts will eventually pay off.

Here are some reflections that bring clarity to my decisions and efforts:

-   Effort and reward don't always align immediately

   -   Effort doesn't always lead to immediate reward

   -   Past decisions impact the current situation

   -   Focus on delayed gratification

-   Balancing High Standards and Low Expectations

   -   Maintain high standards for work

   -   Keep low expectations for outcomes

-   Unpredictable Long-Term Rewards

   -   Trust that present efforts will eventually pay off somehow

       -   Perhaps in unexpected ways

   -   Timing and nature of rewards may be unpredictable

-   Learning from Mistakes

   -   Analyze past decisions for lessons

   -   Make more informed choices moving forward

-   Taking Responsibility

   -   Everything I do is my fault, both good and bad.

‍

-   I'm an Android guy, but not because I hate iPhones.

-   I use Windows, but not because I don't like iMacs & MacBooks.

   -   I don't use Apple because I believe in Apple's philosophy.

-   I don't use Apple anymore because:

   -   I believe their catchphrase: "Think Different" no longer applies to their products.

   -   These days, using an iPhone means conforming to the norm.

   -   Apple no longer represents their philosophy.

-   Their philosophy used to apply.

   -   Steve Jobs actually applied the "think different" philosophy.

   -   Now, iPhones no longer innovate the way they used to.

   -   My Google Pixel Phone is, in my opinion, better than an iPhone.

       -   And other phones like Samsung are truly innovating.

   -   iPhones are the normal phones of today.

       -   If you really want to "Think Different"

       -   Then Apple no longer serves you as the company to get there.

‍

I want to find a solid keyboard. I currently use the Gboard, which is the Google keyboard that comes with my Google Pixel 6. It's really good and has some good word prediction, as well as other great features.

But when typing on mobile, it's always so frustrating to make a mistake and have to delete a bunch of letters or a whole word, only to retype it again and make the same type of mistake again.

From a quick search on the Play Store, I couldn't find anything too promising, but I'll keep looking.

I've Added a Couple of Apps to a List to Test:

• Keybot - AI Keyboard
• Writely - AI Keyboard & Writer

It seems like they use ChatGPT, but there seems to be a lot of emphasis on the ability to write for you. I don't want that; I just want a keyboard that can easily predict what I'll say and help me correct my typos and mistakes quickly.

So I'll have to install apps to test, but for now, I'm still in the searching process.

It Might not Exist Yet

At the same time, my current keyboard, Gboard, is excellent and has a lot of great features, including dictation, which is very accurate. However, it takes a while to load, which I don't love. But it has other amazing features like a menu for selecting all and copy-pasting, as well as many other cool little things.

I doubt there will be something as good that has AI on top of it. Ideally, I'd like Google to add these features to the Gboard, but until then, I might have to switch between keyboards to get everything I want from typing on mobile.

If you know of a keyboard like the one I'm looking for, please reach out letting me know.

‍

I have been reflecting quite a bit on the impending AI revolution and how it will change everything. I even wrote a post on how AI will soon replace doctors, which was an interesting exploration of the current state of things. It made me wonder, can any industry or profession be immune to this?

Post-AI Revolution

After the AI revolution takes place, we will shift into a new world. I firmly believe that there is only one true profession that will remain - entrepreneurship.

If you think about it, the world is already run by entrepreneurs. There are employers looking for employees to fulfill certain tasks, people are either employers or employees.

The Struggles of Business Owners

Business owners often struggle with various issues, such as having to manage employees with different life circumstances and emotions. The financial dependency of these employees on their employers is a significant burden. Therefore, from a purely business perspective, it makes sense to aim for increased efficiency, to remove variables and reduce stress.

The Move Towards AI

The push to entrust as much as possible to AI is already underway. In the future, this trend will grow significantly. With this, there will be many more businesses.

This quote by Naval captures it perfectly:

"There are almost 7B people on this planet. Someday, I hope, there will be almost 7B companies.

• Naval

I believe that is where the world is headed. Companies will no longer need to have hundreds or thousands of employees.

The Role of AI and the Changing Nature of Employment

Companies will have a lot of AI doing most of the work. When they do need people, either to supervise the AI or to handle more human-relationship-oriented tasks, they will not necessarily employ them. Instead, they will engage them as freelancers. This leaves us with three categories of work in the future:

• entrepreneurship.
• freelancing.
• or unemployment.

I don't believe there will be any other alternatives. The era of employees on payroll is ending, and we need to prepare for it.

It is vital to start becoming an entrepreneur now so you can be ahead when the world starts to shift. The wave of realization is coming, and we must be prepared.

The Rise of Freelancing and Solopreneurs

The world is already shifting into this independent economy, there are over 70 million freelancers in the U.S., which means 36% of Americans are freelancers.

The shift will keep going, but this time tilting even more towards entrepreneurship, with people wanting to start companies as solopreneurs or just hiring one to three employees. These employees will assist in managing AI and maximizing leverage as much as possible.

Be Part of The Revolution

It's time to get to action. If you want help with this, entrepreneurship is one of my passions, and I want to help others get to this point faster, join my premium community and lets conquer the world together!

‍

I've been really enjoying Tana for everything, including all sorts of note-taking and tasks, and even though it's the backbone of my system, I've been trying to get by for the past 6 months by only being able to add ideas and tasks on my computer and not on my phone.

They actually created a really amazing mobile app that helps with this.

Here's my YouTube video on it:

The current limitation of Tana Capture:

• It's only for iOS users. I use a Google Pixel 6 (Android).
• It lacks the ability to search for notes.

Tana Capture is a great way to send notes to Tana to organize later. This is great for ideas. But for tasks, I want to be able to see my current task list on the go on my phone.

Using a Complementary App

So I want to experiment with some ways in which I can complement my Tana task system by using another app on mobile.

That way, I have a solid system to capture on mobile, and then the most important stuff can easily be moved to Tana.

I'm looking for something that works on Android and ideally has great widgets to easily capture thoughts without even having to navigate through the app.

These are some of the apps I'm considering:

Evernote

Because I knew Evernote had great widgets, I decided to give it a go. It seems to have added some good features to integrate tasks with notes, so I was excited to test it.

However, they also recently increased their price, which seems a bit too much if I only want to use it as a complementary app. Plus, I've never liked Evernote in the past, though it does look like they are finally improving.

Clickup

Clickup, this is good for teams, and it's a great app for tasks. I currently don't use it. Tana is still better for collaboration. My assistant and I use a combination of Tana and Slack, and it's next level.

Amazing Marvin

Amazing Marvin, I like this one a lot and have used it for years, but for the simple needs I have, it might be too pricey considering I won't use it as my main tasks app.

Amplenote

I like this one a lot, but they lack one critical feature: manual sorting. If they add that feature, I'll give this a second chance.

Tick Tick

This is like Todoist but a lot better in my opinion:

• It's cheaper, which is always a bonus.
• It has advanced filters.
• It has a calendar in the paid plan.
• Great shortcuts.

I'll be testing Tick Tick for now. I've used it in the past a lot, and I really like it. In the past, I stopped using it because I wanted my tasks to integrate better with my notes.

However, now I already have that with Tana, so now I can bring back Tick Tick as a way to complement my tasks system and be able to have tasks on mobile. And then move the most important ones to Tana later if needed, especially considering I use Tana to collaborate with my team.

This post was an alternate version of a private post made for my private community.

If you are still trying to find a better task tool for your needs, would love to have you in my community. I can definitely give you great advice that will save you so much time from trial and error.

‍

I've been creating content online for over a decade. It's only in the last 2 years that I have finally been able to make a full-time living from YouTube and my courses.

I've been wanting to teach what I've learned about starting a knowledge-based business online. Throughout this time, I have been too worried to give my best ideas away for free.
I say to myself when I have a good idea, "This one might be better to hold off for a time when it makes sense to create a course about it."

I worry that my ideas would be stolen, or that later I will have nothing valuable left to sell because I gave away the best parts.

Alex Hormozi (Entrepreneur/YouTuber) has an amazing take on this. He says, "Give away your secrets, sell the implementation."

This is the right mindset I want to start adopting from now on. Expect to see more of my best ideas shared on my free platforms (YouTube, Twitter, Newsletter) etc...

‍

I'm currently experiencing an extremely frustrating, slow internet connection. It's not entirely down, but it's painfully slow. I urgently need to make some fixes to my website to publish a new YouTube video, but the slow speed is causing everything to load very slowly, thereby intensifying my frustration.

For this task, I needed to write things down and develop a checklist. With such slow internet, I couldn't access my main app, Tana, since it's fully cloud-based. It's moments like these that remind me of the power of offline note-taking apps like Obsidian. As it uses local files, it doesn't require the internet to function, proving immensely useful in this situation.

The slow internet is driving me to the brink of insanity. I know that with a fast connection, I could complete this task in 10 minutes. However, I've already spent over an hour attempting to make progress, only for the changes on my website to fail to save. This necessitates starting over and then waiting a full minute for something extremely basic to reload.

Expressing my frustrations in writing is providing a bit of relief. I realize I could postpone this task until my internet connection improves, but the task is important and needs to be completed soon. Therefore, I'll need to endure this a little longer until I finish.

Takeaway Lessons:

• Since I always have internet access, I take it for granted and don't stop to realize how valuable it is as the foundation of my whole business.
• The timing of a task is important. When possible, do the tasks that better align with your circumstances.

‍

“An ignorant person is inclined to blame others for his own misfortune.
To blame oneself is proof of progress.
But the wise man never has to blame another or himself.”
― Epictetus

I'm in a transition period with my business.
I'm moving from just selling courses, into selling a membership that includes:

• all of my courses
• a private community
• group coaching calls on productivity

Because of this big change my business is going through a financial dip right now.

My brain often wants to blame external circumstances, but this change was my choice, so I need to think long-term and know that as long as I'm putting in the work, this will pay out in the future.

Key Mindset Points:

• Everything that happens to me is my fault.
• There's no value in blaming others.
• Don't blame external circumstances.
• I must take a look at the situation and identify where I have control over things.
• If I can control it, then focus on it.
• If I can't control it I need to move my attention away from that aspect.

I need to strive to the point where I don't even blame myself, but until then everything is my fault, everything is my responsibility.

This post inspired this tweet:

Keep this in mind when things don't go your way:

Things that don't help:

✖️ Blaming others
✖️ Blaming circumstances
✖️ Making excuses

What truly helps:

☑️ Finding what's in your control
☑️ Focusing on it
☑️ Ignoring the rest

— Santi Younger (@SantiYounger) May 15, 2023

‍

I've been fascinated with the whole world of AI, and the more I think about it, the more I realize the countless ways in which technology will replace numerous professions. Today, let's discuss the impact on doctors (sorry, doctors).

We initially thought robots would replace manual labor first, but it turns out they are making their mark in the creative fields first. However, I believe they will gradually expand to replace knowledge workers, including professionals in the medical field.

The Inevitable AI Takeover in Healthcare

Doctors will definitely be replaced by AI. Let me clarify that I have great respect for doctors; I think their dedication to studying and acquiring knowledge is truly admirable. Nevertheless, I believe there will be a gradual process of replacing knowledge work. Surgery, on the other hand, will take a bit longer for robots to master. Personally, I am not yet ready to trust a robot to perform surgery on me. What if it glitches while cutting me open? However, the knowledge aspect of doctors will definitely be replaced soon.

AI-Powered Chatbots: The Future Doctors

The knowledge of doctors is an area where AI-powered chatbots can excel. When you think about it, a doctor spends years studying to acquire the correct knowledge to provide accurate advice. On the other hand, an AI can not only acquire a vast amount of knowledge but also access all the information accumulated over the years of research on the human body. It can offer you more informed advice based on a comprehensive body of knowledge. Moreover, it can even learn from itself based on patient feedback.

Imagine having a detailed history of everything that has ever affected you, and these robotic doctors can provide you with a holistic and comprehensive solution to your problems. They consider the interconnectedness of all factors and learn from your feedback. If you report that certain advice didn't help much, they will improve and accumulate more knowledge for the next patient based on your feedback.

Why Robot Doctors Will Outperform Humans

The amount of data and experience that robot doctors can gather is infinitely more than that of human doctors. Therefore, I genuinely believe that human doctors will soon be replaced by chatbot doctors. However, for a few more years, we will still rely on human surgeons until we can fully trust robots with such precision.

AI Disruption: A Professional Revolution

This is just one example of how everything is bound to change, even one of the most esteemed professions that has endured for centuries—doctors. If doctors are not safe from AI disruption, then no other profession can claim to be. Let's stick together and keep exploring how we can adapt to AI in order to survive this professional revolution of knowledge.

‍

I'm starting a daily blog. After rediscovering Seth Godin's Daily Blog, I have finally decided to give it a try.

It's all about committing to write, even if there's no one reading. I don't know where I'll end up in terms of the technical aspect of this project, but these first posts are written in Obsidian, and I'm using Obsidian to publish them.

Why am I writing this?

Just like you, I have been obsessed with AI, and I constantly wonder what are the best skills I can develop that will help make me as irreplaceable as possible during the AI revolution. I don't think writing is it; I'm actually using AI to correct my grammar right now. However, thinking and coming up with ideas will remain useful for a while, developing a vision and learning to reflect to make better decisions. I think the process of writing helps with this for sure. So that's why I'm writing.

How I'll do this?

If you're going to start a simple blog, I highly recommend using Obsidian for publishing because, in my opinion, it is the most powerful writing app and has a low barrier to entry. You can write your first post and publish it within minutes.

In case you are not familiar, Obsidian is a note-taking app that allows you to publish your notes online. You can link across your notes and add images, and it provides everything you need to run a website. You can get started with Obsidian Publish, especially if you haven't used website builders in the past.

What I plan to do is, as I progress in this blog and start publishing more often, I'll transform it into something more robust. If I want to start playing with design and other elements, I'll explore that. But for now, Obsidian Publish is just incredible, and I can't recommend it enough.

What am I focused on these days?

I've dedicated the last 2 years to helping people get started with amazing tools like Obsidian.

Now, I'm not only wanting to teach Tools for Thought but also the concept of how to become more productive. I've completely changed my business model, now I'm more focused on helping people improve their productivity through my community.

If that sounds interesting to you, check out my community here.

‍