2023-01-23

Just one single sentence. That is how much I promised myself to write today. And I did it.

Today is a special day — today, I have continuously written daily notes for one month (let’s ignore the few hangers for a moment!). I’ve proven myself that I can stay consistent. Even more importantly, I have kept the promise to myself. Keeping promises to myself occurs regularly now. It feels much more natural. For example: I could have stayed up at my friend’s flat and would go to sleep at 4 am, which would sabotage my next day. But I said no — because I wanted to be productive tomorrow. And I sticked with it.

Being able to trust oneself may be one of the most important factors in confidence, according to a guy whose interview cutout I’ve watched on Instagram. (How funny that sounds) He said that self-confidece is built by keeping one’s own promises to themselves. And he described how to build super-confidence:

When you tell yourself you do something, you do it. And one more. 10 push-ups? Do one more. Work for 1 hour? Do one minute more.

This brings me to the idea I had a while ago: I do spend some time watching reels on Instagram from time to time. Given my current focus — establishing a better routine — I get recommended a bunch of motivational videos. Many of them are genuinly good excerpts from a variety of successfull people. A good portion of those contain high-quality tidbits of knowledge. I was thinking of sharing them with you. A collection of daily aphorisms from people who achieved greatness. This also reminds of the newsletter by James Clear. Maybe aphorisms, enriched by my notes and considerations could be the way to the first newsletter?

These notes already represent my goal. I am discovering and testing out neurointrospective tools — psychological and behavioral tools and lay it out on paper. Before I build technological tools, I need to become the epitome of what my creation attempts to achieve.

And these notes document my progress and my struggle. The good and the bad times. Eventually, I will create a labelled collection of different periods in my life. You, my dear reader, will be able to find a period or point in time that feels similar to your life, and look how I handled it. You’d find my experience and the accompanied great and horrible moments. For horrible moments, you’d find resources, aphorisms, mindsets, and techniques that helped me get out of the hole. Good moments would inspire you to keep going.

Interestingly, it seems that pretty much all good things in life come from long-term, continuous, effective, goal-directed effort. There is no free lunch and no magic; all else is smoke and mirrors.

One super difficult week lays before me. Newest version of Textery will need to be ready on February 1. We are in a shitty position as a team. This might be our last chance. If we fuck this up in the next 6 week, it may be the end of Textery. But if we do it well, we would reap the benefits of months of work.

I quit my job today. This is one (almost) completed project closer to my life goal. It is working. Slow and steady wins the race. Funnily, the next week will be quite the opposite - fast and hard. Still, I will take time to work on things for my purpose.