Now or Never - Progress Thread

[NowOrNever]

Hi everybody,

Long-time lurker. I will use this thread to document my progress but also to write down random thoughts and ideas.
Let me start by saying that I have been passively reading posts on this forum since around 2017 (!) and did only post once every blue moon with my old account. Maybe 10 posts in 3 years. I wanted to start fresh and therefore created a new account.

Can you imagine…? 10 posts in 3 years?

Actually, let’s try something. Please imagine this: Let’s say you have been looking for like-minded (people for a long long time. People that understand you, people that share the same goals etc. One day you find this awesome „business club“, great bar, great food, thousands of interesting people, incredible stories and conversations. Life changing advise. So, now you go to this business club almost every day. You see different groups of people standing in circles, sharing their experience, advice, having a laugh etc. Wow, great people! So, now everyday after you enter the club you sit at the table with the other members of the club. You just listen carefully, you laugh, you sometimes give them a thumbs up and smile, you maybe make notes or you try some of the stuff out that they talk about. But you never say a word. Not one word. You never bring your view to the table. And so, you go there every day and never say a word. WOULDN’T THAT BE WEIRD??? Yet, I did this for years. And looking at the number of members on this forum and the number of people that actually participate in the conversations on a consistent basis…..I think, I am not the only one. Next time you log in, just imagine you are not behind the computer but at the TFLF club . Would you meet everyday with a group of people and never actually contribute anything? Just CONSUME?

You are too busy, right? You don’t have anything to add. Tomorrow, you will answer that one question. Next week you will share that great story or advice.
One could now say: Man, you are really doing this community a disservice. You only take! This is a community. It needs everybody to contribute something.

But that’s not the point…! YOU ARE DOING YOURSELF A DISSERVICE. YOU ARE A CONSUMER. And consumers….they consume. They don’t produce. So, if you cannot „produce“ something valuable for this community, Do you think you can produce something for the market?

„But…but I am reading all this great advice! All this knowledge! This is going to make me successful!“ hmmm…no! Let me ask you this: How much muscle did you gain the last time you watched that incredible training routine video one YouTube? How many vitamins did you get by watching this awesome superfoods smoothie recipe video? Why do we all understand that we actually need to work out to get stronger? To actually prepare and eat a healthy meal to get healthier. I could go on and on with the examples….but when it comes to business we believe we need to read all 100 Tim Ferriss book recommendations, watch these super secret Social Media Marketing tutorials…the list goes on. STOP CONSUMING. STOP PROCRASTINATING. FOCUS ON YOUR GOALS. WRITE THEM DOWN. And do this: Every day write down at least ONE thing that you will do that will ACTUALLY bring you a bit closer to that goal…even if it is just a tiny, tiny bit. Do this everyday. And everyday or at least every week you will audit yourself and check if you are making progress. If the things you do, did actually brought you a bit closer. And in case you forgot to do that „one thing“ today…no problem….try again tomorrow. Not Friday, not next week, tomorrow. But if you forgot again? Ok, now take that piece of paper with your goal on it. Go to the closest trash bin, put the paper into the trash. This goal is not for you. You don’t want it. Forget it. Stop dreaming and just remove that goal from your mind….but if you do at least one thing a day which moves the needle…that’s 300+ steps to bring your closer every year….someday you will reach your goal.


OK enough of that. My next posts will be about my progress….I will try to post small updates at least every 2-3 days. Which does not sound like a lot…but at the moment I work 60+ hours a week in my day job, I work on one business and on a small web application on the side…I also became a father recently. Will think about how I can update this thread in a meaningful way and in general engage in the forum as much as possible with the amount of time I have left at the end of the day.

Cheers

P.S. English is not my first language. I hope the above is still understandable.

 

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[Cryley]

Best of luck to you and your English is great! Looking forward to seeing the updates.

 

[NowOrNever]

Best of luck to you and your English is great! Looking forward to seeing the updates.

Thank you! Feels good to get positive feedback.

Ok here is a very short update, since a) I spent the last couple of days with the family and b) I am at the moment focusing on developing the app. Not too much to report. First of all, happy new year everybody!

1. Old habits are hard to kill
As mentioned, I am focusing on the development of my side project. Something that I wanted to build for years but always put off (maybe I will share something about it in the future...not sure yet).

On the one hand spending 90% of my time on development is good because I am making a lot of progress in a very short amount of time. On the other hand, I actually had planned to focus less on development and more on interacting with my potential market as early as possible. But the perfectionist in me wants to build the perfect thing before going "public". I have a little under 20 paying users since December which I found through engaging with people on 1:1 basis. They are fine with the app being in alpha because I am creating something unique and the existing features are already helping them and they don't mind the occasional issues. That really motivates me and I am really excited and can't wait to push the first stable version and see if more people love it as much as my current users.

I am sure that number could be a lot higher if I would stick to my original plan of "1 week working on the app and 1 week of outreach". Also, I need to allocate more time for other things such as this thread...

Therefore, I have set a new and final dead line until I have to finish with the core features and start going "public": January 10th.

2. Time is not my friend...
I have been logging time spent on development (starting October 15th). I have spent roughly around 400 hours (including all the research etc.) on my business and my "side-project". At the moment I am focusing 90% on the side-project and let the other business "cruise" for multiple reasons (which would take me hours to explain) .That's around 4-5 hours per day. Here is my usual schedule:

• 07:00 Wake up. Help take care of the little one
• 08:00 Start to work my day job (remote thanks to Covid)
• 08:00 - 12:00 Zoom calls until my head hurts
• 12:00-12:30 Eat something
• 12:30 - 2 p.m. Open my personal laptop and squeeze in a bit of work on the project... (not always possible)
• Between 6 pm (good day) and 8 p.m. (bad day) Finish my day job
  • Thanks to Covid I can see my family between meetings at least which is great
• 8 pm - 10 pm Spend time with my wife and wait until she goes to bed
• 10 pm - 02 am Work on my business and side project etc
• 02 pm go to bed and listen to an audio book for 20 minutes

Now comes my dilemma. On the one hand I want to reach my goals. On the other hand I know I need to step down a little bit. Especially, because I know my performance at work went down and I need time and energy for the family. I will continue to grind until January 10th and see from there if I can step down a little bit.

OK this update got way longer than I wanted it to be. I also know, it is not packed with valuable information but I just had to get this out of my system. I still need to take some time and think about a good format and what I actually want to write about. I am sure the more interesting stuff will come later.

One more thing I want to share with you all and my future-self which is a great fit for this community (most likely somebody has already posted it). I have recently finished reading Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead and I really loved the following speech which resonates a lot with the approach I am taking. I am creating something that I personally would love to have. Something that should already exist but it does not. Of course, I want and need people to like it. However, the "creation" comes first. I know this is risky but I don't have anything too lose except my time (and maybe sanity because of the long days..) Anyways...I am not able to put my thoughts into words...at least not in the beautiful way Ayn Rand was able to....

Thousands of years ago, the first man discovered how to make fire. He was probably burned at the stake he had taught his brothers to light. He was considered an evildoer who had dealt with a demon mankind dreaded. But thereafter men had fire to keep them warm, to cook their food, to light their caves. He had left them a gift they had not conceived and he had lifted darkness off the earth. Centuries later, the first man invented the wheel. He was probably torn on the rack he had taught his brothers to build. He was considered a transgressor who ventured into forbidden territory. But thereafter, men could travel past any horizon. He had left them a gift they had not conceived and he had opened the roads of the world.
That man, the unsubmissive and first, stands in the opening chapter of every legend mankind has recorded about its beginning. Prometheus was chained to a rock and torn by vultures - because he had stolen the fire of the gods. Adam was condemned to suffer - because he had eaten the fruit of the tree of knowledge. Whatever the legend, somewhere in the shadows of its memory mankind knew that its glory began with one and that that one paid for his courage.

Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received - hatred. The great creators - the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors - stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won.

No creator was prompted by a desire to serve his brothers, for his brothers rejected the gift he offered and that gift destroyed the slothful routine of their lives. His truth was his only motive. His own truth, and his own work to achieve it in his own way. A symphony, a book, an engine, a philosophy, an airplane or a building - that was his goal and his life. Not those who heard, read, operated, believed, flew or inhabited the thing he had created. The creation, not its users. The creation, not the benefits others derived from it. The creation which gave form to his truth. He held his truth above all things and against all men.

His vision, his strength, his courage came from his own spirit. A man's spirit, however, is his self. That entity which is his consciousness. To think, to feel, to judge, to act are functions of the ego.

The creators were not selfless. It is the whole secret of their power - that it was self-sufficient, self-motivated, self-generated. A first cause, a fount of energy, a life force, a Prime Mover. The creator served nothing and no one. He lived for himself.

And only by living for himself was he able to achieve the things which are the glory of mankind. Such is the nature of achievement.

Man cannot survive except through his mind. He comes on earth unarmed. His brain is his only weapon. Animals obtain food by force. Man has no claws, no fangs, no horns, no great strength of muscle. He must plant his food or hunt it. To plant, he needs a process of thought. To hunt, he needs weapons, and to make weapons - a process of thought. From this simplest necessity to the highest religious abstraction, from the wheel to the skyscraper, everything we are and everything we have comes from a single attribute of man - the function of his reasoning mind.

But the mind is an attribute of the individual. There is no such thing as a collective brain. There is no such thing as a collective thought. An agreement reached by a group of men is only a compromise or an average drawn upon many individual thoughts. It is a secondary consequence. The primary act - the process of reason - must be performed by each man alone. We can divide a meal among many men. We cannot digest it in a collective stomach. No man can use his lungs to breathe for another man. No man can use his brain to think for another. All the functions of body and spirit are private. They cannot be shared or transferred.

We inherit the products of the thought of other men. We inherit the wheel. We make a cart. The cart becomes an automobile. The automobile becomes an airplane. But all through the process what we receive from others is only the end product of their thinking. The moving force is the creative faculty which takes this product as material, uses it and originates the next step. This creative faculty cannot be given or received, shared or borrowed. It belongs to single, individual men. That which it creates is the property of the creator. Men learn from one another. But all learning is only the exchange of material. No man can give another the capacity to think. Yet that capacity is our only means of survival.

Nothing is given to man on earth. Everything he needs has to be produced. And here man faces his basic alternative: he can survive in only one of two ways - by the independent work of his own mind or as a parasite fed by the minds of others. The creator originates. The parasite borrows. The creator faces nature alone. The parasite faces nature through an intermediary.

The creator’s concern is the conquest of nature. The parasite’s concern is the conquest of men.

The creator lives for his work. He needs no other men. His primary goal is within himself. The parasite lives second-hand. He needs others. Others become his prime motive.

The basic need of the creator is independence. The reasoning mind cannot work under any form of compulsion. It cannot be curbed, sacrificed or subordinated to any consideration whatsoever. It demands total independence in function and in motive. To a creator, all relations with men are secondary.

The basic need of the second-hander is to secure his ties with men in order to be fed. He places relations first. He declares that man exists in order to serve others. He preaches altruism.

Altruism is the doctrine which demands that man live for others and place others above self.

No man can live for another. He cannot share his spirit just as he cannot share his body. But the second-hander has used altruism as a weapon of exploitation and reversed the base of mankind’s moral principles. Men have been taught every precept that destroys the creator. Men have been taught dependence as a virtue.

The man who attempts to live for others is a dependent. He is a parasite in motive and makes parasites of those he serves. The relationship produces nothing but mutual corruption. It is impossible in concept. The nearest approach to it in reality - the man who lives to serve others - is the slave. If physical slavery is repulsive, how much more repulsive is the concept of servility of the spirit? The conquered slave has a vestige of honor. He has the merit of having resisted and of considering his condition evil. But the man who enslaves himself voluntarily in the name of love is the basest of creatures. He degrades the dignity of man and he degrades the conception of love. But this is the essence of altruism.

Men have been taught that the highest virtue is not to achieve, but to give. Yet one cannot give that which has not been created. Creation comes before distribution - or there will be nothing to distribute. The need of the creator comes before the need of any possible beneficiary. Yet we are taught to admire the second-hander who dispenses gifts he has not produced above the man who made the gifts possible. We praise an act of charity. We shrug at an act of achievement.

Men have been taught that their first concern is to relieve the sufferings of others. But suffering is a disease. Should one come upon it, one tries to give relief and assistance. To make that the highest test of virtue is to make suffering the most important part of life. Then man must wish to see others suffer - in order that he may be virtuous. Such is the nature of altruism. The creator is not concerned with disease, but with life. Yet the work of the creators has eliminated one form of disease after another, in man’s body and spirit, and brought more relief from suffering than any altruist could ever conceive.

Men have been taught that it is a virtue to agree with others. But the creator is the man who disagrees. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to swim with the current. But the creator is the man who goes against the current. Men have been taught that it is a virtue to stand together. But the creator is the man who stands alone.

Men have been taught that the ego is the synonym of evil, and selflessness the ideal of virtue. But the creator is the egotist in the absolute sense, and the selfless man is the one who does not think, feel, judge or act. These are functions of the self.

Here the basic reversal is most deadly. The issue has been perverted and man has been left no alternative - and no freedom. As poles of good and evil, he was offered two conceptions: egotism and altruism. Egotism was held to mean the sacrifice of others to self. Altruism - the sacrifice of self to others. This tied man irrevocably to other men and left him nothing but a choice of pain: his own pain borne for the sake of others or pain inflicted upon others for the sake of self. When it was added that man must find joy in self-immolation, the trap was closed. Man was forced to accept masochism as his ideal - under the threat that sadism was his only alternative. This was the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on mankind.

This was the device by which dependence and suffering were perpetuated as fundamentals of life.

The choice is not self-sacrifice or domination. The choice is independence or dependence. The code of the creator or the code of the second-hander. This is the basic issue. It rests upon the alternative of life or death. The code of the creator is built on the needs of the reasoning mind which allows man to survive. The code of the second-hander is built on the needs of a mind incapable of survival. All that which proceeds from man’s independent ego is good. All that which proceeds from man’s dependence upon men is evil.

The egotist is the absolute sense is not the man who sacrifices others. He is the man who stands above the need of using others in any manner. He does not function through them. He is not concerned with them in any primary matter. Not in his aim, not in his motive, not in his thinking, not in his desires, not in the source of his energy. He does not exist for any other man - and he asks no other man to exist for him. This is the only form of brotherhood and mutual respect possible between men.

Degrees of ability vary, but the basic principle remains the same: the degree of a man’s independence, initiative and personal love for his work determines his talent as a worker and his worth as a man. Independence is the only gauge of human virtue and value. What a man is and makes of himself; not what he has or hasn’t done for others. There is no substitute for personal dignity. There is no standard of personal dignity except independence.

In all proper relationships there is no sacrifice of anyone to anyone. An architect needs clients, but he does not subordinate his work to their wishes. They need him, but they do not order a house just to give him a commission. Men exchange their work by free, mutual consent to mutual advantage when their personal interests agree and they both desire the exchange. If they do not desire it, they are not forced to deal with each other. They seek further. This is the only possible form of relationship between equals. Anything else is a relation of slave to master, or victim to executioner.

No work is ever done collectively, by a majority decision. Every creative job is achieved under the guidance of a single individual thought. An architect requires a great many men to erect his building. But he does not ask them to vote on his design. They work together by free agreement and each is free in his proper function. An architect uses steel, glass, concrete, produced by others. But the materials remain just so much steel, glass and concrete until he touches them. What he does with them is his individual product and his individual property. This is the only pattern for proper co-operation among men.

The first right on earth is the right of the ego. Man’s first duty is to himself. His moral law is never to place his prime goal within the persons of others. His moral obligation is to do what he wishes, provided his wish does not depend primarily upon other men. This includes the whole sphere of his creative faculty, his thinking, his work. But it does not include the sphere of the gangster, the altruist and the dictator.

A man thinks and works alone. A man cannot rob, exploit or rule-alone. Robbery, exploitation and ruling presuppose victims. They imply dependence. They are the province of the second-hander.

The entire quote can be found via google

 

[Adir Barak]

Thanks for an enjoyable read.

You seem to already do much (tho I don't understand how you continue functioning with 4.5 hours of sleep day in and day out)

Keep us posted.

 

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[Cryley]

You broke down your schedule but I wonder what your days off are? Assuming you don't work seven days a week maybe you can off load 2 hours of your development time at the end of the day to your days off?

Sleep is vital so don't neglect it for too long.

 

[Calzeem]

Hi everybody,

Long-time lurker. I will use this thread to document my progress but also to write down random thoughts and ideas.
Let me start by saying that I have been passively reading posts on this forum since around 2017 (!) and did only post once every blue moon with my old account. Maybe 10 posts in 3 years. I wanted to start fresh and therefore created a new account.

Can you imagine…? 10 posts in 3 years?

Actually, let’s try something. Please imagine this: Let’s say you have been looking for like-minded (people for a long long time. People that understand you, people that share the same goals etc. One day you find this awesome „business club“, great bar, great food, thousands of interesting people, incredible stories and conversations. Life changing advise. So, now you go to this business club almost every day. You see different groups of people standing in circles, sharing their experience, advice, having a laugh etc. Wow, great people! So, now everyday after you enter the club you sit at the table with the other members of the club. You just listen carefully, you laugh, you sometimes give them a thumbs up and smile, you maybe make notes or you try some of the stuff out that they talk about. But you never say a word. Not one word. You never bring your view to the table. And so, you go there every day and never say a word. WOULDN’T THAT BE WEIRD??? Yet, I did this for years. And looking at the number of members on this forum and the number of people that actually participate in the conversations on a consistent basis…..I think, I am not the only one. Next time you log in, just imagine you are not behind the computer but at the TFLF club . Would you meet everyday with a group of people and never actually contribute anything? Just CONSUME?

You are too busy, right? You don’t have anything to add. Tomorrow, you will answer that one question. Next week you will share that great story or advice.
One could now say: Man, you are really doing this community a disservice. You only take! This is a community. It needs everybody to contribute something.

But that’s not the point…! YOU ARE DOING YOURSELF A DISSERVICE. YOU ARE A CONSUMER. And consumers….they consume. They don’t produce. So, if you cannot „produce“ something valuable for this community, Do you think you can produce something for the market?

„But…but I am reading all this great advice! All this knowledge! This is going to make me successful!“ hmmm…no! Let me ask you this: How much muscle did you gain the last time you watched that incredible training routine video one YouTube? How many vitamins did you get by watching this awesome superfoods smoothie recipe video? Why do we all understand that we actually need to work out to get stronger? To actually prepare and eat a healthy meal to get healthier. I could go on and on with the examples….but when it comes to business we believe we need to read all 100 Tim Ferriss book recommendations, watch these super secret Social Media Marketing tutorials…the list goes on. STOP CONSUMING. STOP PROCRASTINATING. FOCUS ON YOUR GOALS. WRITE THEM DOWN. And do this: Every day write down at least ONE thing that you will do that will ACTUALLY bring you a bit closer to that goal…even if it is just a tiny, tiny bit. Do this everyday. And everyday or at least every week you will audit yourself and check if you are making progress. If the things you do, did actually brought you a bit closer. And in case you forgot to do that „one thing“ today…no problem….try again tomorrow. Not Friday, not next week, tomorrow. But if you forgot again? Ok, now take that piece of paper with your goal on it. Go to the closest trash bin, put the paper into the trash. This goal is not for you. You don’t want it. Forget it. Stop dreaming and just remove that goal from your mind….but if you do at least one thing a day which moves the needle…that’s 300+ steps to bring your closer every year….someday you will reach your goal.


OK enough of that. My next posts will be about my progress….I will try to post small updates at least every 2-3 days. Which does not sound like a lot…but at the moment I work 60+ hours a week in my day job, I work on one business and on a small web application on the side…I also became a father recently. Will think about how I can update this thread in a meaningful way and in general engage in the forum as much as possible with the amount of time I have left at the end of the day.

Cheers

P.S. English is not my first language. I hope the above is still understandable.

Best of luck, I’ve just joined yesterday and hope to get used to how this site works and can interact more with likeminded people! Always here for a chat to be supportive and help if needed

 

[NowOrNever]

Thanks for an enjoyable read.

You seem to already do much (tho I don't understand how you continue functioning with 4.5 hours of sleep day in and day out)

Keep us posted.

Thanks, mate. I got a little bit more sleep in the last days. Not because I went to bed earlier but because I was able to sleep in. My day job is still a bit slower at the moment and people were still on vacation last week. I essentially slept as long as I could and then turned on the work PC very quickly after my first coffee.

You broke down your schedule but I wonder what your days off are? Assuming you don't work seven days a week maybe you can off load 2 hours of your development time at the end of the day to your days off?

Sleep is vital so don't neglect it for too long.

Weekends are a lot better. To be honest, not because I am deliberately trying to wind down. If I could, I would continue to work on the business side as much as possible. But I also have to dedicate time to family which is really important. On the weekends, I try to do 2-3 hours in the evening. Most of the time I am exhausted from a busy day outside anyways.

Best of luck, I’ve just joined yesterday and hope to get used to how this site works and can interact more with likeminded people! Always here for a chat to be supportive and help if needed

Thanks, man! Best of luck to you too. Keep pushing.


SO, here is a quick update because today, for once, I want to go to bed early.

The last days have been pretty hard. I hit a wall with a couple of technical issues and spend over 2 days just fixing problems and not making any real progress. It is going to be difficult to meet my deadline now. Most likely not going to make it.

Yesterday, at some point I was asking myself why I am doing this, why I have chosen a project which is not "in my league" (i.e. it is rather a project for multiple people, I don't have all the skills needed and need to do a lot of learning by doing etc.) why I am trying to build it 10x better instead of just releasing something simple (e.g. building 3 features instead of just 1). I know I should not be doing all of this but it is really difficult and I can literally see the patterns. This is unfortunately not new behavior.

Admittedly, it has served me well in the past (School, work etc.). Before my current job I was a consultant where I was traveling to many different places on almost every continent. Instead of enjoying the flight and watching movies, I was preparing presentations. Instead of just having something "OK" I always had to do something "fancy" and literally worked until we landed and continued in the hotel instead of enjoying the city for example. This ruined a lot of nice trips for me but it paid off and I had a good career so far.
But after hating on myself for doing that I I realized something important...I am pretty average D great realization but bear with me), I am not dumb but not super smart, not super creative etc. But I have something that many others don't have....I can envision something "big" and fancy, I am not satisfied with "average" and so I dream way too big but I also have the willpower to work on it until I am satisfied. Unfortunately, the time between those two points can be quite painful.

Anyways, this is turning into a diary

I would say, I am at roughly 80% of the development but can certainly start working on other tasks around 90% which should be at beginning of the week. Another mindset issue is that I am terrible at delegating/outsourcing...I originally had planned to outsource many more aspects but ended up doing everything myself so far. I promised myself now that I will completely outsource my landing page and will also look for a technical writer who can review and improve instructions, wording etc. because English is not my first language and I am sure some of the instructions sound weird to a native speaker.

Also, I got two other customers just through word of mouth which is telling me that I must be on to something.

OK enough for today. Cheers and I hope to be more active when I am through with my main tasks.

 

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[j0elsuf]

Nice! I have a similar journal in this board too. You should check it out.

 

[NowOrNever]

Hey everyone,
I cannot believe I did it again... Again months of not posting here.

I do have a couple of excuses ... and I want to get back to posting regularly.

- Sold my company/business. That was exciting but the process took a lot of effort and time. Reason I sold - I was just not confident anymore that I would be able to scale the business without hiring a lot of people and investing a lot of money. Plus, it did not feel like the thing I want to do for the rest of my life . It was definitely not a FU-money deal but the money will help me focus on other ideas.

- I took a very long vacation and went on an amazing trip across Europe.

- Work is terrible at the moment. A lot of office politics and BS I have to deal with every day. The salary is very good, so I am not planning on quitting soon. But the work is just depressing...

- I am about to hand in a request at work to take 3 months off in the beginning of 2022. Hopefully it will be accepted. I do have the right to request it (long story but it is a program we have at work...you can save hours / they will be deducted from your salary and later you can use it for a sabbatical). But I don't know if my boss will like this.... The plan is to travel Asia.

• While I am writing this, I have learned about an opportunity to switch careers and work in a another country…I don’t have the job yet and would need to go through a couple more interviews first, obviously. But I could potentially double my salary. It would be FU-salary sort of...I would be a very well paid drone....Maybe I will share more about it and my feelings and ideas around this but at the moment I am a bit overwhelmed. This could change my life and my family’s life. We could save so much money....but it would be another pair of handcuffs around my wrists, changing locations, a lot of traveling, new things to learn etc.

Now, regarding my (web) app idea...I have finished the basic functionality and I would love to ask people here for their opinion and if they would like to be beta testers. Still need to work on the grammar and wording - Would anybody like to help me with that and maybe also take a look at my landing page?

Would love to hear what people think of the app. I don’t want to release it to the wider public it because I would like to focus on bugs, performance and improvements first. Will be much easier with a small group of beta testers.

Please send me a PM If you would like to be a beta user (Please, only if you have time to use it and send some feedback - there will be bugs and issues, I am sure) and I will send you the link.

In a nutshell the app will help you understand, manage and most importantly focus on your goals. I have build a couple of features that should also help you build habits and routines. From my experience, when you are trying to hit a big goal, the most important thing is to do something on a daily basis. People tend to work on their goal like crazy for 1-2 weeks and then they slowly forget about it. A little bit like my post history here

The app basically consists of two modules Task and Habit Management & Regular Check-Ins and Data Collection

Task and Habit Management

This will help you to put some "pressure"(accountability) on yourself. The thing that I learned is that a long to-do list and 100s of goals and ideas will not get you very far. Successful people rely on rituals and habits. Instead of creating a ton of tasks on your todo-app for "someday" or for "next week" or the "end of the month" (that you will most likely move to another day because you don't "feel like it") look what you can do today or tomorrow. It has some "gamification" aspects to it (for example, you can set "HP" points to your goal and if you don't do the task you planned for today, one HP will be removed. If your goal reaches 0 HP it will be marked as FAILED and you cannot continue and have to start all over again.) There are many other aspects and functions but I need to take some time and lern how to explain this in the best way...

Regular Check-Ins and Data Collection

I love to track data about myself and I always had the feeling that when I measure what I do (how much water do I drink, do I regularly meditate, how many e-mails am I sending out per week, how much time am I spending on Social Media etc.) I tend to perform better and I tend to adjust my behavior. I also track things like how I feel, what I am grateful for etc. just to be more present and think about these things deliberately. Plus, it is nice to see all the data and how my behavior or my feelings have changed over time.

Again, building this primarily for someone like myself and for everyone else who needs a kick in the b... from time to time. Going forward, I would take everyones feedback and adjust the app (remove/add features etc.). It is a web app / prototype at the moment. If I have enough traction, I will develop a mobile / iOS, Android App.

Will post a couple of screenshots when I have time!

 

[woken]

Welcome back I should say.

In order to participate on the forum, all you have to do is look at the new posts. Read them. Something surely will spark a reply from you.


I mean.. I can’t help but reply to some posts.



It’s nice when I see people having their day to day activities written out by the hour. It reminds me how busy I am not and directionless

 

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[NowOrNever]

Hey,

First of all, I want to thank everyone who sent me a DM and asked about the app. As promised, here are a couple of screenshots. There is one thing I keep thinking about: Why do we all understand that, in order to become fit, muscular or whatever, we need repetition. We can't just go to the gym ONCE, run 5 miles ONE TIME, bench press one rep etc. Repetition is essential. Nobody expects to go to the gym ONCE and the next day to look like a bodybuilder. It takes months, years, decades of repeated exercise to eventually grow your muscles. We understand this when it comes to how our body works.

But when it comes to our mind, we think this ONE "aha moment" will instantly transform our mind. We read a book once, we watch a video or listen to a podcast and we think "WOW. I learned something extremely useful. Next time I encounter X, I will do Y". And "from now on I will not do ABC, instead I will do XYZ". And then, after a week (heck, maybe the next day) we forget what we learned. Maybe we highlighted important parts of this book, we write down a powerful statement from a podcast. But then? We read the next book, we listen to the next podcast, next YouTube video.

One thing I would like to focus on with my app (and I am still far away from achieving what I feel would be a good solution) is to create a something where the user will be able to "brainwash" him/herself. Maybe you watch a certain video every day for at least 30 days, 90 days, for the rest of your life... You re-read certain parts of a book at least every week. Just like having a "chest day" and "leg day" you could focus on working on certain parts of your mind, personality or other "inner game" aspects in a regular frequency.

Anyways, I will let you guys know once I found the perfect solution. Maybe it's already out there. So far, existing apps, index cards or other reminder apps have not worked for me at least.

back to the screenshots. Still working on a couple of things but I may create something like a "Roast my app" thread on here to get as much (brutal) feedback as possible. On the other hand, I would like to keep the app "under the radar" for a bit longer until I have fixed most of the bigger issues (even managing the feedback from a few people takes a lot of time and effort if you really want to understand the feedback). Let's see