Hello everyone, I hope you're having a great day.
Thanks for visiting my thread.
First, let me be respectful of your time. I offer you a summary of what to expect here, so you can decide if continuing is worth it to you:
If you want to know more about who I am and my background first, please refer to this: INTRO - Jin, that's me.
Please note that this first post will be a bit longer as I will jog down everything to provide enough knowledge for the upcoming progress.
Okay, let's get started
____
Why am I doing this thread?
I decided to start a journal about my journey. Instead of just writing for myself in my notebook, I realized it would be a wasted chance not to post it here.
It's meant to kick my a** but I would be happy if it creates some value for others. At some point, I want to come back to these posts and feel proud about the path I took, the challenges I overcame, and the progress I made.
I'm not sure how often I will give updates as I go with the flow and write whenever I see fit.
It will challenge me to be honest about my failures and learn from them. Although I struggle to admit it, I'm quite vulnerable to criticism, especially from individuals I respect. Yet I know it's crucial to face it.
I guess this is still a remnant of my past.
This thread will also be a chance to expose myself to deal with these situations. The me that can reach my goals will have mastered this. So, I am going to train.
I hope that documenting what I do will help organize the many things spinning inside my head.
____
What has happened so far?
The last weeks were wild, to put it mildly. Since I read TMF , exciting and new things have been happening to me almost daily. A lot has changed, even if less visible for now. The most powerful changes happened on the inside, but I think that's the most important to begin with. At first, I was afraid to lose this empowering feeling I got from the book along with this precious knowledge I couldn't get enough of. It would have been the worst.
However, if it could be washed away by the first tide, it wasn't strong enough to succeed to begin with.
Anyway, to minimize that risk, I immediately started purposefully building a rabbit-hole, to chain my thoughts to the Fastlane.
I started to create a system that is supposed to support and carry me forward. I will continue to reinforce and grow it whenever necessary. It's my safety net that has the job to keep me outside of my comfort zone as much as possible.
Luckily, I just moved back to my hometown, meaning I could easily organize my living space to fit these needs. It's clean and orderly, and I locked away any distractions or got rid of them entirely (subscriptions, games, unnecessary tasks). One exception I take is my cats, but at least I can shut them out, lol.
Either way, I will work on making these changes visible through the actions I take.
One thing I can't control and need to be aware of is the influence of my family.
I live in a multi-generation house with my grandparents and parents (my father married a second time. His husband is like a second father I adore very much).
I love my family and always saw myself responsible for stepping up for their purpose, to fill the void my mother left.
While I can happily say that I managed to achieve this, I'm now in a spot where I feel responsible for the well-being of my four grandparents. My father is rarely home and mostly out of reach, so it comes down to me.
I treasure spending time with them, I love being their driver, offering to buy their groceries or to do the garden work. However, I see a potential danger as I tend to neglect the necessary things for my progress.
I feel torn between these two worlds. All four of my grandparents are really old (almost 90) so, naturally, I want to enjoy every second I have left with them. Simultaneously, I don't want to waste time and make solid progress. Every day counts, each minute is precious. I don't have a solution for this yet, but at least I can say that it won't be a future problem, as sad as it is, such is life.
I also need to ensure I maintain control over my time. To guarantee that, I started my side hustle (on the 1st of March). It all happened rather quickly, as I scrolled through the forum and noticed @Fox 's ad for the Fox Web School. I jumped in and am working the most hours a day to get things rolling as a Web Designer. It's entirely new and enjoyable for me. So far, I managed to gain a few clients and noticed several ways to help them.
I can't believe how valuable the Fox Web School is. While I'm almost finished with my first Website project, I learned so much about the right mindset, sales, marketing, and much more. I met some incredible people in the Facebook group, who have helped me out more times than I can count.
____
What are my plans going forward?
I think it will be beneficial to build my brand on my name. I intend to start with Web Design, grow a network, and gather experience. I use LinkedIn to connect with people, establish a community, and create leads. I have three more clients /sales calls scheduled during the upcoming weeks and potentially two more clients on the hook.
Networking:
Fortunately, I have a solid foundation of a network in the nutrition sector. I currently reach out to a few known people to see if I can help them in any way. Three of them have offered me to visit them. While I will see them, I still need to be aware of the connected costs. Most live further away, and train tickets in Germany are expensive. Regardless, I think this will be a good starting point.
To reach even more people, I worked with two big magazines in the gastronomy sector and wrote an article for each. One was printed a few days ago and I received four copies yesterday. It's a strange and nice feeling to see my article "in real life" and I'm quite happy with how it turned out. In the article, I pointed out the possibility of a potential collab with companies interested in the tool I developed. It would be great to have someone reach out to me, though, I'm not waiting for that to happen as it's no guarantee.
I'm still working as a research assistant at my university (remote, my other side hustle). I feel quite lucky with my boss as I got my foot in the door thanks to her mentoring me. I learned skills that are now assisting me and it was a highly valuable time. Yet I don't want to further depend on her and set off on my own.
She sent me an invitation to something called an "AI-Idea-athon". It's a competition, primarily for students, centered on supporting young people to push out innovative ideas connected to AI. They prompt us to find a startup-worthy idea over seven days with the support of experts. Since I suspect many areas in the future will focus on and work with AI, I think this is something worth attending to.
I signed up after grabbing a friend to team up with me. The best ideas will be financially supported and guided by professionals for a year. Winning would be nice, although my primary goal is to grow my network and find more like-minded people. It's completely free and takes place online - even more reason to join. I'm excited to see what will come out of it.
A little aside from that, I also aim to build a network in Japan. It's a whole story on its own and isn't really a necessity for now, but I will try to expand into this direction should the opportunity arise.
Ever since I was little, I have had a yearning for this land and culture that I haven't even been to. In Germany, we call this "Fernweh". I think there is no proper translation into English. It may sound like a strange or silly dream, and I struggle to find the right words, but I wish to reach my goals with a connection to it, whatever this may look like.
A few weeks ago, I reached out to a popular publisher in Japan and somehow managed to befriend her. We're now exchanging letters regularly and she even invited me to visit her. It could be an opportunity to learn and experience more of this side, as it would be amazing to work with her. Returning the favor, I want to create some lasting value for her as well.
____
What are my biggest challenges or potential threads?
1. Myself.
2. Setting the right priorities.
3. My parents.
____
The most important stuff in short
My biggest wins so far:
My next steps:
____
At last, for everyone who is still with me, thank you
A while ago, I talked with an old friend of mine and let him in on my plans. During our conversation, he showed me something that prompted me to pause and think for a moment.
This is my life in weeks, assuming I become 90 years old. Doesn't look too bad, right? Still plenty of time left, look at all these empty boxes!
This is my life in months. The boxes getting fewer. Still, it doesn't look too bad, huh?
Well, this is my life in years. Almost 1/3 of it is already used up. 2/3 remain. Seeing my life spread out like this made me painfully aware of my mortality. To make it even more urgent, this is just assuming I'm going to be all healthy and fit. With my mom, I was forced to witness how fast things can end.
Time is the most valuable resource we have in life.
How many empty boxes do you have left, and how will you use them?
Here's the link if you want to see your boxes: Your Life in Weeks - Interactive
Thanks for visiting my thread.
First, let me be respectful of your time. I offer you a summary of what to expect here, so you can decide if continuing is worth it to you:
- Obviously, this thread will document the journey I take to reach my goals
- Authentic me: I will not mask any thoughts or beautify anything. This will be an unfiltered zone and an invitation to accompany me
- I don't take any liability for the chaos you find here or cringy /facepalm-worthy content
- Please feel welcome to share any feedback/ questions or thoughts you might have, I appreciate it
- No set periods for new posts
- You will find a summary of the thread's essentials as the second-to-last point
- I want to return something to thank everyone reading through my posts. I will specifically name or describe something that I have learned that was valuable to me. Hopefully, it will be helpful to you as well.
If you want to know more about who I am and my background first, please refer to this: INTRO - Jin, that's me.
Please note that this first post will be a bit longer as I will jog down everything to provide enough knowledge for the upcoming progress.
Okay, let's get started
____
Why am I doing this thread?
I decided to start a journal about my journey. Instead of just writing for myself in my notebook, I realized it would be a wasted chance not to post it here.
It's meant to kick my a** but I would be happy if it creates some value for others. At some point, I want to come back to these posts and feel proud about the path I took, the challenges I overcame, and the progress I made.
I'm not sure how often I will give updates as I go with the flow and write whenever I see fit.
It will challenge me to be honest about my failures and learn from them. Although I struggle to admit it, I'm quite vulnerable to criticism, especially from individuals I respect. Yet I know it's crucial to face it.
I guess this is still a remnant of my past.
This thread will also be a chance to expose myself to deal with these situations. The me that can reach my goals will have mastered this. So, I am going to train.
I hope that documenting what I do will help organize the many things spinning inside my head.
____
What has happened so far?
The last weeks were wild, to put it mildly. Since I read TMF , exciting and new things have been happening to me almost daily. A lot has changed, even if less visible for now. The most powerful changes happened on the inside, but I think that's the most important to begin with. At first, I was afraid to lose this empowering feeling I got from the book along with this precious knowledge I couldn't get enough of. It would have been the worst.
However, if it could be washed away by the first tide, it wasn't strong enough to succeed to begin with.
Anyway, to minimize that risk, I immediately started purposefully building a rabbit-hole, to chain my thoughts to the Fastlane.
I started to create a system that is supposed to support and carry me forward. I will continue to reinforce and grow it whenever necessary. It's my safety net that has the job to keep me outside of my comfort zone as much as possible.
Luckily, I just moved back to my hometown, meaning I could easily organize my living space to fit these needs. It's clean and orderly, and I locked away any distractions or got rid of them entirely (subscriptions, games, unnecessary tasks). One exception I take is my cats, but at least I can shut them out, lol.
Either way, I will work on making these changes visible through the actions I take.
One thing I can't control and need to be aware of is the influence of my family.
I live in a multi-generation house with my grandparents and parents (my father married a second time. His husband is like a second father I adore very much).
I love my family and always saw myself responsible for stepping up for their purpose, to fill the void my mother left.
While I can happily say that I managed to achieve this, I'm now in a spot where I feel responsible for the well-being of my four grandparents. My father is rarely home and mostly out of reach, so it comes down to me.
I treasure spending time with them, I love being their driver, offering to buy their groceries or to do the garden work. However, I see a potential danger as I tend to neglect the necessary things for my progress.
I feel torn between these two worlds. All four of my grandparents are really old (almost 90) so, naturally, I want to enjoy every second I have left with them. Simultaneously, I don't want to waste time and make solid progress. Every day counts, each minute is precious. I don't have a solution for this yet, but at least I can say that it won't be a future problem, as sad as it is, such is life.
I also need to ensure I maintain control over my time. To guarantee that, I started my side hustle (on the 1st of March). It all happened rather quickly, as I scrolled through the forum and noticed @Fox 's ad for the Fox Web School. I jumped in and am working the most hours a day to get things rolling as a Web Designer. It's entirely new and enjoyable for me. So far, I managed to gain a few clients and noticed several ways to help them.
I can't believe how valuable the Fox Web School is. While I'm almost finished with my first Website project, I learned so much about the right mindset, sales, marketing, and much more. I met some incredible people in the Facebook group, who have helped me out more times than I can count.
____
What are my plans going forward?
I think it will be beneficial to build my brand on my name. I intend to start with Web Design, grow a network, and gather experience. I use LinkedIn to connect with people, establish a community, and create leads. I have three more clients /sales calls scheduled during the upcoming weeks and potentially two more clients on the hook.
Networking:
Fortunately, I have a solid foundation of a network in the nutrition sector. I currently reach out to a few known people to see if I can help them in any way. Three of them have offered me to visit them. While I will see them, I still need to be aware of the connected costs. Most live further away, and train tickets in Germany are expensive. Regardless, I think this will be a good starting point.
To reach even more people, I worked with two big magazines in the gastronomy sector and wrote an article for each. One was printed a few days ago and I received four copies yesterday. It's a strange and nice feeling to see my article "in real life" and I'm quite happy with how it turned out. In the article, I pointed out the possibility of a potential collab with companies interested in the tool I developed. It would be great to have someone reach out to me, though, I'm not waiting for that to happen as it's no guarantee.
I'm still working as a research assistant at my university (remote, my other side hustle). I feel quite lucky with my boss as I got my foot in the door thanks to her mentoring me. I learned skills that are now assisting me and it was a highly valuable time. Yet I don't want to further depend on her and set off on my own.
She sent me an invitation to something called an "AI-Idea-athon". It's a competition, primarily for students, centered on supporting young people to push out innovative ideas connected to AI. They prompt us to find a startup-worthy idea over seven days with the support of experts. Since I suspect many areas in the future will focus on and work with AI, I think this is something worth attending to.
I signed up after grabbing a friend to team up with me. The best ideas will be financially supported and guided by professionals for a year. Winning would be nice, although my primary goal is to grow my network and find more like-minded people. It's completely free and takes place online - even more reason to join. I'm excited to see what will come out of it.
A little aside from that, I also aim to build a network in Japan. It's a whole story on its own and isn't really a necessity for now, but I will try to expand into this direction should the opportunity arise.
Ever since I was little, I have had a yearning for this land and culture that I haven't even been to. In Germany, we call this "Fernweh". I think there is no proper translation into English. It may sound like a strange or silly dream, and I struggle to find the right words, but I wish to reach my goals with a connection to it, whatever this may look like.
A few weeks ago, I reached out to a popular publisher in Japan and somehow managed to befriend her. We're now exchanging letters regularly and she even invited me to visit her. It could be an opportunity to learn and experience more of this side, as it would be amazing to work with her. Returning the favor, I want to create some lasting value for her as well.
____
What are my biggest challenges or potential threads?
1. Myself.
- I have come a long way, but I want to establish a genuine and strong Fastlane mindset. I want to pull this through and shake off doubts and anxiety. I know I'm enough to do it. I just have to do it and keep at it. I will push my comfort zone further and further. I need to punch the Fastlane into the deepest parts of my brain and keep it a prisoner.
- Also, I'm afraid of action faking. I'm afraid about my brain to trick me into thinking that I am making progress, or the right kind of progress, while I'm not and merely distracted from getting actual shit done.
2. Setting the right priorities.
- I invest lots of my time into Web Design, which is supposed to be my side hustle. I have until October to build this ship because I will lose my assistant job around that time. The best case will be that my Web Design hustle manages to keep me above the water. If it doesn't, I'm willing to accept another side hustle should the need arise, but that would mean even less time to concentrate on the important stuff.
- It's hard for me to decide how much time to invest in what. I try to stay organized with a list of my tasks that I prioritize anew each day.
- I also tend to lose myself in unnecessary details. It happens especially when I spend too much energy /time on one topic for a long time, as I grow blind to the mistakes between or around it. Maybe I need some sort of warning system /strategy that shoves me back on track once that happens. I have no idea what this could look like as of now.
3. My parents.
- I haven't told them about any of these things yet. They only know that I started my Web Design hustle, but they think I'm doing it as a side job that is meant to support my master's course starting in October (which was my og plan before I came across TMF ). In specific, my biological father has a personality that for me is difficult to deal with. I fear that telling him would make me too vulnerable and endanger the confident headspace I aim to adapt. Eventually, I will let him in (at the lastest he will know about it in October), but I think this isn't the right time.
____
The most important stuff in short
My biggest wins so far:
- I used /am still using the knowledge from the Fox Web School and put it into action
- I jumped into the unknown and left my safety bubble in several instances
- I grew my LinkedIn profile and network from 9 to 46 people in under a week (I didn't expect it but I got the first person reaching out to me for my help via LinkedIn today)
- I have my first clients and have potentially 2 more lined up
- Re-invented my daily routine and didn't skip a day since the start of March
- I've been out of my comfort zone for the longest time in my life and took every chance to get out there that I came across in the last month
My next steps:
- Building my Fastlane identity and re-directing everything I do to align with it
- Building a brand on my name (starting with Web Design)
- Expanding my LinkedIn presence
- Networking in several industries (nutrition sector, Web Design sector, entrepreneur sector, Japan)
- Pushing my productivity
- Getting out there and helping more people
- Documenting as much as needed but as little as possible to utilize the principle of Act, Assess, Adjust
- CONSISTENCY, don't let the streak be interrupted, even if it's just one tiny step a day. Do something for my goals every day
____
At last, for everyone who is still with me, thank you
A while ago, I talked with an old friend of mine and let him in on my plans. During our conversation, he showed me something that prompted me to pause and think for a moment.
This is my life in weeks, assuming I become 90 years old. Doesn't look too bad, right? Still plenty of time left, look at all these empty boxes!
This is my life in months. The boxes getting fewer. Still, it doesn't look too bad, huh?
Well, this is my life in years. Almost 1/3 of it is already used up. 2/3 remain. Seeing my life spread out like this made me painfully aware of my mortality. To make it even more urgent, this is just assuming I'm going to be all healthy and fit. With my mom, I was forced to witness how fast things can end.
Time is the most valuable resource we have in life.
How many empty boxes do you have left, and how will you use them?
Here's the link if you want to see your boxes: Your Life in Weeks - Interactive
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