July 2022

unsustainable, a rant

2 minutes of reading

I don’t particularly go out of my way to read the news, the bad ones have a way of seeping into my life anyway, with or without my permission,

recently however, I’ve developed a habit of playing The Daily (New York Times) and Today Explained (Vox) podcasts during my runs,

this unrelenting heatwave is, unsurprisingly, an ample topic of conversation at the moment,
cementing strongly held believes, most of us have, that we are, indeed, fucking up this planet,

one of the people being interviewed by Vox, was this “john,” in his early 40s, from LA, living in an area that restricted him from watering his lawn for more than however many minutes a day, mkay… sounds reasonable?

“they will remove me from my house before I stop watering my lawn. I didn’t cause the heatwave, why should I have to pay for it”

I’m sorry, what?

now, I don’t have a habit of getting riled up by people holding opposing views to mine,

but clearly this aggressively mediocre, grown ass man was clinging on to unintelligence a little more stubbornly than most…

I understand that it can be difficult to accept your way of living as being unsustainable,

I understand that change is hard,

I even understand wanting to preserve your social status as an alpha male capable of holding a hose above grass for a few minutes a day,

we all want to be able to enjoy life without burden, but this is not burger king, you can’t have it your way,

things are bad,
things will continue to be bad,
but if we do the absolute bare minimum, things may be a little less bad,

I am not asking you to understand this, merely to accept it as a fact,

even now, after all the ups and downs, we are right where we started,
dangerously close to the end of the book.

it takes a lot of different people to make a world, and only one to end it.

I’ll see you tomorrow(?)

today is day 208 of the year, there are 157 days remaining of 2022.

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what’s the point

1 minute of reading

the world collectively lost its s#!t when Simon Sinek published his now bestseller, Start with Why.

for the first time in the history of trade, we’re not selling services because:
A. we were born into it
B. our livelihood depends on it
C. it’s just way things are

we do it because we want to make an impact, we want change, we want to matter, to be unique, to be remembered, to be appreciated,

we also want money, but that’s not new.

when why replaces how,
work is whatever you want to change,
and what a privilege that is.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

today is day 207 of the year, there are 158 days remaining of 2022.

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sit down, be humble

2 minutes of reading

I used to attend live marketing events quite regularly cca ~ 2019 BC (before covid)
especially in the US.

ClickFunnels, Digital Marketer, Smart Marketer…

while the content itself was valuable, it was certainly not exclusive to a physical space,
what you’d learn as an audience member one day, would have been recorded, transcribed and uploaded online before the speaker even left the stage.

much like any other niche, marketing events, conferences, masterminds and now “summits…”
are all about networking:
the next tech unicorn, the newest apps on the market, new swipe files, but most importantly…

a whirlwind of nerdy marketing strategies being exchanged with the type of intensity that only comes after the 3rd beer.

it’s lonely out here in the land of keyboards, headphones and screens,
these get togethers used to be the highlight of my professional year,

being able too meet up with clients, colleagues and fellow marketing aficionados, painted an extra dimension to my life that I deeply appreciated.

shortly after covid regulations began loosening up, I started to infuse myself in the digital nomads scene in Lisbon and Prague.

from 18 year old TikTok influencers making 6 figures a year, to american real estate agents that decided to retire after buying a vineyard in the north of spain,

no story was the same,
extraordinary people, with extraordinary personalities and extra ordinary egos.

I was holding up a mirror against my own shadow.

in Ego is the Enemy, Ryan Holiday defines ego as an “unhealthy belief in our own importance.

he also talks about “the temptation to tell ourselves a story, to round off the edges, to cut out our lucky breaks and add a certain mythology to it all.” The “arching narrative of herculean struggle for greatness against all odds.”

aren’t we so special…

I am by no means immune, writing in and of itself is an act of ego,

and while I’m out here experimenting with stoicism and gratitude instead of launching in self indulgent spirals…

what I’ve learned is this:

a healthy self confidence stems from intent and NOT abilities,

we are on track to reach 8 BILLION by the end of this year,

given similar circumstances, there are at least a million people that can do what you do,

don’t rest your worth (and your ego) in your ability to do the thing,

it’s the fuel you use to power your engine that makes you, you.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

today is day 206 of the year, there are 159 days remaining of 2022.

sit down, be humble Read More »

I could do that

1 minute of reading

the difference between you “could do that” and someone else that’s actually done that, is simply…
they’ve done it, and not you.

between all of the lengthy analogies, unrelatable stories and few actionable advice, at the core of every productivity self help book ever, lays the ultimate secret:
just do the fucking thing.

screw motivation, what you need is discipline.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

today is day 202 of the year, there are 163 days remaining of 2022.

I could do that Read More »

I am born when I wake up in the morning

1 minute of reading

I think about death all the time.

stoically, not… morbidly (most days at least)

it’s the reason I write the daily countdown at the end of every picking,
a reminder to myself (and now, you) to live every day as if it’s your last day on earth,
one day that will be true.

we were squeezed into existence by a flicker of chance,
on a land that offered us everything…

to wake up breathing the same air you went to sleep with, is a gift beyond human comprehension,
and so I feel compelled, every day, to make the most of it.

Derek Sivers said it so well:
“A lot of people die with things still inside of them.”

I want to go as far as my legs will take me,
think as deeply as my experiences will allow me,
and create until there’s nothing else to give it.

I want to die empty.

today is day 201 of the year, there are 164 days remaining of 2022.

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level up

2 minutes of reading

the first time I’ve ever had to write a CV was for school, as homework.
it’s not all that surprising, seeing how I have a bachelor’s degree in human resources.

what is surprising, however…

is that, my first time writing a CV, has conveniently also been, my last.

why? well, at the risk of inserting too many backfitting explanations, it still reads as nice story, so here goes…

CV is an acronym for curriculum vitae.
curriculum = course/schedule
vitae = life

I’ve been completely financially independent since the old age of 20,
have had quite a few jobs clients since,
and have never once been asked to summarize my life’s course,
not in a linear-progression-of-job-titles-per-anum kind of way.

and thank god for that, I don’t think my kindergarten teacher would want to provide a reference.

work is less about the different forms of work and is more about the skills you develop playing this infinite game.

if you’re lucky to live in a country that gives you the freedom of choice and information, then you hopefully know that no one in history has ever had more options to choose a new career and access to learn the necessary skills, than we have today.

there is nothing inherently wrong with the idea of having your life’s course laid out, for an employer to measure your fit within the company,

what is wrong, is the mass obsession it produces for aesthetic job titles, as opposed to rewarding, or, dare I say, enjoyable ones.

I understand the need for a system that allows for easy vetting, but we must not substitute rigor for logic,

there are innumerable inimitable personal and professional experiences that cannot be reflected in a LinkedIn profile.

we have the technology to do it,
it’s simply a matter of erasing the hard lines the industrial revolution has drawn around work,

now we know better, so we must do better.

as for myself…

I am moved like a puppet pulled by the strings of my own curiosities,

the collection of rabbit holes I have fallen into trying to figure out “how this fucking thing works” now accounts for my continuously evergrowing and everchanging skillset,

I’ve completed enough levels to now know what game I want to play, indefinitely.
(at least for now)

today is day 199 of the year, there are 166 days remaining of 2022.

level up Read More »

pepeni de dăbuleni

2 minutes of reading

the bigger it gets,
the bigger the team,
the lengthier the list of software,
the more money,
the more responsibilities,
the more forceful the pressure to make (more) money,
the more we lose track of the obvious.

Obvious Adams by Robert Updegraff is a pillar book in marketing, we should all revisit with every trip to the bathroom.

if you haven’t yet read it, the premise of the book is “keep it simple, stupid”

writing must be simple,
product must be simple,
offer must be simple.

simple ≠ easy.

I found my most favorite example of this rule in a very unlikely place…

a farmer’s market in romania.

much like every other country, romania has different areas known to produce the best X product.

portugal has porto wine.
colombia has coffee.
dăbuleni has watermelons.

as a result, seemingly every single watermelon sold in romania comes from dăbuleni.

which makes me think that the sellers are either
A. lying or
B. lying.

I can tell you from personal experience that there’s nothing funnier than seeing a sea of watermelons at the farmer’s market with well designed “dăbuleni” signs on them.

as if screaming “I’m special, just like everyone else”

(the above is a great metaphor for what happens with most products in the market at the moment)

if all watermelons come from dăbuleni then no watermelons come from dăbuleni.

so what does this watermelon grower do?

something genius.

he takes a copy of his ID, that clearly states his city of residence, dăbuleni, and amplifies it 100 times over to create a massive banner.

he had the biggest queue in the whole market, here’s the legend in action.

keep it simple, stupid.

today is day 196 of the year, there are 169 days remaining of 2022.

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cliches

1 minute of reading

I had my first panic attack rolling over a dirty floor in a Lisbon gas station,

I had gone from actively planning my summer vacation to impending death, in a matter of seconds.

I distinctively remember rocking back and forth waiting for the ambulance to arrive,
when I finally open my eyes to let the world in,
and that’s when I see him…

a faceless man looking back at me, chomping on a sandwich, watching the scene unfold with merry detachment.

this man’s evening had studently become more interesting than what the sunrise had promised. I became his entertainment.

lives continue to be lived, no matter what…

ironically,
this coolness gave me permission to let go and let live.

even more ironically,
what seemed like the finish line, had become a starting line for a life I could have never planned for,
(not matter how good my goal system is)

and while no one is allowed to die more than once, I know that a part of me ceased to exist that day,
destined to remain only in the fog of memory of those that knew me then.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

today is day 192 of the year, there are 174 days remaining of 2022.

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direction vs destination

1 minute of reading

most people spend more time planning their vacation than they do planning their lives.

can’t really blame them,
a vacation guaranteed to happen in the near future is infinitely more interesting to plan for, than a volatile and incontrollable life,
(the pandemic taught us that much)

I can’t really say that I was planning to retire at the young age of 35 once I’ve sold the lemonade stand cartel that I had built BUT, even as a child, I have always had a very strong sense of what I wanted,

I didn’t know how, I didn’t even know why, I knew what.

turns out, that’s the worse possible way to plan your life, at least for me it was.

for a very long time inertia had got the better of me and I got stuck collecting nothing more than blind momentum, that I had proudly labeled “achievements.”

luckily, it only took two panic attacks and nine months of weekly visits to the couch for me to stop and ask myself…
“what the fuck is this for?”

the answer to that question has allowed me to write myself reminders (not marching orders,)
and obtain more clarity and drive than I’ve ever had in my life.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

today is day 191 of the year, there are 175 days remaining of 2022.

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my second brain

1 minute of reading

if you had to guess,
how much information do you concisely take in every day?
how about every week?
every month?

the books you read,
the articles you glance over,
the podcasts you half listen to,
the courses you watch and take notes on,

or even that comment someone posted on reddit, that made you stop in your tracks a second too long.

where does all of this information go?
what do you do with it?

does it help you lead a more fulfilling and productive life? or does it weigh you down?

do you put it to use?
does it inspire you enough to take action?

there’s an explosion of online content, how do you filter, curate and analyze it?

the sheer volume of information we now need just do our jobs, or to manage our households is not enough for one brain to handle,
so I’m building a second one.

visit Tiago Forte’s website to learn more about building a second brain.

I’ll see you tomorrow.

today is day 190 of the year, there are 176 days remaining of 2022.

my second brain Read More »

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