Vlad

Dear Zala, I've been fired from a job that paid very well and the one I worked 70-80 hr weeks. It was emotionally devastating at the time plus my ex-girlfriend and I broke up back then. To think of it, none of it was a big deal and both those things changed my life in positive ways. It may be just my crazy ways, but I want to congratulate you. It's a good thing, you just don't know it yet. Getting fired for the first time is a rite of passage of an adult and it gives you a more realistic view on jobs. I'm absolutely positive that you will find a new job and do just fine. Once you change a few jobs I'm pretty sure that you'll feel very confident that you can take care of yourself no matter what. As for the reason of being fired or laid off, as an employer I can tell you that there's a ton of reasons beyond employee's performance why companies let go, keep or promote employees. Those reasons may be impossible to guess in every specific case. Don't worry about that too much, just move on up. Take care and we'll catch up later.

Happy belated Birthday, man!)

Day 66 (Tuesday 09/26) Dear Gamequitters, I'm happy to update my status. Don't worry, although I've been missing I haven't betrayed our common goal. I've quit gaming for good four days before I wrote my first journal entry back in July. I've been working days and nights and I'm rather glad with the results. I've caught a cold, so now I have a little downtime to catch up. I haven't reached my milestones mentioned in my previous post yet, but I'm working on it. Since I'm more present in the real world I'm getting thoughts of finding a wife and having kids (I'm 28 and got most things worked out). I'm probably very weird that way. I'm very comfortable financing and loving and investing time into a wife and many children but I'm absolutely terrified of being held by the balls legally, i.e. always being subject to a risk of getting my assets halved on a whim. I never was a truly monogamous man, I'm not proud of it, nor I say that it's ok, but it's just how I am. Calling quits on other women will kill my drive. What would I need money for? I don't care for anything fancy. I don't care for food, clothing, transportation or entertainment. I do care about healthcare though). I could more or less comfortably get by on very litlle money, I have such experience from my factory days. I'm really scared that when I settle down I will either become a very pale version of my current self like a neutered house cat or I will be my usual self but also will be a bad divorced weekend father. It's so twisted i my head. I think I would enjoy being a father and I would make a good one, but I scared shitless of signing myself into an exclusive sexual agreement for the rest of my life. Who would invent such a perversion?! Sorry, I'm totally off topic. I guess games don't bother me anymore and don't want to jinx my enterprise, so I'm turning to things that worry me personally. What's your take on the subject?

Thank you for kind words, Zala! I missed you too. It's so odd how being a part of a forum group can be nostalgic. It's even funny but still true. I'm very happy that you're doing fine. I'm ok as well. As far as gaming goes I have just accepted that it's not my thing anymore and just don't even consider it. I think life can be way more intense and unpredictable than any man-written plot. The feeling of boredom may be an indicator that you're underutilizing your potential. What are your big wants for the near future?

Happy Birthday!!! Best wishes.

Days 45-49 (Tuesday-Saturday 09/05-09/09) Have been working pretty much all the time. I have reached my 1st client base milestone - 500+. Next: 1k+ clientsI have reached my 2nd weight goal - 214 lbs. Next: 95 kgs / 209 lbsIt wasn't all rainbows and butterflies, I had to revise my strategic vision of the business model due to multiple bad external factors. Arguments are also ever-present. Good thing that I have rather reliable employees, though we are understaffed for now.

What are your reasons for quitting gaming? What do you want to achieve by that?

I don't see what bad can come out of drawing. Please go ahead. it's a good idea!)

Good luck with the marathon! What debate are you periodically refering to? Sorry for being ignorant)

That's very good! I have experienced a similar effect, I became calmer and easier on people, because my cravings stopped eating at me.

All this is meant in a costructive and noncritical way. What's your employment history like? You seem a little hesitant about earning a living. If I project that onto me: I'm usually hesitant about things I've never done, but want to be instantly good at. If you haven't had a job I strongly suggest that you take any job and just do it for a while (maybe a month or two). There's nothing wrong with fucking up or being fired. Once you amass a little experience you'll feel very comfortable with getting and working jobs and making money in general. Employment and financial independence will stop being your problem of focus. My evaluation may be very very wrong, I'm just interpreting your stated worries and projecting them onto myself.

Day 44 (Monday 09/04) An intense but manageable day. It's nice having a rather good helper in my fastest growing branch, the one with the new office. Got pretty much work done. Still a lot to complete till the sun comes up. We watched Nightcrawler with my girlfriend, it's a little weird but I admire the protagonist antihero in a way. I might be a little crazy in similar ways . Yeah, now the good part: on Day 34 I wrote about reaching 500 clients - after we complete internal accounting, it's very likely that I may have hit that number already in the past couple of days . I'm interviewing new candidates this week. I'll hire one by Friday and then two more. i'll get my infrastructure set up and then will make and advertising effort - then we'll go hard for real. It's bad that as of now I can't or don't source a talent to simply tell him/her: "Hey, you. Get the operations set up right now! We're growing in an explosive manner tomorrow." And to expect that it would work. I might have that person in training though. Nothing huge was ever was built without massive delegation, and I'm focused on developing that skill in me.

Day 42-43 (Saturday+Sunday 09/02-09/03) The weekends went by in a flash. New office basic set up and major work tasks with strict deadlines. Clients would be pissing themselves with boiling water if I decide to just chill out and take a break.

>> I'm getting old and start praising the good old days . *Shrugs* Does it happen in education bussiness too? Absolutely)

Bro, I super proud of you! I'm also deeply appreciative of your honesty! Your expression strikes all kind of right chords with me. 1. It takes hitting rock bottom and feeling really unhappy to find a solid surface to push off of. With me it's also a feeling of true desperation that made me change. To be honest I hated your "hee-hees" in your early posts and I had doubts if they were a sign of you intending to bail, and I would just hate for that to happen. I can tell that you have changed and opened up in a sincerest way. I thank you a lot for that! It's very uncommon to see people blossom. I feel confident that you are giving forum members the privilige to witness that phenomenon in real time. It's no exaggeration, I'm spreaking from the heart. 2. Feeling life intensely or being passionate gives the drive to grow. Intense feelings come in highs and lows. I think there's nothing wrong with crying, or laughing, or being angry, or being down, or feeling extatic for that matter. It's those emotions that propel you further in life. Keeping everything in is pointless, there's just no benefit in that. It makes you tense and gives people a very distorted feedback, so they feel perplexed and uneasy about not knowing where you stand with them. 3. I absolutely agree wih you that gaming is like handcuffs or shackes on creativity. I'll be very glad to check out your history podcast. And don't be perfect from the start, let your skyscrappers grow above your shanties. Everything huge started small. Respect and admiration.

Some downtime is natural and necessary. You're very well-organized. Planning leisure time is a separate challenge. I suggest you book some leisure activities for the weekend on Monday-Tuesday and leave some blanks for downtime on purpose. That way you can unwind and feel good about it too.

Good progress, bro!

Expertise costs money. If you go ahead with the first car, find something reliable, in good shape and with a good aftermarket. "Beginner" cars are easily resold and are not much of a pain.

Very well done!

It's a super pleasant feeling when your clothing "outgrows" you , isn't it? Bro, you're awesome, keep at it!

It's all good, you're doing fine. And don't give up on fedora hats all together , they are not that bad. I'll give you a weird perspective (as i always do ) that might be useful, I've learned that from an acquaintance some time ago. So here it goes: Confidence and confident behavior is never about you personally. It's about the people that associate with you. People have a tendency to self-evaluate based on their social group. So if your pals are confident and solid guys, you tend to think that you're alright as well, whether you're wearing fedoras or shorts or bowties or like quirky things. In return you have to be and act confident too back them up and keep them feeling good and worthy too. It works just the same way in my business as well. My employees have faith that if a conflict situation arises I will definitely step in, look at a situation objectively, back them up, resolve the situation in a most mutually benefical way possible and batter the opposition (clients included) into submission if they are abusive of my employees. If my employees fuck up I scold the them in private but never tear them down in front of others. Managers who act the opposite way are weaklings that can't take responsibility. Employees need my confidence to feel secure, and I need their confidence to reinforce the role of being the real deal. So, in conlusion I believe that confidence is all about mutual support and not just about being some cool guy. I find this perspective very helpful in building and maintaining confidence. Shifting the paradigm from yourself to the outer world makes you way less self-conscious and shy - think like a director not like an actor.

I wish you good health! I'm very glad to read about your passion for running and chievement. Totally looking forward to learn about your strategic goals.

Very nice and noble of you to continue supporting the community!

Thank you, Bob. It's a joy to constantly be below 220 lbs, in kgs it's even a more round number - 100 kgs. I'm happy to be in the two-digit kg territory. My girl is getting on my nerves to stop losinf weight, but I guess that's how women are. She might be worried that I may be getting more attractive to her competition. I'm not turning into a ballerina knocked down by wind, The lightest I'm considering is 180 lbs to fit into a powerlifting weightclass, anything below would be a ridiculous loss in lean mass. The powerlifting weightclasses that are anyhow close are 220 lbs198 lbs182 lbs165 lbsI'll see how I feel at 198 lbs and I'll go from there. The next milestone is my maximum "marine shipping" weight - 214 lbs. Any bets on the timing?

Day 41 (Friday, 09/01) September 1 was a little hectic as expected. Worked hard, moved in the new office. After the previous lessie moved out it looks somewhat below average: the floor has taken a beating over time and so have the walls. We'll redecorate it soon, so to be proud to have visitors over. I'll try to get by with minor cosmetic stuff. Have got a ton to do for the weekends. I've successfully negotiated 24/7 access to the office, so in some time I'll be able to provide customer service hours unheard of in my industry, but obviously needed by clients. As per SMM, the photographer was so-so, but I'm glad that I have some material to work with and more importantly that I've learned to hire real life freelance help on short notice. Previously I have only worked with remote freelancers. I'm happy to feel that I can solve all kinds of stuff. Quitting gaming has made me significantly more driven and success-oriented. I'm grateful for your support, guys. Alone it would be much harder to quit. Maybe I'll become more well-rounded with time as well.