Maintenance of the PhoenixKing

[Phoenixking]

Detox day 66. "No more sleeping in?"

The stream last night and the beef stew were a success. I still think the stew could be better, though. The flavor is on point, I just want to get the texture right. I shouldn't stew it all for that long, the sauce evaporates. Either add more sauce of lower the fire quicker. It's a learning process after all. The stream didn't get to the end, though. So we'll have a finale in another 2 weeks, I believe. We only have about 15 viewers. But at the very least it's consistent, the same people keep showing up and chatting with us. We've now also set the other streams available online for curious people. I like making content ^^ 

Today, I'm starting to feel the results of my changed sleeping habits. I have more energy, less anxiety and whereas I used to give in to the blissful lethargy of sleeping in, I no longer can. Today I slept in a bit, because Sunday, but I didn't enjoy it. I felt like I wasted a few hours. I had already slept enough and felt fine! I just wish I had gotten up and started my day already. Nowadays I'm so energetic and happy, I can't wait to start my chores, read the news, go for a walk, ... I guess I've successfully turned away from falling asleep with podcasts or other media and changed it to a healthy sleeping habit!

 

Recent highlight: Eating the delicious stew last night.

Budget status: Had a talk with SO about visiting the local tiny supermarket so often. It's not safe. Also, you spend more money on random shit like that. It's safer and more financially sound to get groceries once a week max. 

My one goal for the next 24h: Make Japanese Melonpan today.

 

Maintained habits:

-Daily Japanese lesson - Just got'r'done.

-Make the bed - Done.

-Drink enough water - Had my first bottle already.

-Brush teeth two times a day, floss and clean once a day - About to go shower, clean my teeth and do pushups.

-Less daydrinking at home alone - Nothing yesterday.

-Meditation - I was planning on taking a short walk to the part to smell the flowers.

-Exercise once this week - The pushups yesterday were okay, but I'm still looking for the right moment to plan them in.

[BooksandTrees]

2 hours ago, Phoenixking said:

Detox day 66. "No more sleeping in?"

The stream last night and the beef stew were a success. I still think the stew could be better, though. The flavor is on point, I just want to get the texture right. I shouldn't stew it all for that long, the sauce evaporates. Either add more sauce of lower the fire quicker. It's a learning process after all. The stream didn't get to the end, though. So we'll have a finale in another 2 weeks, I believe. We only have about 15 viewers. But at the very least it's consistent, the same people keep showing up and chatting with us. We've now also set the other streams available online for curious people. I like making content ^^ 

Today, I'm starting to feel the results of my changed sleeping habits. I have more energy, less anxiety and whereas I used to give in to the blissful lethargy of sleeping in, I no longer can. Today I slept in a bit, because Sunday, but I didn't enjoy it. I felt like I wasted a few hours. I had already slept enough and felt fine! I just wish I had gotten up and started my day already. Nowadays I'm so energetic and happy, I can't wait to start my chores, read the news, go for a walk, ... I guess I've successfully turned away from falling asleep with podcasts or other media and changed it to a healthy sleeping habit!

 

Recent highlight: Eating the delicious stew last night.

Budget status: Had a talk with SO about visiting the local tiny supermarket so often. It's not safe. Also, you spend more money on random shit like that. It's safer and more financially sound to get groceries once a week max. 

My one goal for the next 24h: Make Japanese Melonpan today.

 

Maintained habits:

-Daily Japanese lesson - Just got'r'done.

-Make the bed - Done.

-Drink enough water - Had my first bottle already.

-Brush teeth two times a day, floss and clean once a day - About to go shower, clean my teeth and do pushups.

-Less daydrinking at home alone - Nothing yesterday.

-Meditation - I was planning on taking a short walk to the part to smell the flowers.

-Exercise once this week - The pushups yesterday were okay, but I'm still looking for the right moment to plan them in.

I agree. I've been waking up at 7 and feel a lot better each day. No more 9 or 10 unless I truly need it for health purposes. 

[Phoenixking]

Detox day 67. "Bun run!"

Made my own Japanese sweet breads yesterday. A whole day of making dough, letting it rise, covering it with pastry dough, baking, ... It's hard to make your own melonpan and actually have it taste like melon, it seems. So I settled for adding sugar to at least make it sweet. I made about ten of them, each a fist big. So I'm going to do something daring. I'm going to ride my bike around town a bit to my friends and play Delivery Boy for a bit. I hope my knees won't groan and I hope I won't damage them. If I do, I'll turn around.

My SO spent the better part of the weekend working. Unpaid overtime. She has a class to teach today and wanted to prep said workshop. She's a perfectionist and will take an hour to write one lousy email if she has to. She was looking at counseling but the virus has kind of shoved that aside for now. Poor girl. She still has a lot to learn about being kind and loving to yourself. Not that I'm such a role model of course. I just love her and wish she'd take it a bit easier on herself. It's so weird. I come from a broken home, had multiple suicide attempts and depression, some addiction, crazy relationships, ... She came from a wealthy and loving home, solid parents (with their own set of flaws of course) and she still had weird relationships, accepted emotional abuse from them and also has a similar feeling of never being good enough. I always thought that my fucked up background was the explanation for my uglier sides. But it seems like everybody can get fucked in the head, no matter how loving and supporting their backgrounds are...

 

Recent highlight: Making the buns! Kneading dough is hard work, damn!

Budget status: Talked my SO into laying off the store bought cups of ice coffee and suggested making our own. It's caffeinated financial theft in a plastic cup to me.

My one goal for the next 24h: Survive the bun run today.

 

Maintained habits:

-Daily Japanese lesson - Just finished.

-Make the bed - All good.

-Drink enough water - Just had my first sip.

-Brush teeth two times a day, floss and clean once a day - I'll do it after the lunch I'm about to have.

-Less daydrinking at home alone - Nothing yesterday either.

-Meditation - I am home alone for a whole day. It's so nice and quiet... My SO left for the local office to find some focus and a better internet connection.

-Exercise once this week - Keeping up the daily 10 pushups. I am starting to do them right before I enter the shower, but something doesn't feel just right yet in regards to that timing.

[Phoenixking]

Detox day 68. "Oh fuck, what have I gotten myself into?!"

The bun run was fun and rather quickly done! I had a major issue with restless legs in the evening, though. Not sure if that's related. I ended up stretching my leg a lot and today my knee is a bit swollen. I'm such a old man... Not even 30 yet! I think I just overdid it with the bun run thing.

Two steps forward today, I've started the online Google Digital Marketing course. A free 40 hour-course about how to use SEO, SEM, social media, and so on... EXHAUSTING. But I'm sure the knowledge will be worth it. And I had another Starterslab workshop today where we got to know everybody, their projects and businesses and learned about USPs. I also started a Whatsapp groupchat with everybody. Networking is important.

The side effect of the two things mentioned above is that I no longer have any idea wtf I'm doing. I want to continue what I did as a freelancer, namely acting and public speaking. But because of those two being infrequent paying gigs, I supplemented them with teaching improv, organizing a monthly stand up open mic, wrote a few screenplays, explored being a professional D&D Game Master... I wanted to keep doing all of those things and add a safety net, namely coaching. I'd teach academics, marketeers, salespeople and managers how to be able to speak with conviction, how to find out what's wrong with their powerpoint, presentation or speech and how to improve it. I call it learning the difference between talking and speaking. 

But the deeper I delve into the knowledge necessary for starting and maintaining a healthy business, the more I'm starting to feel like it's all too fragmented. There's no way to explain in 20 seconds or via a simple website or email what it exactly is that I do. I do so many things, I enjoy all of them and would rather not stop doing any of them. Quite the opposite, I want to do more of them! Coaching is just a means, somehow, a safe pillar as a part of my income that won't fluctuate as much as the other elements... But it's starting to look like I might have to go all in on just 1 thing. I have no idea how to sell the unique mix of things I can bring to the table. 

If I look at somebody's website, searching for a good public speaker, and find that they also advertise them writing screenplays, playing D&D, acting and improv, then I'd be inclined to assume that the competitor who seems to be solely focused on public speaking and that alone, will be better at that. So that implies I have to let go of the other stuff. At least for now, I think... Maybe I could make a separate website or something? Or several different marketing strategies depending on the market, demographic and what I'm offering? Ugh. This is so hard...

 

Recent highlight: Kicking ass this morning during the 2 minutes I got to introduce myself.

Budget status: We kind of have all we need for now. I have about 30 bucks left to get through the next 6 days. I'm going shopping tomorrow, but that's with our shared accounts, so we're good. We're going to start buying more fresh produce and stuffs and freeze those ourselves. Cheaper and tastes better.

My one goal for the next 24h: Be safe while groceries shopping tomorrow.

 

Maintained habits:

-Daily Japanese lesson - Finished it this morning.

-Make the bed - Just did it.

-Drink enough water - On my way!

-Brush teeth two times a day, floss and clean once a day - I'm going to go and do it right now!

-Less daydrinking at home alone - Nothing for a while now, I think.

-Meditation - Slowly starting to be synonymous with me-time I feel. But as soon as the virus stuff dies down a bit, I'd like to go back to my park and watch birds.

-Exercise once this week - The daily push ups seem to be going well. The timing is still a bit off. But the daily reminder helps me do the thing.

[Ikar]

1 hour ago, Phoenixking said:

Maybe I could make a separate website or something? Or several different marketing strategies depending on the market, demographic and what I'm offering? Ugh. This is so hard...

I think as long as you do everything well enough and you enjoy doing those things, I'd advertise for all of them or at least throw them in as hobbies. Myself, I'd throw all "acting, public speaking, improvisation, stand-up" all in the same box for a creative artist such as yourself and it wouldn't strike me as odd. You don't work a 9-5 job, so I think it overall makes sense your portfolio is more diverse.

I think after gaming I lost the ability to cling to a single/a few activities too much. Yesterday, I worked on my university project, went for a walk somewhere I never went before, watched an old British comedy show, studied Russian, published an article on my blog, worked out, played football and read a book. All that is who I am, even though I can't do everything I want to every day. The great thing about all this is that I do not crumble and die if any of those things gets somehow "taken out".

[Phoenixking]

18 hours ago, Ikar said:

I think as long as you do everything well enough and you enjoy doing those things, I'd advertise for all of them or at least throw them in as hobbies. Myself, I'd throw all "acting, public speaking, improvisation, stand-up" all in the same box for a creative artist such as yourself and it wouldn't strike me as odd. You don't work a 9-5 job, so I think it overall makes sense your portfolio is more diverse.

I think after gaming I lost the ability to cling to a single/a few activities too much. Yesterday, I worked on my university project, went for a walk somewhere I never went before, watched an old British comedy show, studied Russian, published an article on my blog, worked out, played football and read a book. All that is who I am, even though I can't do everything I want to every day. The great thing about all this is that I do not crumble and die if any of those things gets somehow "taken out".

Thanks, man. My SO kind of said the same thing. All of the stuff I like doing has to do with verbal skills, performance, speaking and being creative. It'd only be natural there's some cross pollination. Now I just have to figure out the correct marketing strategy to combine it and explain it easily. I gotta pitch this to the coaches next week and will have 20 seconds to do so.

[Phoenixking]

Detox day 69. "Look at all of the food!"

My knee still kind of feels fucked up. I had to go groceries shopping this morning though. I kind of splurged. There's this crazy supermarket near the one I usually frequent. It's usually reserved for cooks and food professionals, but because of the virus, they've opened their doors to other people as well to get a bit more money in. And holy shit was I happy that I checked their website. I was planning on worming my way in via Starterslab and finding a loophole I could use. But I didn't have to. I only had about 30 bucks to spend on extras this month, but I threw it overboard. I still held back though. But the moment I saw they had an entire wall of single malt whiskey, I knew it was a lost cause. I found special syrups I can add to my coffee, some Japanese dashi, boni flakes, tonkatsu sauce, ... They don't just have fish, they have entire fresh fishes on ice and you can just ask for the part of whatever fish you like. Same goes for meat. They have entire rooms, refrigerated, with several specialists that just cut the part out of a fresh carcass for you. The amount of pots, pans, glasswear, sauces, pasta, ... It just blew my mind. I got tingly in the belly. I was in heaven. I didn't know when they'd close their door to 'commoners' again, so I got everything I thought I'd need in the next year. A couple of bottles of syrup and some other Japanese hard to find stuff. I can't wait to go back with my SO and just tear that place up with our wallets. But we'll have to do that next month. Our budget is gone for this month now, hahaha.

I've offered my services for free to the other entrepreneurs in my Starterslab class. We all agreed to post our 20 second pitches of our business ideas in our Whatsapp group. But some will message me tomorrow with their text and video and I'll coach them for free. Good way to flex my skills and help them out at the same time. I also mailed my business coach about the issues I'm having (check the previous entry for that). And finally, I had to fill in a horribly complex and dire document a few months back for my over-the-top complicated application. Turns out, it wasn't all for nothing, that stupid bureaucracy! They seem to use the same document as a base to teach the classes and want us to fill it all in, week by week, based on the new stuff we learn each time. So I accidentally basically did all of the coursework 2 months in advance. Hahaha!

 

 

Recent highlight: Feeling the butterflies in my belly when I walked into the crazy supermarket and saw the infamously large selection of food, ingredients and cooking gear. HEAVEN! I was thinking of getting my sister a chef's hat with either her name embroidered or "Badass" or 'STAY OUT OF MY KITCHEN I AM BUSY". Since she can't stand anybody nearby when she's focused and cooking technically difficult dishes. 

Budget status: I got some fresh stuff and froze them all. I still need to blanch the veggies before I freeze them though. But the knees hurt and I loathe standing up for now. 

My one goal for the next 24h: Fill in the document from Starterslab.

 

Maintained habits:

-Daily Japanese lesson - Just finished it.

-Make the bed - I left it like that. My SO has the habit of getting up later than me and leaving the bed as is. My knees hurt a tad too much to go out of my way and cleaning the house. Just doesn't seem like a smart choice. I don't like it. But sitting down is the wiser choice now.

-Drink enough water - Had a busy day so only now just had my first drink of water.

-Brush teeth two times a day, floss and clean once a day - Did it this morning 🙂 But skipped the shower because I got too excited to go to the crazy supermarket.

-Less daydrinking at home alone - Had some port last night. Wasn't that good a move, I slept less well because of it I feel.

-Meditation - I enjoy quiet moments more and more. Like not playing music or podcasts when I go to places by car or bike. 

-Exercise once this week - I'm maintaining the 10 pushups every day. Because of the knees and weak legs, I'm contemplating adding 10 slow squats. I'd help with restless legs in the evening and it was part of my physical therapy. But I think my knees are too weak for now so I'm still on the fence. I'm happy I was smart and kept a log of all of the exercises. Now I can just use those. I will add them to the daily exercises as soon as the pain dies down. I should be careful the next few days and be smart and sit down a lot.

[Phoenixking]

Detox day 70. "Outbreak. Ugh."

I coached on of the other Starterslab entrepreneurs. I was proud of how quickly I was able to tell her in what direction she could go. But it all felt like a weird mix of be just voicing my professional opinion, directing her and providing feedback. I think I was coaching, but I don't really have any idea how to coach. The deeper I delve into starting a business, the more questions I get.

I have an outbreak of herpes again. UGH. A teenage ex of mine once gave me the virus. Whenever I'm dehydrated, sleep deprived or pushing my limits to unhealthy levels, the tiny blisters show up. I've gotten pretty good at taking care of it. Dissecting them, draining them, decontaminating, sealing, cleaning the wounds, ... It shows that my mom is a nurse and was a wellness professional for decades, I have her fingers. I've seen others struggle with them for up to two weeks. Mine only take days.

Often, they're a clear sign that I need to back off and relax. I was wondering what had pushed me over the edge to an outbreak. I think it's the knees and the fear/stress the first Starterslab week gave me. Probably the knees more than the latter, but still, it's a factor to take into account. I'm going to keep a close eye on the knees and start my physical therapy stuff up again. I remember having to pay close attention to my limits and the pains and not being able to do daily exercises. As soon as it all dies down a bit, I'll see what I can do about it.

 

Recent highlight: Fighting through laziness and redoing the paperwork I was assigned, despite having done it 3 months ago. A fresh look is always good!

Budget status: Spent a bit more than I should have at the fancy supermarket. No regrets though. Who knows when I'll get another shot at being allowed in.

My one goal for the next 24h: Nail the one-shot I'm running for some friends tonight!

 

Maintained habits:

-Daily Japanese lesson - The app had an update so I'm repeating a few courses. Still on target though, nearing a 60 day streak!

-Make the bed - SO did it.

-Drink enough water - Haven't fully started my day yet, the filled up bottle is near me though. The herpes on my lip is giving some issues with drinking safely from the bottle without me accidentally self-infecting my dumb ass.

-Brush teeth two times a day, floss and clean once a day - About to do it after breakfast

-Less daydrinking at home alone - Had a cocktail with my SO. She seems to be drinking a bit more nowadays. 

-Meditation - I'm oddly enough a bit more calm than I used to be. I used to crave alone time. I wonder what changed.

-Exercise once this week - Still maintaining the push ups. I either do them before I shower or at 1 pm, whichever comes first. I have physical therapy exercises ready, but not sure yet which to start with and at what intensity or frequency. The knees still hurt, so I'm cutting them slack today and probably tomorrow.

[Phoenixking]

Detox day 71. "Do you want ants? BECAUSE THIS IS HOW YOU GET ANTS!"

I've been sometimes using that virtual betting website. I don't get super addicted like I would a game, but I notice the elements are there. A level of skill required for insight, a chat to be social, a feeling of fake achievement, flashy visuals and music, ... I get why one can get hooked. I use it sometimes to mess around and have some fun. I don't feel like it's a problem, for now. But I'm painfully aware of how dangerous that statement is.

There's ants. Not in the kitchen. But oddly enough, in the bathroom. I taped up two holes on the sides of the door frame and killed the ones inside. I still haven't figured out if that settled it, though. There were a bunch inside again this morning, but it could be that we removed their exit and thus they couldn't escape. Maybe I should just sit in that room for a bit, observe one or two ants and figure out their goal. They don't just wander. At some point he'll either return to their nest or find something to eat or do and thén return to the nest.

 

Recent highlight: Seeing the results of my coaching! A couple of the entrepreneurs have posted their pitches in our Whatsapp group. Some are marvelous. 

Budget status: Having some very fancy traditional Japanese food delivered tonight; my SO's mom's birthday is today and thus she's buying us dinner. And a bottle of sparkling wine. Yay!

My one goal for the next 24h: Tape the pitch for my business. 

 

Maintained habits:

-Daily Japanese lesson - Just finished it.

-Make the bed - Done.

-Drink enough water - First bottle almost finished.

-Brush teeth two times a day, floss and clean once a day - I'll do it after brunch and shower and do pushups.

-Less daydrinking at home alone - Had some whiskey with my buds last night during D&D. 

-Meditation - Sometimes I don't really know what to note here. I can't go to the park because of the lockdown and I can't risk going out for a walk because of my fragile knees and also the virus is still here and I'd rather not get sick.

-Exercise once this week - Still maintaining the pushups. I'll be on my feet more today because the dishes and other stuff around the house. I'll be careful, though.

[BooksandTrees]

Good luck with the pitch. Taping a pitch is more exciting than taping holes from ants. 

[TheNewMe2.0]

That dinner sounds good. I've been eating home cooked food that's on the bland side forever. Chicken, veggie, rice soy sauce. It's good enough to keep eating, but it's a far cry from fancy Japanese food. You're on duolingo? I felt like that app was too much like a game. 

[Phoenixking]

On 4/24/2020 at 3:21 PM, BooksandTrees said:

Good luck with the pitch. Taping a pitch is more exciting than taping holes from ants. 

Hahahaha, exactly! Well put! XD

[Phoenixking]

17 hours ago, Erik2.0 said:

That dinner sounds good. I've been eating home cooked food that's on the bland side forever. Chicken, veggie, rice soy sauce. It's good enough to keep eating, but it's a far cry from fancy Japanese food. You're on duolingo? I felt like that app was too much like a game. 

The food was kind of okay. I bet if you go and eat in, it's way better. My SO is kind of a klutz and the soy sauce was all over the bag. The food was okay. Not out of this world, though. 

Yeah, I am. I had some issues in the beginning with the achievements and the leader board. But I sorted it out because I didn't want to stop learning Japanese. I understand your worry though, I had actual troubles with mastering the urges because of it. I guess a part of me just moved on at some point. 

[Phoenixking]

Detox day 72. "Seize the opportunity."

Oh god, what have I done. I'm both terrified and exhilarated; here's what happened.

So our prime minister and her aides speak at a weekly press conference. The measures in place for the containment of the virus get updated every week here. And yesterday they unveiled the plans for the next months. Something we've all been waiting for. I have tremendous respect for them because it's a hard position to be in. And I'm not political. But holy shit, that was a trainwreck. A powerpoint presentation that was filled to the brim with errors and a speaker who would drone monotonously about irrelevant details. Social media was up in arms about her. The entire country is talking about how bad her presentation, speaking and powerpoint was.

And I'm just now starting a business as a speaking coach. Can you smell the opportunity? 

I got a hold of the video of the conference and am analyzing every single mistake and will transform that analysis into a video that explains in 3 minutes or less what exactly went wrong, what you can do with your own presentations to make sure it's not as bad as hers and what the psychology behind it all is. Basically flexing my muscles and showing I'm capable. It's a godsend that everybody just got an amazing example of a bad presentation. I'm hoping to surf this wave and launch the business with a running start.

But I have no website. I barely have a name... I asked my network on Facebook what they thought of my idea and the fact I have no site or like a pricelist or something... But they all shouted I should just jump into it. There is no room for doubts if you're an entrepreneur and media snows over fast. In 2 days this subject will no longer be relevant and I have to hurry up and strike while the iron is still hot. It's cooling down by the minute so I better hurry up. I aim for finishing the analysis today and writing the script. Tomorrow morning I'll practice and film and I'll spend the afternoon and evening editing so I can release it on Monday morning. I feel like it's smarter to release it on a work day than the weekend. 

 

Recent highlight: The huge response online over my idea and everybody clamoring for me to make the leap.

Budget status: Went to the crazy supermarket with the SO again. Did not do anything good for the budget, but holy shit did we get some cool swagger.

My one goal for the next 24h: Be super focused on 1 thing and 1 thing only. MAKE THAT VIDEO.

 

Maintained habits:

-Daily Japanese lesson - Leaving it for the video. Priorities...

-Make the bed - Done.

-Drink enough water - On track!

-Brush teeth two times a day, floss and clean once a day - Done!

-Less daydrinking at home alone - No sweat.

-Meditation - The SO can be a major distraction; she talks a lot, needs lots of confirmation and is rather insecure about her opinions and views. I've removed myself from the living room to get some more focus. But I don't like being in the bedroom all day. We need a bigger place...

-Exercise once this week - Still doing the push ups. It's starting to get more and more ingrained into me to do them just before I shower. Odd sensation to want to workout as soon as I turn the valve open, haha.

[Phoenixking]

Detox day 73. "Aflame."

It's rare for me to have this levels of discipline and productivity. I guess I do thrive on pressure somehow. I was barely awake when a surge of energy found me roaring to go. I almost jumped out of bed. I've been so focused for the last 24 hours, it's crazy. The website is now kind of done, apart from uploading a few tidbits and details. My LinkedIn got a bit of a cleanup and I posted all of the progress on my IG stories and Facebook. I just finished shooting the video and have the rest of the afternoon to finish the editing. I might even be able to release it today, though I'm still not sure if it's smart or not. I would release on Monday morning, but the sooner on a Sunday afternoon, the better, I guess...

 

Recent highlight: The buddy who's letting me work on the video and making the content while he made the website. What a pall! I sent him a bottle of wine.

Budget status: Kind of focusing on different thing for now.

My one goal for the next 24h: Edit the crap out of the video and release it unto the world!

 

Maintained habits:

-Daily Japanese lesson - Leaving it for the video. Priorities...

-Make the bed - SO woke up later than me so it didn't happen.

-Drink enough water - Focusing on the video and then I seem to push away everything that seems irrelevant. It's like only 1 thing exists for now.

-Brush teeth two times a day, floss and clean once a day - Done.

-Less daydrinking at home alone - Nothing last night.

-Meditation - So focused right now, I can't believe it.

-Exercise once this week - Still doing the push ups, it's getting easier. The habit of doing push ups before I enter the shower is really getting dug in. 

[Alexanderle]

1 hour ago, Phoenixking said:

It's rare for me to have this levels of discipline and productivity. I guess I do thrive on pressure somehow. I was barely awake when a surge of energy found me roaring to go. I almost jumped out of bed. I've been so focused for the last 24 hours, it's crazy.

I understand, where you are coming from and I am happy to see you being that passionate. But that is my point: Why do you admit that this kind of thing is an external, situational force, which "decides", whether you have energy or not? And dependent on it's mercy, you are either energized or not. I would say that you are quite passionate for what you are doing here. So maybe it is not the thing itself, but YOU having passion, which gives you energy. As a result: If you would have this kind of passion for something not only short term, but quite regularly, would that not result in an even more sustained amount of increased level of energy aka momentum? The question is, what happens, if this moment here fades away and the chance to gather an audience for your video is gone? Ask yourself, how you can conserve this brief flux of motivation and how to conserve it into serious long lasting momentum. Maybe you could consider this situation right now as an experiment and to observe, what will happen. And then, based on what you learned, to generate more content. Maybe eventually, you create a serious business out of that. I would be happy for you.

20 hours ago, Phoenixking said:

And I'm just now starting a business as a speaking coach. Can you smell the opportunity?

I most definitely can smell the opportunity, even though I have no inside knowledge of this situation. Absolutely worth trying to see what happens. The only thing, I would not like to see here, is that the result might not be as promising as you would like it to be and that you then would be frustrated. Because I think, the internet is a weird mistress. Even if you get out the best, most amazing quality content in the world, if people will not find the video and are instead watching something else or just don't know that your stuff exists, it is tough to generate success. Maybe at the same time, 100 other people are working on the exact same idea. Sometimes it happens that everything works accordingly and your video might be a success story. But that is only the case for a minority of videos. There is even one website for youtube videos, which have never been watched before by a single soul. Probably millions of videos out there. But I think, the best predictor of success is always continuity and slowly building up momentum. So, I really hope that you can conserve this energy and keep going. I like you to see you being that passionate. Keep it up and smash your content into the world. If you have something meaningful to say, the world should know it! 

[Ikar]

1 hour ago, Alexanderle said:

But that is my point: Why do you admit that this kind of thing is an external, situational force, which "decides", whether you have energy or not? And dependent on it's mercy, you are either energized or not. I would say that you are quite passionate for what you are doing here. So maybe it is not the thing itself, but YOU having passion, which gives you energy. As a result: If you would have this kind of passion for something not only short term, but quite regularly, would that not result in an even more sustained amount of increased level of energy aka momentum? The question is, what happens, if this moment here fades away and the chance to gather an audience for your video is gone? Ask yourself, how you can conserve this brief flux of motivation and how to conserve it into serious long lasting momentum.

I honestly believe one can rarely get a burst of motivation/inspiration for a short time, independently of whether they work on something long-term or not, though it must not be relied upon. The girl I go on walks with told me that she wrote down a part of what I wrote in my blog into her diary. I got a burst of inspiration afterwards and wrote about a part of the next article the next day. Sometimes it's nice when somebody strokes my ego 😄

[Alexanderle]

@Ikar I would agree that with your example. Who would not like that? ^^

18 minutes ago, Ikar said:

I honestly believe one can rarely get a burst of motivation/inspiration for a short time,

I don't really understand this. Getting bursts of motivation happens all the time. The hard part is to sustain it and build momentum over a long period of time, even when things are not ideal or when we are not very motivated.

[Ikar]

1 hour ago, Alexanderle said:

I don't really understand this. Getting bursts of motivation happens all the time. The hard part is to sustain it and build momentum over a long period of time, even when things are not ideal or when we are not very motivated.

I mean that kind of "motivation" required for doing something intellectual. I get a "motivational" high once a month to write my blog, but I write several times a month regardless. I get "motivated" to eat several times a day, but I don't think that's worth mentioning. Discipline > inspiration. 

[ceponatia]

I've found that motivation comes from doing the work, not vice versa. A lot of people wait until they feel motivated before they do something, but that's not how things work. I might dread the first few minutes of studying but once I let go of that and just do it, suddenly an hour passes without me even realizing it.

[Alexanderle]

6 minutes ago, Ikar said:

Discipline > inspiration

Nothing really to add here. Even when I am motivated or inspired, which I think is the case here, it still requires a certain amount of discipline. Discipline for me is "sustained inspiration" to do something, even in difficult situations. And once I do that, it is even possible to....

 

5 hours ago, Phoenixking said:

It's rare for me to have this levels of discipline and productivity. I guess I do thrive on pressure somehow. I was barely awake when a surge of energy found me roaring to go. I almost jumped out of bed.

have huge levels of discipline and productivity in the morning. This kind of energy, you are talking about, regardless whether your current project fails or suceeds, if you think it is so worthwile up to the point, where you would even give up sleep, then you can definitely wake up with this kind of willpower every day. And if you then to this, chances increase that you will be successful.

[TheNewMe2.0]

Good luck with your video. I hope it goes well for you. As far as the discussion on productivity goes. I'd agree that simple daily disciplines add up to make something greater over time. That spurts of inspiration and progress happen along the way. 

[Phoenixking]

Detox day 43. "Golden Dawn."

Within 24 hours and with the help of a friend and my SO, there is now a website, a FB page, a YT channel and a video explaining what our PM did wrong in her presentation and why.

I am so proud of the momentum. I already have 2 prospects that seek coaching and friends are handing out info about which school networks need speaking coaching, what companies have budgets big enough, and so on... It seems like this is truly something people need and there's budget for it. All that is left is to continue this. I'm going to try and apply the stuff I learned via Atomic Habits and try to either improve something about my socials, my business or my site or either create something new like writing content, articles or what would be the content of my workshops. 

I am also terrified. I have now successfully set my board on this wave that washed over everybody and it seems like I'm able to surf it. But what if it works? I currently have no actual coaching experience. I have no workshops ready and filed to a sharp point to take with me to companies, and so on... Hahahaha. I'm in way over my head! XD Looks like I'll be working like a madman for a while!

I'm going to order a shitload of books on coaching and then start working on a file that has all of my current anecdotic knowledge and stuff I learned from practical experience. Then I'll try to add enough info I got from books, video, and so on to make sure it's all legit and not just personal experience. I guess at the end of a project like that I should have a workshop that I can more or less use to teach companies and schools how to speak in front of a crowd. This is all so crazy and exciting. I'm getting compliments about the video and the initiative left and right. There's even people online that I've either never met or people I haven't heard from in ages that are picking this up. I even got a call from a fellow Starterslab-entrepreneur. He wanted to congratulate me over the phone for my idea and execution. I'm so happy and proud and excited and terrified all at the same time. Holy shit!

 

Recent highlight: Releasing the video and riding the wave of exhilaration 

Budget status: I'm going to blow some money I saved on books on coaching. Also, I hate math. Did I mention that? We went to a supermarket and got a complicated bill. Some stuff for her, some stuff for us, some stuff for me, but we paid with the joint account. Checking out who owed who was harder than I thought. I'm a language guy, not a math buff.

My one goal for the next 24h: Try to find a healthy way to preserve this momentum and make sure I work on progressing the business on the daily.

 

Maintained habits:

-Daily Japanese lesson - 60 day streak and counting! 10 more days and I'm breaking my record!

-Make the bed - Done. Sleeping was a bit better last night too, due the the open window. A nice breeze!

-Drink enough water - On my way to meeting my goal today (again! yay!)

-Brush teeth two times a day, floss and clean once a day - About to order some books, watch some Netflix and then hit the shower and do the teeth. 

-Less daydrinking at home alone - Half a bottle of sparkling wine, to celebrate the website and the video!

-Meditation - I'm trying to give myself some me time to come down from the high. I'd like to keep working like I am now but I don't want to overextend myself.

-Exercise once this week - Push ups are going fine. Knees still kind of hurt, but I think I'm starting to get ready for my physical therapy exercises. I'll try to be calm for the rest of the day, I'll probably work or do house chores and we'll see in the morning about those exercises.

[Phoenixking]

Detox day 75. "Next steps."

Today I had about 4 hours of class. How to analyse your environment. Prospects, partners, prices, competition, ... There's ALOT of info to digest, holy shit. I was hoping I'd be able to work on my workshop or something, but it's looking like it's going to be a spicy few days... I was so enthusiastic  that I mailed a school and a local business academy, offering my services. I don't even have a course to offer them XD I'm going waaaay too fast. I've also selected quite a few books on coaching that I'd like to pour into my brain. There's lots of work to be done. But the coaches tell me to chillax and do the ground work now. I'm not really 'allowed' to get paid or invest stuff yet. I have to do the workshops first. I entered the program because I thought I'd lack motivation and oversight. But it seems like I'm so fired up, I'm passing everybody by. But I need to calm down a bit and chew what I've bitten off. It's important I calm down and lessen my efforts to find customers and increase my efforts to prep what I'll offer them when they'll eventually come and improve my infrastructure and organisation.

I'll be ordering a shitload of books and I already have a small library that I've yet to read. I'm adding something about reading in this journal to progress that load a bit further along.

 

Recent highlight: The numerous reactions on the video I released yesterday. So many compliments! 

Budget status: Ended up waiting to order the 200 bucks worth of books. If I order them now, it's a private thing; if I wait, I can claim it as a business investment.

My one goal for the next 24h: Start my physical therapy exercises.

What did I read today: A chapter of Atomic Habits

How did I progress my business today: I followed the Starterslab class on analyzing your environment 

 

Maintained habits:

-Daily Japanese lesson - Just finished.

-Make the bed - SO made the bed, but then it got fucked around because she spent a few hours working in there.

-Drink enough water - Still have to drink my first bottle. It's been a weird morning.

-Brush teeth two times a day, floss and clean once a day - My SO is nagging me to drive us to a garden center so I'll do this when we get back.

-Less daydrinking at home alone - Nah, all good.

-Meditation - I got a real internal peace boost from watching "Primitive Technology", the youtube channel. So lovely and peaceful and educational.

-Exercise once this week - I'm going to try the physical therapy exercises. I'll do them together with the push ups. I've oddly now started associating showers with push ups, I wonder if I can do the same with squats or something. This is something called 'Habit stacking', I picked it up from Atomic Habits.

[Phoenixking]

Detox day 76. "Cornered."

There is so much to do, holy shit. I am to make a complete analysis of the market. So I have to figure out every type of product and/or service I want to bring to the market, figure out who's already doing it and then check their public records to see how they're faring. Considering I want to act, write, do D&D, coach, speak, ... that's a lot of research. I'm good at performing under pressure and coming up with cool shit in no time. I'm not a big legwork type of guy. But I understand. To be safe and sound, I have to build my business on a solid foundation. If I do this and learn that coaching is just simply not safe financially, I'll be happy that I learned that now and not in 5 years. But holy shit... I feel like suddenly there's so much coming at me! I now have a site and several social media channels to maintain. I also had another idea for a new video that I'd like to write, film, edit and release next month. I was thinking of making a series, because that'd separate my from the competition (I think... I have no idea who my competition even would be!). On top of that, now that I have a site, there's legal stuff involved, like I have to put down my business number and address on it, if not I could get fined. I didn't know that! That's a thing?! I feel like I'm in way over my head. And to top it off, I stupidly mailed 2 big companies in the past 2 days, directing them to my site and offering them my services. I really hope they don't respond. I have no services to even offer! I have not ready a single book on coaching, have no presentation, slides or database on public speaking, ... There is so fucking much to do. And that's just stuff I'm thinking of on the spot, general stuff. On top of it all is the workshop homework. It's like my head is splitting at the seams!

So I'm stressed, and scared and anxious. Normal for a fresh rookie business owner. Relieve that stress, you say! Well, the knees are shot for now, so no walks in the park. I can't really go there because the cops'd stop me since it's not essential to go there. We're allowed to walk and work out, but if I go there by bike, the shitty knees will give away halfway and I'll be in pain for a few more days. So I'm kind of fucked on that note. On top of it, there's chores at home. My SO works basically 24/7 it seems and I got the feeling this place used to be cleaner when I was the one with the time to clean it all up. Suddenly there's been this huge shift in my daily life and priorities and it feels so insanely big! I've been watching Primitive Technology on YouTube because of all the nature sounds. It relaxes me. I'm seriously stressed out today... Djeezes... There's emails, social media, there's just so much that it's freaking me out today! Maybe I should just do nothing and try to relax? Have a chill day, or something. I'm like always turned on. I should be allowed to turn off too!

My SO working all day and taking calls and videochatting in the living room isn't really helping either. She can be rather messy, asks a lot of random questions and requires a lot of confirmation. I kind of vented all of it and said that I understand we're not made to be in the same room for so long. Like damn, do I miss having a lot of personal space. I like being alone, it's quiet and peaceful. I'm glad to hear that a lot of companies will be allowed to open their doors again next week. Though I'm also véry happy I'll be getting my safe mask next week. Glasses and a mask should protect me from catching any virus, not for 100%, but still better than nothing.

 

Recent highlight: Ordering a fancy face mask with filters in it and the smell of fresh rain.

Budget status: All is well it seems. The car payments would start on the 5th of May it seems. So we'll finally get the new car!

My one goal for the next 24h: Start my physical therapy exercises.

What did I read today: Another chapter of Atomic Habits. The book should be done by next week. I'll try to finish all current books that matter so that I no longer have like 5 I'm reading at the same time!

How will I progress my business today: I want to make a file for the analysis, clarifying every product/service I'll offer and then the potential customers or archetypes, potential partners, direct or indirect competitors, and so on... I'm pretty stressed today, so I might just make the template and not the research, if I do the research, I'll start with a smaller bit, like the D&D.

 

Maintained habits:

-Daily Japanese lesson - Done.

-Make the bed - Done.

-Drink enough water - Took my first sip.

-Brush teeth two times a day, floss and clean once a day - About to go do it. Together with exercises and push ups.

-Less daydrinking at home alone - Man, I really, really needed that G&T.

-Meditation - I need to take a breather. Like wow, I'm freaking out.

-Exercise once this week - I'm about to go and do my physical exercises.