Day 1: Getting back my pace

Intro



For the past few weeks, I lost my pace and possibly all my drive.



It was excruciating painful. The days were long but the spirit wasn't there. While my body was moving, I felt lifeless and purposeless.



Most of my close friends, at least the ones that always saw the light in me, even when I didn't, would say I'm driven and was perpetually in motion. They would think I'm always running towards a big goal or ambition. I would really love to think that's true.



But it's not — I struggle a lot and I don't let people in that easily to see any of that.



Why am I sharing this?



I'm no saint. Having read all those inspirational biographies and super genuine reflections like Pat Wall's, I just had to do this.



I don't care if this is small to you, but they'll mean something to someone else out there who's struggling in a similar way I am. I hope you find this and it helps, even the tiniest bit. Oceans are made up of droplets of water. They just add up.



Turnaround



However, things are starting to slowly change because I want to change for the better. And every piece of my journey matters. I want to inspire other aspiring entrepreneur / indie hacker / maker / creator in any way I can.





Reading is the inhale, writing is the exhale. Breathe – Sahil Lavingia (Founder, Gumroad.com)



I will try my best to exhale every single fibre of pain i took in along with all the lessons I took away from that.



I'm not trying to help you avoid the pain but to help you focus on better problems by learning from what I have already solved. You might not trust these lessons but it's worth taking a leap of faith (of course, not blindly – telegram me if you need help so you could perhaps better decide if it's worth leaping. The choice is yours to make anyway)



Painpoints & Lessons



Consistency = Systems = Win The Long Game



An internet friend told me something that struck a good chord.



You’re not going to win long term with extrinsic motivation. It has to be intrinsic. And you should build the habit now You’re not going to go very far if you have to rely on tricks like “give someone else a macbook if I don’t launch” I mean, look at where you are now and where you want to go and then figure out the delta of the skills you don’t have that you need to acquire to get there – Cedric Chin (Founder, Commoncog.com)



Before this, I was telling him I would give him $100 if I don't ship in 2 weeks. He said no and threw me that piece of advice.



I took it and I learnt.



Start By Being Mindful Of Your Time



This might seem like a chore but that's the idea.



It's a chore to notice the simplest texture of what you are chewing.



It's a chore to notice all the subtlest taste of what you're eating.



But you're going to be really mindful of what you're eating and start to appreciate the food for what it is. It's that simple act of mindfulness that helps you to become more aware of what you're doing. When you are more aware of what you are doing, you can then notice where you're going wrong and how you can improve.



So start by tracking the time you take on every single task. I'm using Clockify for this. I track even how long it takes for me to write this daily reflection.







Schedule Time



If that side project you always dreamt of doing is important to you, set some time aside to do it. Work on it at every free pocket of time you can get. Live and breathe it.



If I have time on the bus and some space to code, I do that.



If I have time during my class breaks and I'm tired, I take a short break and maybe chant “I can do this, I can do this!!" and then get started with coding.



It helps to set todos of what features you intend to complete. This helps you to visualize and end goal which serves as a form of motivational fuel to get things started and moving.



Progress Updates



Day 1: Got the base project setup with a barebones template. Schema pretty much set.





What's next?



I'll keep writing a reflection every day as I embark on my journey to build a platform where I can connect with young makers / indie hackers / entrepreneurs all over the world.



Whether they are in school, or drop-outs or undecided about school... as long as they're making something, I will do my best to reach out to them and encourage them to document their struggles. I'll also continuously find ways to make it easy for any aspiring young maker to refer to these struggles and pick up bite-sized lessons from it.



Maybe in a single sentence, I'd say what i'm doing is basically:



Building a platform for fueling tomorrow's best young makers.



Stay tuned.