#19 What-the-Hell effect

Hey friend,

I'm back from a 2 week hiatus. Sorry for the lack of a heads up, I myself thought I was done there for a bit. But then I listened to Katy Milkman on the Guy Kawasaki podcast talking about behavior change and I got inspired again to stay committed to writing these.

🔥 Highlights

I've been trying to think of the next side project to pursue during my vacation. Specifically in the golf niche. I'm debating between a Style Report for what tour players wear on the course, Golf Course management software that competes directly with GolfNow, an airtable/spreadsheet of all courses that are/were played on the PGA Tour (prices, location), an app that groups lone golfers with others based on handicap (and other rich metadata), and finally a Lost & Found app for golfers/clubhouses that flips unclaimed items.

💔 Lowlights

I lost my daily streak for posting to my @devosuals instagram account. I'm about 23 posts short of 100, so I may round it out before I stop for good. It's insane how missing one day can just take all the gas and momentum out of a budding habit. Much respect to consistent content creators, it really is a grind. The critic in me kept saying "Will anyone even care if you just stopped for good?". I need to remember that I can still get back on the horse and solve the root issue of dropping the ball. If it's because I don't have an engaged audience egging me on, then focus on growing one with the content I already have. If it's not having inspiring source material, then man up and buy a bunch of books. No one excuse has the power to stop you in your tracks, it's your inner critic's internalization of these excuses that prevents you from restarting and rethinking your current situation.

🎯 Goals

May was a fresh-start in lots of ways, I tried to cold turkey Youtube but it proved to be too difficult a task. The problem is it lives on my phone, laptop, and desktop. I blocked it but quickly unblocked it when a very practical use case came up (tutorial video), but stayed unblocked even as I looked up unproductive videos on golf, drug documentaries, UFC highlights, etc. My goal is to limit youtube watch time to 4 hours a week.
Get started on one of the above golf ideas, start putting feelers out on the internet for interested users.
Outline my learnings from winning the government challenge and publish it on my blog. The prize money should hit my account balance soon (It's been almost 6 months since I learned I won, sheesh).

🔗 Link
Toby Sinclair's Book summary of "How to Change" by Katy Milkman
Book summaries are most useful on two opposite ends of the spectrum. For new books that haven't been read by many people yet, or for old books that have been widely read.

🎵 Song
Cosmic Bugaloo by Wun Two & Knowsum

🎙️ Podcast
Jacqueline Novogratz on Building Acumen, How to (Actually) Change the World

📖 Book
The Inner Game of Golf by Timothy Gallwey
Just as the title suggests there is a game played within oneself outside of what's visible to others. There were lots of golf specific drills/exercises almost mantras that I've tried applying to my game but generally applicable to any sport with a swing and ball really. If you haven't tried a self-improvement book for a hobby you really enjoy, don't worry that you'll look like a try-hard because it's going to pay dividends.

I guess what I want to leave you with while vicariously lecturing myself is this. Don't give up so easily. If it was easy it wouldn't be worth doing. If it becomes hard then in fact you've hit the next level not a plateau. Living out of a beach house for a week definitely upended my daily monotony. That can be good every now and then to bring awareness to why you do any given thing anyways. But next time you give in to the resistance of positive change in your life, don't just throw your hands up and say "Oh, What the hell" because apathy isn't cool. It's a cop out. Unless you can keep a straight face while explaining to yourself in the mirror why you're giving up something you devoted yourself to in the past, get to the real reason (dig deeper) and then double down in your efforts.

Before you go, what did you think of my golf ideas? Any other golf startup ideas you might have?