discipline be hard, so fk it.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Side tangent: Bro ik i said i was gonna post once every 2 weeks but i fell prey to the laws of entropy. Didn't set up any systems or consequences so i naturally procrastinated on writing this. Gets me thinking about this quote: "you only have to be right once".

• Pretty much, how good u are at cooking, how good you are at talking to other ppl, whether or not u stick with ur hobbies, really doesn't matter if you just get one thing right and stick with it. For Mr.Beast, it was betting that youtube was going to be the next big thing (man doesn't have a 6 pack or a balanced life). So pretty much this is my excuse for saying skipping this newsletter isn't that big of a deal.

• But then I think about the quote of "how u do one thing, is how u do everything". Or "missing one gym session isn't gonna kill you, but the mentality that lets u skip u one gym session guilt free will."

• WDYT? You can make a case for both sides for sure.

The Last 4 Weeks

Came to Malaysia from Tokyo almost 4 weeks ago to lock in.

The first 2 weeks were relatively productive but then negative feelings like burnout and loneliness began to take hold. So I spent these past 10 days only working about 4 hours each day, and spending the rest exploring malaysia, eating good food, reading and going on hikes.

As my friend Chen told me: “sometimes the only way out is through”. In this case it was to simply let go, and stop forcing things. Sleeping in, eating that ice cream before I slept, binging a TV series, having no real plans for the day. From this experience I realized that sometimes being disciplined takes more mental energy than just caving in and dealing with the consequences.

Malaysia is actually hella underrated. Everything is super cheap but it’s also pretty modernized. I went to a new cafe almost everyday, and the food and coffee was like the quality I would see in New York City but for like a fifth of the price.

It was much needed break, and now im headed back to SF for Buildspace IRL tmrw! Super excited to see the homies again and experience IRL once again. Throw back to the last one that changed my life, here.

After that I plan to head back to NYC, for one month, then head to Portugal in the beginning of September for one month. Me and 10 other buildspace friends got a nice house and plan to lock in for one month. Gonna be fun.

What's Next for work

• Just launched another AI beauty app. In the beginning phases of marketing and determining if it will do as well as color analysis. I'm still struggling to scale with paid ads, and I think it's important I learn how to do this but to be honest I'm just not proud of the work I'm shipping.

• Began working on my gamified screentime blocking app again. I'm gonna try to make it the most fun blocking app on the market. I'm simply gonna make work I'm proud of. While Apple waits for to approve the screentime API for me (it will take 3 weeks). I also started working on another gamified self-improvement I think has a lot of potential.

• Ever since I was 18, I thought about a world where improving yourself was just as fun as playing a video game, and so pivoting my time into developing these apps from simple viral tik tok trends is what sits right with me. I learned so much from making Conch and Color Analysis which I have no doubt in my mind will help me succeed with these new apps.

So why am I making so many apps instead of focusing on just one ?

it's about repetition. A very successful ecommerce friend told me that he had made 23 stores before he built the one that changed his life forever. At this point I've released about 6 apps to the appstore. There's something to be said about focus on a single one, but none of the beauty apps I'm working on really seem to be challenging me to grow creatively. I think there's a level I will only be able to reach after releasing a lot more apps.

Recommended Reading to Stop Overthinking.

Finished these 3 the past month. All are spectacular. Great seeds for the mind and soul.

• The Surrender Experiment => pretty much how a monk became a billionaire without even trying and simply saying yes to whatever the universe gave to him.

• The Power of Now => exactly what it sounds like. reading the book felt like a meditation.

• The Practice of Not Thinking => actionable techniques to be present.

slowly turning this newsletter to a braindump, so no hard feelings if u unsubscribe. Gonna probably be more random than this going forward with a few hidden gems.

Until next time amigos,

it’s not that deep.