Dreams + Optimism + Reality + Determination = Successful Life

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In Ray Dalio’s book, Principles, he writes that he found the above formula to almost always be true.

Optimism is my own addition to the formula.

I once worked with the most brilliant guy who just seemed to be able to figure out all the problems to a solution. He had this talent of seeing so many steps ahead.

He was the most realistic person I knew.

He would almost always meet his deadline and successfully execute the work methodically.

He had everything from Ray’s formula, yet something was holding him back:

He wasn’t optimistic.

“Success”, the way I see it, is a balance of dreams, optimism, and realism — that, with a lot of determination.

I used to have dreams, was optimistic about them and had a good amount of determination. The problem was, I lacked realism.

I learned that from my colleague. And I like to think he learned his optimism thanks to me. He is now CTO of an important company in Canada.

By becoming more realistic about the things I set out to achieve, I managed to raise money twice for Power Level Studios and managed to make partners for my side businesses. I also found that people started saying “yes” to me a lot more.

But realism is still a big weakness of mine.

After all, I’m running 3 (small) companies, I’ve written two books in 3 months (one published), and I have dreams of other side businesses. All that while learning 3 new skills a month, working out and writing every day and spending time with my wife.

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What About You?

Out the four parts of the formula above, what are you most lacking? What are you most good at?

Why are you lacking in that aspect? What’s holding you back?

What can you do about it? Why haven’t you done it yet?

Do you believe you can “succeed” if you focus on fixing the missing gap?

I would say in general, things happen in the order of the formula.

It all starts with a dream. Then you are either optimistic or realist about it. When the balance of optimism-realism isn’t right, you usually don’t have “real” determination to carry on.

So I suggest to you:

Allow yourself to dream and be optimistic about those dreams.

Assess feasibility. See 10 steps ahead. See what could work and what couldn’t. Be realistic.

Once you are optimistic and realistic about your dreams, put all your determination at work and you’ll realize you can indeed achieve your most insane dreams and goals.

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

Want To Grow In Life And In Business? Start By Doing This.

Cover Photo by @larm on Unsplash

I am certainly not the most “successful” person in life and in business, but over the course of the last 8 months, I’ve grown to be a better person both in life and in business.

I never thought that someday I would even write on that subject, or that some people would even listen to what I had to say.

I had never really considered myself to be that different from the others. I mean, I still don’t consider myself to be that different.

Just like everyone else, I have flaws and weaknesses, which at the time, I thought was my reason for not being particularly interesting, and was probably the cause for me to not be as “successful” as I hoped I would be.

I was wrong.

After writing on Medium for 3 months today, I realized that the reason I managed to do that was not because I’m skilled at writing or my topics are interesting or different, because they really aren’t. Many other writers here inspire me to write about the same topic they do.

“Good artists copy, great artists steal” — Pablo Picasso

A lot of times, I am literally stealing subjects from other great writers.

So why is it that, even though I write about the same things as others and I don’t have any particular writing talents, I still managed to grow my user base as a writer, and even published my first book yesterday, which got the most incredible review by Prithviraj Pillai: The Most Realistic Self Help Book Ever?

Why is it that, even though I’m a skinny ectomorph, I still managed to gain 5kg in one month?

Why is it that, even though I’m almost purely a logical person, I can now draw, take photos and write semi-professionally (not drawing, yet)?

I didn’t have the answers to those questions until quite recently.

You see, most people are pretty good at telling their strengths, whether they are right or not. But who truly recognizes their weaknesses and dare challenge the thought that you can’t change them?

Well, I did. And a lot of people you and I consider “successful” also did.

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Making Yourself Vulnerable

That is a good starting point for your journey to growth.

Start by recognizing your weaknesses and bring them forward. Stop hiding them. Show them to the world.

Arnold Schwarzenegger became the top bodybuilder because he recognized he had weak calves, and started exposing them to the world. He was ashamed of them. He didn’t really want people to see them. He had to work hard on them so people would stop judging.

How often do you dare to be so vulnerable and show your weaknesses to the world?

Very rarely right?

In our society, we always have to show ourselves in our best light. Yet that is precisely what’s holding us back in our growth.

We are who we are because of both our strengths and weaknesses. And if you lie to yourself and to the world about your weaknesses, you won’t ever grow into what you really want to be.

I started showing my more vulnerable side 3 months ago when I started writing. Writing about myself still makes me uncomfortable.

But by exposing that less-than-perfect side of me, I’ve grown in ways I never thought I would.

Because it’s out in the open and everyone can see what I write, I’m accountable for the things I say I do. I don’t want to write about things I don’t do or don’t believe in. I write about my experiences, good or bad, and 90% of the time, it’s when I expose the bad that I grow as a person.

People who read what I write appreciate the honesty and vulnerability I show in my writing. They relate to my failures.

I gained 5kg of mass in one month by daring to show my weaknesses and by working epically (is that even a word?) hard on them.

I managed to do creative things like drawing, taking photos and writing by recognizing it was “against my personality” and finding ways to make it work for me. I didn’t give up because it was hard or “impossible” for a person with my personality.

Photo was taken a week ago for Sundara at the Z.P. Urdu school

I don’t like doing tests that categorize a person based on answers they give to a quiz, but I did just that yesterday. Here’s my result: Logician.

While I agree with most of the results, it falls short on still quite a few points. For those of you reading this, would you guess that I’m a Logician?

Probably not.

A Logician would not write like I do.

It’s against a Logician’s nature.

See my point?

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Conclusion

I reject the idea that we’re stuck with the personality we have at any point in time. We’re very adaptable people and we can change, for better or worse. In fact, we change on a daily basis.

Recognize your weaknesses, make yourself vulnerable, and work on your pain points. You’ll see your growth accelerate at a pace you never imagined would be possible.

Anyone can do this. Don’t hide in the dark. Set your ego or modesty aside and show the world that, like everyone else, you are not perfect. You are vulnerable like everyone else.

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

21 Proven Ways To Find Inspiration For Your Stories

Cover Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash

Bonus tip: Bookmark this story for future inspiration!

Yesterday I was chatting with my friend Prithviraj Pillai and he was asking me how to find inspiration to write stories regularly on Medium. I thought it would be a great topic to write about!

For the month of January, I was aiming to improve my writing capabilities and figured that by writing one story per day, I really should be improving.

But to be honest, I was afraid I would not really know what to say. I thought that after one week, my inspiration would run dry.

I could not have been more wrong!

Turns out I have much more to say then I thought I would. Back in mid-February, I was starting to lack subjects and took 3 days off. When came time to start again, I was overflowing with ideas.

But I didn’t understand how.

So when came time to answer his question, I dug deep into what inspires me to write what I write and I came up with this pretty exhaustive list.

I hope this will help you find inspiration for your next story!

(The ratings I put below are about how frequently I use a trick to come up with stories. 1 means not frequently, and 5 means very frequently. This will be different for everyone. Feel free to make up your own rating.)

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Answer A Question

1. Any Answer You Give To Someone Verbally

During your day to day conversation, almost inevitably, someone will ask you a question to which you’ll have an answer. Pay attention your own answer, and if it is insightful and useful to the other person, chances are it probably is interesting for your audience too.

Just don’t write about your answer to directions to the toilets, it’s not a very interesting topic!

My rating: 6/10

2. Write About A Great Answer Someone Gave You

One of my favourite story from MR. Molly Maguire is The Best Piece Of Advice I Ever Got. It’s a genuine story about great advice he received from his Trading Advisor. If you receive great advice from someone, pass it along to your readers!

My rating: 3/10

3. Answer A Question From Your Audience

I’m very often inspired by questions or comments I receive in the comments section. People tend to have good follow up questions to things you’ve written in your story. I’d say about 20–25% of my inspiration comes from that.

My rating: 8/10

4. Browse Quora For Questions To Answer

Quora has an incredible amount of great questions waiting to be answered on any topic. If your answer is in long format, consider moving it over as a Medium story. I believe that’s how Nicolas Cole started, and look where he is now.

My rating: 6/10

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Be Aware

5. Pay Attention To Your Conversations

I like to think that I’m a good listener. When people talk to me, I try to genuinely get what the other person is saying and take mental notes on the key points of a conversation. Frequently enough, even in regular conversations, a good topic comes up that’s worth writing about.

My rating: 5/10

6. Listen To Other People’s Conversations

Sometimes you overhear people talk about a topic of interest, or argue about something. Without realizing, you make up your own opinion on the subject in your head. Articles with multiple points of views make for interesting stories in my opinion.

My rating: 2/10

7. Just Pause And Look Around You

A lot of my stories from January and early February come from me taking a moment to look around me at The Living Room or at the beach. There’s something inspiring about watching other people do things, or gazing at nature.

My rating: 7/10

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Consume Quality Content

8. Read Books On The Topics You Write About

Chances are, almost everything you highlight in a book is a good topic for a Medium story. There are too many good books to mention, but I’m currently inspired by Tribe Of Mentors (Tim Ferriss), Willpower Doesn’t Work (Benjamin P. Hardy) and Principles (Ray Dalio).

My rating: 9/10

9. Listen To Podcasts On The Topics You Write About

Again, big shoutout to Tim Ferriss on that one. His podcast, his guests and his questions are just that good. Again, a lot of my January stories are inspired by answers provided by his guests.

My rating: 9/10

10. Start With A Quote

When I started writing, and even to this day, whenever I read a story that has a quote that inspires me, I write in down in my quotes collection. Back in January, I made a compilation and shared here: 41 Short And Powerful Quotes To Make You Feel Unstoppable

Any of these quotes is a good starting point for a story.

My rating: 7/10

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Recycle

11. Re-write An Older Story Your Previously Wrote

I often write about my 3 new skills a month approach. I try to come up with a different perspective and with new ideas on the subject, but ultimately, it’s just the same story, packaged in a different, and hopefully more interesting way.

My rating: 4/10

12. Write On A Topic You Read From Another Writer

I started reading on Medium 6 months before I started writing. Every day, I would read stories from Nicolas Cole, Anthony Moore, Benjamin P. Hardy, Zdravko Cvijetic, Elle Kaplan, Tom Kuegler, Tim Denning and more. A lot of their stories inspired me to write my stories.

My rating: 7/10

13. Talk About A Relatable Story From Your Past

You’ve lived a more eventfully past than you think. Did you grow up in a weird/different family context? How was high school? How was going to college? How was your first date? Your first kiss? Your first job? Chances are you’ll find a few interesting things to write about.

My rating: 3/10

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Do Things

14. Attend Events

There are tons of great events in pretty much every city in the world. I usually find them on meetup.com or through Couchsurfing. When you attend events, both the topic and the people you meet will inspire you to write.

My rating: 2/10

15. Practice Physical Activities

Back in January, I started getting more serious about fitness. I was obsessed with it. To some degree, I still am. I wrote a few stories on workout routines I’ve tried and worked or didn’t work for me. Physical activity is a hot topic and many people are looking for new things to try all the time.

My rating: 3/10

16. Travel

As I’m writing this, I’ve been the top travel writer on Medium for almost a month. I have traveled quite intensively and my travel stories resonate with a lot of other travelers. Same with my nomadic lifestyle. Anyone who travels a lot will have a few stories to share. By the nature of it, traveling tends to be quite eventful.

My rating: 6/10

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Educate

17. Give Your Top Tips On Things You’re Good At

I don’t like bragging and saying I’m good at things, but sometimes I’ve got good productivity advice worth sharing with my audience. I even did talks on the subject. You can get audio to my latest talk: here. If you’re good at something, share it. These stories tend to do really good.

My rating: 5/10

18. Talk About Things That Worked And Things That Didn’t Work For You

I experiment a lot with activities and skills. Sometimes the experiments work great, but sometimes they’re epic failures. A good example is Tim Denning’s story from yesterday where he failed a public speech. It’s personal, emotional and shows his vulnerable side. Readers love that.

My rating: 6/10

19. Talk About Your Hard Skills

Are you a skilled graphic designer? Guitar player? Programmer? Tattoo artist? Cook? Any hard skill you have is an interesting subject for your audience. You don’t have to be the best in the world at it either. Be honest, and give your best advice, with no pretense that your tips are the best in the world.

My rating: 1/10 (I don’t currently write about my programming skills)

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Cheating

20. Listicles Just Work

Don’t know what to write about? Just make a list about pretty much any subject and people will read it. With few exceptions, listicles tend to do much better than the rest. I think the reason is because they tend to be bite-sized and easy to read. Most of my top stories are listicles.

My rating: 4/10

21. Quotes Are Powerful

Building upon “Start With A Quote” and “Listicles Just Work”, assemble a series of related quotes and write a story around them. People love categories, and when they’re about quotes, it’s powerful. People smarter than us have written started things then us, take advantage of this. My top highlights are always quotes from other people.

My rating: 5/10

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Conclusion

I hope some of these inspirations will work for you as they did for me.

Now it’s your turn. Be the writer you’ve always wanted to be. Stop looking for topics to write about and start writing thanks to these tips!

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

Make Next Month Your Most Productive Month Ever Using This 3 Steps Strategy

Cover Photo by @brookelark on Unsplash

April is just around the corner. I’m personally really excited for it!

Are you?

I like beginnings of new months. It’s like a chance to start anew. To try and accomplish more than the month before. To become a better person for yourself and those around.

In the first week alone, I’m releasing my new book, my game and opening up my online store.

How could I not be excited for that! I could stop there and it would already be a productive month.

But I won’t!

Using the strategy below, I’ll make April one of the most productive month of my life.

And you can do the same!

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The Strategy

One quote summarizes the strategy pretty well:

“Think things through, then follow through.” — Eddie Rickenbacker

Here’s the strategy in greater detail:

Step 1: Review The Previous Month’s Accomplishments

• How did you do last month?

• What did you accomplish towards your goals?

Most people don’t reflect on past accomplishments or “failures”, yet it’s through understanding these experiences that we learn and grow. It’s an important thing to do to become more productive: realize where you’re productive and where you’re not.

1. List your accomplishments and “failures”. Go down to the details.

2. Qualify and quantify them. Was it a great accomplishment? Was it an epic failure? Giving them a rating of your choosing in numeric value. 0–10 works fine for me.

3. Write down how you can improve on each of them. Write down what went right and what went wrong.

Take your time doing it too. There’s no point rushing this. If it takes 4 hours to do it, it will be worth it in the end, trust me.

Step 2: List All Your Goals For The Month A Few Days Before It Starts

Just 30 minutes ago I went to a quiet room and started thinking about all the goals I wanted to accomplish for April. As usual, I went a little crazy, but as I always say: “Aim freaking high!”. I tend to accomplish about 80% of the goals I set out to do. If I didn’t aim so high, I would accomplish much less.

Here’s my unedited list of goals for April (I’ll add more details in other pages of my journal in the next few days):

My list of goals for April. Don’t mind the chips stains and the terrible writing…

• Any of these goals sound crazy to you?

• Any sound too easy?

• Do you have similar goals?

• What are your goals?

Ideally, you would be a little more precise than that. This is just a draft. I’ll add the juicy details later, but it’s a good first pass.

In the list, I usually include the 3 new skills I want to learn, things I want to release, ways I’ll make money (and how much), events I want to attend, things I want to continue or start doing and more.

Again, like the step above, don’t rush this. I usually spend 4–8 hours planning my next month. The details take time.

Usually, for every point on my goal list, there are between 3–10 sub-points. Go into as much detail as you can, it will make it easier for you to track your progress.

Step 3: Track Your Progress Regularly During The Month

It’s simple. Review the progress on your goals on a weekly basis. Set aside 1 or 2 hours on your last work-day of the week to go through your list again.

This is similar to the first step of the process, but on a more present moment. Check the things you’ve done. Analyze their “success”, and course-correct — that is the main reason to track your progress weekly.

If you don’t track your progress regularly, you will side-track from your goals.

Inevitably.

Sometimes we feel we’re too busy to take a step back, but trust me, it’s more productive to do so and make a better plan of action for the week to come.

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Conclusion

• Do you follow a similar strategy to make your months productive?

• Do you think you could make this work for yourself?

• Do you have a better strategy? If so, what’s your strategy? Why is it better?

Feel free to share your answer(s) in the comments section. I respond to them!

Think things through, then follow through. Six words. Remember them.

Review your previous month, plan for the next and track your progress regularly. It’s a simple strategy anyone can do, and it will make you that much more productive.

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

How Many Meaningful Relationships Do You Have, And Why Does It Matter?

Cover Photo by @mahkeo on Unsplash

Let’s first start by defining what a meaningful relationship is:

“A meaningful relationship is one that’s open and honest in a way that lets people be straight with each other” — Ray Dalio

• Who can you tell it to when they’re on the wrong path, in health, wealth, love and happiness?

• Who tells you when that happens do you?

• How many people are open and honest with you?

• How many people do you dare be open and honest with?

I’m willing to bet it’s hard to come up with a large list of people for these questions.

Ideally, you would have the same names in all lists. It’s a relationship after all! If you are open and honest with someone and vice versa, then it’s a truly meaningful relationship.

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Why It Matters

Identifying your meaningful relationships is important to understand who to 1) go to in times of need, and 2) get valuable feedback on important decisions.

It is the people you surround yourself with in business and in life. It’s your business partners, your spouse, your parents, your children, etc.

A meaningful relationship is strong. You know the other person’s got your back. If something is wrong, they’ll tell you straight, and you’ll grow from it.

You don’t grow from people hiding the truth from you. It might feel good initially to not face the brutal truth, but it will eventually hurt when you fall.

I learned to embrace the brutal truth a few years ago. I can’t remember the exact point in time, but I know since then I’ve had more “success” in whatever I’m doing since then.

I’m happily married and our relationship is based on trust. We can tell each other the brutal truth. We’re stronger for it. We’ve been together 14 years. I’m only 31.

In business, I try to surround myself with people who won’t shy away from telling me when I do something wrong. I always ask for feedback from people I trust. In return, they trust that I’ll do the same.

Obviously, there are ways to give brutally honest feedback, and not everyone can word it properly, but sometimes you have to read between the lines.

I personally like when someone tells me something I did is s***, provided they have points to back their opinion up.

You don’t have to agree with everything, but that’s what being “open” means. Understand and value the person’s opinion, and make up your own opinion based on that.

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Conclusion

Take time to reflect on the meaningful relationships you have. Make a list. Make those connections even stronger.

Strive to build more relationships based on openness and honesty. You’ll grow as a person and you’ll become a better business partner, spouse, parent, etc.

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

You Don’t Fail Unless You Give Up

Cover Photo by me for Sundara at Z.P. Urdu School near Palghar, India

Recently, I shared a story about how negativity is poison for your brain and some tips on how to clear it. It was a very personal story on how I had “failed” on three of my recent photography assignments and how I could only have negative thoughts as a result.

Digging myself out was not easy for me.

The failure was difficult to swallow and I was trying to come up with a multitude of ways to get out of my contract.

I was close to calling it a “failure”.

As Ray Dalio wrote in his book Principles: “You will think you have failed — but that won’t be true unless you give up”.

How many times have you considered failure to be an option?

How many times have you considered giving up?

How many times have you given up?

How did it feel?

Was it the right choice?

I’m in the camp that it’s okay to give up sometimes. It’s also okay to not give up. There’s no right or wrong. It’s circumstantial and personal.

The important thing is that you learn from the experience.

In which case, can you really call it a failure? Maybe it’s more of a failed experiment. And failed experiments are great.

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” — Thomas A. Edison

See Edison’s persistence?

10,000 ways might be a little exaggerated, but the point is there: he never gave up on the things he believed in. Now we all know him for all the great things he did for humanity.

If Thomas Edison, Ray Dalio and all the great people who achieved so much in life tell me to not give up, I won’t give up.

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Not Giving Up

That was my mentality going into my fourth assignment at the Z.P. Urdu school.

I dug into the “why” the other assignments were failed experiments. Some of the things were out of my control, but some of the things were my fault, and I took ownership of my mistakes.

In the previous assignments, I was using the wrong settings, relying on semi-automatic modes. As a result, a lot of my shots were too blurry.

Also, I was also not being assertive enough to tell people to do things for me. I was paralyzed by the fear of telling the wrong things and wasting people’s time. It was my first time directing a photoshoot after all.

I made myself a mental map of all the things I needed to do better for the next assignment.

I was pumped. I wanted to ace that next one.

I was positive and had a clear idea of how I could do better.

And I executed really well. I was so happy.

My photography really improved thanks to my past failed experiments. I wasn’t cocky in my abilities to take photos and approached the assignment with an opened mind.

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Conclusion

If you really care about something, do yourself a favour and don’t give up on it.

Change your mentality. Don’t view failure as a negative experience, but rather a formative one. One that puts you back to reality, and shows you that there are always lessons to learn.

Life is a series of experiments, most of which will “fail”. Learn from these experiments, grow stronger, prosper.

Remember, it’s not a failure if you don’t give up.

Don’t give up on your dreams.

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

Running A Company Remotely Is Possible But Not Easy — Here Are Some Tips To Make It Easier

Cover Photo by @headwayio on Unsplash

If you have tried it before, you know there are many obstacles to making remote work “feasible”: timezone differences, communication issues, spotty wifi, lack of proper schedule, environment distractions and more.

I have been running Power Level Studios “remotely” since it started having collaborators over a year ago. I say remotely in double-quotes because initially, it was all remote within the same city. Everyone worked from their own homes in Toronto.

Then in June of last year, I left Toronto to work from other places around the world, making me completely remote.

During that time, I grew the company from 4 people to 8.

As far as I know, we have not had any problems with me being away and still “running the show”.

So let’s address some of the problems associated with running a company remotely:

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Communication Issues

This is likely the biggest issue of them all.

It’s already hard to have an effective communication system in place when everyone works from the same office, so of course it even harder when you can’t have face to face conversations.

At Power Level Studios, we have a simple but efficient system that has worked really well for us.

Have Everyone Remote

I have worked remotely for a company where pretty much everyone worked from the same office.

I was left out frequently. And it’s not that I wasn’t an important part of the team, it’s just that when everyone else is there, sometimes you just forget the “exception”.

And that sucked. I know I could have been way more productive if I felt like I was really part of the team.

By having everyone remote, everyone is on the same page. There aren’t many different ways to communicate. Everyone uses the same tool.

One of the previous companies I worked for removed their office and started working remotely. That didn’t stop them from making and releasing the successful Halcyon 6 game.

In Power Level Studio’s case, we’re releasing Soul Reaper: Unreap Commander on April 3rd. The game was built from December 2017 to March 2018.

Limit The Need To Communicate Verbally

We never communicate verbally at Power Level Studios. I don’t remember the last time it happened.

In fact, we rarely communicate at all. It’s all about our streamlined process.

We use the Kanban approach.

We have a series of steps a task needs to go through. When the person working on the task is done with the step, they move the card to the next step, where the next person in charge of the task will automatically be notified. In review steps, if it passes, the card moves forward, if it fails, it goes backward, where the person responsible for the work will automatically be notified.

It’s all about the automation and having a clear indicator of who needs to do what when.

Be Fully Transparent

With the Kanban approach mentioned above, we have different boards depending on the type of work. We have boards for Art, Design, Admin, Programming, etc.

Every board is public to everyone at the company.

I’ve got nothing to hide.

Everyone can see what I’m working on at any point. That is very important. People working with me need to know that I’m not just barking orders from the beach working on my sun-tan.

Trust Your Team

I rarely make decisions. I’m not sure if that throws my team off or not, but that’s my management style. I like to have everyone’s input on aspects I trust them on. I would not ask an artists’ opinion on programming, but I will definitely ask them about monster and loot design.

Everyone can submit their design ideas and we collaborate on it. I rarely get the ideas all by myself. We vote on design ideas, names of monsters, etc.

If my artist tells me A is better than B, I rarely argue. They’re the expert.

By trusting everyone, I know they trust and respect me more in return. They know we’re working towards the same goals.

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Environment Issues

Spotty wifi, distractions, hard to follow schedule, loneliness — we’ve all been there. How do we overcome those things?

It’s all about making your environment productive and removing anything that goes against it.

Removing Distractions

I hate working from home. I’m way too distracted. I have games, books, and no one to judge me if I’m not working.

When I was working from home in Toronto, I would put console cables places where it would be so much work for me to get that I wouldn’t do the effort to get it.

In my apartment in Toronto, we didn’t even buy furniture, except for a mattress and the desk to work from. The place really was only good for working and sleeping.

Whatever it is you find distracts you while you work, change your environment so that it’s harder to distract yourself as opposed to doing your productive activities.

If your distraction is in your physical location, hide stuff, or better yet, make someone else hide it.

If your distraction is on your computer, use software that blocks access to apps and websites during certain hours. Have someone you trust lock the schedule behind a password so you can’t easily disable it.

Finding Good Wifi

Depending on where you are in the world, wifi can be an issue. Especially public wifi.

I’ll give you my favourite trick straight up: co-working spaces.

I’ve never been to a co-working space (yet) that doesn’t have usable wifi. I’ve seen anywhere from 10 mbps (slow but usable) to 1,000mbps (very fast).

Check using speedtest.net.

Never trust your Airbnb host or hostels to tell you their wifi is fast. It rarely is. Below 5mbps for me is hardly usable. In some countries, they call that fast. My 4G/LTE is 3x faster than that.

Fighting Loneliness

Building on the co-working space idea from above, having other hard-working people around you is extremely motivating.

I’m not exaggerating when I say I’m 10x more productive when I work from a co-working space.

It’s always nice to meet other people who work on their own crazy ideas. Entrepreneurs care so much about what they do that it’s contagious. You want to work harder and share your ideas with the others around.

You build great personal and professional relationships just from being there. I even made myself a business partner by working at The Living Room in Spain.

Keeping A Schedule

This is key to build momentum. I’ve written about this extensively in the past.

By working remotely, it’s hard to stick to a schedule because you don’t have office hours.

But to be honest, I don’t like office hours. Not everyone works great from 9–5. In fact, I don’t think anyone at Power Level Studios work from 9–5.

I start my day at 4am, but start my actual work at 9am. I take two naps during the day, usually around 8:30am and 2:30pm. I’m always super tired in the afternoon. I don’t work well unless I do a power nap. I try to reply to my messages only between 1:30 and 2:30, after lunch. I then finish work around 7pm.

I’m much better at sticking to this schedule when I’m at the co-working space. I know no one is monitoring me, but I need to feel like someone could judge me for not following my schedule.

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Conclusion

Running a company remotely is possible but not easy.

I’ve been doing it long enough now and have found strategies that work for my video game company, but I know could work for other types of businesses.

Having everyone remote and limiting the need to communicate makes project management more efficient. Be transparent and trust your team. Apply these principles and communication will not be an issue.

Remove distractions, find good wifi, fight loneliness and keep a schedule.

Make your environment work for you.

You can do this!

Let me know what you tried that worked or didn’t work for you in the comments below.

Thanks for reading! :)

Negativity Is Poison For Your Brain, Clear It ASAP

Cover Photo by @benwhitephotography on Unsplash

I used to not really get it when people were so negative about things.

Being the positive person than I am, it was always hard for me to relate, always trying to see the positive in everything.

Yet I found myself having really negative thoughts for the past two days. I started dumbing everything I am doing.

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Going Down

It started with doubting myself about my photography assignment. I have been shooting for two full days straight with minimal direction. I’m shooting for a half day today.

The reason for doubting myself is that I haven’t really taken any “real” photos for almost two years. I’m very rusty. My equipment is also all new. But most of all, I haven’t taken the time to prepare properly and understand the requirements of the assignment.

That doubt manifested itself in my first shooting session. Almost all of the 500 photos I took had to be scrapped.

My positivity took a hit.

The second session went better, but not enough to really cheer me up.

The third session, yesterday morning, went very poorly. I went in with the mindset that I wasn’t up for it. That I didn’t have what it takes to do it.

I couldn’t have been more out of my comfort zone.

I was shooting at a children school, trying to get candid shots of the children with bars of Sundara soap. I’m very bad with children. I freeze every time. I have no idea how to be silly and build their trust.

I seriously did my best, but overall, I don’t even know if I managed to get a single usable shot.

And that’s when I lost all my positivity. I was down.

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Going Down Deeper

Every thought I had yesterday morning until the evening was negative.

I couldn’t help it.

My brain was just bouncing from one subject to the next, thinking of other areas it perceived as a failure.

I was sitting outside after that third session looking at the incredible scenery of the rural India village I was staying at. I was gazing upon the landscape and just wanted to cry.

But I didn’t, out of pride.

We left shortly after to go to another town two hours away. I really wanted to recharge my batteries and clear my mind. I normally fall asleep right away in transportation.

But not this time.

I couldn’t stop thinking about how I wasn’t fit to do my assignment. I wasn’t fit to write. I wasn’t fit to lead a team to build a game. I wasn’t fit for anything.

I f***ing hated having these thoughts. But turning them around seemed impossible.

I really needed a win.

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Getting A Win

That my friends, was key for me.

I’m not sure I actually even got myself the true win I’m aiming for, but just realizing that I needed to focus my attention on that win cleared my mind from the negative.

Or channeled it differently at least.

I started turning to the “why” and the “how”. Why were the photos not up to the standards I needed them to be, and how can I fix that.

My brain switched to revisiting these poisonous thoughts I had, but with an analytical point of view.

I analyzed what went wrong. I brainstormed solutions. I visualized the process.

It is then that I decided to take it as a challenge. No matter how bad my next session would be, it “didn’t matter as much”. It is a learning process. I’m no expert and never pretended to be. But I had forgotten that and was way over my head.

But now I was prepared. Mentally at least. The doubt was gone. I knew I could do better.

And I think I did in my fourth session. I haven’t had time to go through all the photos, but I have a better feeling. I certainly applied the things I had learned in the last two days.

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Conclusion

My confidence is not yet fully recovered, but I’m on the right track I think.

This may sound over-dramatic to some of you since this happened very recently and for a short period of time, but negativity is all new to me.

And in some ways, I’m happy I had this experience. I can finally relate and understand when people around me feel that way.

Feeling down sucks.

The more negative thoughts you have, the more you seem to have. It’s a rabbit hole that needs to be dug back up as fast as you can once you realize you’re in it.

It’s easy to say, but very hard to do. I channeled all my energy on getting myself a significant win. This changed my mindset.

Wins are very important for building up your positivity. Every small win contributes to it. It’s an effective way of digging yourself out.

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

How To Accomplish Your Goals 10x Faster And Better

Cover Photo by @linhnguyen on Unsplash

Last night I was chatting with my business partner from Bad Parrot.

I was telling him I’m releasing my book March 30th, my game on April 3rd and my store on April 6th.

That made me realize the last few weeks were not as unproductive as I thought they were.

I normally consider myself a very productive person. I often read and write about it.

I’m a big fan of Zdravko Cvijetic’s Zero To Skill productivity cheat sheet. It’s the perfect way to start being productive yourself. Just following that, you should dramatically improve your productivity.

Once you’ve mastered that, there’s only so much you can do yourself. Once your 24 hours are “well spent”, you can’t get more.

But there’s a way to still accomplish more, and it all boils down to a single word:

Delegation

My book was written by me, but it was put together by my incredibly useful assistant, Elaizah. This allows me to focus on what I’m good at: writing.

Its promotion will be handled by my networks, some Facebook ads crafted by a Fiverr export. And a special thanks to Zdravko Cvijetic, Tom Kuegler and Jordan Gross for sharing in their network.

My game is a collaboration of 8 people. For the launch for April 3rd, I hired a company’s services and they handle pretty much everything so I can focus on what I’m good at: designing and programming.

My store’s products were all found by Elaizah. She’s filling the store with the products this week. They way, I can focus on what I’m good at: designing the look of the store.

For Bad Parrot, I’m currently in talks with a talented local developer from Bangalore to collaborate with me on the frontend of the application, so I can focus on what I’m good at: the backend.

Saying that I’m accomplishing my goals 10x faster and better through delegating is no exaggeration. If it wasn’t for the people helping me, I certainly wouldn’t have accomplished all of the above. So thank you guys!

In fact, for every new collaborator, that number goes up. You accomplish more with 100 collaborators than you do with 10.

In a subsequent post, I’ll give more details on how I find people to help me and give some key tips on how to successfully delegate.

In the meantime, here’s a quick “formula” to know what you should delegate:

• Create a list of things you want to accomplish.

• List the tasks you’re doing for each goal.

• Rank each task on how good you are at doing it.

• As much as you can, delegate any tasks you think you’re a 7 (out of 10) or below.

And remember folks, it’s a collaboration. A win-win situation. Make sure your collaborator gets something out of it. It doesn’t necessarily have to be money.

So start thinking about delegation if you want to dramatically improve your productivity.

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

Top Tips On How To Be Pumped About Going Back To Work After A Vacation

Cover Photo by @lighttouchedphotography on Unsplash

When’s the last time you were pumped to get back to work after a vacation?

Most of the times, you’re either too comfortable to want to go back, or you exhausted yourself by cramming too much into a small vacation.

I’m just back from a small 4 days vacation in Mumbai, and let me tell you: I was pumped to get back to my productive activities!

It’s not that I didn’t enjoy my vacation, because I really did. But like everyone, I know how much it sucks to get back to work after being unproductive for a few days, weeks or months.

But I turned that over. I set myself up for wanting to come back without sacrificing quality time in a city I didn’t know.

Here are a few tips that worked for me to be pumped about going back to work after a vacation:

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Tip #1: Disconnect From Work And Technology

This was, in part, my topic for yesterday’s story.

This is obviously not that easy, but if you can pull it off, it will help you want to get back to work. Truly disconnecting means not doing anything work-related.

No email checking, no calls, no social media. Nothing.

Don’t bring your work laptop. If it’s the same as your personal one, don’t turn it on unless it’s for researching things to do or book flights and accommodation.

Shut that phone off. Use it for the essentials only, like Google Maps and Translate.

Relax, get back to your hobbies. It’s your time, do things you want to do that doesn’t work towards your productive activities.

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Tip #2: Plan Your Return On Your Last Day Off

This is critical.

Don’t go back to work not knowing what to expect. It’s the same principle as planning your day the night before. You’ll have clarity on what you need to do and you’ll be pumped to clear off that checklist the day of.

Be precise in your planning, and break your tasks in the smallest possible chunks.

I had 18 items to do just yesterday, most of which took between 10 and 30 minutes to do.

Everything was realistic.

Try not to schedule your hardest tasks on the day of your return. Or maybe not even in the first week. Give yourself a chance to be back.

I was pumped to accomplish the tasks on my list.

Now, I realize not everyone is in the same situation as me and have limited control over their work task, but if that’s your case, make sure to ask your superior what tasks they’re thinking of assigning you and try to negotiate with them.

Most bosses would be happy to help you get back to it.

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Tip #3: Be Positive About It

“I hate Mondays” — Garfield

That’s the attitude you don’t want to have.

Do not tell yourself that coming back will suck. Even if you know it might. Think about the positive aspects of your work. Think about the things you like about your work.

• Is it your colleagues?

• Is it the work itself?

• Is it the learning?

• Is it the free snacks or lunches?

• Is it the salary, or the benefits?

Whatever it is, capitalize on it.

If you struggle to find anything positive, well, maybe it’s worth considering other options? There are almost always other options.

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Tip #4: Be Grateful

Some people don’t have the luxury of taking a vacation.

Too often, we take it for granted.

Be thankful for being granted vacation. Be thankful that your work made your vacation possible.

Some people can’t afford it. Both in terms of money and time.

When you stop taking your vacation time for granted, you start appreciating what made this vacation possible in the end: your work.

I traveled around the world for a year without working. I was in vacation mode for a year. It’s not as nice as it sounds.

Work gives you purpose. Be thankful for the opportunity to do something productive.

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Tip #5: Exhaust Yourself, Just Enough

We’re creatures of comfort. It’s against our nature to do things out of our comfort zone.

When you take a vacation that’s too relaxing, you become too comfortable. It’s hard to break out of it and want to go back to doing productive things.

You definitely should relax on vacation, but make sure to spend some energy too. Spend energy on things you like to do. On things out of your comfort zone. Learn new things. Meet new people. Eat new foods. Let your imagination run wild.

But don’t overdo it!

Have you ever gotten back from vacation more exhausted than you were before?

Yeah, I’m sure you have. And you know it sucks.

Plan your most relaxing activities for the end of your vacation. That way you’ll have spent energy in the beginning, and won’t have time to get too comfortable before going back.

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Tip #6: Change Your Mindset About Work

Everyone talks about work-life balance.

I reject that mindset. Work and life go together. There’s no balance.

Work is life. Take this definition of work for example:

“activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a result”

We all want to achieve results. The moment you start seeing work as a way to get things done and not about a paycheque, you’ll start to understand that work gives a meaning to life.

When you believe that you’re doing things that work towards your goals, you’ll stop thinking of work as a chore, but as a way to achieve your greatest ambitions in life.

Coming back to “work” then becomes coming back to achieving your goals.

And that is enticing and will get you pumped.

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Conclusion

Going on vacation is great, no questions there. But coming back from it is not always easy.

Make sure to truly disconnect, be positive and grateful, exhaust yourself enough, change your mindset about work and plan your return before coming up.

That will pump you to be back to your productive activities.

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

Resting Really Is A Crucial Part Of Your Success — Embrace It

Cover Photo by @heftiba on Unsplash

“I regularly take a vacation from all my productive activities.”

This sentence alone probably brings a lot of questions in your mind:

• Maybe Danny doesn’t like his work?

• Maybe Danny just can’t handle the pressure?

• Maybe Danny is just a slacker?

• Something else?

The truth is, I love what I do. Everything I do.

I’ve been coping surprisingly good with pressure considering the number of things I do all at once, like running Power Level Studios, writing on Medium, writing a book, working on two other startups, starting a podcast, etc.

And because of the above, you know I’m no slacker. On the opposite, I work so hard that to maintain a peak state of mind, resting is a necessity.

It’s like when you work out, the most productive thing you can do for gains is to rest in between to let the body recover.

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Losing Momentum

Last month when I came back to Canada to do some paperwork and visit friends and family, I had lost my momentum. Seeing new groups of people every day and rushing to get paperwork done completely drained me mentally.

I had lost the hard-earned momentum I had built from the last 3 months in Spain.

I didn’t have to energy to wake up at my regular hour. I even skipped working out two or three days in the past 30 days. That was the thing I swore not to skip.

I hardly made any progress on Soul Reaper.

I stopped writing every day on Medium.

I fell behind on all my activities.

I’m sure this kind of lost momentum happened to you as well at some point.

In fact, even though I’m a highly self-disciplined and productive guy, I’d say to happens to me regularly.

It’s normal. Our high-stress environments are not meant to be lived at high pace every day, 365 days a year.

Because of that loss of peak state, I decided to rest for a few days when I arrived in Mumbai 4 days ago.

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Resting

Sometimes, you just gotta rest.

“Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is relax.” — Mark Black

It’s not the first time I write about this subject, but it’s so true that I had to write about it again.

This morning is the day I returned to being productive again. I woke up at around 4am, my usual time. Part of it is jetlag (I landed in India 4 days ago), part of it is my wife being restless next to me, but the main part is: I’m excited to start my productive activities again.

Do you ever feel like that coming back from vacation?

I certainly did this morning. I also felt that way the last three or four vacations I’ve taken.

The biggest factor in my excitement to be productive again comes from having rested.

I’m talking about truly resting. A real vacation. A break from everything. No technology, unless necessary (like Maps or Translate).

I did not touch my computer at all until yesterday.

I forced myself not to think about work. I try to empower my team to be self-sufficient, so it’s easier to disconnect. I trust them.

And I think this is an important part of disconnecting. Prepare your colleagues before you go and trust in them. If you can do that, you’ll be able to free your mind.

During my vacation, I slept, napped, did light sightseeing, played video games, read, meditated and journaled.

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Restoring Momentum

Obviously, I’ve just started my productive activities again an hour ago, so it’s a bit pretentious of me to even mention “momentum” at this point.

But I’ve been through that cycle multiple times now, and it worked every time.

The thing is, if you have truly rested during your vacation, you’ll have an incredible amount of energy you’ll need to spend.

Use this energy.

Get back to your most productive habits.

Listen to your body and mind. Don’t overdo it.

Little by little, and with perfect consistency, your momentum will be back. Just not right away.

And that’s normal. It takes me 2–3 weeks to reach my peak state.

Once you’ve earned your hard-earned momentum back, you’re on your path to “success” again.

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Conclusion

When you’re feeling overwhelmed and can’t perform at your peak performance, it’s time you start thinking about resting.

You don’t need to go away or even take a few weeks off. A few days is usually enough to “recharge your batteries”, provided you really do switch off during your break. No technology, no work, nothing.

Relax, get back to your hobbies. It’s your time, do things you want to do that doesn’t work towards your productive activities.

When you’re rested, get back to your productive habits and be consistent with them.

So next time you feel overwhelmed, dare take a break and rest and rebuild your momentum.

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

Thinking Of Volunteering Aboard? Read These Tried And True Tips

Cover Photo by me in Uganda

When my wife and I left Toronto to travel the world for a year, we didn’t want to just see sights and selfishly “take from the world”, we also wanted to give back, and we thought volunteering aboard was a good way to do it.

We ended up volunteering in Bangalore, Siem Reap and Busan during that trip, and in Uganda during a different trip.

Having done it only 4 times, I certainly don’t consider myself an expert on the subject, but I’ve been asked the same questions multiple times and I think it’s worth sharing to help anyone wishing to volunteer aboard.

The following questions come from Maeghan Smulders:

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1) how did you pick what organizations to volunteer with / how did you find them?

You can find travel expos in most major cities in the world. The general purpose ones usually have a few booths for volunteering organizations. But there are also volunteering-specific expos, like the Go Global Expo in Canada.

That’s where we found a good match for us. We had two potential opportunities: one in Ghana and one in Bangalore.

As for choosing the organization, we looked into projects we could do together, the reputation and seriousness of the business, the reviews and the location. Prices were pretty much all the same.

We picked a location that was on our way and where we really wanted to go. In fact, we planned the first half of our travels based on the project we chose in Bangalore.

We were serious people looking for serious work. It wasn’t a checkbox for us. It wasn’t to put in our resume. Some organizations were more catered to less serious people. And I’m not judging here, but it’s just not what we were looking for.

For the projects in Siem Reap and Busan, we found them through workaway.info. It’s a great website for finding projects where you exchange your time for lodging and sometimes food. It’s a great way to help local business owners or families while you’re abroad.

I also want to point out that we’ve met travelers and know people who do volunteer work through their religious institution, so it’s worth checking out for some people. We haven’t done it ourselves though.

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2) did you apply or pay fees to do so? Did you notice a difference in opportunities where you have to pay vs free?

For the Bangalore project mentioned above, we paid an organization a fee.

They took care of our lodging, airport pickup, security, etc. The owner also took us on weekend cultural trips quite frequently. Here’s one I took part of: Ancient Jain Temples. We had a terrific experience with them.

The Siem Reap, Busan and Uganda projects were free. In fact, we got free lodging and food in exchange for our work.

In Siem Reap, we helped the AngkorHUB co-working/co-living space. A place I went back to for 2 months 7 months ago.

In Busan, we helped at the LZone Cafe for conversation exchanges.

In Uganda, it was an organization my wife started volunteering for remotely when we came back to Canada: Sundara. It’s a USA-based company.

The difference between paid and non-paid seemed to be on support mainly. For people who are concerned about security and support, paid volunteer experiences are the way to go. For more adventurous and potentially more authentic volunteer experience, free is sometimes better.

We had incredible experiences both when we paid and when we didn’t pay.

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3) the software projects you did — did you identify the problem and solution yourself? Or was it a request from one of the NGOs that needed help?

When volunteering abroad, it’s hard to find projects that require hard professional skills.

One, it’s hard to find people willing to do it for free, and two, it’s rarely something that can sustain itself when you’re gone.

I was never meant to do software-related tasks in the projects I volunteered for, yet I did do it at AngkorHUB and LZone Cafe. I went there doing what I was meant to do, saw they had needs and proposed solutions.

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4) do you continue to maintain the projects you created?

Sustainability is a key concept of any good volunteer project. We always aim to do things that are sustainable.

My work in Bangalore was to support teachers of a skill development centre. I did give a class or two, but it was always meant to teach the teacher. That way, the teachers keep the knowledge and can teach it to all their future students.

My wife put up a hygiene education workshop with the help of a local Indian employee. She presents the workshop all around India now.

In Siem Reap, the owner is a software developer himself, so he maintained the project after.

In Busan, I think they ended up not using the software after I was gone. I had proposed to maintain it, but since I was coming back to North America right after, I couldn’t afford not to do it for money.

In Uganda, we helped raise funds to build a borehole well for a village that had no access to clean water. The fund also covers maintenance for 10 years. The village leaders were taught on how to do the maintenance of the well.

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5) did you organize the volunteer opportunities before traveling? Or coordinate while on the road?

We organized the Bangalore project before leaving, same with the Uganda project after.

The Siem Reap project, we found it on the go, 2–3 weeks before going. We did a Skype interview with the owner while we were in Vietnam. That same week, we did a Skype interview for the project in Busan, which was a few months after.

Organizing it on the road is definitely feasible. It’s just that it might be harder to get access to travel expos.

LZone Cafe is always looking for volunteers.

Reaching Hand, the local organization we volunteered for in Bangalore, is also always looking for volunteers. They are an excellent organization and we are very happy to see them again while we’re there next month.

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Conclusion

Travel expos are a great place to find volunteer experiences that provide better support and security, but for a fee.

Workaway.info is a great place to find authentic experiences to help locals in exchange for food and lodging.

Sustainability for volunteer projects is an important concept you should always consider. Projects that are not sustainable may hurt more than they help in the long run.

Organizing volunteer work while already abroad is definitely feasible, especially if you’re flexible in your travel plans. It’s also a great way to have an impact on locals while reducing your costs dramatically.

Hope this helps!

Thanks for reading! :)

We All Need Someone Who Truly Understands Us

Cover Photo by @theexplorerdad on Unsplash

I don’t live a conventional life by any means.

I’ve been with my wife for almost 14 years and we’ve been married for 6. It took us 7 years, 7 months and 7 days to get married. We got married after hopping on a helicopter in Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon with two friends.

We had decided on that option two months earlier, but got our rings the week before in San Francisco and we found our tux and gown two days before the wedding.

I don’t know how she agreed to that, but it makes for a good story.

We’ve been together for that long, yet we don’t have children or don’t own property. Or not anymore at least (the property part). We had bought a brand-new condominium in downtown Montreal when we were 21 and 23, which we sold for good profit a year after. We were still students at the time.

I did over 12 different jobs, starting when I was 8 years old. I’m a terrible employee. It’s not that my work ethics are bad, it’s just that I’m more of an entrepreneur. In fact, I’ve launched 5 companies, most of which “failed”.

Three years ago, my wife and I left to travel the world for a year. We both left our really nice job and gave all our belongings away. When we came back to Toronto after, we couldn’t stand having a “regular” life, so we left again a year later.

Audrey went to work for Doctors Without Borders and I switched to having a nomadic lifestyle.

Any of the above sounds normal to you?

And I’m not saying it’s good or bad. It’s just different.

But if you tried to be different yourself, I’m sure you’ve noticed how society has a way to cast away people who are different.

People have a hard time getting it when you’re different.

They judge. The reprimand. They lecture you.

They can’t accept that you’ve chosen a path that’s different than theirs.

And that last part is what gets me the most.

Why can’t people accept that we’re not all the same? And that’s for the better. For everyone.

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Being Understood

Two evenings ago, Audrey and I went to dinner with her aunt, Hope.

We always love chatting her. Every time we chat with her, we feel so uplifted. She lives in a very different context than we do. She lives a more traditional way of life, yet she gets us.

She’s always happy for us. She shows interest and gives the right input on everything we say. She’s incredibly wise.

A lot of our family doesn’t get our lifestyle.

“No kids, no home, no stable job at our age? There’s something terribly wrong with you!”

But that’s not how Hope thinks.

She doesn’t have kids herself, but she’s got a home and a stable job. It doesn’t stop her from understanding us. She knows not everyone is the same.

She is one of the rare ones who truly understands us.

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Conclusion

You see, it’s okay not to be understood by everyone, but you need at least one person who truly understands you.

The feeling you get when someone listens to you and understands you is so uplifting.

It gives you the courage to keep going. To work towards the change you want to make in life.

It gives you the power to accomplish your wildest dreams and aim higher.

It makes it okay to be different.

• Are you different?

• Who truly understands you?

• Have you told them? Have you thanked them for it?

• Who do you show your support to?

Being truly understood is important for anyone’s sanity and development. Think about that concept, and show support to the people you care about.

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

You Are, Or Will Become, your Environment

Cover Photo by @rawpixel on Unsplash

In a series of stories, I wrote about how you are, or will become, what you read, what you listen to, and what you do.

In this story, I’m going a little deeper on the same theme.

A lot of the inspiration comes from my own experience living in completely different areas of the world in the last few years.

In the past 7 months alone, I’ve changed more than I’ve ever changed in my entire life. I have many theories on how specifically it happened, but for the most part: it boils down to my changes of environment.

If you are not in the right environment, hopefully, my story will inspire you to change it and make it work for you.

To be honest, It’s not something I had given much thought until I read Benjamin P. Hardy’s book: Willpower Doesn’t Work. So thank you for the inspiration, Benjamin!

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Toronto — Earlier than 7 Months Ago

Back then, I was living a more normal life. I had a nice 9–5 software engineering job in a rapidly growing tech startup in Toronto. I had worked there for at least one full year.

I was living in a modest apartment with my wife in the downtown area.

I was doing good, but I wasn’t standing out from the crowd. I felt I had stronger ambitions, but my environment was not prone to making me what I wanted to be.

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Cambodia — 7 Months Ago

My wife and I went separate ways due to her job with Doctors Without Borders.

We would not see each other for 6 months, with the exception of a week-long break in between.

I had to choose where I’d go.

I ended up going to Siem Reap, in Cambodia, helping a friend who owns a co-living/co-working space.

That was quite the change of environment!

There, I finally started working full-time on my own startup, a video game studio called Power Level Studios.

The most important part of the environment there was the people. Everyone was working hard on their own projects, which they cared deeply about. 9–5 was not a concept anymore.

I was so motivated that I was working 15 hours per day, 6–7 days per week. And it wasn’t even that hard.

I become such a high achiever and came up with my 3 new skills a month framework.

But outside of work hours, I would go out for dinner with friends every night. There’s no way I would do that in Toronto, that would be way too expensive! In Cambodia, I could eat a meal for $3. That was with a beer.

That environment was perfect for working hard, but also playing hard.

In the two months I was there, I had finally started working on my own dreams. I also made many new friends and became way more sociable.

I also somehow started looking like Conor McGregor haha.

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Thailand — 5 Months Ago

After Cambodia, I went to travel with a friend to Thailand for about 3 weeks.

We met new people almost every day and I did things way outside my comfort zone, like rock climbing outdoors and surfing. I’m afraid of heights and of drowning. We also crashed Turkish tour groups and went to ping pong shows with them.

I was a way more fun person than I was when I was in Toronto. I had ditched the excessive video game playing or toying around with my phone. In fact, my phone is pretty much a brick now. I use it for Google Maps while traveling and that’s about it. Oh wait, it’s also my alarm clock and music player.

---

Spain — 4 Months Ago

After my vacation in Thailand, I went to Málaga, Spain, for 3 months.

When I arrived, the co-working space I wanted to join didn’t have any desk left for me, so I was working from my Airbnb.

Honestly, I was pretty depressed. My productivity went down to about 10–20% of what it was back in Cambodia. The weather was nice. I had access to mountains and beaches. It was really hard to stay home. Plus the Spaniards live quite a relaxed way of life when you compare to North America. And I’m not saying it’s positive or negative, just different.

Anyway, the co-working space finally had a desk ready for me after 10 days. BOOM! Productivity went back up to what it was back in Cambodia.

There, I managed to continue with my 3 new skills per month. I gained 5kg of mass in one month (while losing 2% body fat), hiked almost once a week, gave public speeches, learned good conversational Spanish, started a fitness group, earned a grant for Power Level Studios, grew the company to 8 people, started writing and became top writer in less than one month, and made a business partner out of another co-worker there.

Gone was my introversion too. I would approach everyone and have wide-ranging conversions about everything.

I had become someone so entirely different from what I was only 6 months before. I had become much closer to what I’ve always wanted to be.

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Toronto — 1 Month Ago

My wife and I were reunited on Valentine’s day.

She had a hard time adjusting to what I had become. I was so different mentality, but physically too. I had gained a lot of muscles and started looking like a Viking because I was about to launch a Viking store (it’s still coming soon).

But it’s been only one month, and somehow I’m starting to get back to my other habits from before.

I’m less motivated. I play more video games. I work less. The only thing I do without fail is working out. I started writing once every 2–3 days instead of every day. My environment inspires me less here for some reason.

---

India — The Next 3 Months

In four days, my wife and I are flying to India. We’re going to be spending about 3 months in Bangalore. We found our apartment and our co-working space.

I’m excited to be in a similar routine as in Spain, but in a completely different environment. I have much to learn from India. Apart from Canada, Spain and Cambodia, it’s the country I had spent the most time in before, and I absolutely loved it.

I’m excited to see how my environment there will shape me. I have a feeling India will have a very positive impact on my life.

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What About You?

Take a moment to think about your current and past environments. Ask yourself the questions below:

• What environment are you in?

• Are you satisfied with it?

• Why is that?

• What could be improved?

• What could not be improved?

• What is positive about it?

• What is negative about it?

• What would be your ideal environment?

• How do you get there?

• What are the major roadblocks?

• How do you overcome them?

• How long will it take you?

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Conclusion

I never asked myself these questions before. As a result, I “wasted” years of my life where I wasn’t where I really wanted to be.

I changed my environment many times now. I can only agree with Benjamin’s theory on how environments have the biggest impact on how you can change/grow.

I know it’s not always easy to change your environment, but you don’t have to go to extreme lengths like I did.

Baby steps.

With each small change, you’ll be more motivated to change more things, until without even realizing it, you will be in the environment you always wished you were in.

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

If Only I Had Known It Would Be That Easy…

Cover Photo by @jakobowens1 on Unsplash

How many times have you not done something because you thought it would be too hard to do?

If you’re like most of us, frequently right?

For the longest time I thought there was no way I could draw. I’m a programmer by trade, and perform well with things that relate to logic.

I had tried a few times but always ended stopping before even really giving it a chance.

It was too hard for me to do. I had given up.

Similarly, I’ve always had tiny legs. It had been pointed out to me on many occasions while in high-school. Some might call it bullying, but maybe I was too dumb to realize I was actually getting bullied.

I’m an ectomorph. For me, gaining weight is terribly hard. I know a lot of people would love to have this problem, but they’re wrong. It’s just as bad as being overweight. Especially for men.

I was never able to put weight on. I tried eating ridiculous amounts of calories. Simple workouts. Nothing worked.

It was too hard for me to do. I had given up.

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The Turning Point

I can now draw, and my legs have started growing in ways I never thought would be possible.

But what changed you ask?

I think it comes down to two things:

1. A Mindset Shift

When you reject the idea that something is not feasible, it becomes feasible.

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t — you’re right.”—Henry Ford

I know this sounds cliché or too obvious, but it’s not.

Next time you think you can’t do something, stop yourself.

Take time to think.

Can you really not do it?

With careful planning, consistent execution and constant monitoring of results, you can achieve almost anything.

Kyle Maynard is a quadruple amputee. That guy climbed Kilimanjaro! If that doesn’t inspire you to do things you think you can’t, I don’t know what will.

When I started writing a few months ago, I shared a short story about a guy named Phil.

I won’t go into details, but the guy didn’t have a truck or a car to pick up a bookshelf I was selling, so he brought it on two public buses home. Who does that? Anyone would have given up on the bookshelf, but man did he want it!

2. A Simple Habit

Around the same time that mindset shift happened to me, I developed a framework I never knew would set me up for success.

I frequently write about it, so I won’t go into the details here, but basically, every month, I learn 3 new skills. I plan for it every end of month. I execute consistently every day for the whole month. I quantify and qualify the results.

At the end of the month, I’m usually quite good doing the skill.

This is how I learned to draw.

I rejected the idea that a programmer cannot draw.

I planned my learning process. I set deadlines. I set milestones. I drew every day by following tutorials online. By the end of the month, I could sketch, do line art, and colouring.

I won’t make a career out of it, but now I can sketch for my artists as needed and understand when they tell me things related to art.

When I rejected the fact that my legs could never grow bigger, I figured out a path to success. I did the right exercises and the right amount of repetitions. I was consistent in doing them everyday.

When I rejected the idea that an introvert can’t tell a good story, I studied methods that work. I practiced public speaking and writing consistently. I researched what makes a good story good. I learned to be authentic. That’s how I became a top writer on Medium.

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It’s Actually Easy

It turns out, it wasn’t even hard to learn to draw. It wasn’t even hard to grow the legs. It wasn’t even hard to tell stories.

“Showing up is half the battle.” — Woody Allen

I believe that. I’ve been there.

In the course of 6 months, I learned to draw, I learned some machine learning techniques, I learned a lot of Spanish, I learned to give public speeches, I learned to tell stories, I learned to write, I learned some basic Norwegian, I learned to Meditate, I learned to Journal. And more.

I’ve since become a top writer on Medium, started two new businesses, got my first professional photography gig, built my own personal brand, hired 5 people, wrote a book, started working on a podcast, and I’ll be releasing my game at the end of the month.

And I’m not saying that to brag.

I just want you to realize that things are not always as hard as they seem.

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

To All The Badass Women In Our Lives

Cover Photo by Oleg Magni on Pexels

Here’s to the mothers, the wives, the girlfriends, the sisters and the friends.

On this International Women’s Day, I want to thank you for everything you have done for us.

I’m not one to wait for an occasion to show gratitude towards anyone, but today is a special day and we should celebrate it.

For those who don’t know, International Women’s Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

It makes me sad that even to this day, gender parity remains a topic we need to talk about.

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At Work

My company, Power Level Studios (PLS), is split evenly in terms of gender. That wasn’t necessarily on purpose. It’s not something I think about. When an applicant sends their resume over, I certainly don’t discern the gender.

PLS Team and Contributors

Is the person fit for the job or not?

…

End of discussion.

But you know what? I’m happy that the team is split evenly. The women in my team are badass. Two of them have children and work from home to take care of them while working.

How many men do that?

I’m happy with the distribution at PLS because, in the video games industry, there are a lot more men. It’s an intimidating environment. My team is better for it.

So, to all the women at PLS, I tell you all the time but it bears repeating: “Thank you for your hard work!”

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At Home

I know my wife, Audrey, doesn’t want me to write about her, but I can’t help it. She’s a real badass, that one!

Everyone is inspired by her. Myself certainly included.

I’ll keep this brief:

• She started the nursing profession at 20 years old and went directly to arguably the hardest department at the hospital: emergency;

• She helped Sundara grow their network of partners, leading to distributing soap to hundreds of thousands of people with no access to clean soap and providing jobs to women who had a hard time finding one;

• She helped bring awareness about menstrual health hygiene for girls in India;

• She helped a community of 4,000 people in Uganda who didn’t have access to clean water. Thanks to her efforts, enough money was raised to build a borehole well, with the help of Drink Local Drink Tap;

• She went across Central African Republic with Doctors Without Borders, and with her team, they vaccinated over 40,000 children;

• And as of today, she is a mentor for a program called Girlz, FTW. Her mentee is lucky to have her;

• and many more things.

How badass is all that?

Heck, when she was just a kid, she would decide to donate her Christmas gift to other children in need. Which kid does that?

She empowers women and writes badass things like this:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bf4OsIIHM11/?taken-by=sundara_fund

She never stops. She never gives up.

I swear I would never have accomplished much in life if it wasn’t for her.

We met when I was 17 years old. That’s almost half my life ago now.

I was just a regular kid playing video games on my couch and not having incredible ambition.

She was a high achieving student with high ambitions of becoming a nurse. She was always caring. For everyone.

Her determination and quest for personal achievement rubbed off on me.

And for that, I thank her.

“Thank you for being my wife and being the most badass girl I know. Keep inspiring other people, and especially women whose environment doesn’t allow them to thrive.”

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Growing Up

It’s not the first time I write about my mom. Along with Audrey, she’s the hardest working person I know.

She has raised me and my three brothers on her own, and even though we were very poor, we always had food on our table.

Frankly, to this day I still don’t comprehend how she did it. I mean, coping with the situation must have been incredibly hard.

Some parents give up. She never did. She always believed in us and was always encouraging us to do what we wanted to do in life.

Thanks to her, I’m the hard-working person that I am today. I’m persistent and never give up on my dreams.

And for that, “I thank you, mom!”

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To All The Badass Women In Our Lives

So join me in thanking the badass women in your life.

Do it, not because today is a special day, but because you recognize the things they do for you. Do it every month, every week, every day.

Thank them. They deserve it.

So together, let’s make gender parity a reality.

Let’s #PressforProgress!

We can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

How Fabricated Luck Can Turn You Into A World-Class Performer — And How To Fabricate It Yourself

Cover Photo by @jessdarland on Unsplash

I’m a very “lucky” guy.

Everything great that happens to me is an “accident”.

It’s not the first time I’m writing on this subject, but it bears repeating since it’s really powerful.

The more I talk to other successful writers here, and other successful people in other disciplines; the more obvious it becomes to me:

We rarely achieve what we set out to do.

But it’s not all bad.

Think about it.

Go five years back in your thinking.

Back then, where did you see yourself in five years?

Is it where you are now?

Now, let’s do a little reflection.

If it is where you saw yourself, are you happy with it?

If it is not where you saw yourself, are you happy with it?

I’m willing to bet that if you are where you thought you would be, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows like you thought it would be.

On the other hand, if you are not where you thought you would be, well, it could go either way. You can be happy or unhappy.

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How To Fabricate Luck Yourself

So what do I mean by “fabricated” luck?

It’s something unintentional that happens as a result of doing something else, but in a related — yet seemingly unrelated — matter.

When I set out to improve my writing, I didn’t aim for the top.

I only cared about self-improvement. I didn’t research how to make money by writing. I didn’t go for cash-grabs or quick fixes.

Being world-class at anything requires tons of effort and careful planning.

When I chose to improve my writing, I studied how to write compelling stories.

I was consistent in my writing. I was writing about things people wanted to read. I was authentic. I was honest. I was vulnerable. I wrote from my own experiences.

However, I didn’t know then that it would have been a “recipe for success”.

But that’s not all. It started the month before, when I researched how to become better at public speaking and how to tell stories. I practiced those skills for a full month.

Oh, but wait! It really started when I learned skill x, y, z.

You see my point?

“The future belongs to those who learn more skills and combine them in creative ways.”―Robert Greene, Mastery

THAT is how you fabricate your own luck!

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How Fabricated Luck Can Turn You Into A World-Class Performer

I didn’t aim to become a writer.

I didn’t aim to write a book.

I didn’t even aim to write stories here on Medium.

In fact, until three months ago, I didn’t know how to tell stories, let alone write them. For the most part, it just happened by “accident”.

In my short journey as a writer on Medium, I got published by one of the top publications and became a top writer in 8 different categories: Inspiration, Travel, Self-Improvement, Life, Life Lessons, Entrepreneurship, Productivity and Startup. This morning I noticed I was top 3 in Travel and top 5 in Inspiration!

And I’m not saying that to brag. There are people on Medium who are WAY better than I am.

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Writing On Medium

I mentioned it above: I didn’t aim to become a writer.

It was just part of the 3 skills I was working towards learning for January.

I just wanted to be better at writing. Yet 5 days after I started writing, I got published. One thing led to another and I became a top writer in 23 days. I couldn’t believe it. I only wanted to improve, not become a top writer. I thought I could get published after 6 months of practicing!

I was definitely lucky. I see tons of great stories on Medium that don’t get the attention they deserve.

But my luck was “fabricated”.

The 3 new skills a month framework I built for myself set me up for success.

All the components were there for it to happen, I just arranged them in a way for it to trigger.

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My Third Business

When I failed to launch my 3rd business, I joined a team who pitched to the same investors and got the funding (I didn’t). I learned so much about business, backend development and made tons of important connections by joining them.

We ultimately released a game that reached top charts in the app store and made millions of dollars.

I was lucky to meet the other company, but it happened because I was pitching to the same investors, did a good enough impression on them and the other team, and of course, played tons of games growing up, so I knew what I was talking about!

But I didn’t aim to make a game, let alone make good profit on one.

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Conclusion

Luck can be “fabricated”. Fabricated luck is something unintentional that happens as a result of doing something else, but in a related, yet seemingly unrelated, matter.

To be “lucky”, you have to do shit. You have to get out of bed, put some pants on and get cracking.

The more you do, the more things will align and provide a path for you.

Seemingly unrelated skills will come together in ways you never thought they could. They will make you authentic. They will make you interesting. And they will ultimately make you world-class, in ways you never thought you could be.

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

Traveling Long-Term Changes Your Life Forever — For Better Or Worse

Cover Photo by myself on dannyforest.com

Traveling Long-Term Changes Your Life Forever — For Better Or Worse

Three years ago, my wife and I “left” our jobs to travel the world for a year.

It was an amazing journey.

We saw the most impressive sights, ate the best food, had empowering volunteering experiences, but most of all, we met the most incredible people.

Lately, many people have come to us to ask for advice on long-term travel. So I decided I’ll share part of our story here.

When I said “left” our job, I meant we didn’t work for the year. We actually both negotiated a leave of absence.

So when we were “done” with our travels, we came back to Toronto. Back to our well-paid full-time jobs.

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The Not-So-Glorious Return Home

It was painful.

We both liked our jobs. We both really enjoy Toronto. But it just wasn’t the same.

Most people didn’t give a damn about our journey. A lot of our friends were at a different point in their life. A lot of them just had kids. They had settled, we didn’t.

One of my brothers was completely avoiding me. To this day, I don’t even know why. Maybe he was jealous? Maybe he couldn’t handle our non-traditional way of life?

We were even kicked out from one of our family’s house because they could not handle the fact that we were helping people outside of our own country when, like any country, we also needed help.

Gone were the new amazing sights.

Gone was the deliciously cheap food.

Gone were the volunteering experiences (for me).

Gone were the incredible new acquaintances.

Coming back from traveling long-term is hard. I’m far from the first to write about that. Thankfully I was traveling with my wife, so we were in this together.

Whenever we could talk to other people who also traveled extensively, we did. It felt great to share experiences, but it was mostly great just to be understood by someone else.

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Poverty And NGO Work

We were somewhat miserable coming back.

The biggest thing for us was that we saw so much poverty everywhere that every time we heard someone complaining about their first-world problems, it was hard for us to relate.

Audrey (my wife) started volunteering remotely for an NGO called Sundara almost as soon as we came back to Canada. That was her way of remaining connected to the world.

But it wasn’t enough.

That October, we went to Uganda to help with Sundara’s operations there. We had partnered with other NGOs there to provide them with water. Long story short, they had no access to clean water. People were dying from diseases and dehydration.

I helped bring awareness to the cause by taking photos (like the one above) and Audrey handled the operations and the outreach.

It was a life-changing experience.

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The Turning Point

Then on November 11th 2016, we were sitting at the Foggy Dew Irish pub. We were talking about how we were not satisfied with our current situation in Toronto. At one point I told Audrey:

“Why don’t we just leave and travel again?”

That was our turning point.

We were so in agreement with this idea. Truthfully, I never thought she’d be up for it, but it turns out she needed that even more than I.

A few months later she applied for Doctors Without Borders. She got the job really fast.

In my case, I had applied for a competitive grant for Soul Reaper and got it. I could work from anywhere. My team was already remote, so it wasn’t even that big a change.

So with that, we left our jobs for real this time. We took a vacation in June and July 2017, and then we parted ways for her to do her first mission in Central African Republic, and for me to work as a digital nomad in Cambodia.

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The Better

You will be more interesting

With all the places you’ll have seen, all the food you’ll have eaten, all the activities you’ll have done and all the different friends you’ll have made, you will have a repertoire of interesting stories to tell for years to come.

You will make new friends

The connections you make while traveling tend to be really strong. You share wonderful experiences that most people don’t get to live. When back home, you’ll occasionally meet like-minded people and the bonding will be that much easier.

You will have a deeper appreciation

A deeper appreciation for everything. When you see that people in other countries don’t have the things you take for granted, well, you don’t take them for granted anymore.

You will be more positive

When you are in new environments frequently, it’s stressful. You panic. You yell. You cry. Then you’re back and things feel so “easy”. You start thinking positive about every situation.

You will be more open-minded

You’ll have met people with all sorts of backgrounds. You’ll have eaten food you never even thought existed. Your prejudices will go away and you will start to appreciate everyone and everything for what they are.

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The Worse

You will be less tolerant of meaningless problems

The so-called first-world problems become so hilarious at times. You’ll hear people complain about the most meaningless of things when you’re back home. Sometimes you’ll find it funny, but sometimes it will irritate you.

You will become really cheap

A lot of countries can be cheaper than home, depending on which country you’re from. When you’re used to paying little for meals, it’s hard to come back and pay 5–10x the price for less authentic meals. It’s the same for accommodation and other things.

You will lose connections

I mentioned that above. Your friends will have a different lifestyle. You won’t connect on the same level anymore. Striking a meaningful conversation becomes harder when you don’t have anything in common anymore.

You will annoy people

You will be interesting to some, but you’ll be annoying to others. You will be perceived as pretentious. You will be so excited about your wonderful journey that when you talk about it, people will think you speak in a superior tone.

If you watched The Big Bang Theory, it’s similar to when Howard came back from space.

You will not be understood

People will not have lived the things you have. A lot of your close family will not agree with your new lifestyle or ideas. This can be difficult.

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Conclusion

Traveling long-term is an amazing way of life, but is not without its downsides.

Your journey will have its ups and downs.

It will shape the person you are and will be for the years to come.

It will change your life, sometimes for the better or sometimes for the worse.

Ultimately, once you go past the bad, nothing beats the good you get out of it in my opinion.

Are you considering a similar path?

Are you ready for the most amazing ride of your life?

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)

Should You Write One Story A Day? Here’s What I Learned From The Last Two Months

Cover Photo by @m15ky on Unsplash

I really didn’t want to write yet another post about “writing a story a day”. Many people have done that before me.

But I decided to write about it this morning because I think my opinion differs from most others, and I give my own pros and cons for doing it.

The idea to write about this topic came from when I read a story by Heide Lindgren: https://medium.com/@heidelindgren/ive-got-a-problem-with-this-post-content-everyday-strategy-38554c6fae3

“There is such a ridiculous amount of information out there to sift through and next to none of it is useful or relevant or sometimes even truthful” — Heide Lindgren

She’s not wrong you know. At least in my opinion. I’ve been struggling to write anything genuine for the past two weeks.

I initially blamed it on my change of environment and lack of focus on my routine.

But I was wrong.

Writing one genuine story a day is just plain hard, no matter the environment or routine.

In my answer to her story, I mentioned a story I had written recently: Originality Does Not Exist, We Should Aim For This Instead.

In the story above, I stipulate that quality, “original” content can be created based on authenticity, which is something I aim for in all my stories.

But even then, it’s hard to be authentic on a daily basis.

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What I Learned

Writing Once A Day Drains A Lot Of Your Time

For two months straight, I wrote one story a day, but I was limiting myself to 40–60 minutes only. That included finding a topic, writing the headline, finding at least one image and finding relevant quotes (in no particular order).

Even though it took me only 40–60 minutes to write the story every day, I obsessed over looking at the stats and responding to most responses I got. Overall, it ended up taking at least 2 hours of my time every day.

And let me say that writing 750–1,000 words in 40–60 minutes is FAST and HARD! You should aim for something more realistic. I was dumb and lucky at the same time for having made it for two months.

If You Don’t Get Published, You Don’t Get Views

I was lucky enough that The Startup published me after only 5 days of writing here on Medium. And that’s without even reaching out to any publications.

But they don’t always publish my stories. Most of the stories they don’t publish don’t get many views. And it’s not because they’re bad. At least I don’t think they are. The people who stumble upon them like them.

I think I’ve had single story that was not initially published and gained a good amount of traction. They asked to publish it later.

Not All Publications Bring The Same Traffic

When I write things that are more story-based, I usually send to The Ascent, because it’s more catered for that.

I do not get the same amount of traffic. Far from it.

Top publications really make a difference in bringing more traffic to your stories.

But I personally don’t care. I prefer to get published where my stories will resonate more with the readers of that publication.

Do It For Yourself And Your Audience

If you write one story a day for the sake of it, you’ll end up struggling to find the creativity to write something meaningful.

When I started writing, I wanted to write every day simply to improve my writing skills. It was part of the 3 new skills I learn every month. I never aimed for “fame and fortune” as they say.

The “success” I got from it was a side effect of me really caring about what and how I wrote.

Authenticity in your writing makes all the difference. I see it in my stats.

You Will Write Bad Stories

And please recognize that it’s bad.

There are days when I finish writing my story and re-read, and I know it’s bad. I just want to bury it and either give up or write another piece.

But I always at least self-publish. I’m usually right about my stories being bad. I see it in my stats.

I still self-publish because I need to show that perfection doesn’t exist. Even a good writer writes bad stuff. It’s a lesson to everyone.

I don’t necessarily recommend self-publishing bad stories though. You can leave it as a draft.

The Longer The Story, The Lower The Read Ratio

This is not an original tip/lesson, but I think it’s important to understand, especially for new writers here.

Here’s what the breakdown looks like for my own stories:

• 3 Minute Read: 40–50% read ratio

• 4 Minute Read: 35–45% read ratio

• 5 Minute Read: 30–35% read ratio

• 6+ Minute Read: 20–30% read ratio

The Longer The Story, The Higher The Fan Count Ratio

This is not an actual Medium stat, but I obsess over it. I like it when I write stories that a lot of people clap for. That shows higher impact/engagement.

The Fan Count Ratio is: Read Count / Fan Count.

Some of my top stories have about 2 reads for 1 fan. That is incredible in my opinion. That means that every other person has been impacted by what I wrote.

It’s not rocket science, but if someone fully reads a long story, chances are they were indeed impacted by what you wrote.

People Think That 4 Claps Is Great

I was like that too when I started reading things on Medium.

Whenever I was reading a good story, I would clap once. 2 for really good and 4 for great.

What I didn’t realize back then was that 4 is actually very low when you take into consideration that you can clap 50 times.

I give a lot of 50 claps. In fact, it’s mostly a 0 or 50 claps deal for me now. Did the story impact me in any way? 50 claps. They deserve it.

When someone takes time to respond to my stories in a genuine way, I give them 50 claps. They deserve it.

The following is strictly my opinion on the subject and is not based on facts. Feel free to leave a comment about your thoughts on the subject.

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Why You Should Do It

You Have A Message To The World

That is the top reason to do it. I personally didn’t do it for that reason initially, and I think it shows in my earlier stories.

Write because you have learned things in life that you think other people could benefit from.

If you have not experienced much in life yet, you probably don’t have enough material to work with to write once a day for an extended period of time.

Be authentic and your messages shall be received.

You Want To Improve Your Writing

By writing every day, you’ll increase your vocabulary, make fewer mistakes and become more efficient.

It’s a good reason to want to write every day.

You may not attract thousands of readers, but that’s not the point either. Not everyone needs to be famous here.

Also note that you don’t have to publish stories you think don’t add value to your readers.

You Want To Improve Your Storytelling

By writing every day, you will become a better storyteller.

I wrote about this is in the past. If you’re an introvert like me, words just don’t come out as easily orally and they do on paper.

Writing first improves your storytelling skills and allow you to become better at telling your stories in person after.

Like above, if you feel like your story may not add value to your readers, you don’t have to publish it.

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Why You Should Not Do It

You Want To Be Famous

It’s not true that you need to write once a day to become famous.

Take Zdravko Cvijetic for example. He writes at most once every week, but the stuff he writes is really good. It’s valuable to a lot of people.

He is a top writer and has written the story with the most views on Medium.

Writing once a day does help with visibility, but what’s more important is this:

“Be so good they can’t ignore you.” — Steve Martin

You Want To Make Money

Please don’t do that.

One, there’s no money to be made unless you’re great. And if you’re great, you probably don’t need to write once a day anyway.

Write once a day to become great, then start thinking about money, but before that there’s no point.

I personally don’t write for money. In fact, with the book I’m publishing this month, I plan on giving to charity and pay for my assistant so I can write more, better things!

Because It’s A Fun Challenge

I’m not proud to say that part of the reason I did it was because I liked the challenge.

I’m all for challenging myself, but the stuff you publish on Medium is public. It adds to the noise. If the intention is not to provide value to other people, then it makes it harder for the readers to find content they can care about.

Remember folks, you ultimately write FOR your readers.

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Conclusion

No one should write every day.

Most people can’t produce quality content on a daily basis.

I personally think that if you have a message to the world, then write about it, no matter the frequency. If it happens that you’ve got so much to say that you can impact people with your writing every day, then do it.

This month, I’ll start transitioning to writing less. I don’t have anything genuine to write about anymore on a daily basis. I’d also like to concentrate on more on my actual work too, because as I mentioned in my lessons above, writing daily does take a lot of time!

So I say this to you:

Be authentic. Write content your care about. Write things from your own experience. Don’t hypothesize and call it “truth”. Don’t just write the same thing with different words.

You can do this!

Thanks for reading! :)