I outsmart myself to be productive

Today is Sunday, 7:21 am in Bali.

I’m writing this newsletter instead of surfing (the waves are excellent). There’s a force pulling me to work. It’s more addictive than my favorite sport.

How to love working so much, that everything else becomes a distraction?

1. The tribe

We are the most social creatures on the planet.

Art, books, startups, and everything we create have a fundamental purpose: To contribute to society and evolution.

We’re hard-wired to care what people say, to be curious, and to compete.

Twitter changed my life. I found people I admire and people I could compete against. It created a powerful and healthy desire to grind.

You don’t have to build an audience (although it helps). Subreddits, Telegram chats, and Discord communities let you connect with like-minded people to leverage our social drive.

2. The system

You can trick the brain into working hard, but we’re still monkeys. We expect our efforts to bring results, quickly.

I have no clue how much I’ll earn next week, or how many followers I’ll get.

But I know exactly what I’ll achieve:

• 1 YouTube video

• 1 newsletter issue

• 1 feature (or startup)

With a short deadline and controllable goals, I always fulfill my expectations, and quitting is not an option.

3. The carrot

I lived like a cockroach with $1,000/month for 5 years. No one cared about my work. 

Family, friends, and random people became curious when I started to earn $50,000 per month.

I don’t care what money buys (I didn’t even get a new surfboard). But I care for my work to be recognized.

Money gets attention. And attention drives motivation.  Get paid for your work (ditch free plans). It’s a powerful drive to get things done.

Throughout my life, I’ve quit countless times — because one of these 3 drivers was missing.

It took 2 years to understand what pulls me to work. This issue summarizes it.

PS: I won’t ship startups for 3-6 months. I’m working on a project that’s important to me. I’m a bit scared, but it’s the right thing to do, I guess.