These are my experiences, experiments, and revelations. Shared in hopes that my journey might shine light on opportunities and possibilities in yours.
Personal Changelog: Week 6, 2024 – Refining Focus and Habits
🎯 Prioritizing Bottlenecks
This week, I took a hard look at my daily routine and recognized that I needed to address the bottlenecks in my productivity head-on. The most significant change was reordering my priorities to focus on project-based work immediately after my non-negotiable morning meditation session.
Previously, I might have engaged in comfort challenges or exercise before diving into work. While these activities have their benefits, they weren’t pushing the needle forward on my most important projects. By placing project work at the forefront, I’m utilizing my peak energy levels to tackle complex tasks more effectively.
I’ve also been applying the principle of progressive overload to my project work. Each day, I incrementally increase the intensity or duration of my focused work sessions. This gradual escalation is helping me build endurance and make consistent progress without feeling overwhelmed.
Making this shift has already shown positive results. I’m more productive, and I feel a greater sense of accomplishment at the end of each day. It’s a reminder that sometimes, small adjustments in how we manage our energy and priorities can lead to significant improvements.
⏱️ The 2-Minute Prioritization Rule
I’ve been grappling with how to plan and prioritize my tasks without falling into the trap of over-planning or wasting effort. This week, I implemented my own version of the 2-Minute Rule to streamline my daily planning process.
Here’s how it works: during my daily review, I set a timer for two minutes and focus on planning just a small portion of my tasks. Committing only two minutes prevents me from overthinking or overcomplicating the planning phase. Surprisingly, this limited time often leads to clearer, more concise prioritization.
Using this method in conjunction with my Daily Review Template has been effective in keeping my planning sessions focused and efficient. By allocating a little time each day to prioritize tasks, I’m maintaining leverage on my projects without the paralysis of over-planning.
💡 Naming the Mastermind: Junto
A milestone this week was finalizing a name for mastermind cohorts: “Junto.” Inspired by Benjamin Franklin’s original mastermind group, the term embodies collaboration, learning, and mutual improvement. I also secured the domain name junto.chat, which aligns perfectly with the community-focused vision.
Choosing the right name has been energizing. It provides a sense of identity and direction for the project. “Junto” resonates with the values I hope to foster—a space where individuals come together to share insights, challenge each other, and grow collectively.
🚫 Eliminating Distractions
I made a conscious effort to eliminate two major distractions: playing Civilization and watching YouTube. By tracking my activities with Toggl, I realized how much time these habits were consuming—time that could be better spent on more productive or fulfilling activities.
Deciding to cut out these distractions entirely wasn’t easy, but the benefits were immediate. I didn’t play Civilization or watch YouTube at all this week. The result was a noticeable increase in free time and mental clarity. I found it easier to focus on my priorities and felt less mentally drained at the end of the day.
🇪🇸 Learning Spanish in Liminal Moments
To make the most of my “liminal moments”—those brief intervals between activities—I started using Anki flashcards to learn Spanish. Whether I’m waiting for something to heat up or have a few spare minutes, I use these moments to review vocabulary and phrases.
This approach has been surprisingly effective. The frequent, short sessions help reinforce learning without feeling burdensome. It’s gratifying to turn otherwise idle time into productive learning opportunities.
🧘♂️ Breathwork in Meditation
As I continue my practice of meditating for two hours each morning, I’ve encountered moments when my mind feels particularly clear—almost empty. In the past, reaching this state sometimes led me to reduce my meditation time, thinking I had less to process.
This time, instead of shortening my sessions, I introduced a breathwork technique: inhaling for five seconds, holding for ten seconds, and exhaling for ten seconds. Incorporating this into my meditation has deepened the experience. It helps maintain focus and brings a new dimension to the clarity I feel.
The breathwork acts as a bridge between active meditation and a state of calm awareness. It’s been rewarding to explore this integration, and it’s something I plan to continue.
🌙 Progressive Overload for Sleep Habits
Sleep quality has been an area I wanted to improve, so I decided to apply the principle of progressive overload to my evening routines—specifically, my disconnect time and fasting window.
For disconnecting from devices, I’m reducing my screen time by one minute each day. For fasting, I’m stopping eating 15 minutes earlier each day. These gradual changes are designed to be sustainable and less jarring than abrupt shifts.
The impact has been positive. By easing into earlier disconnect and fasting times, I’m finding it easier to wind down at night and achieve higher-quality sleep. Waking up feels more refreshing, which enhances my productivity and mood throughout the day.
🍵 Preparing 12-Hour Tea
In an effort to streamline my mornings and reduce decision fatigue, I started preparing my tea the night before—a practice I’m calling “12-Hour Tea.” I brew the tea in the evening and store it in a vacuum-sealed container.
What’s fascinating is that the tea remains warm and, despite steeping overnight, doesn’t become bitter. I believe the lack of oxygen in the sealed environment prevents oxidation, resulting in a strong yet smooth flavor.
This change not only saves time in the morning but also eliminates a task that would interrupt my focus after meditation. It allows me to transition smoothly into my project work without unnecessary distractions.
If you’re looking to optimize your morning routine, consider what tasks you can handle the night before. It might make your mornings more efficient and enjoyable.
🥋 Planning Customized Jiu-Jitsu Training
I’ve been eager to return to practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ), but class schedules at local gyms don’t align with my preferred times—afternoons around 3 or 4 p.m. Instead of compromising, I realized that scheduling private lessons could be the ideal solution.
I’ll reach out to instructors in the coming week. Private coaching offers flexibility with timing and allows me to tailor the sessions to focus on learning and technique rather than just competitive sparring.
This approach aligns with my preferences and ensures that the training enhances my well-being rather than adding stress. It’s a reminder that sometimes we need to create our own solutions when existing options don’t fit our needs.
Week 5, 2025: Breaking Patterns & Intentional Disruption
📚 Exploring Adlerian Psychology
Diving into The Courage to Be Disliked introduced me to Adlerian psychology, shifting my perspective from past-focused to future-oriented thinking. While meditation revealed some philosophical conflicts with Pavlovian conditioning, I’ve found power in embracing ideas that are “not true, but useful.” It’s reshaping how I approach everything from exercise to daily choices, eliminating excuses and focusing on future possibilities.
🌱 Dru’s Notes
A significant milestone: publishing my personal user guide on X. This kicked off the flywheel effect, leading to the launch of Dru’s Notes. There’s something powerful about transforming private insights into public learning. Each share builds momentum, making the next one easier.
⚡ Two-Minute Rule
Experimenting with the two-minute rule has been fascinating. Instead of the traditional “do it now” approach, I’m using it as a gentle entry point for resistance-heavy activities. Whether it’s evening meditation, reading, or working on my novel, committing to just two minutes often naturally extends to 20-40 minutes. The key? Making the start ridiculously easy.
🔄 Progressive Overload Beyond Fitness
Applying progressive overload principles beyond the gym has been a game-changer. Running, strength training, and now project-based work all follow this systematic increase in challenge. It’s less intimidating and gives my mind, body, and life time to adapt to new setups. Small, consistent increases build sustainable progress.
🎯 Structuring Days
Completely revamped my daily structure, moving health time closer to personal time and prioritizing comfort challenges and project work first. The result? Finishing work while it’s still light outside and maintaining better energy flow. It’s not just about what you do, but when you do it.
🎾 Squash
Tried squash – didn’t love it. Too fast-paced, requires too much force. Sometimes clarity comes from crossing things off your list. Not every experiment needs to become a habit.
💻 Using Strategic Friction
Added two layers of protection against YouTube distractions and deleted Civilization. Sometimes the best productivity hack is simply making it harder to get distracted.
⚖️ Energy Management in Practice
Finally grasped what “energy management” really means: it’s about order and prioritization. What gets your peak energy? That’s what you do first (for me — after meditation). Currently experimenting with tackling bottlenecks during peak energy times.
Week 4, 2025: Experiments in Mindfulness
🧘♂️ Meditation Deepening
Two hours of daily meditation has become my new baseline. The game-changer? Switching from soft surfaces to a folded yoga mat eliminated persistent head issues I’ve dealt with for years. It’s fascinating how such a simple change can have such profound effects. Sometimes the solutions we seek are hiding in plain sight.
🎯 Purpose-Driven Evolution
Developed what I’m calling a “Flywheel Purpose Statement” – a framework that moves beyond traditional goal-setting to embrace continuous progress. It’s less about hitting specific targets and more about maintaining momentum in key life areas.
📱 Return to Habit Stacking
Revived my relationship with habit tracking apps, aligning them with my Flywheel Purpose Statement. Even reached out to the app’s founder about adding widgets – because sometimes the right tools make all the difference.
⚡ Project Focus Discipline
Committed to two hours of project-based work daily. Hit the target most days, missing only Friday. Learning to embrace the 10% rule – progress doesn’t have to be dramatic to be meaningful.
⏱️ Time Tracking Evolution
Implementing Toggl with increased specificity. Rather than broad categories like “health,” now tracking specific activities like “yoga” or “strength training.” Better granularity means better insights for optimization.
💪 Comfort Challenge Consistency
Eight comfort challenges daily, with an interesting observation: they naturally increase in difficulty over time. No need to force progression – consistent practice creates its own momentum.
🎯 One Thing Philosophy
Revisited the power of singular focus: “What’s the one thing that if done will make everything else easier or unnecessary?” Sometimes a 20-minute focused action beats hours of scattered effort.
📝 Post-Meditation Innovation
Created a structured post-meditation journaling practice using Rosebud. The insights gained here often exceed traditional morning sessions.
🔄 Nine Lives Exploration
Conducted the “nine lives” exercise, examining different career paths and possibilities. Fascinating how some lives I’ve already lived (software engineer, community manager) while others beckon (executive coach).
🎮 Gaming Optimization
Found a creative solution to excessive Civilization gameplay: smaller maps. Sometimes the best way to manage a habit isn’t to eliminate it, but to optimize its impact on your time.
📚 Sales Learning Journey
Diving deeper into sales with a structured learning plan. Meditation practice is creating mental bandwidth to handle interpersonal challenges more effectively – though still maintaining boundaries.
✍️ Writing Tool Discovery
Discovered Cursor as an unexpected but perfect novel writing tool. Sometimes the best solutions come from outside their intended domain.
🌙 Evening Practice Exploration
Experimenting with evening meditation sessions. Early days, but exploring their potential for processing daily events before sleep.
🌳 Learning Framework Development
Created a semantic tree strategy for learning anything new, currently applying it to sales education. It’s about breaking down complex skills into manageable pieces.
💪 Physical Revival
Restarted strength training with the 10% rule in mind. Small, consistent progress beats sporadic intensity.
🔬 Prompt Engineering Progress
Refined my learning prompts using Claude prompt improver, particularly for sales education. The intersection of AI and personal development continues to yield interesting results.
Week 3, 2025: Systematic Rebuilding
🌟 Recovery Progress
Coming out of recent illness with renewed focus, though still navigating the ripple effects on motivation and ambition. Making meaningful progress in rebuilding energy and drive, using this recovery period as an opportunity to reset various life systems.
🧘 Meditation Depth
Scaled meditation practice back up to two hours daily, a significant jump from the post-illness one hour and pre-illness 15-30 minutes. Noticing exponential rather than linear benefits from this increased duration.
🏃 Running Reinvention
Transitioned from treadmill to outdoor interval running, adopting a marathon-training inspired approach. This new method alternates running and walking periods, marking a shift from the previous progressive overload strategy used since last February.
📱 Digital Friction Design
Implemented strategic friction in phone usage by disabling Face ID while maintaining a complex passcode. Combined with OneSec app’s intentional delays, this creates thoughtful barriers to mindless phone access while preserving convenience for essential functions.
⏱️ Time Tracking Evolution
Adopted Toggl for precise time tracking, moving beyond traditional time-blocking. This shift reveals the gap between intended and actual time use, leading to a more mature understanding of daily time management.
🎯 Purpose Framework
Developed a flywheel purpose and North Star statement with supporting inputs, creating a systematic approach to personal direction and growth. First day of implementation, with expected evolution of both statement and inputs.
📊 Habit System Reboot
Returned to using HabitStack app, including productive discussion with the founder about iOS widget feature requests, demonstrating the value of user-developer feedback loops in personal development tools.
🤖 AI Coach Development
Deployed personal AI growth coach to a remote server, beginning phone-based testing while identifying and tracking bugs for future resolution.
💻 Development Workflow
Integrated AICommits tool for writing git commit messages, representing a quality-of-life improvement in development workflow.
📝 Novel Writing Initiative
Began work on a novel, exploring the creative writing process with renewed focus and structure.
🔧 AI Writing Tools Evaluation
Tested various AI novel-writing tools including NovelCrafter and Squibler, ultimately opting for direct access to Claude via OpenRouter after finding limitations in existing tools. This exploration informs potential future tool development.
Week 2, 2025: From Setback to Creation
🤒 Navigating a Week of Illness
What started as a slight cold on Sunday quickly escalated into a debilitating combination of fever, food poisoning symptoms, and flu-like conditions by Monday at 2 AM. Being completely knocked out for the first few days of the year was humbling – I couldn’t even use my phone or computer. Despite my severely compromised state, I managed to alert our operations team, who proved to be an absolute lifeline. They seamlessly kept operations running during my absence, handling all scheduled calls and ongoing work. It allowed me to focus entirely on recovery without the added stress of work falling apart. While it wasn’t the start to 2025 I had imagined, it reinforced important lessons about the power of a supportive team and the necessity of allowing ourselves time to properly heal.
💡 Building Growth Coach
As my health began improving, I channeled my energy into a new project I’m calling Growth Coach. Having been a dedicated user of Rosebud since September, I’ve gained valuable insights into both its strengths and areas for improvement. I’ve identified what seems to be a fragmented market space, presenting an opportunity for a more unified approach. The development process has been particularly interesting as it marks my first serious exploration of Cursor Agent functionality, which has proven remarkably powerful. I’ve already deployed an initial version and plan to transition some of my sessions to test and refine it. There’s something poetic about turning a week of illness into the birthplace of a new tool for growth and development.
Week 1, 2025: From Concepts to Implementation
🎨 Experimenting with AI-Generated Presentations
Started using Gamma for AI-generated presentations this week, marking a shift in my documentation approach. This is part of my ongoing exploration of AI tools for content creation. The ability to include visuals has added a new dimension to my weekly updates, though I’m still evaluating the quality-effort tradeoff and whether to share the underlying video.
🎯 Reframing Positioning as Context Setting
Had a breakthrough in understanding positioning through April Dunford’s interview. Her definition of positioning as “context setting” clicked with my previous learning about leading with “why.” When building solutions, I’m now focusing on stating the problem and environment first, then showing the before/after contrast. This framework has already improved how I approach product descriptions.
🛠️ Streamlining Landing Page Development
Developed a new workflow for landing pages: using voice input with ChatGPT for positioning statements, iterating on copy, then moving to v0 for implementation. To avoid the “v0 template look,” I’m building a swipe file of appreciated designs and using landing format folio. This process has made landing page creation more efficient and distinctive.
🤖 Building AI-Powered Side Projects
Leveraged curiosity time to develop two AI projects: a chess coaching app and an AI growth coach similar to Rosebud. Implemented OpenRouter as a universal interface for accessing 250+ AI models, allowing for model flexibility and improved uptime through fallback options. This infrastructure choice has significantly simplified AI integration.
💻 Evolving Development Workflow
Started experimenting with Cursor’s Agent, moving beyond just using the Composer feature. While the Agent is more aggressive in its approach (even running terminal commands), I’m still evaluating its long-term utility. This represents my ongoing effort to optimize development tools while maintaining critical perspective on their actual value.
⏰ Refining Personal Productivity System
Implemented an Ultradian Rhythm schedule with 90-minute to 2-hour focus blocks, separated by 15-minute breaks. Combined with the LUMY app, this has helped maintain better work-life boundaries, particularly in preventing late-night work. Added Kindle reading during “liminal moments” between blocks as an active, non-addictive dopamine source, inspired by Nir Eyal’s concepts.
🌎 International Living Adaptations
Made progress in making Mexico City feel more like home. Found a Caribbean restaurant that adds some much-needed culinary diversity to my local options. Started navigating Mexico’s Amazon site for hard-to-find items, working through the initial friction of a different marketplace. These small wins are making the international living experience more comfortable and sustainable.
Week 52, 2024: Systems, Cycles and Shifts
🎯 Protecting the Experimental Space
A crucial systems update this week: separating comfort challenges from regular Ivy Lee tasks. While combining them seemed efficient initially, the predictable tasks were crowding out the experimental ones – like a bird in hand preventing the capture of potentially greater opportunities. These experiments might yield 10x, 100x, or 1000x returns, but they need their own protected space to flourish.
⏰ The Second Stable Block
After years of having only one stable time block (morning mindfulness practice), I’ve discovered my second: dedicated curiosity time. This block, positioned right after mindfulness, creates a foundation for exploration and learning. It’s based on a simple but powerful idea: if you’re following your curiosity, you’re never truly lost.
💫 First Customer Milestone
Breakout achieved a significant milestone this week: our first sale. Despite known gaps in our upgrade page (like missing social proof), someone still chose to purchase. It’s a powerful reminder that feedback loops matter, and even imperfect launches can yield valuable results after months of development since September.
🌎 The Price of Frequent Travel
December brought an unusual pace: three countries and four cities in one month. As a four-year digital nomad, this level of movement isn’t sustainable – the context switching cost is too high. While still productive, it’s clear why stability matters. The silver lining: securing a stable living situation for the next several months.
🌅 Aligning with Nature
Implemented LUMY to sync work patterns with natural light cycles. This isn’t just about tracking sunrise and sunset – it’s about restructuring work to end by sundown. Early results suggest better sleep quality and natural wind-down routines. It’s a reminder that working with nature, rather than against it, often yields better results.
🏃 Rethinking Running
Shifted from progressive overload to interval training in running routine. What’s fascinating isn’t just the physical benefits – it’s how this approach might transfer to other areas of life. When research shows 4 minutes of high-intensity work can outperform 60 minutes of steady-state effort, it raises questions about how we structure all our activities.
📱 The Long-term Value Equation
Made the decision to upgrade from iPhone 12 to 16, applying long-haul luxury goods thinking. The math was simple: would an investment of less than $1 per day yield sufficient value in both economic and non-economic terms? When framed this way, considering improved battery life and new features, the decision became clear.
🎮 Bridge: A Bucket List Win
Finally learned to play Bridge – a goal inspired by figures like Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that’s been on the bucket list for 4-5 years. While seemingly small, it opens up new social opportunities during travels and connects to a long-standing interest in strategic thinking.
Week 51, 2024: Finding Balance in Personal Systems
🔄 System Separation
This week brought an important insight about my productivity approach – I went back to separating comfort challenges from Ivy Lee tasks. It’s funny how experiments often teach us unexpected lessons. After trying to merge these systems into what I called a “task-challenge method,” I discovered something crucial about the nature of growth.
The combined system seemed brilliant at first – less friction, better focus, smoother transitions. But over time, I watched as the predictable, linear-return tasks slowly crowded out vital comfort challenges. It’s like having a garden where the easy-to-grow vegetables slowly take over the space for those rare, extraordinary blooms that might just change everything.
Some comfort challenges might “fail,” but when they succeed, they yield 10x or 100x returns that change our trajectory.
🧠 The Parasympathetic Sandwich
I’ve found a new rhythm for my days – what I’m calling a “parasympathetic sandwich.” Think of it like a day structured in layers: beginning and ending in that calm, restorative state (the bread), with focused, energetic activity as the filling.
The transformation came from really understanding how our nervous system works. Now, my evening winds down with two hours of gentle activities, flowing into sleep, then emerging into two hours of mindfulness practice. The middle of my day pulses with cold showers, exercise, comfort challenges, and focused work – all those activities that push us to grow.
📊 Faster Feedback Loops
Sometimes the most important insights come from adjusting how we listen to our own data. This week, I realized my 32-day moving averages were too slow – like trying to steer a ship by watching its wake rather than its bow. Emerging issues showed in data almost a week before I consciously felt them.
So I’ve shifted to 16-day moving averages for tracking key metrics. It’s about finding that sweet spot. In the dance between data and intuition, sometimes the tempo needs adjusting to keep us moving forward effectively.
The journey of refining these systems reminds me that growth isn’t about finding perfect solutions – it’s about being willing to adapt and evolve as we learn more about ourselves and our patterns.
Week 50, 2024: Sustainable Growth Through Small Steps
🏃♂️ My Marathon Model
I’ve been wrestling with sharing my journey publicly. Social media and I have a complicated history (that’s a story for another time). But this week, I stumbled upon what I’m calling my “Marathon Model.”
Instead of forcing myself into full public sharing, I’m taking baby steps. Week 1 was simply adding one question to my weekly review: “What was shareable?” Week 2, I recorded a video just for myself. Now in Week 3, I’m creating these text summaries.
It’s funny – my younger self would have seen this as moving too slowly. But I’m learning that strategic slowness might actually be the fastest way forward. It’s like running a marathon – you don’t start by running 26.2 miles. You start by walking around the block.
💡 A Personal Rule for Non-Consensus Decisions
I learned an expensive lesson recently about making non-consensus bets. Not through catastrophic failure, but through opportunity cost – those silent losses that hurt just as much. It led me to create what I’m calling my “participation rule”: I only make non-consensus bets when I’m actively involved in making them come true.
Being “more informed than average” isn’t enough anymore. I needed this framework to protect myself from my own overconfidence.
🎮 Finding Different Forms of Escape
I’ve been trying to break free from my YouTube habit. It’s not that YouTube is terrible – it’s actually incredibly useful for work. But those “just 30 minutes” sessions that turn into 3-hour marathons? Yeah, those need to go.
So I’ve been experimenting with alternatives. One might sound a bit childish, but I’ve fallen in love with pebble stacking. There’s something meditative about finding balance points between uniquely shaped rocks. I even collected some from Peru. Chess puzzles have become another goto, helping me build mental endurance in a way that feels productive.
🧠 My Trauma Metabolization Framework
It started during a therapy session with the Rosebud app. I was stuck in one of those circular thought patterns we all know too well, when something clicked. You know that quote about anger being a lack of understanding? It hit differently this time.
I found myself developing what began as a five-step framework, eventually growing to six steps. It’s helping me process past experiences in a way that finally makes sense to me. Here’s how it unfolds:
First, I dig deep into understanding the fundamentals. Often, I work with AI on this because, honestly, if I fully understood the situation, I probably wouldn’t be struggling with it in the first place. Then comes the crucial part – really sitting with that understanding before moving forward. I used to skip this step, rushing to solutions before truly processing the insights.
The framework then moves through workshopping responses, running thought experiments, and testing in real life. There’s even an optional sixth step for the brave – accelerated exposure. But here’s the thing I’ve learned: you don’t have to take that step until you’re ready.
🌿 Wellness Experiments and Observations
My supplement journey continues to evolve. Turmeric helps my breathing, fish oil seems to boost my mental clarity, and black maca gives me clean energy. But I’m having an interesting experience with Vitamin D – at 4,000 IUs daily, I’m noticing some ADD-like effects. It’s teaching me to pay closer attention to how my body responds to these interventions.
⚖️ The Homeostasis Insight
Perhaps the biggest realization this week was about self-sabotage. I’m starting to see it differently – not as failure, but as my system trying to maintain balance. When changes happen too quickly, even positive ones, there’s this natural pull back to the familiar.
This understanding has been transformative. It’s helping me design change in a way that works with my nature, not against it.