As I endure the struggle of being an early-stage entrepreneur, it’s very important for me to stay on top of my expenses.
For that reasons, I’m going to start keeping tracking of my daily +/- for saving/spending — primarily to serve as a constant reminder that I need to start generating some income, asap.
I’ll take my average daily income, which is currently non-existent, and subtract both my reoccurring monthly expenses (rent, utilities, internet, etc. divided by 30) as well as my ad-hoc daily expenses for things like food, clothing, entertainment, and transport.
Today I’m at -$35.
Seeing a negative value every day is sure to piss me off pretty quickly, and will hopefully motivate me to keep my foot on the gas.
A few months ago, I realized that I wasn’t satisfied with where I was in life and wanted to do something about it. The only problem was that the gap between where I was and where I wanted to be seemed daunting. That’s why I decided to start making micro-changes in my life on a regular basis*. On March 11, 2017, I decided to start making at least one change in my life each day.
*Note: if you improve yourself by 1% everyday for an entire year, you will grow by 38x (1.01³⁶⁵=37.8)
Here’s what the journey has looked like so far:
11-Mar-17: Starting taking cold showers (for the last 60 seconds)
12-Mar-17: Set goal of learning one new song per week on the guitar
13-Mar-17: Started listening to Audiobooks at 3–4x the speed
14-Mar-17: Started keeping my shoes organized
15-Mar-17: Decided to learn to juggle, practicing a few min daily
16-Mar-17: Began reading 3 book summaries (~10 min each) daily
17-Mar-17: Limit eating out to bare minimum, learn new recipe weekly
18-Mar-17: Limit alcohol to a bare minimum
19-Mar-17: No more snoozing alarm clocks, no more than 7 hrs sleep/night
20-Mar-17: Build tracker for bills as a reminder
21-Mar-17: Limit TV usage to 2 hours per day
22-Mar-17: Saying people’s names when I say hello, brushing teeth with weak hand, do one charitable thing a day, stretch for 10 minutes a day, spend 15 minutes a day on personal improvement
23-Mar-17: Picking up one piece of litter a day
24-Mar-17: Drink 3L of water a day
25-Mar-17: Start keeping track of calories with myfitnesspal
26-Mar-17: Try a day without the internet next weekend
27-Mar-17: Start attending weekly Toastmasters sessions to become a better public speaker, start meditating 5 minutes daily, take one online course at all times, learn to play the game “Go”
28-Mar-17: Sketch one thing at least once a month for the rest of 2017
29-Mar-17: Find a mentor by the end of April (to chat with on a regular basis)
30-Mar-17: Make it to work on time everyday, and start posting on Medium in the mornings
31-Mar-17: Start volunteering at least once a month (look into options and find a place by April 7th)
1-Apr-17: Start quizzing myself in Chinese for 10 min daily using a flashcard app; start shampooing hair every other day (as opposed to every day)
2-Apr-17: Explore downtown Toronto by riding bike each weekend in spring, summer, and fall of 2017; Bike the 24km to my parent’s place uptown and back at least once this summer
3-Apr-17: Start donating blood, register as an organ donor, use less energy heating and cooling home, start buying some fair-trade products, start using reusable bags when grocery shopping
4-Apr-17: Eat an orange in the shower each morning, keep kitchen clean, jot down 10 ideas every day
5-Apr-17: Read fiction for 5–10 minutes a day
6-Apr-17: Ignore eNewsletters until the end of the day, and write down lesson learned from each book I read
7-Apr-17: Strike up a 1+ minute conversation with a stranger each day, read over Medium posts for grammar
8-Apr-17: Include a header image on all Medium posts
9-Apr-17: Drink a class of kefir each morning
10-Apr-17: Run at least one mile every single day
11-Apr-17: Plank once a day for as long as possible
12-Apr-17: Substitute baby carrots for regular carrots for morning smoothies
13-Apr-17: Buy a foam roller and start using for 5 minutes daily
14-Apr-17: Take the stairs (as opposed to escalator) wherever possible
15-Apr-17: Climb the stairs in my apartment building from ground to 50+ once a week
16-Apr-17: Play Spikeball with friends on at least 10 occasions this summer
17-Apr-17: Take one picture every day
18-Apr-17: Hold the door open for others for one straight minute each day
19-Apr-17: Wearing earplugs from now on at loud events
20-Apr-17: Add a “quote of the week” to the whiteboard in my room for inspiration
21-Apr-17: No longer dispose of cardboard in the recycling chute (which we are not supposed to do)
22-Apr-17: Recording and posting a one-minute video each day
23-Apr-17: Using an RSS reader for news consumption
24-Apr-17: Set a timer for 5 minutes before bed and spend the time jotting down all the things I want to accomplish the following day
25-Apr-17: Stop cracking knuckles
26-Apr-17: Stay disconnected for the first hour after getting up each morning
27-Apr-17 to 9-May-17: Quit my job to start non-profit, drink green tea at least once a day, write down one mistake I made each day that I can learn from, do at least one run and one bike for the cure each year, call grandparents at least 3 times a week, get a compost bin and start using it, start standing while playing the guitar, start cutting my own hair, spend 25 minutes a day on self-improvement, become a vegetarian within 100 days, made rule to never accept more than $75k annually in personal income, spend 5 minutes a day learning to type properly, learn to drive stick
10-May-17: Spend a few minutes each day reviewing this growing list of changes
11-May-17: Take daily mood quiz on moodscope.com
12-May-17: Writing down 3 things a day that I am grateful for
13-May-17: Draw something every day
14-May-17: Add a slice of lemon to a glass of water daily
15-May-17: Creating a Vision Board and reviewing it monthly
16-May-17: Stop using Instagram
17-May-17: Smiling & saying hi to strangers in the elevator
18-May-17: Putting my phone and wallet/keys in opposite pockets
19-May-17: Reach out to one new person a day for advice on my startup
20-May-17: Using the pomodoro technique to manage time
21-May-17: Start 30-day wall sit challenge, and then continue to do one 5-minute wall sit a day
22-May-17: Learn one new word a day
23-May-17: Brainstorm and write down 10 uses for a random object each day
24-May-17: Write at least 100 words daily on any topic
25-May-17: Use the Rule of 3 to identify the three most important things I want to focus on accomplishing each day at work
26-May-17: Using the ‘5 Why’ technique to get to the root cause of problems
27-May-17: Switching my iPhone wallpaper during work hours as a reminder to leave my work at work
28-May-17: Try again with online iOS development course and commit to 15 minutes of learning per day
29-May-17: Only checking and responding to emails once each morning
30-May-17: Only visiting Medium once a day
31-May-17: Always climb the stairs two steps at a time
1-June-17: Watching one new TED talk a week
2-June-17: Asking each person I chat with about my startup if they’d be willing to connect me with someone from their network
3-June-17: Use the iPhone app “Daily Dozen” to track my eating habits daily
4-June-17: Spend 5 minutes each night reflecting on my day
5-June-17: Listening to NPR’s “How I Built This” weekly podcast
6-June-17: Going for a short walk each day without my phone
7-June-17: Using the 80–20 principle to evaluate my schedule/use of time every two weeks
8-June-17: Experiment with limiting news consumption with a one-minute video/world news update from BBC each day
9-June-17: Watch one iTunes U video a day
10-June-17: Take a Vitamin D supplement daily
11-June-17: Eat fish at least once a week
12-June-17: Get 8 hours of sleep each night
13-June-17: No longer work from home
14-June-17: Buy some spices and start using at least one a day
15-June-17: Use https://pumpn.net/mag/randomgenius/ to discover a new song at random each day
16-June-17: Replacing “let’s catch up over coffee/a beer” with “let’s go for a walk”
17-June-17: Do one minute of bodyweight exercises immediately after my alarm goes off
18-June-17: Drink 1L of water immediately after alarm goes off
19-June-17: Each night, tell my brain to “wake me up at __ a.m.” the following morning
20-June-17: Do yoga for 30 minutes each week for the next 3 months
21-June-17: Create new visual tracker to monitor habits/changes daily
22-June-17: Write down one awesome moment from each day
23-June-17: Spend at least 5 minutes a day learning to fingerpick on the guitar
24-June-17: Use f.lux to automatically adjust computer screen hue in evenings
25-June-17: Disable all notifications/vibrations on phone
26-June-17: Spend a couple minutes daily organizing Wunderlist to-dos
27-June-17: Spend one minute each morning keeping closet tidy
28-June-17: Spend a couple minutes at the gym each day learning to do a handstand
29-June-17: For every new item I purchase, commit to getting rid of 2 other items
30-June-17: Read about a different country each day (for the next 196 days)
1-July-17: Spend one minute a day practicing to write with my non-dominant hand
2-July-17: Forcing a smile when feeling down
3-July-17: Visiting BlahTherapy at least once a week to be there for someone who needs to vent
4-July-17: Complete a piece of string art by the end of the month
5-July-17: Keep track of daily +/- for spending/saving
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