Tag: productivity

29 Rules for 29 Years

Wow, these years are turning over like fruit in a blender. As the Italians say: here’s to years, lovers, and glasses of wine – these are things that should never be counted.

This year is a big one for me. It’s the first time in four years I’m celebrating my birthday in my home country. Building off the lists I created in Tel Aviv, Israel (focused on 27 high-level insights) and Cartagena, Colombia (28 specific tactics), I’m now adding 29 rules I can continue to remind myself about.

Currently typing this up in my favorite café in Hermosa Beach, CA, watching the world go by and trying to make sense of it all. These are just the mumble jumble musings of another guy trying to find his way through this rollercoaster we call life. Some might resonate, some might not. Either way, here’s what I’m telling myself these days:

1. Don’t shrink yourself. To paraphrase my boy McConaughey: “So I’m full of myself? Well, who else should I be full of?” When you die, you’re not going to look back on your life and say damn I wish I was not myself more.

2. What you avoid controls you. If you think having uncomfortable conversations is hard, wait till you have the result of not having those conversations.

3. Remember the spotlight effect. We assume someone is analyzing or noticing us much more than they actually do. Most humans live in their own heads and are focused on their own insecurities, not judging you.

4. Imposter syndrome is a benefit, not a curse. If you feel this way: 1) Good, that means you’re hanging out with people brighter than you 2) Everybody gets this, and most of the time, people don’t even know when you’re feeling it (spotlight effect). So lean into it – embrace that beginner’s mindset, learn to color within the lines, and then you can start to color outside of them.

5. You are going to feel inadequate before you become capable. If I want to go to the gym I’m going to feel weak before I’m strong. If I go to class, I’m going to feel stupid before I’m smart. If I go hang out with wealthy people, I’m going to feel broke before I’m rich. The discomfort of being the worst in the room is the price of admission to getting better. Don’t settle for microwaved results, put the work in.

6. Fall in love with the monotonous, small things to do the big things. Fall in love with landing an ollie, not the 360 off a rail. Fall in love with making a basic drum beat, not the platinum song. Fall in love with making a TikTok, not the Oscar-worthy movie. I’ll never get to do the big thing if I can’t get through the small stuff.

7. Recognize the taste gap. There’s often a gap between our current skills and tastes. Taste is what got us into creative work – we know what good looks like. This can make the work we do feel disappointing, but it’s also our North Star to make something better.

8. Stack days, even if it’s just 5 minutes. Even 5 minutes a day adds up. Keep stacking those days.

9. Embrace delusional optimism. If I knew how hard starting this particular company was, I never would have started. Maybe that’s why people with a higher IQ don’t often create companies – you need to be slightly delusional to start, but the optimism carries you through.

10. A watched pot never boils. If you keep checking the thing in the fucking oven, it’s never going to bake. And it’s definitely not gonna cook if you keep taking it out to change the ingredients, remix, and remake. Trust. The. Process.

11. Touch things once. If a solution takes less than 5-10 minutes, and you notice the problem, do it immediately. Don’t put things down until they are finished.

12. Pick one song and play it on repeat. Kinda psychotic, but when I need to focus on deep work, I often pick one song and play it on repeat. For basically the entire day (or whenever the thing I’m doing is done). Helps get into the zone.

13. Use music strategically to shift your mood. When you want a pick-me-up, listen to music in major keys – it’s more uplifting. Minor key music is more melancholic, but you can use it as a mental reset: listen to 5-10 minutes of minor key music, then switch to major key songs to change your mood and uplift yourself.

14. Set clear expectations. Unspoken expectations are premeditated resentments.

15. Use the Michelangelo Effect. Surround yourself with partners and friends who see your “ideal self” and help bring it out. The best relationships happen when everyone involved reminds each other of their potential.

16. Dance to the beat of your own drum. One of the most expensive costs in the world is caring about OPO (other people’s opinion). There is a great line from Rick and Morty that has always stuck with me about this. When all things were going wrong for Rick and he is getting berated, he claps back: “your boos mean nothing to me, I’ve seen what makes you people cheer.” Sometimes, to conduct your orchestra, you need to turn your back on the audience and focus on the music you’re playing.

17. Follow the 3 steps of your professional journey: 1) Get Fed 2) Feed Yourself 3) Feed Others. Learn, Earn, Return. Learn the Game. Win the Game. Coach the Game.

18. Understand that money is a lagging indicator. Money follows these 3 areas: Be the 1) Best at what you do 2) Have High Demand 3) Be Irreplaceable.

19. Think of money as gasoline on a road trip. You need gasoline to do the road trip, but you’re not doing a tour of gas stations.

20. There are 2 ways to price projects: Price to win or price for profit. Know which game you’re playing.

Price to win: Often happens when you’re bidding through a formal RFP, platform/portal, and/or when competition is fierce. Have a plan already in place to automate, delegate, or outsource at some point.

Price for profit: Happens when someone has worked with you before and likes you. Instead of a formal process, you can win contracts over an email, text, or beer. Celebrate and make sure to knock the project out of the park.

21. AI won’t take your job, but someone using AI will. Think of an accountant who didn’t want to use Excel when it came out. Accountants didn’t go out of business, but those who didn’t learn Excel did. Stay abreast of the latest tools.

22. Don’t let AI lose your ability to write. Calculators weren’t invented for you to forget basic math. You are (and always forever will want to be) a free thinker. Yes, you can use it to help expedite work emails. Yes, you can use it as a deck starter for a deliverable. Yes, it can pressure test and even clean up some of your thoughts. But to write on one’s own is to think. To have your own unique voice. To critique and analyze. You are still human. Don’t lose your ability to express yourself using your own words.

23. Pick your business partners like you’d pick a spouse. Follow the Buffett rule and look for 3 things: intelligence, energy, and integrity. By far the most important is integrity. If someone lacks this, the other 2 become dangerous.

24. Go on stag hunts, stop hunting rabbits. The bigger the dragon, the more epic the story.

25. Make decisions using the Head, Heart, and Gut Test. Run a body scan from top to bottom to determine if something is a good or bad decision. Look for clear yeses or nos. If any of the 3 tests fail, it’s a no.

26. Reduce your “should do” bucket. There are things you 1) need to do 2) want to do 3) should do. Having enough money means you can get rid of most of the “should do” bucket – all those obligations that drain your energy but don’t serve your goals or bring you joy. Financial freedom isn’t about buying more stuff, it’s about buying back your time from things you don’t actually want to be doing.

27. For at least one week of the year, track all your activities and mark them as “energy giving” or “energy sucking”. Bake in “bright lights” that you find are energy-giving and don’t cost much (from a timing perspective). For me, that’s stretching every morning and catching the sunset every evening.

28. Look for “Hic sunt leones” on the map of life. Go out into the unknown and face the danger head-on. Always remember: travel is not a reward from working, it’s an education for living.

29. Vivre au jour le jour – Live day by day. All we are guaranteed is the present – so hug your friends longer, sip that coffee slowly, and squeeze every drop of juice from life.

Life Resume

A couple months ago, while I was updating my work resume, I suddenly asked myself: What am I actually proud of? I don’t give a shit about how I improved X% of a client’s operations, increased efficiency by Y, or saved Z amount of dollars for capitalistic companies that treat people as a number and data point.

So what do I care about? Enter the life resume: things that I deem important milestones for me about what I value and what has shaped me to be the “man” I am today.

LIFE EXPERIENCE 

PLYS,  Incorporated______________________ IL → OH → NJ → NY → Nomad

Son, Brother, Godfather, Friend, Lover, Athlete, Artist, US Citizen, Human

June, 1996 – Current

  • Scored 10 goals in a park district soccer game when I was 10 years old, received claps from over-competitive parents and was told that I’m a stud, thus beginning my egotistical nature and God complex 
  • Became an IHSA All-State Tennis player in Doubles due to quitting (being cut from) the varsity soccer team, missing school dances, having no social life, and realizing that Tennis players are, on average, less athletic than other sports teams
  • Won a $10K Business Scholarship after building a business plan and pitching my company called “Cake & Bake”
  • Failed building +30 side hustles, ranging from: lemonade stands to E-Commerce, selling “friendship” and the “possibility of giving my number” to affiliate marketing, coaching Tennis to selling books, trying to build physical products to coding social media apps, and everything in between
  • Built and sold Crazy Men’s Dress Socks, which, after all was said and done, probably broke even due to all my failed marketing campaigns
  • Read +50 books on self-help, productivity, and psychology to improve my crippling anxiety about not currently being Michael Jordan or Elon Musk
  • Created a Mental Models life guide that is +50 pages long and is structured on a use-case basis (when I am eating, when I want to sleep, when I want to get a job, when I want to develop a new skill, etc.)
  • Mastered how to play Riptide, Viva La Vida, Cigarette Daydreams, and other generic white boy music (except Wonderwall) in order to be campfire-ready, impress my drunk friends, and convince pretty girls that I’m actually a cool guy
  • Failed at becoming a “college dropout” and ended up getting the meaningless Magna Cum Laude accolade in Finance and Marketing
  • Cold emailed +5K prospective employers/mentors and scheduled +200 calls/coffee chats in order to land internships and full-time offers
  • Skipped my graduation and booked a bus from Ohio to meet up with some mentors in NYC
  • Made coloring books for executives (aka Management Consulting), where I became very good at going to meetings, preparing for meetings (I can make slides very fast), presenting at meetings, taking notes that could be included in meetings, and of course, scheduling future meetings
  • Cut my chin open and got stitches while riding my longboard around a neighborhood (you should have seen the pebble)
  • Traveled around North America (US, Canada, Mexico) with 3 friends for 2 years, where we visited +40 states, worked remotely from +50 Airbnbs, visited +20 National Parks, hiked, surfed, skied, and somehow didn’t kill each other in the process
  • Saved from drowning by my friend, Ben, while hiking through the Narrows in Zion National Park, Utah
  • Gained and lost +$100K in the stock market through my own personalized investing strategy, buying shares in individual companies I believe in, leveraged ETFs in particular high-growth sectors, and speculating on cryptocurrencies 
  • Quit my consulting job and solo traveled around Europe, Asia, and Africa for +1.5 years, visiting +45 countries 
  • Documented my travels and thoughts through blogs, photos, and films, yielding a culmination of +100K views across all platforms
  • Learned how to land a backside 360 on a snowboard after many attempts of falling on my ass, praying to a Snow God I don’t believe in, and putting +150 days in on the mountains (skiing US, Canada, France, Italy, and Switzerland)
  • Capitalized on my privilege and learned how to be a subpar surfer, traveling to some of the best spots in the world (California, Hawaii, North Carolina, Portugal, Indonesia, Morocco)
  • Given the opportunity to be involved in several love stories while traveling, some that I regret, some that I cherished, and other(s) that may still be ongoing (if only someone would confirm with the other party)
  • Played pick-up basketball in +10 countries around the world
  • Hiked +3 14ers (mountains over 14K feet) in Colorado, US
  • Biked across the Aran Islands off the coast of Ireland
  • Sumitted Pen y Fan (highest peak in South Wales), Bobotov (highest peak in Montenegro), and Mount Toubkal (highest peak in North Africa)
  • Bungee Jumped from Maslenica Bridge (tallest point to jump from in Croatia)
  • Paraglided (in tandem, lame I know) over Lake Ohrid, North Macedonia 
  • Experienced Oktoberfest (Wiesn) in Munich, Germany
  • Hot air ballooned in Cappadocia, Turkey
  • Island hopped around Hawaii, Greece, Indonesia, and Thailand
  • Trekked through the Sahara Desert on camel and foot with the Berbers (indigenous group of nomads) in Morocco
  • Marveled at some of the Wonders of the World (Grand Canyon, Colosseum, Eiffel Tower, Pyramids of Giza, Petra, etc.)
  • Bathed in the Dead Sea (lowest point on earth)
  • Designed a travel app (WIP) to revolutionize the way backpackers/nomads interact and stay in touch with their travel friends 
  • Informed that I could be a professional dancer by +200 drunk people in my life
  • Repeated the exact same 3 magic tricks at parties that I learned when I was 13 years old
  • Notified that only 1 of 8 of my jokes land and are actually funny, but that has never stopped me from trying (quantity over quality approach)

FUTURE LIFE

Goals: Visit +100 countries in the world, retire from the working world, drop an album, get sky/scuba dive certified, be a better surfer/snowboarder, be a better friend, be a better human

After writing this out, it’s been great to look back at this to 1) Reflect and show gratitude for the life I’ve been blessed with 2) Use it as an operating model for living. If I ever come across a challenge or opportunity that would make a bullet point on this list, then I have to do it.

“Life is our resume. It is our story to tell, and the choices we make write the chapters. Can we live in a way where we look forward to looking back?”

– Matthew McConaughey

27 Things I Learned Turning 27

Writing this in a cafe in Tel Aviv, Israel, I can’t help but think about my friend Beane while typing this. That guy is obsessed with this number. Well, it feels like just the other day I was the 17-year-old, skinny, acne-prone, cocky, full-of-himself boy who thought he was going to take on the world. Come to think of it…all of that still holds true.

Reflecting on my short time here in this massive playground we call “life,” here’s 27 things I have realized and am trying to understand/implement in my day to day:

(Note: Like most things in life, few of these ideas are original. Inspirations and mentors include, but are not limited to: Tim Ferriss, Naval Ravikant, Jim Rohn, Napoleon Hill, Stephen Covey, Gary Vee, Alex Hormozi, Bill Perkins, Zig Ziglar, and others)

  1. No one owes you anything. And no one cares about what you are feeling or how “hard you’ve had it.” People only care about what you can do for them. How you’ve made them feel.
  2. Privilege breeds more privilege. I’ve lived an easy life according to most definitions. And because I’ve been “born ahead” of other people, the race to certain life milestones has been more accessible, which gives me the ability to get to the next one quicker, and so on. If you are the best football player on your team at a young age, you will play more minutes than your peers, giving you more touches on the ball, more game time experiences, and more opportunities to grow. This only widens the gap. Making it harder and harder for those with less to catch up. It’s incredibly important for me to recognize that I was born with pocket Aces, show gratitude for the life I’ve been handed, and try to pay it forward / even the scales for others I cross paths with.
  3. Life is like Netflix. Avoid the endless scrolling, pick a goddamn movie, and see it through.
  4. Focus on ROE – not return on equity, but return on experience. Memories are all we get to keep at the end of the day. So invest in things that will give you the most memory dividends. For one-time purchases, you can have a memory dividend that pays out every time you relive or retell your stories. With this in mind, it pays more to have experiences earlier in life. Instead of constantly worrying about your Work Resume, think about your Life Resume. What would you put on it?
  5. Add a little bit of spice. Brush your teeth / eat with your non-dominant hand, angle your hats differently, lift up one sock, grow out your hair. Have fun.
  6. Personalize everything. Create your own brand. Create a unique system of writing, thinking, and talking that is specific to you and works for you. Pick a favorite number, favorite color, favorite sports team, etc, and own it.
  7. Don’t ask what the world needs, ask what sets your soul on fire. And go do that.
  8. Don’t wait for people. Do epic shit. Your people will find you.
  9. Taste everything once. You never know what you may like until you try it yourself.
  10. Introduce yourself to everyone. First and last name.
  11. All you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be. Pet the dog/cat, smell the flower, ask the girl out, try the new food, watch the sunset, book the ticket, take the flight, ride the wave, jump off a snowboard, sing in karaoke, dance in the street.
  12. Exercise the mind. Come up with 10 new ideas a day. Become an idea machine by taking the quantity over quality approach.
  13. Tell stories. People don’t remember statistics or facts, but they buy into humans. To be human is to have your own story, your own thoughts, emotions, perspective, memories, and experiences. Share it with others.
  14. Take opposing viewpoints on the world and play them against each other, adopting whatever serves your purpose at the time. Examples:
    • When I want to work harder / do more, I tell myself: This is my one life, as far as I know it. I already won the lotto, being born a human, which is 400 Trillion to 1 odds. I have around 85 years of life, so I’m in my second quarter already. The first quarter of life was just learning the rules of this video game we call life, now I need to dominate life and defeat bosses. I need to squeeze the juice and do everything possible to live my best life. To avoid being on my deathbed and have “what if” floating around.
    • When I feel overwhelmed/stressed, I tell myself: This doesn’t matter. Nothing really matters. In a hundred years, I and everyone I know will be dead, and no one will remember anything. I could go on to create the world’s most valuable company, and then be 6 feet under the ground in 50 years. I could also play video games for the rest of my life, and it still doesn’t matter. Legacy doesn’t fucking matter when you’re dead. So no point in my stress. I have lived many a conflict in my life, and most of them never came to pass, but just lived in my head. So screw it, take the day off, and stop applying needless pressure.
  15. You catch more flies with honey. Often, the best way to win an argument is to avoid one altogether.
  16. Wealth comes from VALUE x LEVERAGE x SCALE. VALUE = Time / Money / Improvement in people’s lives. LEVERAGE = Capital x People x Systems. SCALE is derived from the number of people served. In today’s world, the quickest way to grow is with permissionless leverage. (Media or Code)
  17. In a world where everything is finite, play infinite games. My friends, business partners, hobbies, and passions should be lifetime pursuits. Perfection and winning the game is not the goal. The goal is to keep playing the game, and to get one day better, every day.
  18. You get more out of reading 1 book that’s great 5 times, than out of reading 5 mediocre books.
  19. Extraordinary accomplishments come from doing ordinary things for extraordinary periods of time.
  20. Focus time and energy on Multipliers. Multipliers are activities that compound and yield dividends. Once-in-a-lifetime experiences, goodwill to others, financial investments, and personal development are examples. Activities that are directly related to your time, and cannot be shortened in the future, should be avoided, unless you get real enjoyment from them. For this reason, since I don’t like cooking, I should avoid it and prioritize other activities.
  21. You gain status by giving more to the group than you get. Note: status is a tool that can help you accomplish your goals, but it should not be the top priority.
  22. Make sure the girl sitting next to you in the passenger seat is the same girl who would be waiting with you at a bus stop if life turned out differently.
  23. The current economic system is broken. We were not meant to just study things that don’t fascinate us, work a shitty job, retire in old age, and then die. Life is a marathon, but I like to live my life in short sprints. Ideally, I break life into 3 phases: Exploration, Deep Work, and Vacation. When I wake up, I would like to have options of different projects that I find 1) Meaningful 2) Play to my skill sets 3) Make me money 4) Give me the opportunity to grow. I then can pick what I find to be the best fit at the time, and work hard on it. After that, maybe I go dance my ass off in Ibiza, surf in Bali, or visit friends in the US. Once my system is cleared, I start thinking about the next thing, read more books, take more courses, and learn/hone more skills. The cycle repeats, burnout never happens, I still save for “raining days” or old age, but I don’t miss out on the present moment of my current age. Because, at the end of the day, the present is all we have.
  24. You don’t become confident by shouting affirmations in the mirror, you become it by having a stack of undeniable proof that you are who you say you are. Outwork your own self-doubt.
  25. Ready, Fire, Aim. when you see an opportunity, take the shot. If you miss, then you readjust and take another shot. If you end up waiting, aiming for the perfect shot, the opportunity is often already gone
  26. Understand that the 3 biggest decisions in life are 1) what you do 2) who you are with 3) where you live. Practically everything else is cheese.
  27. Time is the most valuable currency in the world. A Billionaire on his deathbed would give all of his net worth for one more year. Imagine how much he would trade to be in your shoes right now. You are worth more than a Billionaire, so act as such, and be resilient with what you trade your time with.
    • Taking into account a life expectancy of 85, and just turning 27, I have approximately 1.8 Billion seconds left. Time Billionaire > Monetary Billionaire, so wake up every day smiling.

20s are a wash

I want to treat the rest of my 20s like they are a wash.

Now is not the time to get a safe job. I already did that.

Now is the time to be as risk focused as possible.

I will never be as “free” as I am now.

I have no baggage. No college debt left, no significant other, no parents I need to take care of, no children, nothing.

I can eat like shit and still be ok.

I can barely sleep and be fine.

Not saying I shouldn’t eat and sleep well, but I could survive. And on top of that, it’s not that hard to still eat and sleep well.

I can sleep anywhere (couches, beds without a bed frame, floor) and cook cheaply.

I can live for free with friends or my family.

I can stay in hostels for cheap all around the world.

I’m 26 now, so I have 4 years left.

So let’s think about the worst-case scenario: I wake up broke at 30. I have to move back home with the parents. I have to get the “safe job.”

Most likely scenario: I wake up broke at 30. But I’ve traveled the world, met incredible people, tried starting businesses, tried learning a new language, tried getting jacked in the gym, and learned about all these things I do/do not like. And then I can still use my college education and friends to get the “safe job.”

I understand this “20s are a wash” is a privilege. I am a college grad, I grew up / still have a somewhat stable family household, I have good friends/mentors, my body is fully functional, and I was born with a good mental state. But one thing I have learned in the last couple of years is it’s foolish to not recognize the privilege, but even more foolish to not use it. It would be selfish of me to not go for it. To not try and live my best possible life. If I was to just coast on my privilege, then I would be just taking it for granted. I owe it to my family and friends to go for it.

And the best-case scenario? I think we can all realize how good life can get.

But I think the best will be to look back on my life and not wonder: “what if…”

To know that I went for it.

And the chips fell where they did. But I went all in.

Hell, I was born with pocket Aces.

What a foolish thing to go silently, tiptoeing, safely to my deathbed.

I want scars.

I want the lessons, the failures, the struggles.

I want to point to the scar tissue on my body and say: Got this playing basketball with friends, this from snowboarding, this from longboarding, this from surfing…

When I was studying at Uni, I heard a quote from Peter Thiel that has stuck with me since. He said, “In a world that’s changing so quickly, the biggest risk you can take is not taking any risk.”

What a sad day it would be if I woke up and realized there was no time to try out / risk / do the things I always wanted. (Paulo Coehlo paraphrase)

The happiest I’ve been in my life has always been when I’m doing what I deem “epic shit.”

That’s often when adrenaline and risk are involved.

I could get hurt doing this. I could lose money, get my heart broken, fall off a cliff, get shattered by a wave.

But it’s all risky.

None of us are making it out of this alive.

Nietzsche said: “I know of no better life purpose than to perish in attempting the great and the impossible.”

That makes sense. Why be satisfied with average?

But the key is to listen to my own internal dialogue about what I deem ”great and impossible.”

My definition of “epic shit.”

I don’t need to surf Nazare waves.

But maybe I don’t go back to working in Corporate America for now.

Maybe I don’t play the status games of a high-paying job and instead take the zero pay of startup life.

Follow the “epic shit” and happiness model, cut out the status games and flexing that is engrained in me.

When in doubt about what to do, I should do what scares me.

Because if my dreams and plans don’t scare me, I’m not dreaming big enough.

Strange Hacks to Nomadic Travel

So I’ve been nomadic for about 3 years now, and have developed a couple hacks/things that I like to do when I’m bouncing around from place to place. I wrote down this list for myself as a reminder and am sharing it in case anyone else finds the list useful.

Technology

  • Future Flight Ticket for Forward Travel: used to get into countries, and to ship bags overseas. If you travel like me, you often don’t know where you are going to be tomorrow, let alone when you are leaving a particular country. To avoid planning, there are sites online to get you a flight ticket to show to travel authorities. Some of the sites just use photoshop to generate a fake flight ticket, while other sites pay for a flight ticket and cancel it on your behalf after a time period (different rates apply for 24-hour versus several-week periods)
  • Incognito mode for booking flights (cheaper)
  • VPN: allows access to geo-restricted content and keeps your personal information secure while using public Wi-Fi. I used it to access my sister’s HBO account in France (when they don’t have access to HBO Max) so I can watch “True Detective”
  • Google Translate: communicate with locals, read menus, scan health ingredients on products. I once had a full 45-minute conversation with my Turkish taxi driver in Istanbul through the app
  • Currency converter app: always good to stay up to date on local prices
  • Ride-sharing apps: These can be a more affordable and convenient alternative to traditional taxi services. Every place has their own version. For example: the cheapest in Asia is usually Grab or Gojek
  • Travel itinerary app: This will help you keep track of your flights, hotels, and other reservations in one place
  • Flight tracking app: helps to stay informed about flight delays and gate changes
  • Google Maps App: While in the US, Apple Maps may be more reliable, I find Google Maps to be much better abroad. A lot of my friends like MAPS.ME but I never really got into it.
  • E-sim: Extra props to you if it’s a regional pass. (ex: for all of Europe, all of Asia) I use Airalo, and have been a big fan. Really nice to get off a flight/bus/train and immediately have access to the world on my phone without having to stop by a store. While my friends are frantically looking for a 7-Eleven and trying to figure out how to activate their phones, I’m already routing myself to the nearest bakery, listening to music, and swiping through the DAPPS to meet up with a local
  • Travelers Insurance: important to have peace of mind when doing activities like surfing and skiing abroad. I have World Nomads, but other big players are SafetyWing and Allianz

Accommodation

  • Booking Hostels with Free Cancelation: used during ski season and around other events like Octoberfest, when I wanted to have flexibility with schedules but not miss out on opportunities to stay in specific areas
  • Analyze Hostelworld for looking at “how busy” hostels might be (I typically prefer hostels with more people)
  • Before booking a stay, cross-check other accommodation sites like booking.com. There are often arbitrage opportunities across the sites with prices
    • Note: You can always book the cheapest hostel, but party/hangout at the best one
    • Helps to have or make a friend who is staying at the hostel, or if the hostel has a bar that you can buy a drink at
  • When booking accommodation/hostels:
    • Look at blogs online of the best places to stay
    • Use the hostelworld app to see how many people have booked a specific place
    • Create your own ranking system for the things you care about and how to weigh the decision
    • Questions for the ranking system can include:
      • Does it have laundry machines?
      • AC?
      • How many people are in the dorm room? Note: I personally like 4-8 people. I stayed in a dorm room once with 32 beds and decided that it will never be worth the 98 cents a night saved, instead of “splurging” for a smaller room
      • How far from the city center? For most cities, I like being as close to city center as possible, but there are a couple of exceptions. E.g. in Rome I prefer the historic district, in Glasgow I prefer West Side, etc.
      • Insert other things that you care about

General Tips / Tricks

  • Bring a blender: used to make healthy smoothies and green drinks on the road. My friends and I would always travel with this when road-tripping, and whoever woke up first would make a smoothie for everyone
  • Reimbursement for Delayed Baggage
    • This can come through your credit card, Travel Insurance, or directly through the Airline itself
    • I once received 450 euros for my bag being delayed a couple of days
  • Use Starbucks / Mcdonalds for consistent wifi
  • Centralize and Decentralize valuables
    • Decentralize: Multiple credit/debit cards, but store them in different locations
    • Centralize: On travel day, have everything important (for me, that’s my drone, credit cards, passport) in the same-day bag. Never check this bag and always keep it next to you
  • When in expensive cities and looking for cheap meals, use:
    • Bakeries. They are not just desert spots and often have paninis and sandwiches
    • 7 Eleven / Spar / Tesco / Convenient store meals to go
  • When going grocery shopping, look to see if there is an “International section/shelf.” I often look for this so I can buy peanut butter
  • When in a city and craving to play music, walk into a music shop and “demo” guitars /pianos for free
  • Use walking tours as an overview of the city, opportunity to meet new people, and ability to memorize obscure facts and be an intellectual. More on that here
  • When entering a new city/place, immediately take a picture and tag your location on social media. You never know what friends / fellow travelers are in your area, and it’s always great to reconnect

Wales & Scotland

After an electric time in London, I decided it was time to take the city out of the boy and head out to Wales. Well, not fully out of the city, because I ended up staying in the Capital of Wales, Cardiff. This is a place you can skip. Even the people don’t want to be there. In their ever-friendly smiles, they tried to tell me how much of a shit hole Cardiff is. Ok, fine it’s not that bad, but definitely not a place I want to live in. Their national parks in Wales, however, are spectacular. The Brecon Beacons was incredible, and Snowdonia is a top reason why I know I need to return to Wales. Something to note: the country does make it tough to travel around. (Especially to these national parks) I highly recommend if you go, to rent a car. Linking some notes on the main bus line from Cardiff to the Brecon Beacons below. I also recommend that you do not decide to piss off the road while waiting for the bus, could make it challenging to grab your gear and flag down the driver. Not speaking from personal experience or anything.

Outside of general touristy things in Cardiff and a lot of hikes in the Brecon Beacons, my highlight was finding and absolutely demolishing a group of Welsh uni students in basketball. Did I enjoy asserting my dominance on kids 6 years younger than me? Absolutely. US 1. Wales 0.

Edit: I recently met a Welsh from Cardiff who actually likes her hometown. I’ve been told to issue a public apology for my opinions. Take this as a witness. Writing this so she does not go full Liam Neeson from “Taken” and end my always entertaining, nonsensical life.

From Wales, I took a train to Scotland, where I ended up visiting Edinburgh, Stirling, Glasgow, Glencoe, Loch Lomond, and Loch Ness. Top highlights for me were the architecture of Edinburgh, drunk conversations with Glasgow locals on politics, finding (and slaying) the monster Nessie, and the Scottish countryside.

Note to every girl I have met on my travels: No, I did not check out the filming locations of Outlander in Scotland. Sorry not sorry.

New Travel Rules I added for myself in Scotland:

  • “If you stop to listen to a musician or street performer for more than a minute, you owe them a dollar.” – Kevin Kelly
  • If you are supposed to walk up/down 3 floors or less, then take the stairs. Anything over that is acceptable for the elevator
  • Always bring a water bottle. Fuck paying a pound/euro for every meal. This might be the first thing I noticed the US is “in the right” for.

Greatest invention I saw:

On my flight from Scotland to Spain, the airline loaded up the plane from back to front. US and the rest of the world NEEDS to adopt this strategy. I don’t understand why this is not common, best practice. Yes, I know there are the Karens of the world who want to be put on the plane first, but their rationale of being “prioritized” doesn’t even make sense. Why would you even want to be in a small condensed space for longer? Loading from back to front would save so much time and increase efficiency with flight timelines. It’s a seamless process with no downsides. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

Summary:

Overall, I absolutely loved my time in Wales and Scotland. Next time I’m back, I’m trekking through Snowdonia, training the North Coast 500 (Route 66), and visiting the Isle of Skye. Peace out UK.

Directions to Brecon Beacons:

  • If you want to trek to Pen y Fan (the highest peak in South Wales), stop at Storey Arms. Read more about ways to reach Pen y Fan here

Spots in Cardiff:

  • Roath park
  • Cardiff castle
  • Cardiff bay
  • Millennium centre
  • Llandath cathedral
  • Castell Coch
  • Caerphilly castle
  • City hall

Spots in Edinburgh:

  • Arthur’s seat – extinct volcano overlooking the city
  • National Museum of Scotland
  • Edinburgh Castle
  • Camera Obscura and World of Illusions
  • Palace of Holyroodhouse
  • Royal Mile
  • Calton Hill
  • Inchcolm Abbey and Island
  • Meadows
  • Leith
  • Royal Botanic Garden
  • Michelin starred restaurant Martin Wishart
  • Portobello Beach
  • Sneaky Petes

Travel App Ideas

As many of you already know, I decided to take a gap from Corporate America and travel Europe for a year. In my free time, my mind has been exploding with ideas, and naturally, a lot of them have been in the not-so-niche or unique market of traveling. Here are some high-level thoughts on 4 ideas I’ve had currently. If you end up reading the ramblings of a mid-20s coffee-addicted drifter/nomad, I’d love to hear any feedback or advice you might have.

Nomadista (Schengen/Travel Itinerary) App

  • Concept: Travel itinerary and calculator app for US citizens abroad
  • Current Market Problem: Non-visa and visa requirements are quite confusing for US citizens
    • The most visited countries for Americans are all in the Schengen zone (includes 26 countries)
    • Schengen rules are complicated
      • Out of a 180 period, (that begins once you step foot in a Schengen country) you can only be in a Schengen country for a total of 90 days. These 90 days do not have to be consecutive. (e.g. you can be in Schengen for 10 days, leave for 10 days, and keep doing that. As long as you don’t spend more than the allotted 90 days out of the 180-day period) The time period does not reset when you leave the Schengen zone, but only once the 180-day period has passed.
    • Schengen rules are strict
      • Some people have received massive fines, been put in prison, and even been banned from the Schengen zone for several years due to overstaying beyond the 90-day limit.
    • The current solution for handling Schengen is other calculator apps, but the majority are buggy and shit
      • The user interface is non-intuitive, a lot of the calculators do not work properly, and some do not take into account the first day of the Schengen zone as your start of the 180-day period
    • Every country outside of Schengen also has its own rules about how long a US citizen can stay in the country with or without a visa
  • Why I think I am a good person to solve this issue:
    • I am the customer. I am traveling Europe for the next year, which would be a total of two Schengen cycles (meaning I can only be in the Schengen zone for 6 months of the year). Originally I planned on spending a lot more time in the Schengen zone, but upon finding out about the law, knew I had to pivot my plans. I tried all of the current solutions in the market for Schengen calculators, saw they were shit, and then decided to build my own basic google sheet that calculated if I was “Schengen or Other Country policy clear” with my itinerary of places I wanted to visit. I still use my program when I change my travel plans (which happens often) and wish my own program was an app for easier usability
  • Concerns:
    • Don’t have my PC anymore (just a Mac without excel), so I built the program in Google Sheets rather than Excel, which is what I would normally use. With this in mind, it will take time to convert the program to an overall, full-scale application.
    • Schengen countries and Non-Schengen countries could change requirements, making this program moot, or in need of an update to the backend data
    • The typical long-term traveler does not like to plan and resort to itineraries (but I bet they also don’t like getting deported or fined…)
    • Limited Market (US-focused initially). The majority of travelers in Europe are European and allowed to travel freely if they are from a Schengen area.

CityRank App

  • Concept: As the name implies, this would be an app that allows you and your friends to rank the cities you visited
  • Rationale: We as humans love to rank and compare things. It’s part of our nature and how we filter our reality. We decide what food we like best, what sport is our favorite, and what car we want to drive. This is included in our commonplace conversations: “Who would win in a fight: Gorilla or Lion?”, “What level of attractiveness is that person on a scale from 1-10?” As superficial or artificial as this is, it’s not going away. We enjoy it for two reasons:
    1. Entertainment’s sake (these are subjective answers)
    2. The possibility that it can actually help us in making future, more informed decisions. (If a friend said their favorite food is Octopus, and you have never tried it, you are probably more likely to now try it in the future)
  • Purpose: In order to receive entertainment or education from an individual’s ranking, we need to respect their ranking framework and see how they came to their conclusion. This app completes just that, and can be used:
    1. For personal reference
    2. To share with your friends to get their opinion
    3. To analyze your friends’ rankings and determine if that’s a place you want to travel to in the future
  • App Layout:
    • Tab 1 includes the framework for the city rank. It includes a list of metrics, plus the ability to customize this list based on your own personal preferences, such as:
      • Location
      • Arts / Culture
      • Shopping / Restaurants
      • Nightlife
      • Transportation
      • Outdoors / Nature
      • People
      • Architecture
      • Weather
      • Activities / Entertainment
      • Cost of Living
    • Tab 2 is the manual entry where you add in the cities you have visited, and rank that city based on the framework or metrics from tab 1
    • Tab 3 is the data visualization page, where you can see the list of your “top 10 cities” and have the ability to sort based on specific metrics or country views (e.g. best cities for Nightlife, the best city in all of Spain, etc.)
      • Once new data from Tab 2 is entered into the system, Tab 3 will be automatically updated, allowing you to share your “new city profile” with your friends through IG, FB, and other social profiles.
        • Think “Spotify Unwrapped,” but for traveling instead of music
    • Tab 4 is the feed section where you can view your friends or travel influencer city rankings, and see if you need to add a city to your next vacation/trips

The Other 2 App Ideas

  • Wanderlust App:
    • Think Tinder and Pinterest, but for vacation/travel destinations
    • Swipe through profiles of places (left is pass, right is interested)
    • Only get so many swipes per day, with a collation page of all your likes
    • Becomes personalized based on your previous likes
  • Bucketlist App:
    • Travel guide/checklist that includes the “top 10/20 must do” things in that city you are visiting
    • Filter by city and check them off as you complete them. (Includes google maps address for the destination for easier accessibility)
    • Feature to add in additional destination/to-dos for that city, so that way you have all of your checklist items in one place

All 4 Travel Apps Summary

  • Using Google Sheets could be the easiest way to get to an MVP (minimum viable product) to test in the market
    • There are a lot of non-code based App development platforms that will connect to Google sheets or another dataset and help you develop a customized app based on your backend data
    • After researching several app development platforms, my favorite right now is Glide due to their:
      • Relatively easy user interface
      • Learning modules to get up to speed on using the software
      • Pricing (can have 100 public members of the app for free. Up to 1K members and white labeling for $25/month)
        • White labeling would remove all branding from Glide and make the app look like a full-scale, normal iPhone app that can be downloaded through the App Store
  • Obviously, if any of these apps show promise or take off at all, it would definitely be worth creating the app in-house, without using a third-party provider such as Glide
  • If built correctly based on control and inputs, all these apps could be dynamic programs
  • Market Size and Valuation (according to Statista)
    • Total Contribution of Travel & Tourism to Global Economy: 5.81 Trillion USD
    • Number of International Tourist Arrivals Worldwide: 426.9 Million
    • Global Leisure Travel Spend: 2.37 Trillion USD
  • Future monetization strategy for all 4 apps (not really thinking about this at all right now)
    • Freemium pricing (free version, with a premium version without ads)
    • Partner with accommodations (hostels, hotels, BnBs) and airlines to show deals based on the customer’s location and their liked or itinerary destinations

Checklist for Europe Travel

So about a month ago I embarked on traveling across Europe for a year. Here is the checklist I used to prep before my departure:

Checklist

  • Visit with family before leaving
  • Reach out to friends to see if anyone wants to meet up abroad
  • Complete taxes
  • Pay any outstanding bills (hospital, friends, etc.)
  • Cancel subscription based services that are not needed
  • Remove outdated data/information on laptop to clear up space, shift over to external harddrive
  • Buy/Test camera
  • Buy/Test backpack
  • Buy/Setup Eurorail pass 
  • Book initial flight oversees (Flight from Chicago → Dublin)
  • Book first 2 days at Hostel (to give some peace of mind when arriving)
  • Call all banks to ensure accounts are not flagged when traveling abroad
  • Ensure passport and license are up to date
  • Ensure vaccination status is up to date
    • Recs for EU Travel: COVID + booster, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid and rabies
    • Recs for Asia Travel: COVID + booster, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, typhoid, rabies, cholera, yellow fever, and Japanese encephalitis
  • Buy travel insurance – pay about $500 for 6 months through WorldNomads
  • Ensure several checking accounts are setup, favorites listed below:
    • Charles Schwab – no foreign fees, no monthly fees, all insured, reimbursed for all ATM fees  
    • B of A – major bank that works with all the other banks and can fight for the best deals 
    • HSBC – ATMs all around the world, cheaper rates than other banks if you are not using their ATMs 
    • Worth checking nerd wallet for sign up bonuses 
  • Ensure all Credit Cards are up to date:
    • Chase Sapphire Preferred Card 
    • Capital One Venture Rewards Card
    • Discover Card 
  • Update phone plan
    • Switch plan from T-Mobile to Mint Mobile (since I’m not texting / calling abroad, all I wanted was to keep my phone number – which you can do for $15/month indefinitely with Mint through their plan)
    • Buy Airalo Data plan – get 100 GB of data for 180 days throughout +38 countries in Europe (https://www.airalo.com/europe-esim)
  • Pack Clothes 
    • 14 boxers
    • 7 socks
    • 14 shirts
    • 1 pillow case
    • 2 tank tops
    • 1 pair of pants
    • 1 pair of khakis 
    • 2 pairs of shorts
    • 1 pair of swim trunks
    • 2 pairs of shoes (sperrys and sneakers)
    • 1 hoodie
    • 1 jacket
    • 1 beanie, 1 baseball hat
  • Pack Appliances / Other
    • Laptop, electric shaver, kindle, phone charger, portable charger, hard drive, drone, camera and all their respective cords
    • Lock
    • Papers (passport, IDs, etc.)
    • Usual toiletries (toothbruth, toothpaste, nail clippers, towel, chapstick, deodorant, ear drops, eye drops)
    • Sleep care (eye mask, ear plugs)
    • First aid kit (consists of 3 bandaids, ibuprofen, antibiotic cream)
  • Create general budgeting through Excel or Google Spreadsheet to calculate spending costs
    • Categories I included:
      • Up front costs, such as: Insurance, flights, Eurorail pass, etc
      • Average data/phone plan spend (per month)
      • Food (per diem)
      • Hostels / Hotels (per diem)
      • Activities / Entertainment (per week)
      • Average travel / transportation costs (per month)
      • Average subscription costs (Spotify)

sys.exit(“end of checklist”)

I understand that this list is personalized to what I needed, and as quite a unique individual (if I do say so myself), would not work for everyone. But I am still hoping that if you do end up traveling for an extended time, you can use this as a rough skeleton of some of the things to consider.

Boiled Water & the Sun

Boiled water softens potatoes but hardens eggs

Sun darkens the skin but lightens the hair 

The same difficult (or easy) situation could cause 2 people to have 2 different results 

Its not whats happening to us, but how we react or respond to the situation 

When life knocks us down, are we getting up as quickly as possible?

Are we learning from the punches, learning how to dodge and counter?

When life gives lemons (as it often does), are we willing to create something from it? 

Are we squeezing the lemon as much as possible?

Enjoying all the taste and flavor?

Document, don’t create

It’s been a couple years since I heard the phrase from Gary Vee “Document, don’t create” and it’s been something that has been on my mind a lot.

The phrase takes away “writer’s block” and creative fog. It takes the quantity over quality approach, suggesting that if we keep track of and analyze the things we are already doing, we will find that they can be just as unique and interesting as our one off moments of inspiration.

This documentation process goes hand in hand with the idea of a grassroots approach to everything. We humans tend to overcomplicate the easiest things and often put blame on ourselves for not having the proper equipment or expertise in order to even start. The concept of “just starting” and “documenting” applies the KISS method (keep it simple stupid) and feels less “sexy” to us. No one wants to start at Day 1, admit to others that they are just figuring things out, or trying out new things. But we can’t get to point Z without A. And I find that instead of waiting for creativity to spark, waiting for that perfect path to be laid out in front of us to get to our destination, we need to just get in the car and start driving.