Goblin: fire for life & how much $ I've made/spent so far

Build in Public Update (8.12.22)

I committed to getting the MVP of my app Goblin live this month for my Founding Goblins (info here).

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goblinmodeMolly Retter

Fire for Life

I think a lot about how life can sometimes become a boring slog. (I fully acknowledge this is a champagne problem--I'm privileged to be in such a situation). I try to make sure I do little things every day that spark joy. I don't like to put too much weight on future things making me happy in case they don't work out or things change. Here are suggestions for maintaining your life-fire:

• Be curious and learn new things. Look in the "explore" section of your podcast or music app and listen to something new. Wear some weird piece of clothing you never wear, try a new hairstyle, go to a restaurant out of your comfort zone.

• Do things that are hard or challenging, e.g. mowing the lawn or writing 20 pages of your novel.
• Make progress on a project you're passionate about. Write down your wildest dream and then write 100 nanosteps you could take towards that dream. Do one tiny thing that moves the needle.
• Take note when something gives you the heart fire and try to do that more. Journaling helps with this awareness (I just started using 750words.com to journal daily and I love it so far. It shows you data analytics on your writing like sentiment trends and word clouds).

OafTech & agile is dead & Hawaiian shirt philosophy

✨ Goblin’s North Star ✨ Help you figure out how to be happier in life and work. OafTech I jokingly call myself “Artisanal Oaf” which is some sort of amalgamation of real life stuff: * I’m tattooed and kinda a hipster * Starbucks sells something called “Artisan Tart” which is a fancy poptart w…

goblinmodeMolly Retter

Prioritization

It's so hard to prioritize things when there's a billion things we're trying to juggle as modern adults. I'm trying to fix my sleep habits right now but at any given time my mind is thinking about what needs to be cleaned, house repairs, invisalign habits, pets, weddings, my Goblin MVP, customer acquisition, personal finances, skincare routine, plant upkeep, 10 kinds of insurance, the list goes on...

If I have an hour, it's hard to not let the decision fatigue or my overwhelming to do list paralyze me. Even if I decide to take the hour to relax, I sometimes have a gnawing feeling in my stomach that I should be doing something "productive" and then I don't truly relax.

I don't think there's truly a solution to this problem, but here are some things that help me:

• If I've been putting things off and a list is accumulating, I'll schedule a Flow Club session to work on those tasks. Yesterday I did a 2 hour Flow Club and made 4 phone calls, arranged for a house sitter, cleaned my bathroom and kitchen, and worked on my app for 30 minutes. This helps too if you're one to stress about the stuff you're putting off--know that it's on the schedule for Wednesday will allow you to let go of it for a bit.
• Focus on celebrating the progress you've made. It's hard to see progress sometimes. We want to do some big thing and there's a million tiny steps to get there. If you want to buy a house and you need $75k for a down payment, it's hard to feel like you're making progress with those little $50 transfers. Plan little celebrations for every $2k goalpost, even if it's a free dance party in your kitchen with your dog.
• Have priority categories. If your top priority is writing a book, do that first thing in the morning when you have the most spoons (spoon theory is helpful if you have energy issues).
• Ask for support. If you have something you're stressed about or putting off or just straight up do not want to do, ask your friend to stay on the phone with you for an hour while you work on it. Write down your intentions. Tweet to your followers that you need encouragement. People like to help and feel useful, but you do have to ask which can feel scary and vulnerable.
• Do the task for 1 minute. This brings momentum and you may end up going longer, but even if you don't at least you made some progress.

More ≠ Better, a framework for feature decisions

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goblinmodeMolly Retter

Thank you!

Thanks for supporting me and following along on my founder journey. It means the world to me. I hope you have a lovely, relaxing weekend.

-Molly

For $5, you can get 3 stickers, doodles/haiku, 2 months free of Goblin MVP, and 50% for 2 years. Sign up to be a founding goblin by clicking the link below.

p.s. take a zen moment & check out the writing cohort I'm in