How To Keep Momentum Through Life Changes

📲 The Cold Open

Lessons from the week.

The first two weeks of my study abroad program in Spain have far exceeded my expectations. And while the picturesque streets and gorgeous mountains have been my main focus, my side projects here with Launch Letter and the AI text tool have still been in the back of my mind. In today’s version, I’ll outline some of the lessons I’ve learned abroad so far, and my plan going forward to keep the momentum on my projects alive.

Adversity Is An Advantage.

• Things Won’t Always Go Smoothly: My arrival to Spain didn’t go quite as planned. My flights were all delayed by over 2 hours, which led to an unexpected layover in Germany and a 5 hour train trip across Spain! But, I still made it. Problems you encounter, whether its during travel, or building a business, always have a solution.

• Use Those Lessons: Every stress inducing screwup can be an invaluable lesson later if you let it. For every problem you encounter and solve, you become more equipped for your next challenge. I’ve used this process already in the development of my AI texting tool. Do your best to be grateful for obstacles, because they’ll make you into a better and more capable person.

Embrace The Unknown.

• Seek Out New Experiences: Being outside of the US for the first time has been a very humbling experience. Everything is different, and it’s been quite an adjustment. Choosing to be uncomfortable is a powerful decision that shapes who you are. The same goes for building things. Do something new, and fail at it! Then next time around you might succeed.

• But Don’t Go It Alone: I’d like to say I heroically navigated through my travel troubles all on my own, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. I had amazing help from the program staff and a student assistant made the whole journey in Spain with me. Don’t be afraid to ask for help in whatever you’re pursuing. More often than not, people are willing to lend a hand!

🗞️ Progress Is Never Linear

Don’t let setbacks control your life.

The most valuable piece of advice I ever got was from my tennis coach in high school. I had improved rapidly over a period of about 2 months, but then found myself in a tough plateau. I was upset with my lack of progress, and he told me something that has stuck with me ever since. Now, I try to apply it everywhere in my life.

Pretend this graph is measure of your success (in whatever metric you see fit). It could be your income, grades, or even your own tennis ability. If this was your progress, you might be a little disheartened. You made some initial headway, but then declined and hit a plateau.

But what my coach told me, is that these little snapshots of your progress aren’t indicative of the full picture. If you focus your effort in the right places, over enough time, you significantly raise your chances to improve at whatever you’re working at. If you zoom out and look at the full picture, what I’m saying becomes clear.

Progress comes in waves. Setbacks are going to happen. It’s where you dedicate your energy and how you respond to those setbacks that makes the difference. So the next time you hit a plateau, take a moment. Know that you’ve come a long ways, and might be on the edge of a breakthrough.

Tackle the issue in front of you with a fierce determination to make the next part of the line go up. Thats how you get through obstacles, and keep the momentum rolling.

✅ Goal Progress

At the time of writing this, I’ve spent two weeks here studying abroad. For those who have been following, you can see, my goal bars haven’t moved an inch. I knew that the transition would have an impact on my productivity and am totally alright with that. And while enjoying study abroad to the fullest is still my main focus, I want to alter my mindset a bit to stay productive while I’m here.

So, it’s time to break these larger goals down into small actionable items that I can realistically accomplish with my vastly different schedule here in Spain. The first issue is that I haven’t been posting on X, like at all, so starting today I want to tweet at least once a day. To ensure I have stuff to tweet about, I’m going to read or watch 1-2 pieces of long form content regarding startups per week.

Secondly, I’m going to work for at least 30 minutes each week on the AI text tool that hopes to help companies with client communications. The next big feature is integration with the OpenPhone API, but dedicating some energy to a more complete brand and name might be a fun and managable side project here in Spain.

🚗 Fast Four

Four quick bullet points to think about!

• 🧰 Tool: Canva for making logos / images. Super easy to use and access. I use it to make every thumbnail for these articles!

• 🧠 Mindset: No Pain, No Gain. Super cliche, I know, but everybody says it for a reason. Progress comes from being uncomfortable.

• 🔥 Build Idea: An AI tool for prospective founders thats take parameters like their interests and skills, and then gives a comprehensive plan for how to build a business that fits them.

• 📈 A Mistake From The Last Week: Not bringing basketball shoes to Europe. I had room, and knew I might play. Not really a big issue but its what I got for this week 😂.