I've been struggling with writing the past few days.

I've started posts but have not finished them. I start, and I get somewhere too. But I haven't finish them: my last two publications I published with the words (Published unfinished.) on the bottom. Also, the artwork is the same. Clearly I just wanted to get something done..

I think amongst many changes we look for solace in whatever gives us comfort. I'm not sure why, but I feel like for me whenever there's a lot going on I tend to dive deep, even at the expense of myself sometimes. I could have gone to the gym, I could have slept early, but there's so much to do. (Addendum: sometimes it feels like there's so much to avoid also, but that's a different story.)

One of the things I've done, or rather not done, these past few days is avoided the gym (or gone to the gym, based on the second part of the sentence. Whichever you prefer.) I was really looking forward to it today, and life derailed me. It's not an excuse, but you should know it's something I really look forward to. I feel amazing when I go and shitty when I don't. But again, there's work there that gets in the way.

I think if you're an entrepreneur there's a thing in your mind to quantify your wins, and it's that aspect that I think has been spilling into my personal life. Even small wins are wins, and if you can work on a smaller problem that provides you a bigger step forward you're more incentivized to select that over something like the gym, where small steady wins are in service of a longer term goal.

Mindset shift: are they?

What's the benefit of the gym? To look good? Achieve a fitness goal? To become a better athlete? Yes, yes, and yes. But I would argue that those "small steady wins" at the gym are not small steady wins at all: rather they are major victories that we don't see the payout for in large ways because we in fact frontload the payout.

Chris Williamson has this wonderful idea called "the pump preview":

​Going to the gym is one of the very few pursuits that you can do where in the act of doing the thing you get a brief window into what it will be like if you continue to do the thing.

​If I go on Duolingo and try to learn Spanish, I don't briefly become much better at Spanish—like where I'm going to be at in 6 months or 12 months time.

​But if I go to the gym and get a pump on, I go: 'Hey, that's me hopefully flat [at rest] in 9 months time.' Like how I look now at the end of the session is where I want to be toward the end of this year. The pump preview.

This is what I mean by frontloading the payout: the victory seemingly comes in drips. Seemingly, being the key word here.

I think the most rewarding thing about the gym is the mental clarity you get after an insanely difficult workout. I just got back from the gym now (note: I've been writing this over two days and I'm purposely not going back and editing this), and I can tell you certainty that I feel more clear now than I have all day. It's the main reason why I look forward to it, because it just feels so good to have gotten it over with, and how it makes me feel after having exerted an insane amount of energy and finishing every workout.

There's a habit these days to gamify going to the gym. If that works then it works, but I'm working hard on moving away from that mentality. The thing about gamifying something is to win the game.

But I'm just trying to love it.

Let's get after it today and revisit our thoughts tomorrow.

Vivek.

I've been struggling with writing the past few days.

I've started posts but have not finished them. I start, and I get somewhere too. But I haven't finish them: my last two publications I published with the words (Published unfinished.) on the bottom. Also, the artwork is the same. Clearly I just wanted to get something done..

I think amongst many changes we look for solace in whatever gives us comfort. I'm not sure why, but I feel like for me whenever there's a lot going on I tend to dive deep, even at the expense of myself sometimes. I could have gone to the gym, I could have slept early, but there's so much to do. (Addendum: sometimes it feels like there's so much to avoid also, but that's a different story.)

One of the things I've done, or rather not done, these past few days is avoided the gym (or gone to the gym, based on the second part of the sentence. Whichever you prefer.) I was really looking forward to it today, and life derailed me. It's not an excuse, but you should know it's something I really look forward to. I feel amazing when I go and shitty when I don't. But again, there's work there that gets in the way.

I think if you're an entrepreneur there's a thing in your mind to quantify your wins, and it's that aspect that I think has been spilling into my personal life. Even small wins are wins, and if you can work on a smaller problem that provides you a bigger step forward you're more incentivized to select that over something like the gym, where small steady wins are in service of a longer term goal.

Mindset shift: are they?

What's the benefit of the gym? To look good? Achieve a fitness goal? To become a better athlete? Yes, yes, and yes. But I would argue that those "small steady wins" at the gym are not small steady wins at all: rather they are major victories that we don't see the payout for in large ways because we in fact frontload the payout.

Chris Williamson has this wonderful idea called "the pump preview":

​Going to the gym is one of the very few pursuits that you can do where in the act of doing the thing you get a brief window into what it will be like if you continue to do the thing.

​If I go on Duolingo and try to learn Spanish, I don't briefly become much better at Spanish—like where I'm going to be at in 6 months or 12 months time.

​But if I go to the gym and get a pump on, I go: 'Hey, that's me hopefully flat [at rest] in 9 months time.' Like how I look now at the end of the session is where I want to be toward the end of this year. The pump preview.

This is what I mean by frontloading the payout: the victory seemingly comes in drips. Seemingly, being the key word here.

I think the most rewarding thing about the gym is the mental clarity you get after an insanely difficult workout. I just got back from the gym now (note: I've been writing this over two days and I'm purposely not going back and editing this), and I can tell you certainty that I feel more clear now than I have all day. It's the main reason why I look forward to it, because it just feels so good to have gotten it over with, and how it makes me feel after having exerted an insane amount of energy and finishing every workout.

There's a habit these days to gamify going to the gym. If that works then it works, but I'm working hard on moving away from that mentality. The thing about gamifying something is to win the game.

But I'm just trying to love it.

Let's get after it today and revisit our thoughts tomorrow.

Vivek.