1. Self-care is not the same every day

All images by the author 2. Reputation is a fragile house

All images by the author 3. Learning is a life-long process

All images by the author 4. Make big plans, and enjoy little things

All images by the author 5. The success combination

All images by the author 6. Confirmation Vs Curiosity

All images by the author 7. Move to move the mind

All images by the author 8. Self-validation will free you from all kinds of validation

All images by the author 9. Impatience with actions, patience with results

All images by the author 10. Golden rule: Seek a long-term purpose, not short-term dopamine

All images by the author If you are here, thank you for reading. Want to improve your life one visual at a time? Then follow me. I deconstruct complex ideas and long-form articles into simple, and thought-provoking visuals.

What does it really mean to be productive? Being busy to updating all information about your life & work in these ton-of apps. Correct?!. NO!! not.

According to me, being productive means, “Completing your goal(s) with mental peace.”

And that can be done by using just one or two apps only. One for long term goals (goals for weeks & months or even for years) and another for day-to-day reminders.

For me i only use notion to keep track of goals which i want to achieve in upcoming weeks and months. Another, a chrome extension named todo-stack (which i built myself and currently it’s in development) for daily reminders while using a laptop.

This is my view of using productivity apps, comment your own theories about productivity if you have one.

Last few words,

Thank you so much for reading this story. If you’re interested in my chrome extension, you can look here : https://anas-dew.github.io/todo-stack/

I write about technology & life. Make sure you follow & subscribe if interested in these topics.

Getting a lot of things done, better.

After operating my business for a while and talking to people, I noticed that many entrepreneurs and content creators nowadays face a big problem.

They don’t get much done.

They are either doing too little or nothing at all.

And that’s not exactly the recipe for success.

Not enough to do is a problem that most of us face these days.

With the paradox of choice, we have so many options that if we look at all of them, we can feel paralyzed and overwhelmed.

So instead of doing something, we do nothing.

Has that ever happened to you?

If the answer is yes, you’re not alone.

I was guilty of that myself.

But ironically, doing nothing is actually a huge problem that contributes to overwhelm.

Without a ‘to do’ list or challenging deadline to focus on, you might find yourself feeling less motivated than ever to get anything done.

And that builds a vicious cycle with less energy, less focus, and less achievements.

Truth is that when we are focused, we can get things done fast and quickly.

But it’s difficult to get into ‘that state’.

So what can we do?

Here’s a counterintuitive strategy that worked for me.

I like to call this ‘strategic overwhelm’.

It’s about not being scared of overwhelm.

It’s about giving yourself a little bit too much to do.

It’s about setting deadlines you can’t avoid to miss.

So that you have to do it no matter what.

Here’s an example.

My main business activity is to sell digital products online with various small niche brands.

For one particular brand, I knew I wanted to sell an ebook.

I did my market research and I formulated some hypothesis.

Then I tested them.

I ran some ads to a sales page that promoted a pre-order offer for this ebook, which I didn’t yet have.

I set a date for the product release: it was roughly two weeks from the beginning of the campaign.

I made a deal with myself. When the first sales would come in, I would then be dedicated to write that ebook.

The first sales started to come in.

And that was my deadline.

If I didn’t write the ebook over the next two weeks, I couldn’t have delivered the product to people that had already given me money.

It was a strict deadline, but I did it.

I wrote an ebook in two weeks.

I did in less than 14 days what I thought could take up to two months to do.

The key in this example is to let others impose the deadline for you. If no one else is involved in the deadline, it’s likely that you’re going to miss it.

When there are other people on the line (and their wallets), we tend to behave differently.

That’s the power of the strategic overwhelm.

So don’t be afraid of putting a little bit too much on your plate.

Strategically overwhelm yourself.

So that you can get things done faster.

Over the course of my career I have discovered a few helpful tips on how to really be able to focus on any task at hand. This may or may not apply to every single type of task out there but I find that in general my ideas can help most situations. So read on to check out how to stay focused on every day tasks.

Write it down

And I mean actually write it down. On paper. Yes, paper. Not on your phone app, laptop, or tablet. But, actually physically write it down with a pen and paper. Preferably in a notebook. Why do I say this? For one, writing down your task will actually give you something concrete that you can see and feel. It’s on paper. It is written! And therefore you have to do something about it.

You have to complete that task, and when you’re finished you give it a good solid checkmark right next to it, or even more satisfying — you cross it out! Having a task written down has a feeling of weight to it. It’s much more than just opening another app on your phone. You instead have a dedicated notebook where you write down everything (and I mean literally anything and everything) you need to do.

You don’t have to put any dates or organize your list in an special way. Simply just write it down. Go down your list and if something is less important than something else, simply skip it. You don’t need to complicate yourself with a fancy to do list full of categories, due dates, color schemes, and priority ranks. Just make a list. Anything you’ve left uncrossed or unchecked, you will be easily able to see it and come back to it when you’ve completed the more important tasks. It’s really that simple.

Also when you think of something new that needs to be done, try to write it down as soon as possible. Trust me you will enjoy this. It won’t feel like a just another task per say. Think of it more like a mission. Doing this repeatedly will help you stay focused on every single task you need to finish.

Keep the tasks small and specific

So when you write down your task, don’t be afraid to break up the task into smaller tasks. Don’t worry about creating “sub-tasks” or anything of that sort. Again, don’t complicate the list. Just write down the task no matter how small it may be. It may sound silly but this will help you actually start on the really big tasks.

For example, one task I had in my head was to work on SEO for my web design business website. Well “work on SEO” is simply too general and big for me to even think about where to start. So instead I wrote various smaller tasks that are all related to working on SEO, such as researching keywords, implement key phrases for specific pages, etc. Working on smaller related tasks helps you to stay focused on the larger big picture task.

Turn off distractions

Can you believe that the average U.S. adult will spend about 44 years of their life staring at screens? You know where I’m going with this so it should be no surprise. How dare I say it, but it must be said. If you really want to know how to stay focused, then turn off your phone! Yes, either silence and lay it face down, or simply just turn off the damn thing.

If you need to notify someone important that you’ll be “offline” for the next few hours, then do so, and then disconnect. Trust me, your brain will reward you. Your brain will not be constantly distracted by notifications, blinking lights, beeps, dings, and rings, etc. Just give your mind and phone a rest. You can turn it off. Trust me, it won’t be the end of the world.

Now if you need a break from your task, then feel free to check your phone. Check your notifications, missed calls, texts whatever. But don’t get sucked in. Check, respond, and then turn off. Give yourself 10–15 minutes if you need to. But don’t turn it into a giant distraction.

Listen to music

This will help you get into a flow. If you’ve never tried meditational music I suggest you definitely give it a try. Go on YouTube and search for things like “focus music for work”, or “focus music for studying”, and you will find many videos that offer some very good ambient background music for your brain to stay focused.

Some of them you may not like, in fact some of them I find kind of annoying to listen to which affects my focus. Just remember the music should feel like it’s just there. It should not be something you are focusing on. It should just reside in the back of your brain while you are actually focusing on your task with the rest of your brain.

Even if I’m sitting at home alone with no one to distract me, sometimes I will still put on some focus music. If I’m in a coffee shop, where things tend to be more noisy, then some music will definitely help you.

Note: For more resources on digital marketing, business strategies, and tech tips please visit The Flyer where we post new articles and guides at least once a week.

Breaks are crucial to maintaining productivity as well as creating more! There is no shame in giving your mind and body a break. It is not a sign of weakness. Breaks are important to parts of your day.

Humans are cyclical beings. Your attention span has its limits. No matter how well you think you can focus.

You only have about an hour and a half before your mind begins to wander. Not taking a break after 90 minutes can cause distraction, irritation, and stress. Don’t try to push yourself past your natural attention span.

Signs you need a break

There are also several signs that indicate it might be time for a break.

· fidgeting,

· nervous energy,

· getting distracted by outside forces easily,

· zoning out or daydreaming,

· getting frustrated when something does not work out immediately,

· making silly mistakes,

· feeling eye fatigue.

These are all physical indications you are wearing yourself out.

When you realize it is time for a break, take one. Get out of your chair and stretch, walk around, get some coffee, water, or tea, use the restroom, and say hi to a co-worker.

Make your break from working something simple and easy that you can do quickly that can also reset you! Your breaks should not be stressful or intense, so do not try to cram something into a five-minute break if it does not fit.

Breaktime

A short break, anywhere from five to twenty minutes, is beneficial to help your brain and mind prepare for another hour and a half. But you have to take a true break.

What does that mean?

Your break needs to be unrelated to attention. Don’t shift over to a different task to take a break from another. That defeats the purpose.

Take your eyes away from whatever you’re doing, change the view, play a game, have a snack, get some water, make some tea, and go for a quick walk.

Allow your system to reboot and you’ll find yourself feeling refreshed when you come back to the task at hand.

Pomodoro

The Pomodoro method is an effective time management system that will help you see how much time you’re spending on tasks. It also has built-in timed breaks that allow you to recharge your mental attention.

This method breaks down your day into 25-minute sections with planned and timed breaks.

Here is how it works.

At the start of a task or project, set a timer for 25 minutes. Once the timer goes off, you get to have a five-minute break! Once the five minutes are up, you set the timer for another 25 minutes!

You can set the timer for as long as you want and then take a break for as long as you want.)

At the end of each 25-minute session, you get a five-minute break. After 4 cycles, (four 25-minute work periods and four 5- minute breaks,) you get to take a 20 to 30-minute break.

The Pomodoro technique is very helpful for people who struggle with time management. Not only because the Pomodoro technique helps to section out your day, but also because after the timer goes off you can see how much work you’ve completed in that time. Maybe you notice patterns in your work. Maybe you realize this task is taking longer than you expected.

Be Realistic

You only have five minutes between Pomodoro sessions. That is not the time to try to cook or eat a main meal. There simply isn’t enough time and rushing to finish is stressful. You’ll still be hungry too.

Grab a snack instead.

Takeaway

Appropriate breaks that switch your mind off work will help you feel refreshed. The Pomodoro technique is one way to ensure you have set breaks throughout your day.

Affirmations

I will take mini breaks throughout my day.

I am worthy of taking care of my mind and body.

I take care of myself.

Spot the things you can optimize

I’m sure there are a lot of things you can optimize in your Obsidian setup. To find them, the easiest thing to do is to spot your repetitive actions. Here I will give you some examples of things you can spot. I will also give a way to fix it even if we’ll talk about it in the next part.

• Are you too much copying/pasting text? Consider using templates.

• Are you too much closing/opening notes? Consider using Sliding Panes to stack notes.

• Are you too much moving notes into the same folders? Consider using QuickAdd.

Fix the problems

Once you’ve spotted what can be optimized, you want to find solutions. Most of the time, it will require plugins. The top plugins for gaining time in Obsidian are:

• Sliding Panes: allows you to keep multiple notes open and quickly navigate between them.

• Templater: allows you to create complex templates.

• QuickAdd: allows you to capture things into notes, create notes from templates or automatize multiple actions.

We’ll go more into detail about each one of these plugins.

Sliding Panes

Sliding Panes is a plugin allowing you to keep multiple notes open. You can then navigate between them quickly. Have a look at the screenshot below, I have 5 notes opened and I can navigate between them either by clicking on one of the notes or using my mouse wheel.

Not a lot to say about this plugin, it’s very easy to use.

Templater

Templater is a plugin you can use to create complex templates. If you don’t know what a template is, it’s like a blueprint to create a new note. There is a native feature in Obsidian you can use to create templates but for complex templates, it’s good to use Templater.

Below is what a template note looks like:

When you’re on another note, you have a command available to open Templater. You can then select one of the templates you’ve created to paste their content into the active note. Some special values can be replaced, as in the example above there is “<%tp.file.title%>” which will be replaced with the active note file name.

To use templater, you just have to create a folder in your vault where you store all your templates. Then, you can use the “Templater: Open Insert Template modal” command to choose the note to use as a template for the active note.

To know more about templater: https://github.com/SilentVoid13/Templater

QuickAdd

QuickAdd is a nice plugin to optimize your workflow as you can do a lot of things with it. With QuickAdd, you can:

• Capture: it allows you to quickly add text to a note. You can choose to create the note if it doesn’t exist yet, you can add the text below a specific section, etc…

• Template: it allows you to create a template with specific options such as the filename format, the destination directory, etc… It also provides a user interface for entering some values which have to be in your note, as in the image below. You can specify any value you want QuickAdd to ask you for.

• Macro: a macro allows you to combine multiple actions to execute. These actions can be capture actions, template actions, Obsidian commands, editor commands, user scripts, etc…

There are a lot of things to say about QuickAdd, I can’t cover everything here. You can check https://github.com/chhoumann/quickadd to know more, but I will also give you some examples of how I use QuickAdd:

• Templates: I use QuickAdd templates because it allows me to create notes more quickly. I just hit a shortcut and it opens modals to ask me some values such as “File Name”, “Author”, “Rating”, etc… Then it automatically creates my note in a folder I specified.

• Captures: I use captures a lot. For example, as I use Obsidian as a tasks manager, I can just hit a shortcut and fill in some values to capture a task in my tasks note. I also use it to quickly capture ideas. For example, I have a writing dashboard and I can use QuickAdd to quickly add an article idea with a timestamp to my dashboard.

• Macros: I use macros to chain some actions. For example, when I finish a book, I can hit a shortcut in Obsidian and it will automatically create several tasks about this book, such as reviewing the book, transferring another book to my Kindle, publishing my review on Goodreads, deleting the book from my watchlist, etc…

Final note

There are other plugins you can use to automate things, but it depends a lot on what you do with Obsidian. For example, I use a plugin to automatically create book notes about the books I’ve read stored on Goodreads, but it’s a very specific case.

Thanks to QuickAdd, you can also create user scripts to automatize absolutely everything you want if you know JavaScript.

It’s up to you to build your own solutions, I have just given you the basics!

I mean, it’s no surprise to anyone given how ever-present today’s “hustle culture” is. The reality is that it is almost impossible to escape hearing or seeing accounts of people bragging about their side hustles on social media and/or shaming other people for not having side hustles.

I’ve always been of a mindset that you should always do you. And I am not a stranger to side hustles.

I am a lawyer, I own two businesses, I contribute to two new YouTube channels (one of which is a podcast), I help local entrepreneurs with their legal business issues, and I like to write short articles whenever I can — you know, to keep the rust off my writing muscles.

This is by no means a flex — it only showcases how single I am and how I have too much time on my hands.

But I digress.

Back to side hustles. I don’t think you need me to explain what I side hustle is, but in case you do, a side hustle is something you do aside from the job you go to on a regular basis, to make some additional income. Some people turn their hobbies into side hustles, while some others pivot their chosen careers to a broader audience (often times called “moonlighting”) so they do the same thing they do for their employer, but in sort of a “freelancer” way.

Regardless of what your side hustle is, you will almost always inevitably have to trade some of your time (what I consider the single most valuable asset you have) in exchange for the side hustle. So you’ll want to make sure your side hustle is really worth it.

Photo by Aron Visuals on Unsplash You may be thinking “what if I sell a product online?” Well, even if you are doing something that arguably requires less effort, like dropshipping, I still assume you are taking some time to set up a website, choose the products you want to sell, etc. If you don’t do all this prep work, then you will simply get lost in the vast ocean of people doing the exact same thing you are doing, but doing it better (because they invested the time).

The amount of time you invest increases exponentially if you are making the product you are selling. If you are providing a service, well, that’s no different from going to a job = time in exchange for $$$.

But enough of that — let’s get to the meat of this article. If you are someone who does not have a side hustle (either because you don’t have the time or because you don’t want to), no shame!

If you are thinking about getting a side hustle, I compiled a quick list of side hustles that are definitely not worth your time.

1. Setting up an online shop This is a bit of a misdirect. I do believe online shops are great side hustles, if you have the right product/service and an efficient way to running things. As a matter of fact, one of my businesses is solely done through an online shop.

However, when I first tried my luck at a side hustle via an online shop, I crashed hard.

Photo by Elisa Ventur on Unsplash This was for a number of reasons — a learning curve, if you will — but the silent killer was the monthly fee that I paid to keep my website up. So, to set yourself for a better start than the one I had, I would recommend you place the horse in front of the cart. If you already have a product or service you want to offer and are really ready to take on sales, then get that website up and get going. But if you are not ready, you don’t want to get stuck with a monthly bill that will slowly dig a hole in your bank account while you are still trying to figure out what you want to do.

1. Becoming a secret shopper When I was in high school, I worked in retail at the local mall (who didn’t?). Back then, “secret shoppers” were a thing of mystery and awe.

Photo by freestocks on Unsplash Our managers were scared of them and we were amused by the stories they told. Trying to spot a secret shopper became sort of a game. Some coworkers would even claim that it was a sweet gig because not only were you so “powerful” (I really don’t know what kind of power they meant…since secret shoppers often times are paid to act like Karens), but you also got paid for doing something so trivial as shopping.

In reality, however, there are 2 reasons why being a secret shopper is not as glamorous (or profitable) as it’s made to be.

First, the pay may seem attractive (~$30-$50) to shop, and (sometimes) you get to keep some of what you purchase with the company’s money. However, unless you are assigned to stores that are located near you, you will have to spend your own gas to get you to the store, which costs both time and money. By the time you are done with the experience, you’d be lucky if you break even, which is not really the point of a side hustle.

Second, you become the target of scammers out there. They’ll act as a big, reputable company, and even agree to send you some payment in advance. The company will send you a check in the mail and ask you to send a portion of it back via bank transfer “to confirm that your account is set up to receive your future payments via bank transfer” (because obviously you’ll be raking in so much $$$ that they will go out of business if they keep sending you checks!). The problem is, whatever money you end up sending back will be lost because (SURPRISE!) the check they sent you will always bounce. Trust me, your time is better invested somewhere else.

1. Writing product reviews

Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash This one is a bit tricky, because there are real opportunities to get paid, but they are so few and far between that it is hard to find enough gigs to consider it a side hustle. You can make between $5 and $10 for 15–30 minutes of work, but a lot of these are one-offs, so it’s most likely not worth your time. If you have a way to have a steady stream of gigs, however, this may not be that bad of a side hustle to add to your repertoire.

1. Answering surveys This is one I have fallen for a couple of times only to quit in frustration after a day or two.

Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash At first glance, the promise of making a couple of dollars for a few minutes of your time is quite appealing. Even if you are not trying to get rich off of surveys, it is easy to fall for the appeal of making a few bucks whenever you are idly waiting in line at the grocery store or while sitting in the bathroom.

But let me warn you: BIG MISTAKE.

A lot of these websites are super shady and not at all user friendly. They also are incredibly frustrating. 90% of surveys will promise you $3-$5 for 5 minutes but what you have to do is answer between 5–10 questions to see if you qualify for the survey.

So, you are answering a survey to see if you can access the survey. (DUMB).

And, you are not getting paid for these questions (or the time you spend answering them). When you are done, most likely one of two things will happen: (1) you don’t qualify for the survey, so you’re SOL and wasted all this time for nothing; or (2) the button to “submit” the survey takes you to a shady “offer page” or it straight-up doesn’t work and you…wasted all this time for nothing.

This happens so often that even if you are one of the lucky few that gets to access some legit surveys, the value of the time you spent trying to find them already put you in the red.

AND, a lot of these companies sell your information to third parties so you wasted time, made no money, and are now part of various scammers’ lists. What a trifecta.

1. Joining a Multi-Level Marketing company. (a.k.a. social marketing, at-home business, network marketing, etc.)

Photo by Karolina Grabowska Trust me, just, don’t do it.

Don’t believe me?

Fine.

You can find out for yourself here, or here, or here, or here, (or you can save me time and google “should I join an MLM?” and read through some of those articles). You can also explore YouTube’s endless stream of anti-MLM content and hear some of the horror stories. If after all that you still want to join one, well, that’s on you. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

1. ANY side hustle where you have to pay to start. Now, I need to clarify a bit.

Photo by rupixen.com on Unsplash Almost any side hustle will involve some initial cost. Whether it is to acquire the tools you will use or the raw materials. Even a digital side hustle often times will require at least the $12 to get a domain + the web hosting costs, etc. These are all “startup costs.”

But, there is a difference between startup costs and paying to get “access” to a company or get training.

For a side hustle, you should not really need a lot of training because, well, it is a side hustle. But there are many companies out there that sell you on the promise of tons of easy money, only to have you pay ridiculously high “admin fees” or requiring you to purchase overpriced “starting kits.” Other than paying for reasonable startup costs, if you have to pay-to-play, not only will it not be worth your time, you most likely will walk out with your wallet feeling a bit lighter.

At least, now you know what not to try as a side hustle. When you do find a side hustle you want to try, well, the hardest part will still lie ahead. But that’s a topic for another article.

What do you think? Are there any other bad side hustles I should include here?

Let’s do this. This short article was first published on the Rode & Ankor website’s blog, but I am trying to be a bit more active on Medium. I hope you enjoyed it, and if so, share it with a friend who may find it helpful. I’d really appreciate it.

For more articles, you can subscribe to get notified whenever I post any new short articles.

Some of the links in this article may be affiliate links. If you buy something from these links, I may receive a small benefit but that benefit will not cost you anything at all.

Don’t date a girl who travels. She is hard to please. The usual dinner-movie date at the mall will suck the life out of her. Her soul craves for new experiences and adventures. She will be unimpressed with your new car and your expensive watch. She would rather climb a rock or jump out of an airplane than hear you brag about it.

Don’t date a girl who travels because she will bug you to book a flight every time there’s an airline seat sale. She wont party at Republiq. And she will never pay over $100 for Avicii because she knows that one weekend of clubbing is equivalent to one week somewhere far more exciting.

Chances are, she can’t hold a steady job. Or she’s probably daydreaming about quitting. She doesn’t want to keep working her ass off for someone else’s dream. She has her own and is working towards it. She is a freelancer. She makes money from designing, writing, photography or something that requires creativity and imagination. Don’t waste her time complaining about your boring job.

Don’t date a girl who travels. She might have wasted her college degree and switched careers entirely. She is now a dive instructor or a yoga teacher. She’s not sure when the next paycheck is coming. But she doesn’t work like a robot all day, she goes out and takes what life has to offer and challenges you to do the same.

Don’t date a girl who travels for she has chosen a life of uncertainty. She doesn’t have a plan or a permanent address. She goes with the flow and follows her heart. She dances to the beat of her own drum. She doesn’t wear a watch. Her days are ruled by the sun and the moon. When the waves are calling, life stops and she will be oblivious to everything else for a moment. But she has learned that the most important thing in life isn’t surfing.

Don’t date a girl who travels as she tends to speak her mind. She will never try to impress your parents or friends. She knows respect, but isn’t afraid to hold a debate about global issues or social responsibility.

She will never need you. She knows how to pitch a tent and screw her own fins without your help. She cooks well and doesn’t need you to pay for her meals. She is too independent and wont care whether you travel with her or not. She will forget to check in with you when she arrives at her destination. She’s busy living in the present. She talks to strangers. She will meet many interesting, like-minded people from around the world who share her passion and dreams. She will be bored with you.

So never date a girl who travels unless you can keep up with her. And if you unintentionally fall in love with one, don’t you dare keep her. Let her go.

This article has resonated with so many travelers around the world and has been translated into 33 different languages.

One year ago, I left San Francisco, sold and gave away everything I owned, and moved into a 40 liter backpack.

I traveled to 45 cities in 20 countries, 3 Disneylands, and 1 bunny island.

I also worked 50 hours a week building and launching a startup.

And my total costs were less than just the rent in San Francisco.

Traveling is not the same as vacation

There’s a growing community of “digital nomads” who live a location independent lifestyle. We’re software developers, designers, writers, journalists, engineers, and all sorts of people who share a passion for the work we do and experiencing the world.

I propose that a nomadic lifestyle is a productive way to build a real company. I’m working hard on bootstrapping an ambitious startup, Moo.do. I’m traveling because it’s cheaper, more productive, and more inspiring than sitting in one place. Traveling is the most responsible choice for the sake of my company, my finances, and my personal growth.

I became a nomad by accident

Three years ago I was preparing to leave my job at Microsoft to move to San Francisco to start a startup. My friend asked me “but why do you need to be in San Francisco when you can work on a computer from anywhere?” His question made a lot of sense. As I thought about it more, I began to question my assumptions about a “normal life” which don’t make sense in our modern world.

I reject the idea of a 9–5 job. I want to explore the world while the sun is out instead of wasting the daylight hours working inside and dreaming of my next vacation.

I reject the idea of settling down. I want to experience new cultures and eat new foods instead of being stuck in the neighborhood around my house.

I reject the idea of stuff. It’s not the size of my TV that matters. The world is much more interesting than what’s in my house.

I reject the idea of boredom. I’m constantly surrounded by new places, people, and experiences. I haven’t felt bored since I started traveling and I don’t even have the desire to watch TV or play video games anymore.

I reject the idea of a bucket list. I have a list of things to do and I’m doing them.

So off I went, with my crazy new ideas about life in tow.

But it didn’t work out so well.

After traveling for 6 months, I gave up and still moved to San Francisco. Traveling was fun, but I had a great idea and I needed to really focus and get real work done. What better place to build my startup than Silicon Valley?

But I soon found myself becoming too comfortable and slowing down, getting easily bored and distracted, and watching a lot of TV. I sat at my computer for 12 hours a day but didn’t feel like I was productive.

On a trip to New York, my friends went to work during the days, so I went out and worked in coffee shops and in Central Park. Suddenly I was hugely productive, getting much more work done in 6 hours than in my normal 12 hour days. The same thing happened a few months later on a trip to London. I was even coming up with better ideas because the new experiences and surroundings were keeping my mind more active.

This is my average total monthly spending from one year living in Seattle’s Capitol Hill, one year living in San Francisco’s Upper Haight, one year traveling to 20 countries, and one month at a hotel in Bali. It is much cheaper for me to travel. Since the majority of my costs are from trains and flights, it’s significantly cheaper if I stay in one place.

My friends in San Francisco and Seattle often ask me: “How can you afford to travel so much?” I can’t afford not to travel. I’m bootstrapping a company and living in San Francisco was draining my savings.

“Brian, I travel because it makes my life seem longer.”

His statement perplexed me, so I asked him to explain. He continued,

“When I am on my death bed, I want to look back at my life, and have all these vivid memories. I want them to be full and different every single day.”

I thought about this. Then I thought about my childhood. It turns out that I rode the bus to school nearly 200 days a year for more than 10 years. That’s 2,000 days. I don’t remember most of those days. They blur together.

But when I was a child, once a year, we would take a family vacation. I remember every single one of these. The first one was to St Louis. It was the first time I was on an airplane. My sister was maybe 2 or 3 years old. I remember her in her little stroller.

Each year we took a trip. Dallas. Baltimore. Chicago. Seattle. When I look back on my life and the experiences I have had, I think back to these journeys. I remember every one of them. They are vivid life experiences that I shared with the people I care about. My life is longer because of the journeys I have taken.

Repetition doesn’t create memories. New experiences do. Our perception of time is really driven by our perception of the unfamiliar, vivid and new. Of course, it turns out time slows down the most during life threatening experiences. [1] A safer way to slow down time is to travel. Travel is a new experience that can transport you out of your everyday routine to create memories with the ones you love.

As we enter the holiday season I hope you get a chance to spend time with the people you care about. And if you can, travel with them.

There is an old saying that “life is a journey.” In fact, life is many journeys. The more of them you take, the longer it will seem.