DEEP FLOW STATE

to be completely honest, this has been probably one of the most productive weeks in a while…

productive in the sense that every. single. second. actually moved the needle forward →

other weeks before this have been filled with moments where i would explore a certain path to look-and-see if a profitable outcome occurs, just to hit a dead-end…

and then a portion of all that ‘keeping on’ actually turns into some sort of tangible result — making it all worth it.

but this week: it has been pure profit in how i have spent my time.

welcome back to week 25 of the unicorn founder… it’s so damn good to have you here.

my agenda for today’s memo:
→ what i have been working on
→ how i am getting into such flow
→ founder lessons

WHAT I HAVE BEEN WORKING ON

this week i started going all-in on learning how to code…

meaning: i am guiltlessly dedicating all of my time in learning how to become technical > trying to build some sort of startup that heavily requires technical work to be done
→ which i was making zero productive use of my time seeing as i could not contribute in that regard.

timing-wise it’s good: the rest of the team are finishing their final year exams for their computer science degree, so they have less pressure from the startup devwork to focus on passing all those exams.

do i feel like i am becoming iron-man… yes, yes i do.

take a look at my schedule this last week:

something extremely important to take note of: work only counts if i am genuinely sitting in front of my screen learning, applying, i.e using that time for the goal of making progress, and i am not distracted.

distracted + unfocused work ≠ productive work

and you know what is the only thing that matters?
→ productive work

else you are wasting your time and fooling nobody else but yourself.

as you can see in my schedule, i am trying extremely hard to get into as consistent-a-schedule as possible.

the more routine things become = the less decisions you need to make =
the less energy wasted unnecessarily.

and it all comes down to energy at the end of the day…

especially when you’re trying to move at the fastest most possible pace.

details of my actual “work”

i was recommended by one of my tiktok viewers (lmao it actually is so funny, already i am being rewarded for posting content online) to go check out the odin project.

and damn, it’s been an insane way to go — sometimes pedantically — from learning the most absolute basics of computers, hardware, html, css, and javascript to getting to a point where you could apply for a job.

obviously i am not doing this to get employed, but wow, it’s probably the most coherent, clear, and logical formatting i have come across — and it’s all free!

the process:
→ learn theory
→ practice theory in exercises
→ put it all together in assignment projects you need to build from scratch

→ the best possible way to learn

i have built a ton of really ugly, basic stuff which i won’t showcase here, except for my latest project which finished off my foundations course → a calculator.

now, i know this may not look like much, but every single thing was done by me.

i started the project at 7am on friday (check the calendar above for proof) and finished it by 1:15pm that day.

all the javascript, html, and css (i.e the prettiness of it all and the actual “workingness” of it) was built from my brain → a pretty good start in my mind.

you can go check out all the code here: it’s a link to my github public repository for the project.

going forward

i am now going through html/css intermediate course — gonna finish that up on monday (got two projects to build there)

and then here below you can see the roadmap for the next courses lining up for me to complete:

HOW I AM GETTING INTO SUCH FLOW

look i don’t know if you wanna call what i am doing as “flow” necessarily…

but, it definitely is starting to feel like it a lot.

i wake up, i go through the day with intention, and at the end of the day, i look back and see a ton load of milestones being accomplished, progress being made
→ and all of that fills me with more dopamine + adrenaline to do it all again tomorrow.

that’s what i think flow is:
doing super hard, yet rewarding things, and then craving to do it all again the next day.

an addition to that is knowing what you need to do when you wake up, the night before.

i need to have at least an idea in my mind, no matter how vague, of what i will get going when i start working in the morning.

and you know, i’d add the fact that getting into any sort of “flow” requires the human — that’s you — to have an idea of why they’re doing what they’re doing.

why you ask?
→ if you don’t know why you’re doing something you will constantly be interrupted by your mind asking the question of whether what you’re doing even matters, if it is even “the right thing” to be doing… and you’ll find yourself slipping in and out of focus…
never really giving it your all.

so, i am learning coding so that i can:
→ get stuck in and contribute to building the product of my startup
→ have zero limitation for why i can’t build a startup on my own, if needed
→ maximise my human potential
→ finally put my hundred thousand million ideas into tangible outputs

and i am doing this super intensely because:
→ i do not want to wait years, heck even months, to have the satisfaction of building something from scratch, putting it out into the world, and actually seeing people enjoy using it. life is too short.

and to get into the actual “flow”:
→ being seriously rigid about demarcating when and when not i am working.

that’s the safe space in my day where nothing gets scheduled in/if it does, i can plan and adjust accordingly.

founder lessons

1

we suffer more from our inability to take action than from the supposed “wasted time” in doing things that we don’t know 100% sure will get us the results we want.
do things.
do a lot of things.
and make sure to pay attention to what you’re putting in and what you’re getting out, because then you can replicate the needle-moving actions and make insane progress.

2

things aren’t not possible, they’re just more difficult.
and difficult is simple, because all it requires is one thing in order to overcome it:
grit.

go search what grit means: it’s more than just perseverance, tenacity, relentlessness, or consistency — it’s all of that and more.

3

there is absolutely no loss in going after the biggest, most audacious, most terrifying, most impossible ordeals, visions, and pursuits.
in fact, you’re losing out more when you do not do so:
the potential for something incredible actually occurring isn’t even given a chance to strike out.
that’s a 100% loss probability.

don’t live life as a bystander, get in the arena, and keep fighting again and again and again.

🕺 thanks for coming everybody

check out LinkedIn, X, IG, TikTok for daily updates/thoughts/ideas… and even YouTube for some longer form content I am putting out

connect with me there, or reply here.

Peace and Wholeness : )
ethan