48 days WASTED!

I've been running this newsletter for 1.5 years and NEVER SKIPPED a single week!

And here I'm writing this email, feeling like a complete failure, because I skipped 48 FREAKING DAYS.

The habit that I have been building for over a year is dead.

I feel like an ex-alcoholic who got back to drinking.

But those 48 days have taught me a crucial lesson that I want to share with you today, so you can learn from my mistakes.

And at the end of the day, I'm just a human, and I always try to share both: my wins and my losses.

The main lesson

Reader, if you don't want to read the whole email, here is the main lesson for today:

but just having a routine isn't enough, I had a routine of writing these emails, but still, I had a 48-day break.

Why?

Because besides building routines, you should:

Did I plan to take 48 day break? - NO!

But I skipped the first week, and on the second week I started thinking:

And every week I was saying the exact same thing to myself:

And with every week it was getting harder and harder to come back.

Yes, building a routine is important, but it's even MORE IMPORTANT to always stick to it.

No matter what is going on in your life, you should never skip your routine.

Even if it means that you'll sleep less, and miss a cool hang-out with your friends or a new Netflix show.

Why do you always fail?

I have huge goals for 2025, and I have everything to hit those goals:

• Finances
• Knowledge
• Energy
• Time (not a lot of it, but I have it)

But the only thing I lack is CONSISTENCY!

And most of the people have the same problem as me.

In our heads, we all know that we should work hard.

But when the time comes, it's VERY HARD to make yourself DO the actual work.

And what I learned over the last few years, is that motivation is NOT the key factor to success.

We all have motivation spikes from time to time, but it runs out quickly.

That's why most of the people are failing in programming and other fields, and it usually looks like this:

1. You have motivation
2. You start working/studying hard
3. After a few weeks, motivation ends
4. You are working/studying less and less
5. You completely stop moving towards your goal, feeling depressed

​
So I started analysing, in what areas of my life I had great success, so I can replicate the process from there into other areas of my life.

I understood, that I achieved pretty good results with my job and career.

I analyzed what I did there to succeed and I've come up with a special strategy that I'll follow myself to succeed.

Contract with yourself

On every job where I worked, I had a contract.

And of course, there are days, when you don't feel like working and you don't want to work.

But you still WORK regardless of how you feel, because you just have to.

But when it comes to your personal goals and project, you WANT to do them, but you DON'T HAVE TO.

But if you'll treat your personal projects / your studies / your goals in the same way as you treat your job, you'll be making WAY MORE PROGRESS.

And it doesn't mean that you have to work on your goals for 40 hours a week like on the job. You can treat it as part time job, and work 20, 10 or even just 5 hours a week.

But you have to be consistent, show up every day, and follow the contract that you are signing with yourself.

So right now, I'm preparing the contract that I'll sign with myself, and from now on, I'll treat my personal goals and project, the same way as I treat my job.

That's why for the next few months I WILL NOT BE LOOKING FOR MORE MOTIVATION.

I'll be building routines and processes that will help me to make daily progress on my goals.

And if you like the concept of signing the contract with yourself, let me know, and I'll share more details in the following emails.

Personal Updates

For 1.5 months I was travelling around Asia.

Honk Kong blew my mind with its amount of skyscrapers.

Vietnam shocked me with its cheapness and that Vietnamese food suits my European taste well.

Kuala Lumpur surprised me with how developed it is

And Bali welcomed me with the same vibes that I had there 2 years ago, it now feels like second home to me.

I had a great rest, and although I'm still in Bali, it's time to get back to work.

(P.S. If you are in Bali and want to meet for a coffee, send me an email and let's connect)

And if you are still reading this, here is my public promise:

I promise not to miss a single weekly email in 2025.

In 2025 expect HONEST emails from me on the following topics:

• Coding, marketing and growing websites and apps (a.k.a business stuff)
• Content creation (my big bet for 2025)

I'll still be posting some IT-related content, but I'm doing a small shift into business content, as this is what interests me the most at this point in my life.

So if you are here just for the IT content, I'll understand if you press the unsubscribe button below, although it'll make me extremely sad 🥲.

See you next weeek 👋!

Always yours,

Andrew "Signed contract with himself" Zacker