Halfway Point
End of June. Halfway point of 2026. What exactly happened? I am going to read my entries from Jan to now and then jot my thoughts down here. Let's go ...
I give thanks now for the hyper-vigilance that got me through the difficult times. It is no longer demonized. I can "speak" to it now and tell it that it is not needed right now, for now is different.
The start of the year met me with falling income, with the associated fear and apprehension. A feeling of helplessness, of confusion, of ineptness and simply of not-knowing-what-to-do. But I changed all of that. I have a strategy, tactics and some direction now. Not perfect, but real progress has been made.
I don't have to "do it all". I am lucky that what earns income is what contributes to people's lives. That's my art. And that's OK. It's a gift to be able to do this. Taking care of my health, my connections and creating my art, that's fine.
There is no final wonderful destination. But there is the moment, and taking time to see it. The key is simple ... stop, look, go.
Realizing that I really have to be intentional about taking care of my body and not letting work take over. To my credit, in May and June I really did well with introducing strength training and going to the gym consistently. I really did well.
Quite a bit of worry about income in March. Lots of self-talk to grab hold of myself and my thoughts. But now feel so much more stable and confident. I have some tactics that are working. Income seems to have stabilized. I am in a much better place now than then.
I actually forgot that I did this thing earlier this year. I created an entire system of collecting dojo emails and also sending them out. A really good system actually. And it worked with the launch of the MQTT course. Great work!
I started to do the YT videos to try to create a sales funnel. But then I realized that I needed to work on things that would bring more immediate results and would be more effective. Those that involve selling to my existing audience.
I have done some work in taking care of myself and I think it has paid off. Went for my eye test and they did some simple blood tests first. Blood sugar = 105, Cholesterol = 176, Blood pressure = 116/70. I was worried for a while that my blood pressure would be high as I was getting headaches. But maybe that was due to the fact that my lenses needed changing.
In April, I determined a way to use Claude for building a new course much faster. That was a big thing and continues to be a big thing. Yet another way in which I upgraded my skill set.
April entry showing how worried I felt about money. The $10,000 for Mom's bday and the money for the vacay. I don't feel like that any more. I think spending the money on the vacay is a good thing. I will make it back. I am now looking forward to the vacay, to learning new things, to learning about myself, to be changed by it.
April revenue was very low and it shook me. Fortunately it looks like it was a blip. Things have picked back up. I think what I learned from this is not to lose my nerve. To move calmly and not make decisions impulsively with short-term data.
The building of the MQTT and Sparkplug B courses stressed me out more than they needed to. I think that it is because I placed artificial pressure on myself. I must remember this the next time around. It can be better.
I think that I did well in taking responsibility for getting most of the info for flights and bookings for the vacay. I really showed leadership there and I will continue to do so. I have two more months, more than enough time. I will not waste them.
Yes there are goals and milestones, and they are good things. But they fade eventually. What is more permanent is the Practice, the bits that are done every day. Do the bits, notice the bits, be grateful that you can do the bits.
Realizing that I have to lead the people around me in every part of my life.
I was getting a bit annoyed with myself that I did not have any "just for me" time. Time that nothing to do with work or fitness or errands, things like that. Time where I would do something I enjoy. I still don't have that type of time. But I think it is OK. I will find it eventually because I am aware of it. It's OK to find "just for me" time in work and fitness and the other things. That's fine for now.
$20K made in May and also in June with no courses released. That's much better than expected.