Writing
- Telegram – This is where I post about entrepreneurship, wealth, health, happiness, and my other everyday observations. I publish best of it here.
- How To Canada – My blog in Russian about immigration to Canada. Not currently maintained but it has a ton of great material.
Startup Founder’s Journey. Episode 1.
I am not a founder, yet. I spent 7 years trying to fit in a traditional career, only to become miserable. I quit my job in October and I’m still not sure how to make money. I’m certain, however, it’s not by selling my 40 hours a week. Last 3 months were tough and the next 3 months will be even harder. I’ve launched my photography website and I’m currently working on my personal online portfolio (this website).
My Body Needs 9 Hours of Sleep
It’s been 3 weeks since I started experimenting with free-running sleep. This means I go to bed when both my body and brain feel tired enough and I wake up without alarms. The results are confusing. Key observations so far: I need between 8 to 10 hours of sleep on average. Usually 9. The schedule is still unstable but I wake up roughly at the same time, around 9:30. Bedtime shifts slightly to later time every day but wake time time is roughly the same, so my circadian rhythm seems to reset every day naturally.
Happiness
I am reading the Almanack of Naval Ravikant, and it’s the chapter about happiness that resonates with me the most. Before I dive deeper into it, let me share this quote from the book that pulled all the little threads and made me emotional. “If you view yourself as a bacteria or an amoeba — or if you view all of your works as writing on water or building castles in the sand, then you have no expectation for how life should “actually” be.
Sleep Schedule That Sucks
For 29 years I’ve been trying to reverse engineer my sleep schedule and never succeeded. I’ve always been amazed by people who would go to bed at 10 pm because they feel tired, and the second they hit the pillow they fall asleep. My ex-wife was like that. I was not, and therefore this bothered me since the day I was born. Well, maybe not literally, I bet my sleep was fantastic at first.
Goals Matter, or Dreaming Big
When I first landed in Canada in 2016 and started my first job as a Software Engineer, my salary was $50,000/year sharp. It was roughly 2.5 times more than what I used to earn back in Russia. Since then I had this plan in my head that I have to make it to six figures, and somehow I knew it’s not going to take me long. I didn’t ask myself if I was able to pull it off, but when this will happen.