Recent content on Shawn L
To be a successful indie hacker, I need to do both. Heck, even closer to 80% marketing. Why am I’m always in programming mode? It’s easier because I’m in control Fear of rejection It’s my comfort zone I feel progress (and only me) I feel in control I love solving puzzle Why I should do more marketing?
I was angry because I was stuck in the moment. I fear because of a similar event happened in the past and I was stuck in that moment.
Ask why when you:
I’m still grieving my dog. Gone were the days where he’d bark endlessly because of a piece of chicken on the table.
I lost Tin Tin today. He was 16 years old. I felt I didn’t do the most that I can. I didn’t gave enough time to him.
Hi! I’m Shawn. I Code # I love learning new stuff to make stuff, and coding is the tool. I’m a full-stack developer and run a remote web development agency. My clients hire me because I can help them launch MVP fast. My programming languages: Typescript, Javascript, Vue.js, React.js, Node.js, Python, R, MongoDB, GraphQL, AWS Serverless, Rust.
When artist used paintbrushes, they probably had similar reactions to what we’re experiencing now. They might have said, “Digital is killing my job. Art is no more. Thus, I refuse digital.”
Learn from those you disagree with or even offend you. While listening to someone you love keep asking them “Is there more?” until there is no more. Try stuff instead of making grand plans.
You know how you have that bad pen? Throw out the bad pen.” Derek Sivers: It’s so liberating. Don’t have the bad pen. It’s about self-respect, isn’t it? Even something as simple as a pen. When I’ve done that, I went, “I’m better than this. I’m not going to take this.
“It’s even better than…” reduces persuasion. Just say “Our app is fast” instead of “Our app is even faster than X”. Only show comparison if it’s a 10x difference.
Chapter 1: How I Buy Back My Life # The Buyback Principle means you should continually use every resource you can to buy back your time. The Buyback Principle: Don’t hire to grow your business. Hire to buy back your time. a decision to not grow is a decision to slowly die.
Showmanship doesn’t need to be showy Bracket Vulnerable Website Copy (Trends) Start with emotions you want to get Note taking For books Short form Morning pages Five minute journal Swipe files Replace vague words Backlinks Showmanship doesn’t need to be showy # Showmanship gets people excited and wondering what will happen.
Googling for code samples and writing a test case would take minimum 15 minutes. ChatGPT does that in less than a minute. Sure there are cases where ChatGPT don’t know an answer. Or give a corporate-sounding answer without giving me a number. It sometimes acts like ChadGPT by giving a wrong answer confidently.
Minimalist entrepreneur makes a difference while making a living. Don’t ask “How can I help?” Instead be observant and cultivate authentic relationships. Don’t spend time convincing people. Spend time educating people. Selling is a discovery process, and minimalist entrepreneurs use sales as an opportunity to talk to potential customers one by one about their products while simultaneously…
Specialization is for insects. You’ve got one life, just do everything you’re going to do Read the best 100 books over and over again until you absorbed them, rather than read all the books. Desire is a contract that you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.
This is my bible.
The seven best doctors in the world are: God, sunlight, diet, rest, exercise, self-confidence, and friends. Antiaging medicine builds up immune system. As a general rule people who practice antiaging medicine don’t get sick. The foods we decide to consume and the choices we make each day can turn on certain genes or turn off certain genes.
1. Add 100mg theanine to coffee # Balances neurotransmitter that causes jitteriness. 2. 5 minutes hot-cold shower: 20s cold, 10s hot # Get your head cold for blood brain barrier integrity. In cyro therapy, put your head as low as possible. 3. Breathing # Increase CO2 to push oxygen into your body.
Think big, aim high # Warren Buffet said habits of our life are like chains too loose to be noticed until they’re too tight to break. People accrue habits instead of form new ones. If you don’t choose the direction of your life, you’ll go in any direction. Time blocking # Morning is your power hours.
Build relationship for future ask: Give money. Offer to pay for food. Get their phone number Refer customers, help them out. How to connect? Write about them and how they influence you. Leave a podcast or Amazon review and email them that you’ve left a review. You’ll stand out more than 99% of the people.
What if…? What haven’t been talked about? Think about comedy all the time. Learn about new things. Keep gathering information. When there’s an argument, just observe without taking sides. You’re a thought machine. Every thing that happen to you is valuable. Just saying the truth - what everyone is thinking - is funny.
How much time am I spending making versus managing? Are you doing what you’re uniquely capable of? What you feel placed here on Earth to do? Can you be replaced?” If you say no to one, you say no to all” I also do 80-20 analysis probably once every two to four weeks on my inputs and outputs to try to remove as much as possible and focus on a handful of very powerful, hopefully powerful,…
The Work of Byron Katie # A set of 4 questions you can ask of any moment in your life that causes stress. Example: You seeing an inconsiderate guy. Is is true that guy is inconsiderate? Can you be absolutely sure that guy is inconsiderate? Okay, what happens? How do I react?
Genius is not about your genetics. Genius is about habits. My dominant commitment is to work towards a 6 figure SaaS. With better awareness, you make better choices. Don’t be addicted to distractions - your mobile. It’s the death of your production. Addiction to entertainment will deny you world class.
On Love # If you have nothing in your life, but you have at least one person that loves you unconditionally, it’ll do wonders for your self-esteem. On Reading # Books make for great friends, because the best thinkers of the last few thousand years tell you their nuggets of wisdom.
The key to skipping the line is to constantly live in the world of “not knowing. To constantly be curious but not threatened by what’s next. The 1 Percent Rule # 1 percent up or 1 percent down each day will define you long term. 10,000 Experiments # What makes a good experiment?
The highest possible stage in moral culture is when we recognize that we ought to control our thoughts. The Radish Experiment # To avoid smirking at the next meeting, refrain from any strenuous mental exercises beforehand. And feel free to think about all the white bears you want. Because controlling not to think about the about white bears deplete your willpower.
I’m not trying to be a better lie detector. I picked this book to develop a sixth-sense empathy in other people. If one is showing signs of being uncomfortable when I propose a solution, I could address the feeling without asking directly - because people tend to be polite and say everything is okay.
Whenever I felt the need to read a book, I ask myself “What can I write?” Reading puts my mind into passive mode. It’s spoon feeding my mind. Writing is creating and it’s not easy to start. I had countless times used books to procrastinate writing my next line of code or blog post.
Adlerian psychology can be summarised into these points: Self-acceptance have confidence in others separate tasks build horizontal relationships by accepting other’s differences and use encouragement instead of praises or rebuke. contribute to the community be present Trauma doesn’t exist. Trauma isn’t created by the experiences but by us giving meaning to them.
31 persuasion tips and study on Trump’s choice of word, actions and persuasion that led him to be elected. 31 Persuasion Tips: # When you identify as part of a group, your opinion tend to be biased toward the group consensus. Human are hardwired to reciprocate favors. If you want someone’s cooperation in the future, do something for that person today.
Please do not waste your one and only chance to be the you that is you on planet Earth screwing around with excuses when you have the power to create whatever you desire. The excellent thing about living as a human being on planet Earth is that you have the almighty power of choice, which means you get to choose between achieving success and giving up.
The nature of rain is the same, but it makes thorns grow in the marshes and flowers in the gardens. The point is that most of what we feel and think we conjure up for ourselves in our heads, including this business of being helped by people. On love and trust # You are never in love with anyone.
You only get one shot at life. Don’t waste your time copying someone else because you think it’ll make you happy. Trifecta of happiness # Work Health Relationship Schedule what you love to do. Change doesn’t have to be permanent. # Rent before buying your dream car. Pickup # Be different that the stereotypical guys that girls like.
Always think of the entry point. Where do you want visitors to see first? Too much empty space could make it less credible. Hero # Add a down arrow below hero to show there’s more content below. Add small roundness to sharp corner Use images that break out of rectangle to catch attention.
Never meet in the middle. # Say what you want and why. Alternative to “I have to talk to X” # “I’m new at this. You guys are the grandmasters of negotiation. If a grandmaster plays a novice then he will always win. So help me out, if you were me, what would you do?
Takedowns # The real world isn’t a place, it’s an excuse. It’s a justification for not trying. It has nothing to do with you. Unless you’re a fortune-teller, long-term business planning is a fantasy. Start referring to your business plans as business guesses. Decide what you’re going to do this week, not this year.
Do what makes you happy. Even if it’s just for one happy customer. Success comes from persistently improving and inventing, not from persistently doing what’s not working. So please don’t think you need a huge vision. Just stay focused on helping people today. As long as there was more in than out, everyone was happy.
I eat Tôi ăn I can’t eat Tôi không thể ăn I want to eat Tôi muốn ăn I will eat Tôi sẽ ăn I ate Tôi đã ăn This is an apple Đây là một quả táo Is this an apple? Đây có phải quả táo không This is not an apple Đây không phải là một quả táo
All travel book should be written this way. Hilarious observations you can only get from people watching. No amount of Youtube can show you these. The book notes here are scrambles of facts. Read this if you’ve always wondered about penknife, cheese, chocolate and Rolex. One: The landlocked island, How some mountains made a country # Swiss can appear unfriendly to outside world.
I said a house, not houses. “I bought a house and I’ve to work for another 30 years to pay off the mortgage” is not investment. It’s betting. If this property crashes, you’re out of the game. And you’re betting that this property will increase in value compared to the thousands and millions in your city and country.
Whenever I hear people giving verbal MTV cribs description of homes, I always wonder.. Is their toilet plunger black and where is it hidden? A house without a toilet plunger isn’t wise. Because shit happens. My hypothesis on the color is this: Toilet bowls are white because shit tells you about your health.
Put 1000 people to battle Starcraft. Only 2 will win. If the 2 players continue to fight the AI, they will eventually face a defeat. The AI learns from every play. Emotionlessly. Is the AI cheating? That’s our response when we’re beaten. But ‘cheating’ has no meaning to the AI.
Can I keep in touch with you with a postcard?
It wasn’t fun at first. Learning Vim was on my new year resolution list for almost 5 years. The ‘HJKL’ keys replace your arrow keys. That change alone had me gave up every time I tried to use Vim. You won’t get anything done when you’re starting to learn Vim.
What glass kettles taught me about brewing tea.
Many people got famous on being on the right side of their prediction. The election result - even though it’s a coin flip probability. Is the economy bad next year - unless there’s an alien invasion, economy doesn’t turn when you wake up tomorrow. So most of the time, you could sense it.
Imagine if our feet were smooth. No ridges to hold our steps. We’d be walking on frozen lake every day. More people would fall down and dodo bird might have outlived us. What can you be grateful of today?
Focus on your breathing. That’s how guided meditation starts. Now comes my puppy. She rubs my ankle, begging for a belly rub. You might think that this is a distraction to meditation. On the contrary, I was able to meditate better holding her on my lap. My mind wonders away less.
Cup vs. flask # A cup is good for coffee and a flask for storing water. I’ll throw the cup away. Plus I can use the flask as a foam roller. To fit everything into one backpack, I’ve been thinking a lot about multi-purpose products. Jojoba oil, for example, replaces my lip balm, hair oil, body lotion, cleanser, hair regrowth serum…