Justyna Dorsz

Weekly Notes

(Not Really) Weekly Notes

I had planned to write Weekly Notes every week. But that obviously haven’t worked out.

Here are things that I’ve found out or read or listened to these past few weeks:

  1. A few great episodes from Tim Ferriss Show:
    • Episode #177 — Seth Godin — some useful tidbits about marketing and brands.
      Memorable quote: “Brands are built around the edges.”
    • Episode #189 — with Shay Carl — he is very enthusiastic, I loved it.
    • Episode #194 — about Placebo effect — just wow! I didn’t know it’s that powerful.
    • Episode #195 — An interview with David Heinemeier — so inspiring!
  2. I bought a game on Steam but haven’t played yet, Pilgrims.
  3. Animals prefer food that requires effort to obtain over food that is simply served on a plate. It’s called –contrafreeloading. There is one animal that is an exception and prefers to be served — can you guess which one? (Answer’s at the end of this post.)
  4. This article about why you should work with the garage door up.
  5. The Most Precious Resource is Agency — about rising children, which I don’t have. But it’s also about the fact that education messes us up, which I agree with.
  6. I have no idea what is it about, but I subscribed: doctorsinclair.com.
  7. Paul Graham about the beginnings of Airbnb.
  8. Netflix used a photo without artist’s permission. The artist hired Pixsy to fight it and won. This is a great success story and I hope more, and more people will want to protect their rights. Pixsy is a service where you don’t have to pay anything, they simply take a cut if they win.

That’s it for these (not) Weekly Notes. Until next time!

(The animal that prefers easy food is — cat)

Weekly notes — all the links

I’ve been going to the gym every day and listening to the Tim Ferriss Show. In total I listened to 23 episodes during this week — it’s because I listen at double speed and some of the episodes weren’t even interviews but just short summaries or Seneca letters.

Many episodes were amazing, but these were my favorite:
— How Renegade Filmmaker Casey Neistat Breaks Rules, Reinvents Himself, and Gets Thanked For It (#116)
— Derek Sivers on Developing Confidence, Finding Happiness, and Saying “No” to Millions (#125)
— Amelia Boone on Beating 99% of Men and Suffering for High Performance (#127)

Go listen to them if you want to feel inspired!

After listening to the interview with Derek Sivers, I visited his website and signed up for his mailing list. And then I also bought his new book. It’s short, so I thought I was going to read it quickly. I was wrong — I started to read, and already the first page made me stop and consider how it applied to my life.

Derek has a “now” page on his website. It’s a page where he lists what’s happening in his life right now and what he is working on. Inspired by it, I created my own “now” page — it’s a work-in-progress, I plan to add more. A lot of people followed Derek’s example too and created their own “now” pages.

Casey Neistat recommended the book “It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be”. I checked archive.org, and it was available there. I read it and liked it. You can read it for free here.

That’s it for now. I will continue going to the gym and listening to podcasts so you can expect another bunch of interesting links next week.

Weekly Notes

I don’t write weekly notes every week, but today I want to.

This week has been similar to all other weeks during the pandemic: I worked a bit, but not as much as I could, I didn’t exercise enough, overall I felt tired, and didn’t feel like I had as much energy as I used to. But I know how to change all that because this is similar to how I felt two years ago. I was tired and unmotivated back then, and even though I went to the gym every few days, I didn’t really feel it made that much difference to my health.

Then one day I watched this:

I decided to go to the gym every day. And I did!

I was surprised I managed that. I have never liked exercising. There are sports I like, but the gym is rarely fun. When I decided to go every day, I thought it was going to be excruciating — forcing myself every day to go. I was wrong.

I can’t say I’ve ever learned to like it. But I went every day whether I wanted to or not, and after a week or two, I stopped thinking about it — it was just something I did. I didn’t have to force myself — it became a habit.

Those few months were the best time for my well-being. Every day, I woke up and went to the gym first thing in the morning. I slept better and I didn’t have problems waking up, I even stopped drinking coffee. I felt productive and had more free time.

Then the pandemic happened. Gyms got closed. I stopped exercising. Every night it took me hours to fall asleep. I woke up tired, had difficulties focusing on work.

My gym is finally open again. Last week I only went once and didn’t like it. But I remember how much better my life was when I had the habit of going daily. I am going to build that habit again.

Weekly Notes and Pizza

I can’t believe it’s been a week since my last Weekly Notes, it feels as if I wrote them two days ago. I don’t know how is it possible that times run so fast.

Today my family came over, we made a pizza and ate a lot of cheesecake made by my mom’s partner. We will need to establish some kind of limits on how much food everyone is allowed to bring next time. Though, I admit that I am the person most responsible for the surplus of ingredients for the pizza as I bought thrice as much as was needed.

Weekly Review
  • This has not been a productive week.
  • We are still waiting for Summer Paws to get approved on a new platform.
  • I made a new design.
  • I got a bonsai tree.
Plan for Next Week
  • Setting up the online store for my mom is more work than expected. I prepared over 400 product previews using PlaceIt but haven’t added them to listings in the store. I will continue with it this week.
  • I want to make more designs but I don’t know if I have time.

Weekly Notes on the last day of the week

Last day of the week for me is Sunday. But apparently for a lot of people Sunday is the first day of the week.

First Day of the Week in Different Countries, ChartsBin.com, viewed 7th March, 2021

It’s so strange to think of Sunday as the first day. I’ve tried it for a few minutes — I actively wanted to convince myself that Sunday, not Monday, is the first day. But it doesn’t work. It must be so ingrained that thinking to oneself: “Today is the first day of the week” is not enough to change anything.

Weekly Review
  • My brother and I managed to make necessary changes to Summer Paws to be released on a new platform, we are awaiting approval. They might still find something that needs fixing, but for now, we are just waiting.
  • I cleaned the old apartment and moved some leftover things to my new apartment. That’s all done now.
  • I wrote about my favorite book, which felt like sharing something personal.
Plan for Next Week
  • I made an online store for my mom last week. This week, the priority is to add all the listings, photos, descriptions, etc.
  • I haven’t made any new designs this past week, so this week I am going to make at least two.
  • The walls in my apartment have nails driven into them. I will paint something to hang there.

Weekly Notes and the last day of February

All my days are so busy. I don’t know how other people do it, it seems everyone manages their time better than me. Lately, I’ve been constantly overwhelmed by how much work I have, by all those tasks on my to-do lists. It’s already the end of February and I haven’t even started on my bigger projects that I planned for this year.

Weekly Review
  • I moved to a new apartment — I now have hot water and other magical inventions.
  • We are preparing our game Summer Paws for release on two more platforms. So far it’s only available on PC via Steam. We signed a few NDAs so I am not actually sure if I am allowed to say which platforms but I will definitely be allowed to say in a month or so.
  • My lawyer sent more requests to illegal sellers of my designs. Some of them have already paid compensations and stopped selling products with my designs.
  • I opened an online apparel store for my mom so that she can earn some additional income.
Plan for Next Week
  • Still more work to be done with Summer Paws. That’s the priority.
  • Need to order some things for my new apartment. Like a laundry basket and utensils.
  • I need to add more listings to the online store that I opened for my mom.