Niall Doherty

It’s been a long month.

A lot of life is realizing you’re wrong about things, trying to accept and adjust.

In 1988, Marina Abramović and her partner Ulay broke up by starting at opposite ends of the Great Wall of China, walking 2500km to meet in the middle, and saying goodbye.

Easy to take it for granted, got a good reminder today: how lucky I am to have the parents I do.

That day of the year again, has me missing the bit of boldy, off limits here in Andorra.

I was paying a CPA $500 to do my taxes each year.

Her MO: target small business owners who are clueless about tech and online marketing, charge them a few $100 for a crappy 3-page website, then $40/month for a GBP that you set up quick and never touch again.

Crucial meta skill for an entrepreneur: being able to pick yourself up over and over again, to keep trying despite relentless rejection and disappointment.

Related to that: we start off looking for easy things we can do to make money.

I rarely comment online.

Trying to let go of this idea of feeling behind, like I need to catch up.

Thinking now that cold calling will be the key to growing this agency.

Burned out from making all these YouTube videos, published the third for August today and not all that proud of it, but felt like I had to publish or else those 20 hours would be for nought.

Been in this busy cafe a half hour and 80% of the people look very unhealthy, many overweight or obese.

My idea of hell is a day of doing nothing, letting it go to waste.

Lots of fancy cars in Andorra.

When Apollo 13 happened in 1970, the world was rooting for those American astronauts to make it home safe.

I aim for 60+ “deep work” hours each month, at 77 already for March.

Back when the commissions were flowing fast and easy, I regularly reminded myself not to take it for granted, to appreciate it while it lasted, because it wouldn’t last forever.

Went to that event the past two years.

One of those days where I’d love a little weed to take the edge off.

3 countries and 4 border crossings today.

One of those days where everything seems to go wrong.

Two years in Andorra and my Spanish still sucks.

Leg cramp woke me up, couldn’t get back to sleep, but loving la madrugada, energy flowing, mind buzzing.

Just watched Labyrinth for the first time.

Ended up testing out 9 video editors, had them all create a short from the same source material.

Finally landed a backlink I’d been chasing for months, on a DR91 site.

A lot of people, when they don’t understand something, get angry at that thing, feel it’s wrong somehow.

At a school music recital in a small Spanish town, kids as young as 4 performing on stage.

Spent the last six months reading Peter Grainger novels.

Thinking to buy a Mac Studio in the coming weeks.

Seeing that AI tool that lets you draw an app and then it spits out the code… mind blown.

Proud of my bad days, because they’re never that bad anymore.

A long walk in the woods, trying to be present and soak it all in, stop sometimes and cycle through the senses.

Finally have the newsletter switched over to the new software.

I’m more anxious about some things now than I used to be.

I’m aiming to be successful enough with my online business that I can start local businesses that only need to break even.

Feeling tired – exhausted, even – can be nice.

Staying in a bunch of Airbnbs over the years has given me a better feel for interior design.

NBA Playoffs started this weekend.

That traffic is someone attacking my website, signing up to the mailing list with 1000’s of fake Gmail addresses so the emails bounce and Gmail is more likely to label me a spammer.

Imagine if you could go back in time 10 years and follow yourself around like a fly on the wall, observing all your actions.

The twice-a-week newsletter thing is also a bit of a grind.

I’ve built up some good fitness and diet habits.

It’s not so much the overwhelm that’s the problem; it’s thinking I shouldn’t be overwhelmed, feeling like being overwhelmed is some kind of personal failure.

Reading about William Barents and his efforts to sail from Europe to Asia via the Arctic in the 1500s.

After constant headaches with real estate agents here, we were overdue a run-in with someone really good at their job.

Another day, another epic walk in Andorra.

Down at the FedEx office because the package is delayed and they don’t know if it’s in Barcelona or Paris.