Day 218: July Review

status

We’re almost halfway into August, which means it’s time for my overdue July review!

Format:

  • What went well?
  • What didn’t go well?
  • Metrics
  • Overall reflections

What went well?

🥰 Browserflow works great

I finally submitted Browserflow to the Chrome Web Store and started sharing it with a tiny number of friends. The initial feedback has been extremely encouraging. Hearing friends tell me that I’m really onto something and that Browserflow feels like magic makes me glad to have spent as much time as I have on getting the details right.

I’ve had moments where I’m genuinely surprised by how well Browserflow works, which is generally rare when you build everything yourself because you know everything that went into it. Becoming fluent with Browserflow feels like learning to program for the first time because not only am I able to do things that previously seemed too difficult in the past, but it feels freaking fun making things work.

I’m excited to have more people experience that feeling.

What didn’t go well?

😰 Low motivation

This was a difficult month. In my June review, I wrote about how I was in hermit mode and did nothing but work. My housemates can attest to my possessed state and how focused I was on Browserflow. I was filled with boundless energy and it was exhilarating.

This past month has been the complete opposite. Which is not that surprising, I guess; my intensity was unsustainable. Even so, I’ve had a hard time dealing with the dwindling of my inner flames. Even though I’m excited about Browserflow, I’ve had a hard time working on it and focusing. My output must have dropped by 10x.

Part of it is that I know that I need to step away from core product work and build the parts necessary to start sharing it with people. Things like account management, the marketing site, etc. In other words, the stuff that’s necessary but not fun.

🗑 Poor planning

As a result of the low motivation, my weekly and daily planning have become entirely ineffective. Instead of deciding what’s the most important thing to do and then doing it, I’ve gotten into the habit of not planning much at all. For the last several weeks, I’ve avoided committing to doing the necessary but not-so-fun work and instead assigned myself unrelated tasks. I kept them small to account for my lack of motivation, but I had trouble meeting them anyway.

Metrics

Users & Revenue

It might look like I gained Intention users, but that’s the Chrome Web Store bug that dropped my user count in June being fixed.

Time

I was surprised by how much time I spent working despite my feeling that very little got done, but this might be due to recency bias — the first few weeks of July were decent in terms of output but it’s slowed to a crawl since then.

Overall reflections

  • I’m clearly burned out from the mega sprint, so I’m giving myself some time to recharge and take my mind off work a bit.
  • I’m quite bad at working on the not-so-fun parts of building an indie business, and I’m hoping I can suck it up and do it for both Browserflow and Intention soon so that I can make these financially sustainable
  • Life flows in cycles, and foolishly resisting that reality by trying to hold onto the pleasant leads only to suffering