hey friends,
I’m writing this from my airbnb at 2 am in saigon.
…and i’m feeling like absolute shit lol.
recently, i told myself that i’m tired of feeling fat.
ngl i’ve gained a lot over the year and don’t feel as athletic as i did in my 20s, so i decided to eat and train like an athlete.
right now it’s day 7 of my cut, taking back-to-back sales calls, training twice a day, and fighting my 2 am pizza and pho cravings on grab eats (aka asia’s uber eats).
…that’s pretty much a long way of saying it’s hard af.
but here’s the thing… even though it’s hard, i’m actually kinda thriving.
because i finally figured out the missing piece that no productivity guru talks about…
the problem isn’t what you’re doing, it’s who you’re showing up as.
i realized i can block my calendar all i want.
i can set reminders, create systems, hire assistants (shoutout to mine for helping with this newsletter).
but when 11 pm hits and i’m staring at that pizza delivery app, or when i’m supposed to record that video but feel like garbage… what then?
here’s what’s actually working for me 👇
1. reminding myself who i am, not who i want to be
the truth is i don’t need another productivity hack.
i needed a new identity.
there’s this book “be your future self now” by ben hardy.
i know this sounds like some woo-woo bullshit, but hear me out.
an elite jiu-jitsu athlete doesn’t try to eat clean. an athlete would look at food as fuel, shows up to training, and would treat rest properly automatically. they don’t need to “think” about training or eating.
a 7-figure youtube creator doesn’t try to create content. they shoot the video even when they’re tired because they know consistency is important for the team. they don’t need to “try” or “think” about making videos.
it’s just who they are.
2. systems = people + process + tools
my goal is $100k/month from youtube.
tbh, it’s a pretty big jump from where i am now.
but fortunately, i was in phuket last week and ran into a viewer of my channel.
he was a pharmacist like me, started his youtube 4 years ago, and hit $1.29m / mo with his coaching business.
i was blown away mostly because it made me realize that i was thinking so small.
after the conference, i booked this bougie hotel in saigon and started reflecting.
instead of “working toward” my goal of $100k / mo, i’m asking… “what would someone already doing that have?”
for example, in my own life let’s take bjj.
i don’t have to “think” about doing jiu jitsu or being an athlete.
i show up to practice, strength train, sleep, and mindfully eat because it’s just what i do.
there’s no going back and forth about it. so i had to think about… how do i apply this into my business life?
after this event, i’m making these hires because i’m obsessed with reducing friction and lazy af: 👇
- social media manager 📲 – right now she’s helping me write my newsletters, uploads, ig, and short form content.
- ai automation expert 🤖 – i’m still hiring this, but my friend has his working on integrating ai tools, building custom gpts, and ai agents.
- video editing team 🎬 – one of the biggest mistakes was trying to rely on just one editor. i’m in the process of hiring three. hope it goes well 🤞
this really helped because i realized that i’m not building toward the goal.
i’m building as the person who already achieved it.
3. environment beats willpower every damn time
so vietnam changed everything for me.
the value you get for your money is sooooo amazing.
for example…
- steak meal prep here costs $6-10 / day (includes delivery) instead of $30 back home.
- my gym is ~$100 / mo and includes yoga, gym, jiu jitsu, sauna, and bougie showers instead of $200+ / mo on equinox.
- 90 minute massages (including sport massages) are $15-20 per massage, so i go 2x per week instead of paying $100 per massage in the us.
- luxury sky view 5-star hotels are like $100-200 per night and include a +1 for cocktail hour (aka dinner & drinks) and breakfast buffet.
it’s the same exact habit, different environment, but the results are completely different.
i stay in luxury hotels once a week just to remind my nervous system what “boss mode” feels like.
sure, to some it sounds extra, but when you’re pulling 12+ hour days, sometimes you need that reminder of what you’re building toward.
it’s like life put the game on easy mode.
but here is where people mess up.
this is a long game.
the goal isn’t perfection, but reducing the negative behaviors and increasing the positive ones through iterations.
the truth is we’re going to mess up.
i mess up all the time.
i had pizza the other day and felt like shit about it for days. but i notice that these pizza binges happen less and less over time.
every week i do a little report card. i ask not only “did i hit my goals?”, but “am i showing up more often as the person i’m becoming?”
that’s me… so i want to ask you.
i’m curious about not only what you want to achieve, but who do you need to be to achieve it?
because i’m sure there’s a version of you that already has what you want, and they’re making different decisions than current you.
you can hit reply and tell me. i read every single response and sometimes they give me ideas for future newsletters.
talk soon,
kevin
my favorite things this week 💯
💊 Magnesium Glycinate – I’m training twice a day and taking calls until 2 AM, which means my sleep is the first thing that gets nuked. Magnesium Glycinate is the ultimate cheat code for recovery. It helps calm the nervous system and makes sure the sleep I do get is deep, restorative sleep. If you’re pushing big hours or lifting heavy, this is non-negotiable.
💻 Subscribr.AI – i’m obsessed with eliminating friction, and this is the ultimate cheat code for content. when i say i’m building systems to act like i’m already a 7-figure creator, this is the main one for youtube and my newsletters. it lets me go from a vague idea to a full, optimized script outline in minutes. it pulls in my channel data, analyzes my best videos (the ‘outliers’), and writes in my voice. i’m literally too lazy to write scripts anymore, and this tool is the perfect hire for the first draft.
🎙️ Shure MV7 USB/XLR Mic – so I recently added this to my checkout because I’m looking for a portable setup. tbh you can’t be a 7-figure creator with bad audio. i’m taking back-to-back sales calls and recording videos from hotel rooms, so i need a bulletproof mic that sounds studio quality but doesn’t need a huge setup. the shure mv7 is the perfect digital nomad mic. it runs on usb (no extra gear needed) but gives you that rich, broadcast sound. it’s a non-negotiable part of my “boss mode” setup because if i sound like trash, i can’t close deals.