- Vaibhav (VB)
- Posts
- The week I learned to manipulate time
Hey,
Wild week.
I went from 10% to 22.5% product completion in 7 days.
And honestly? My brain feels like it’s been rewired.
Let me walk you through what happened.
The mess in my head right now.
I’m reading 2 books simultaneously - $100M Offers and Atomic Habits.
17 chapters of Atomic Habits done this week.
Scarcity and Urgency chapters from $100M Offers completed. (5 more to go)
And here’s the thing nobody tells you about reading this much.
→ Organizing it all is CHAOS.
I spent 15 minutes yesterday just looking for my Oct 13 notes. Where did I put them? No idea.
I’m learning I need to be way more organized. Save notes better. Writing things down in my physical notebook immediately after finishing a task.
Finish one task → write it down.
Update one thing → write it down.
Make changes in claude → write it down.
Because things are getting messy. Really messy.
But also… exciting.
What Atomic Habits did to me
Two things hit HARD this week:
Environment design
"It is easier to associate a new habit with a new context than to build a new habit in the face of competing cues."
I used to never be able to work in my bedroom. I tried. A lot.
Why? Because I associated my bedroom with sleep and relaxation.
When I moved to another room - just for work - everything changed.
Working became second nature in that space.
Same with my morning routine now.
stretches (40 mins)
yoga + movemet (40 mins)
pushups + squats (40 mins)
walk + sunlight (20 mins)
140 minutes. Completely to myself. Before I even see my family or touch my phone.
And I LOVE it. These 140 mins set up my entire day.
Identity > Goals
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
This hits hard. Everytime I read it.
I’ve been focused on goals my entire life.
gain more muscle
hit $10K/month etc.
I’ve been so focused on “launch the product by end of November.”
But that’s the wrong frame.
The real question:
Am I becoming the type of person who builds and launches products.
Every day I read → I'm a reader.
Every day I write → I'm a writer.
Every day I teach through spaces → I'm a teacher.
The product is just a byproduct of who I’m becoming.
How I’m manipulating time (Scarcity + Urgency)
If you want to learn how to sell air for millions, then pay attention.
Here’s what clicked:
Scarcity = limiting quantity
Urgenecy = limiting time
People don’t want what’s valuable. They want what they can’t have.
For my product, here’s the plan:
Scarcity tactics:
Founder's Cohort: First 50 people get lifetime access at $99. After that? Price doubles.
Monthly caps: Only 20 new clients per month.
Lead magnet: Only 20 downloads/week. Then waitlist.
Urgency tactics:
Seasonal frames: Foundation Phase → Momentum Phase → Sprint Phase → Proof Phase
Cohort starts: Monthly. Miss it? Wait 30 days.
Price increases: Always announced. Clean the pipeline before raising.
“The person who needs the exchange less always has the upper hand.”
Dating. Jobs. Business.
The less desperate one wins.
So I’m making my product SO good that I don’t need everyone to buy it.
The realization that’s changing everything.
Everything I’m doing feeds the product:
Every note I take = product material
Every space I host = product validation
Every thread I write = product marketing
Every newsletter like this = product positioning
Reading → writing → teaching → building
It’s all connected.
And the messiness? That’s part of it.
Some days I’m super organized. Other days my notes are scattered and I’m wasting time looking for files.
But I’m learning systems:
Create monthly folders
Name files properly: “Oct 19 - Daily Notes”
Upload everything to Claude immediately
Keep physical notebook backup.
Slowly getting better at this.
Where I’m actually at
22.5% done.
44 days left to hit 100%.
6 books left to read. (we will cover my learnings from these in the upcoming newsletters)
Am I making progress? Absolutely.
Do I know exactly what I’m doing? Not really.
But that’s the point of this newsletter.
This isn’t polished. This is raw.
Me figuring it out. In real time. Out loud.
The honest bit
My left elbow’s been clicking during pushups. Muscle imbalance from months of not moving my body properly.
So I’m adjusting. More stretching. More yoga. Less intensity until the arm heals.
Fox → then move forward.
Same with the product. Same with the systems.
Notice the issue. Fix it. Keep moving.
Next week:
Finishing Atomic Habits and the book “Second Brain” completely.
Hosting spaces:
Monday/Wednesday/Friday.
Reading + writing + teaching loop continues.
And sharing every messy bit of it here.
Want in?
Reply and tell me - which hit harder for you? The identity stuff or the scarcity tactics?
Until next time,
—Vaibhav (VB)