The week I left town

Hey,

Week 7.

Travel week.

And honestly? This one exposed every crack in my system.

Let me show you what happened when I tried to build while moving.

The accountability experiment

Monday (Oct 26), I tried something new.

Complete public accountability.

Morning post: Here's what I'm doing today. Evening post: Here's what I actually did.

No hiding. No excuses.

The idea: if I post it publicly, I'll actually do it.

Day 1? Worked perfectly. Posted tasks. Did them. Posted completion.

Then Tuesday hit.

And I fucked up again.

Woke up telling myself I wouldn't get distracted. Got distracted anyway.

That's what I wrote in my journal Tuesday morning.

The urges. The pull. The distractions.

They don't go away just because you post about them.

Lesson: Public accountability helps. But it's not magic. The real battle is still internal.

The question that's haunting me

Here's what's been on my mind all week:

Can I complete the product by Nov 30? Yes.

But can I make it valuable enough to charge $499 for it?

I don't know yet.

And that uncertainty? It's sitting heavy.

I hosted a Space on Monday about $100M Offers - the problems chapter. The one where you find 100 problems customers could ask before, during, and after purchase.

Critical framework. I need to implement this on my product.

But as I was teaching it, I kept thinking: Am I building something actually worth $499?

Or am I just building something I think is worth $499?

The answer: I won't know until I get closer to completion.

So I keep building.

The PARA revelation

Started reading Building a Second Brain this week.

One concept hit me immediately: PARA.

Projects. Areas. Resources. Archives.

A system to organize everything.

And I realized: I'm a complete mess.

My notes are everywhere. Files scattered. No structure.

I spent 15 minutes looking for one document earlier. That's unacceptable.

So Tuesday (Oct 28), I decided: I'm implementing PARA. Today.

Wrote in my journal:

The plan:

• Projects = Active product work

• Areas = Ongoing responsibilities (product, newsletter, spaces, fyrii job)

• Resources = Learning materials (books, frameworks, notes)

• Archives = Completed stuff

Built it in Notion. Not on iPhone - too limited. But desktop? Perfect.

Finally have a system that makes sense.

Then I left town

Wednesday (Oct 29), I traveled to Chennai.

By train.

Thought I'd be productive during the journey. Organize notes. Write threads. Read.

Instead?

Chaos.

Couldn't exercise in the morning. Couldn't eat good food. Couldn't write properly. Couldn't work entirely focused.

Friday (Oct 31) journal entry:

I felt disorganized. Scattered. Off-rhythm.

And then this thought hit me:

Followed immediately by:

Classic overthinking.

One week of travel doesn't destroy 60+ days of discipline.

But in the moment? It feels like everything's falling apart.

The new morning routine (that lasted 2 days)

Before travel, I designed the perfect morning:

2 hours run/cycle. No music. Just breath, shoes on ground, birds chirping.

Then:

• 30 pushups

• 30 squats

• 30 pullups

• 30 calf raises

Shower. Breakfast. 30-min nap to reset.

By 9am: journaling. By 9:30am: work.

It was perfect.

For 2 days.

Then travel destroyed it.

Lesson: Systems need to be resilient to disruption. Mine wasn't.

I built a routine that required:

• My home gym

• My cycle

• My schedule

• My kitchen

Take me out of that environment? System breaks.

That's a design flaw.

Not a discipline problem. A system problem.

What I discovered about tools

Tuesday, during my Space, I found Otter.ai.

$17/month. Transcribes everything.

Game changer for Spaces.

Now I can:

1. Host Space

2. Get full transcript

3. Paste into Claude

4. Turn into thread/newsletter/product material

Before? I was just recording audio and losing 90% of the value.

Now? Every Space becomes permanent learning material.

Small tool. Massive leverage.

The promo problem

Friday realization:

I've been so focused on building that I forgot to tell people what I'm building.

Newsletter? No promo. Lead magnet? No promo. Product? Mentioned once or twice.

That's not building in public. That's building in silence.

So new rule:

• Tuesday = Lead magnet promo

• Friday = Newsletter promo

Can't just create. Have to distribute.

What actually got done this week

Completed:

• Started public accountability system (morning + evening posts)

• Hosted 2 Spaces (including $100M Offers problems framework)

• Converted newsletter to thread

• Implemented PARA system in Notion

• Discovered Otter.ai for transcripts

• Continued BASB reading (still not finished)

• Posted threads (even while traveling)

What broke:

• Morning routine (travel)

• Organization system (transition period)

• Eating schedule (travel)

• Exercise consistency (travel)

• Writing discipline (missed one day)

Current status:

• Still working toward Nov 30 deadline

• Still questioning $499 price point

• Still battling daily distractions

• Still figuring out systems

The part-time job reality

I'm also working as Senior Marketing Director at fyrii.ai (my cousin sister's company).

6pm-8pm every day.

It's not breaking my head. But it's also taking 2 hours of my day.

And some days I wonder: should I drop it to focus 100% on my product?

But I committed. So I show up.

Balancing act.

Saturday reset

Nov 1. Saturday.

Woke up with one priority: Get organized.

Tasks:

1. Finish organizing notes with PARA

2. Finish BASB book (been putting it off)

3. Write thread

4. Host Space

5. Product work

6. 5 DMs

Back to basics.

No travel. No excuses. Just work.

What I learned this week

1. Public accountability isn't a cure-all

Posting your plan doesn't make you immune to distractions. It helps. But the real work is internal.

2. Systems must be environment-independent

If your routine breaks when you travel, it's not a routine - it's a ritual tied to a specific place.

I need to build a system that works anywhere.

3. Organization isn't optional at this volume

Reading 2 books, hosting Spaces, writing threads, building product, working part-time?

Without PARA? Chaos. With PARA? Manageable.

4. One week of disruption doesn't erase months of discipline

I freaked out when my routine broke. Thought I was losing momentum.

But 60 days of discipline doesn't disappear in 7 days of travel.

Trust the foundation.

5. Distribution > Creation

Building in silence is just building.

Building in public requires promotion.

Need to tell people what I'm making. Consistently.

Next week

Back in Chennai. Treatment week.

Plan:

• Finish BASB (no more excuses)

• Implement weekly promo schedule (Tuesday: lead magnet, Friday: newsletter)

• Host 3 Spaces (Monday, Wednesday, Friday)

• Build environment-independent morning routine

• Continue product work (getting close to halfway)

38 days until launch.

Still on track. Still building.

Just more aware of where the cracks are now.

Real talk:

This week wasn't pretty.

I got distracted. I broke my routine. I felt disorganized.

But I didn't stop.

That's the game.

Not perfect execution. Persistent execution.

See you next week.

— Vaibhav

Want in?

Free Playbook: vaibhavcreates.com/playbook Newsletter: read.vaibhavcreates.com

Reply and tell me - what breaks your routine when life gets messy?